FCS Top 25 Roundup - Week 7
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cedar City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Eastern Washington went West ... and to the end zone, as usual.
His second-ranked Eagles playing without All-American quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. for the first time since he was lost to a broken right foot, redshirt sophomore Jordan West had a strong debut with three touchdown passes in a 42-30 Big Sky victory at Southern Utah on Saturday.
West completed 20-of-27 pass attempts for 288 yards, connecting on two touchdowns to Kendrick Bourne and another one to Zach Wimberly. He also threw one interception.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eastern Washington (6-1, 3-0), the two-time defending Big Sky champion, used terrific offensive balance to post an 11-minute, 6-second edge in time of possession.
Mario Brown (22 carries, 134 yards, one touchdown) and Jalen Moore (22 carries, 133 yards, two touchdowns) delivered career highs to spearhead a 280-yard ground attack. The Eagles gained 568 offensive yards.
"Jordan was awesome, but it was more than just Jordan," said Eastern coach Beau Baldwin, whose team turned a 14-7 deficit into a 42-24 lead early in the fourth quarter. "We had guys sick and lots of players out, but we had a lot of players step up that at this point hadn't had as many reps."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Adams is expected to be sidelined for 3-6 weeks with two broken bones in his right foot.
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The Sports Network FCS Top 25
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Saturday, Oct. 11
No. 1 North Dakota State (6-0, 2-0 Missouri Valley) 38,
No. 12 Southern Illinois (5-2, 2-1) 10
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Quarterback Carson Wentz threw second-half touchdown passes to Luke Albers (9 yards) and Trevor Gebhart (75 yards), and the top-ranked Bison pulled away to their 30th straight win since 2012.
John Crockett rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown as part of the Bison's 252- yard ground assault.
SIU's Malcolm Agnew rushed for 117 yards and All-American tight end MyCole caught a 26-yard touchdown reception in the loss.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Indiana State, the last team to beat NDSU - 17-14 on Oct. 13, 2012 - returns to Fargo next weekend.
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No. 3 Coastal Carolina (7-0, 1-0 Big South) 40 Presbyterian (3-3, 0-1) 28
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex Ross passed for 258 yards and two touchdowns, and De'Angelo Henderson rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns to power Coastal Carolina in its Big South opener.
Bruce Mapp caught six passes for 111 yards and one touchdown.
The Chanticleers were without starting linebackers Quinn Backus and Brett Johnson, who are nursing injuries.
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No. 4 New Hampshire (5-1, 3-0 CAA) 32, No. 10 William & Mary (4-2, 1-1) 3
Senior quarterback Andy Vailas remained unbeaten in three starts, going 25- for-36 for 276 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Running back Nico Steriti, who had missed the last two games with an ankle injury, caught two of the touchdowns and rushed for another score.
William & Mary, which had won 10 of the previous 11 games, was limited to 217 yards.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sam Houston State (3-3, 2-0 Southland) 38, No. 5 McNeese State (3-2, 1-1) 22
Sam Houston State quarterback Jared Johnson passed for 192 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bearkats have won 11 straight Southland Conference home games.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McNeese State quarterback Daniel Sams had 214 total yards and two total touchdowns in the loss.
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No. 6 Villanova (5-1, 3-0 CAA) 44, Rhode Island (0-6, 0-2) 21
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Villanova built a 44-0 lead before URI closed the score with three touchdowns in the final 8 minutes, 38 seconds.
By then, Wildcats quarterback John Robertson (13-for-16 for 189 yards and four touchdowns; 61 yards on eight carries) was long gone from the game. He threw a pair of touchdowns to Poppy Livers.
Junior linebacker Don Cherry led the Wildcats with 11 tackles and two forced fumbles.
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No. 7 Montana (4-2, 2-0 Big Sky), Idle
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}No. 8 Jacksonville State (5-1, 3-0 OVC) 27,
No. 25 Tennessee State (4-3, 1-2) 20
Jacksonville State built a 27-6 lead and then held on, winning a battle of turnovers. The Gamecocks committed four, while Tennessee State had six.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DaMarcus James carried the ball 23 times for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
TSU quarterback Michael German threw for 364 yards and a touchdown to Weldon Garlington (11 receptions, 179 yards), but was intercepted four times.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}No. 9 Southeastern Louisiana (5-2, 3-0 Southland) 61, Lamar (4-3, 1-2) 34
Southeastern Louisiana overcame three turnovers with 484 rushing yards, a school record for a single game.
Quarterback Bryan Bennett rushed for 125 yards and three touchdowns, and passed for 165 yards and one score. Kody Sutton (86 yards) and Xavier Roberson (84) both had TD runs.
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No. 11 Montana State (5-2, 3-0 Big Sky) 77, UC Davis (1-5, 0-3) 37
Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop apparently doesn't want to relinquish the national offensive player of the week award from last week. He completed 17-of-22 pass attempts for 361 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Shawn Johnson scored three touchdowns on 256 all-purpose yards, and Montana State posted its highest point total ever in a Big Sky matchup.
