Statesboro, GA – Lake Charles, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - No. 25 Southeastern Louisiana seized first place in the Southland Conference by blasting fourth-ranked McNeese State, 41-7, Saturday night.
The Lions (7-2, 4-0) scored the game's first 20 points. Quarterback Bryan Bennett accounted for 155 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and 88 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Rasheed Hall rushed for 119 yards and one touchdown on only 14 carries.
McNeese State (7-2, 3-1) turned the ball over three times, including a pair of Cody Stroud interceptions. Theo Alexander had an interception and a fumble recovery for the Lions.
"This was a total team effort to get this victory against a very talented McNeese State team," Southeastern coach Ron Roberts said. "Our student-athletes and coaching staff should be very proud of the level of focus and preparation they showed today."
Saturday, Nov. 1
No. 2 Eastern Illinois (8-1, 5-0 OVC) 56, Tennessee Tech (3-7, 0-6) 21
Eastern Illinois senior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed 33-of-50 pass attempts for 399 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.
Fellow Walter Payton Award candidate Erik Lora caught 12 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns. He added an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown to tie the EIU record for longest punt return in a game.
In addition, Keiondre Gober had five receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown.
No. 3 Eastern Washington (7-2, 5-0 Big Sky) 55, Idaho State (3-6, 1-5) 34
Defense was an option as Eastern Washington sophomore quarterback Vernon Adams had 492 total yards (432 passing) and five touchdown passes.
Connor Kupp caught eight passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
The two teams combined for 1,309 yards - EWU with a school-record 743 and Idaho State with 566. Idaho State signal caller Justin Arias passed for 441 yards and three touchdowns.
No. 5 Montana State (7-2, 5-0 Big Sky) 35, Northern Colorado (1-8, 0-5) 28
Running back Cody Kirk racked up 180 yards scored twice on the ground, including a 9-yard run with 6:35 left when the Bobcats trailed, 28-27.
Junior back Shawn Johnson punched in a rushing score from 13 yards out, and for the second time this season returned a kickoff for a touchdown. His 99-yard kick return broke a 14-14 tie in the second quarter.
The Bobcats defense held Northern Colorado under 100 rushing yards and forced three turnovers.
No. 6 Coastal Carolina (9-0) 50, Charlotte (4-5) 25
The nation's top scoring offense dropped 50 points against FCS independent Charlotte. Walter Payton Award candidate Lorenzo Taliaferro rushed for three touchdowns, and quarterback Alex Ross, who sat last weekend with a sprained ankle, threw for two touchdowns.
Coastal, No. 1 North Dakota State and No. 9 Fordham are the only unbeaten teams in the FCS.
No. 21 Delaware (7-1, 4-1 CAA) 32, No. 7 Towson (8-2, 4-2) 31
Without regular starting quarterback Trent Hurley, Delaware managed to score 15 points in the final 48 seconds to defeat the Tigers.
The Blue Hens trailed 31-10 in the fourth quarter, but scored 22 unanswered points for the win. Regular backup quarterback Trevor Sasek went 34-of-46 passing for 330 yards and three touchdowns, including a touchdown pass and two- point conversion to Rob Jones with 19 seconds left.
Towson running back Terrance West went over 200 rushing yards for the second straight week, gaining 206 yards with two touchdowns in the loss.
No. 8 Sam Houston State (7-2, 3-1 Southland) 56,
Stephen F. Austin (3-6, 1-3) 49
Sam Houston State scored 28 points in a 2-minute, 26-second span of the fourth quarter and forced five of Stephen F. Austin's six turnovers in the final period to win the "Battle of the Piney Woods" at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
Sam Houston senior Brian Bell passed for 339 yards and four touchdowns through the air. SFA's Brady Attaway threw for 505 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions, including three scores in the final 8:25.
No. 9 Fordham (9-0) 32, Holy Cross (3-7) 30
Holy Cross gave Fordham all it could handle, but the unbeaten Rams managed to survive a late score and hold on for the win.
Quarterback Michael Nebrich was 39-for-49 for 524 passing yards and a touchdown, and he added three rushing scores in the win. Holy Cross freshman quarterback Peter Pujals threw for three touchdowns in the loss.
No. 10 Maine (8-1, 5-0 CAA) 19, Stony Brook (3-5, 1-4) 14
The Black Bears beat Stony Brook to remain the only unbeaten CAA team.
Maine scored on a 24-yard pass from Marcus Wasilewski to John Ebeling to give the Bears the fourth-quarter lead. Junior running back James Fenner went over 100 rushing yards for the Seawolves in the second straight week.
