Oct. 8, 2006

Special to CSTV.com from I-AA.org

One of the oldest adages in football is that defense wins championships, but in the world of I-AA on Saturday, several teams with serious dreams of playing at Finley Stadium in mid-December went on the offensive to prove their worth.

It was a day where top-ranked New Hampshire passed one of its sternest tests in a 27-17 victory over defensive-minded Richmond.

There was No. 2 Appalachian State returning to the scene of one of its greatest nightmares and its biggest triumph to annihilate Tennessee-Chattanooga 56-21.

Cal Poly finally shook off the tag of a great defensive team by showing its offense could do some damage, too, in a 23-17 victory over UC Davis.

North Dakota State ventured into one of the most hostile environments of I-AA, the iconic confines of Paulson Stadium, to beat Georgia Southern, 34-14.

Then there were some ranked teams found lacking. Furman experienced some serious flashbacks in a shocking 29-27 loss at Coastal Carolina, Towson lost for the first time at the hands of Maine, 28-7, and Portland State came up empty to schizophrenic Montana State, 14-0. Illinois State survived a similar fate with a little luck, beating Western Kentucky 28-27.

There were some huge milestones established in New Hampshire's win and Harvard's 33-23 victory over Cornell, while the University of Northern Iowa spoiled a homecoming of former coach Terry Allen in a 38-7 thrashing of Missouri State.

Princeton stayed undefeated with a spectacular 27-26 overtime win against Colgate and Sam Houston State became the only Southland Conference squad with a winning record by stopping Northwestern State on the road 30-20.

There was some changing of the guard as McNeese State won 30-27 over Southern Utah with a new coach and Alabama A&M beat Southern 28-21 to take another step towards a possible SWAC title.

New Hampshire found itself in an unfamiliar place, even while playing at home, when it left the Cowell Stadium field with a 14-6 deficit at halftime.

The Wildcats had converted 21 straight red zone opportunities into touchdowns this year, but in the first half against Richmond's talented defense, UNH was limited to a pair of field goals and one missed kick.

New Hampshire turned to a couple of old friends, David Ball and Ricky Santos, and a new acquaintance, defense, to pull out a key Atlantic 10 victory.

The Wildcats held Richmond to three points in the second half and a record-setting one-yard pass from Santos to Ball got UNH back into the game. Ball's TD catch was the 51st of his career to shatter the all-division record of 50 by Mississippi Valley State's Jerry Rice and make it 14-13.

A 60-yard return of a recovered fumble by Murji Karim finally gave New Hampshire a 20-14 lead and Santos clinched it with his eight-yard scoring strike to Evan Loring with eight minutes remaining.

The Wildcats, who have squeaked out wins over Delaware and Richmond in the past two weeks, face one more big hurdle when they host James Madison next Saturday. JMU tuned up with a 35-23 victory over Rhode Island.

Fireworks lit up the Chattanooga sky following Appalachian State's 56-21 demolishing of the hometown Mocs, just like the end of the Mountaineers' 21-16 win over UNI last December in the I-AA title game. You might have to convince ASU coach Jerry Moore that it was a homecoming celebration and not a rite reserved for ASU wins.

The Mountaineers put up 40 points or more for a school-record fourth consecutive week, but this time it was against a school expected to finish in the Southern Conference's first division. ASU's offense piled up 399 yards of total offense in the first half alone on the way to 596 yards.

After being stopped at the UTC 38 on its first possession, ASU scored touchdowns on its next seven possessions to make it 49-0.

Appalachian State was equally effective on defense, breaking Eldra Buckley's eight-game, 100-yard rushing streak. The Mountaineers held Buckley to just 51 yards on 18 carries. The streak had started with Buckley's 210-yard performance against the Mountaineers last year in a 35-25 loss in Boone, N.C.

ASU defensive end Marques Murrell forced Buckley to fumble in the third period, the 13th forced fumble of Murrell's career, tying the school record held by Dino Hackett and Dexter Coakley.

Cal Poly was somewhat unlucky to be trailing UC Davis 10-3 at halftime on Saturday night in San Luis Obispo, Calif. But the Mustangs erupted for 17 third-quarter points and pulled out a six-point win in a key Great West Conference game.

James Noble wore out the Aggie defense with 23 carries for 121 yards and a two-yard touchdown and the Cal Poly defense made the lead stand up.

North Dakota State also put some wear and tear on Georgia Southern on the way to a 20-point road win. The Bison tied the score with nine seconds left in the first half on Steve Walker's four-yard pass to Travis White.

The second half was all Bison as they outscored the Eagles 20-0. Kyle Steffes rushed 26 times for 128 yards and a third-quarter touchdown and the North Dakota State defense limited the strong GSU running attack to only 65 yards. A 35-yard interception return by Courtney Mitchell in the fourth quarter sealed the Bison's win.

Princeton stayed undefeated when it stopped a two-point conversion run by Colgate in overtime to win 27-26. Jeff Terrell completed 17-of-32 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown and scored the winning TD with a four-yard dash in overtime.

It was a historic day on another Ivy League campus as Harvard edged Cornell by 10 points. Clifton Dawson broke two scoring records belonging to Brown's Nick Hartigan during a three-TD day.

Dawson returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and rushed for two more scores to give him 338 points and 56 touchdowns for his career. Dawson is within 545 yards of Ed Marinaro's Ivy League rushing standard of 4,715 yards.

While Furman fans remember something called "The Miracle on the Mountain" all too well -- the tag given to Appalachian State's remarkable 16-15 victory over the Paladins in 2002 when defensive end Josh Jeffries intercepted a two-point pass and lateralled to cornerback Derrick Black for a game-winning two-point defensive conversion with seven seconds left -- they probably could have lived without the beauty on the beach Saturday night in a stunning 29-27 loss to Coastal Carolina.

A 19-yard pass from freshman Jordan Sorrells to Justin Stepp gave Furman a 27-21 lead over the Chanticleers with 9:35 remaining. But the extra point was blocked and Sean Lundy returned it for a two-point defensive conversion that made it a 27-23 game. Tyler Thigpen's eight-yard scoring pass to Jerome Simpson with 5:41 to play put CCU in front and the defense made the lead hold up the rest of the way.

Thigpen was 21-of-33 for 274 yards and three touchdowns, two to Simpson, in orchestrating the Coastal Carolina victory.

Illinois State held off Western Kentucky on the road when All-American kicker Chris James, one of the best clutch field goal men in I-AA, hit the uprights with a 19-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter.

In another key Gateway Conference game, Southern Illinois overcame Western Illinois 31-24 as Arkee Whitlock carried 33 times for 216 yards and three TDs. Whitlock's last score, a 10-yard scamper midway through the fourth quarter gave the Salukis the lead once and for all.

Kelce Luke ran for one score and passed for two fourth-period touchdowns to help Alabama A&M topple Southern 28-21. Luke's 37-yard connection with Emmanuel Edwards lifted the Bulldogs in front with 6:19 showing on the clock.

After losing to South Dakota State on a last-minute field goal a week ago, McNeese State fired longtime coach Tommy Tate and replaced him with offensive coordinator Matt Viator.

On Saturday night, it was Viator who came away with a three-point win when Derrick Fourroux's 69-yard scoring pass to Carlese Franklin with eight and a half minutes left gave the Cowboys (2-3) a much needed win.

The rest of the Southland Conference opened league play, with Sam Houston State outlasting Northwestern State by 10, Stephen F. Austin getting its first win of the season with a 24-13 victory over Texas State and Nicholls State holding off Southeastern Louisiana 14-10.