UC Davis' Ben Scott passed for 379 yards and four touchdowns, and Gabe Manzanares rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tennessee (3-3) 45, No. 13 Chattanooga (3-3) 10
Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) and the Vols ended Chattanooga's three-game winning streak in their first meeting since 1979.
Richardre Begley's 14-yard run midway through the fourth quarter provided Chattanooga with its only touchdown. The Mocs had five sacks, including defensive tackle Josh Freeman with two.
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No. 14 Fordham (6-1) 60, Penn (0-4) 22
Fordham quarterback Michael Nebrich was unstoppable, completing 36-of-47 pass attempts for a school-record 566 yards and six touchdowns, which tied a school mark.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tebucky Jones hauled in 10 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns, while Sam Ajala had eight receptions for 199 yards and one touchdown. The Rams scored 29 points in the second quarter.
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No. 15 Illinois State (5-0, 2-0 Missouri Valley) 20,
No. 20 Indiana State (4-2, 1-1) 18
Nick Aussieker's 34-yard field goal with three seconds remaining kept Illinois State unbeaten in its first road game.
Indiana State had just gone ahead 18-17 on redshirt freshman Matt Adam's 37- yard touchdown pass to A.J. Johnon with 1:13 to play. Senior quarterback Mike Perish did not play in the game due to a medical issue.
Illinois State's Marshaun Coprich rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown, just missing a fifth straight game of at least 100 yards on the ground. The Redbirds scored all of their points in the second half.
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Western Illinois (3-4, 1-2 Missouri Valley) 30,
No. 16 Youngstown State (4-2, 1-1) 24
Trenton Norvell threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns to lead Western Illinois to a road upset of Youngstown State.
YSU sophomore Jody Webb rushed for two touchdowns. Martin Ruiz collected 80 yards on 14 carries.
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No. 17 Eastern Kentucky (6-0, 3-0 OVC) 36,
Eastern Illinois (1-5, 1-1) 33, OT
Unbeaten Eastern Kentucky overcame a 26-5 third-quarter deficit with 28 unanswered points and won the game in overtime on Andrew Lloyd's 29-yard field goal.
Dy'Shawn Mobley rushed for 118 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
EIU quarterback Jalen Whitlow had 335 total yards and accounted for three touchdowns.
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No. 18 Bethune-Cookman (5-1, 2-0 MEAC) 49, Howard (1-6, 0-4) 12
Running back Anthony Jordan had 150 yards from scrimmage, including 102 on the ground, and scored a pair of touchdowns for Bethune-Cookman, the MEAC co-leader with North Carolina Central.
The Wildcats were 8-for-12 on third-down conversions, and were successful on their one fourth-down attempt.
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No. 19 South Dakota State (4-2, 1-1 Missouri Valley) 32,
Missouri State (3-3, 0-2) 28
Zach Zenner rushed for 149 yards to move into the top 10 of all-time FCS rushing leaders and scored from 1 yard out with 7:55 remaining to lift SDSU from a 28-25 deficit.
With 5,567 career yards, Zenner ranks eighth all-time.
Sophomore quarterback Zach Lujan and freshman wide receiver Jake Wieneke connected for three touchdowns in the win.
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No. 21 Northern Iowa (3-3, 1-1 Missouri Valley) 27,
South Dakota (2-4, 0-2) 16
UNI quarterbacks Sawyer Kollmorgen and Brion Carnes each threw a touchdown, and the Panthers picked off South Dakota signal caller Kevin Earl twice in his return from injury.
David Johnson was limited to 42 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in the win.
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No. 22 Richmond (4-2, 1-1 CAA) 41, Albany (4-2, 1-2) 28
Richmond's Michael Strauss passed for 277 yards and three touchdowns, and Seth Fisher rushed for a pair of touchdowns.
The Spiders won despite committing four turnovers.
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Murray State (2-4, 1-2 OVC) 44,
No. 23 Southeast Missouri State (4-3, 2-1) 41, 2 OTs
Murray State pulled off the upset on KD Humphries' 7-yard touchdown pass to Janawski Davis to end the second overtime.
Humphries finished with six touchdown passes, including three to Nevar Griffin and two to Davis. The Racers forced OT on a Humphries-to-Griffin 13-yard touchdown connection with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Southest Missouri quarterback Kyle Snyder had 316 total yards and four total touchdowns.
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Vanderbilt (2-5) 21, No. 24 Charleston Southern (5-1) 20
Charleston Southern nearly dug out of an 18-3 second-quarter deficit, falling just short despite limiting Vandebilt to 295 yards and 12 first downs.
Lorenzo Mathis blocked a punt and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. Mike Holloway rushed for 105 yards on 18 carries in place of Christian Reyes.