No. 11 Youngstown State (8-1, 5-0 Missouri Valley) 38,
South Dakota (4-5, 3-3) 34
Youngstown State is on the verge of claiming its first FCS playoff berth since 2006. The 11th-ranked Penguins pulled into a first-place tie in the Missouri Valley Football Conference by defeating South Dakota on freshman running back Martin Ruiz's 3-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds remaining.
Ruiz finished with 131 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
Senior quarterback Kurt Hess completed 22-of-26 pass attempts for 283 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored on a 4-yard draw in the second quarter.
YSU is tied for first place with two-time defending FCS national champion North Dakota State (8-0, 5-0), which was idle on Saturday.
No. 12 Montana (7-2, 4-2 Big Sky) 51, Sacramento State (4-5, 3-2) 48
It took overtime for Montana to dispose of the Hornets, but the Grizzlies rebounded from a Week 9 loss to Eastern Washington to bolster its postseason resume.
Jordan Canada rushed for four touchdowns, while quarterback Jordan Johnson hit Ellis Henderson in the overtime period on a 25-yard scoring strike to give the Grizzlies the win. Henderson finished with 180 receiving yards on five receptions.
Sacramento State quarterback Garrett Safron had 505 yards of total offense and accounted for six touchdowns.
No. 13 Bethune-Cookman (8-1, 5-0 MEAC) 38,
North Carolina Central (4-5, 2-3) 14
Bethune-Cookman scored early and often in its 18th straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win, jumping out to a 31-0 lead before the Eagles scored all of their points in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats held the Eagles to minus-1 yard rushing while gaining 436 themselves. Senior Isidore Jackson notched 182 rushing yards and a touchdown in the win.
No. 14 Northern Arizona (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky) 48, North Dakota (2-7, 1-5) 27
It was easy for Northern Arizona to control the tempo of the game with Big Sky foe North Dakota because the Lumberjacks owned possession of the ball for 24 minutes longer than UND. The time of possession favored Northern Arizona, 45:41 to 21:17.
Senior running back Zach Bauman became the ninth player in FCS history to rush for over 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. He gained 162 yards on 19 carries, including a touchdown. He and sophomore Casey Jahn both went over 100 yards on the ground Saturday.
The Citadel (3-6, 3-4 Southern) 28, No. 15 Samford (6-3, 4-1) 26
One week after knocking off Wofford for the top spot in the Southern Conference, Samford's perfect conference record took a hit in a loss to The Citadel.
Samford's Andy Summerlin passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns, while Fabian Truss carried the ball only 11 times for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Four Citadel players received double-digit carries in the win, including Darien Robinson, who rushed for three touchdowns. The Bulldogs' triple option finished with 338 yards on the ground.
William & Mary (6-3, 3-2) 17, No. 16 New Hampshire (4-4, 3-2) 0
New Hampshire hadn't been shut out in a game since Sept. 23, 1995 - a span of 220 games. And the last opponent not to let the Wildcats score a point in a game? William & Mary.
New Hampshire's 24th-ranked scoring offense in the FCS committed three turnovers and was rendered ineffective by the Tribe's second-ranked scoring defense. Quarterback Brent Caprio paced the Tribe offense with 241 yards and a touchdown pass.
Northwestern State (4-5, 1-3 Southland) 31,
No. 18 Central Arkansas (5-4, 2-2) 28
Quarterback Zach Adkins passed for 226 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score in Northwestern State's upset of Central Arkansas.
Willies Matthews led the UCA offense with 109 yards and two touchdowns on only nine carries.
James Madison (6-3, 3-2 CAA) 31, No. 20 Villanova (4-5, 3-3) 21
In what was considered a possible elimination game for FCS playoff consideration, James Madison beat Villanova, gaining a DeAndre Smith 86-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Red-hot Villanova quarterback John Robertson threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns, but was held to 44 yards on 17 carries. He was coming off three straight games of at least 150 rushing yards.
Eastern Kentucky (6-3, 4-1 OVC) 44, No. 23 Tennessee State (7-3, 4-2)
Eastern Kentucky forced seven fumbles, gaining four of them, in a shutout of Tennessee State, whose loss was the second-most lopsided in program history, behind a 49-0 defeat to EKU in 2005.
EKU quarterback Jared McClain completed only eight passes, but three went for touchdowns, including two to Devin Borders.
No. 24 Charleston Southern (9-1, 2-0 Big South) 27,
Presbyterian (3-5, 1-1) 16
Christian Reyes carried the ball 20 times for 114 yards and one touchdown as Charleston Southern remained on pace for a first-place showdown in the Big South Conference with Coastal Carolina.
Presbyterian committed three turnovers.
Idle
No. 1 North Dakota State (8-0)
No. 17 Wofford (5-3)
No. 19 South Dakota State (5-4)
No. 22 Lehigh (6-2)
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