Oct. 17, 2004

By David Coulson, I-AA.Org Senior Columnist
Special to CollegeSports.com from I-AA.org

(I-AA.org) -- It was midterm week for I-AA football teams on Saturday and the division's top-two teams passed what were suppose to be difficult tests with flying colors.

If anyone received a passing grade on Saturday, it was quarterback Chaz Williams and No. 2 ranked Georgia Southern.

The Eagles stunned their biggest rival Appalachian State in a defacto Southern Conference championship game, 54-7.

Record-setting quarterback Richie Williams and ASU were expected to put up the big passing numbers on Saturday, but the No. 12 Mountaineers were out of sync from the opening moments.

Richie Williams, who had set NCAA marks for consecutive completions (28) and completion percentage (89.9) last week in a 30-29 victory over then #2 Furman, was just 6-of-17 for 60 yards and one interception.

He had passed for 200 or more yards in eight of his last nine games and had set school records with 413 yards passing and 440 yards of total offense against the Paladins.

The Eagles also held the nation's top receiver, DaVon Fowlkes, to four catches for 27 yards. It was also the first time in seven games that Fowlkes did not score a touchdown.

Georgia Southern, meanwhile, was fairly well contained on the ground, the Mountaineer defense limiting the Eagles to 280 yards rushing.

But Chaz Williams was dynamite through the air, hitting 8-of-12 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns in little more than one half of play. He had another probable TD strike dropped.

With the offense and defense working in unison, Georgia Southern has the look of a squad ready to add another championship banner to the six currently waving from the flag pole at Paulson Stadium.

But GSU coach Mike Sewak dismissed talk that the win over Appalachian was any bigger than the previous five for the Eagles.

"It's hard to say it's a statement game," said Sewak. "In each game, we've made a statement."

The Eagles hoped they might move into the top spot of the national polls with a win, but Southern Illinois held its turf by trouncing No. 4 Western Kentucky Saturday night in Carbondale, Ill. in a Gateway Conference battle.

Auburn transfer Brandon Jacobs scored three touchdowns and rushed 19 times for 97 yards, but he was just part of the Saluki story.

Terry Jackson, the transfer from Minnesota, averaged nearly eight yards per carry, gaining 86 yards on 11 attempts. Arkee Whitlock picked up 61 yards on 12 carries and quarterback Joel Sambursky had a balanced game, running seven times for 51 yards and completing 13-of-18 passes for 163 yards and two scores.

WKU rolled up 352 yards of total offense, but the Hilltoppers were hurt by four turnovers. The score was 31-3 midway through the fourth quarter when WKU finally managed its only touchdown.

Living Dangerously
For the second week in a row, No. 5 Montana needed a blocked field goal in the final seconds to hold off an opponent. On Saturday before a raucous, record crowd in Cheney, Wash., Shane McIntyre's block of Sheldon Weddle's 28-yard field goal with 18 seconds left gave the Grizzlies a 31-28 Big Sky win over 23rd-ranked Eastern Washington.

EWU finished with a 446-387 advantage in total offense and quarterback Erik Meyer completed 27-of-41 passes for 320 yards and a TD, but it wasn't enough.

In this first-place showdown, EWU moved to the Montana six and had first and goal in the waning seconds. But drive finally stalled and the Eagles had to settled for a field goal attempt.

The game was played at EWU's Woodward Field and the Eagles drew a crowd of 10,754 fans.

The previous week, the Grizzlies held off Idaho State 24-22 when Alan Saenz blocked Jaret Johnson's 48-yard field goal attempt with 30 seconds left.

Two other teams playing fast and loose have been No. 3 Delaware and No. 10 Stephen F. Austin.

Defending national champion Delaware had another near-miss Saturday in Hempstead, N.Y. when it rallied to defeat Hofstra 20-19 in Atlantic 10 action.

The Blue Hens trailed 19-7 heading into the fourth quarter, but Niquan Lee scored from a yard out and quarterback Sonny Riccio hit Joe Bleymaier for a six-yard TD toss midway through the fourth period and Delaware held on.

Hofstra lost record-breaking passer Bobby Seck to an knee injury in the first quarter.

"We have a lot of heart," said Delaware coach K.C. Keeler, "and the bottom line is we got the job done."

SFA trailed again, 19-14 in the fourth quarter to UC Davis, but Michael Williams' four-yard TD pass to Matt Bodley finished off a 10-play, 79-yard drive with six minutes left.

Michael Williams was 13-of-25 for 217 yards and two touchdowns. The multi-talented quarterback was 10-of-13 down the stretch and passed for 114 yards in the second half.

Tony Tompkins added 250 yards of total offense for the Lumberjacks, scoring on a touchdown and a two-point conversion.

SFA's defense was scorched for 300 yards of offense in the first half, but limited the Aggies to just 98 after the break.

Saturday Surprises

It was another wild, wooly day in the A-10, with the Delaware win one of several big results.

Justin Rascati's 23-yard TD strike to D.D. Boxley with 48 seconds left lifted James Madison to a 24-20 win at Maine. The Dukes trailed 20-10 before rallying.

It was the second time in three weeks that Maine had lost a game in the final minute.

Massachusetts, which had already been eliminated from the postseason picture, stunned No. 7 New Hampshire 38-21 behind a 43-carry, 192-yard, three-touchdown performance by Steve Baylark.

UNH freshman quarterback Ricky Santos threw three interceptions, but senior Mike Granieri (19-of-31 for 170 yards, one TD and one interception) returned from an opening-game knee injury to pull the Wildcats to within 24-21 with a 35-yard TD pass to David Bell.

But the Minutemen recaptured the momentum on a TD pass from Tim Day (18-of-33 passing for 293 yards) to Mike Douglas and Baylark's third touchdown run of the game.

There could be plenty of second-guessers in the New Hampshire camp after this loss. Santos had established himself as one of the country's top young passers, but he was platooned with Granieri on Saturday and didn't perform well.

No. 16 William & Mary struggled at home against a feisty Rhode Island club, but prevailed when Elijah Brooks plunged into the end zone from the two for the winning score with 8:09 remaining.

Lang Campbell led the Tribe offense again, hitting 20-of-27 passes for 192 yards and two TDs.

William & Mary is off to its best A-10 start since 1994 at 3-0. The Tribe has won five games in a row since a tough opening-game loss to North Carolina.