Week 1 Recap / Week 2 Preview
Week 1 Recap
Week 1 started off with a bang with three key non-conference matchups to open up the new season. Let's take a quick look at the big games that happened in week 1.
Bloomsburg 49
Cheyney 16
Defending champion Bloomsburg opened the season on the road with what looked to be a tough non-conference matchup with Cheyney, winners of 28 straight MIAA conference titles.
Bloomburg headed to halftime with a narrow 21-16 lead, but shutout the Wolves in the second half on route to a convincing 49-16 win. Bloomsburg featured a 2 QB system with Christopher Brewer throwing for 344 yards and 4 TDs, while Michael Patton accounted for 218 yards and 3 TDs through the air.
Cheyney only managed to convert 3/18 3rd downs (17%), featuring a balanced attack with 238 yards passing and 133 yards rushing. Todd Chandler had a productive day with 10 catches for 149 yards, but at the offense came up short too many times on 3rd down.
West Liberty State 55
Missouri-Rolla 14
In another seemingly evenly matched game, West Liberty State hit on all cylinders on both of the ball, rolling to a 55-14 win over Missouri-Rolla. New coach lgftw, in only his second season in Rockne (after a 3rd round appearance and conference championship in one season at Millikin in D3) is trying to take West Liberty State to the next level after their former coach left following 7 straight playoff appearances but only one win in the postseason.
West Liberty State dominated with a strong ground game, rolling up 240 yards on 52 carries. The pass game was also very efficient, led by Paul Walters with 105 yards on only 3 catches and 79 yards after the catch.
Missouri-Rolla couldn't get it going on the ground, and QB John Blackburn was sacked 9 times in the game. Despite the heavy pressure, he still managed to throw for 289 yards, with 125 of those going to his favorite downfield target TE Kenneth Moody on 5 catches.
West Liberty State is putting the rest of D2 on notice with this convincing victory. Not to mention their 9th rated recruiting class according to GD Reports is their best in the past 35 seasons. With a squad heavily weighted towards juniors and seniors, don't be surprised if they make a move towards the latter rounds of the playoffs by next season.
Morehouse 49
East Stroudsburg 0
This was another matchup that I expected to be close on paper. Morehouse has been up and down, with the past five seasons ending in the second round, third round, two missed playoffs and then a second round loss last season. Munchnugget led East Stroudsburg to the playoffs last season in his second season as head coach.
What I didn't remember was that Morehouse has 44 upperclassmen.
Walter White completed only 56% of his 34 pass attempts, but he threw for 326 yards, a 17 yard average per completion. Andre Pope ran for 206 yards on 40 carries to keep the chains moving on the ground.
East Stroudsburg wasn't able to find a hole in the defense with their all pass offense, as Jacob Rodriguez went 20/55 for 216 yards, while being sacked 6 times.
Week 2 Preview
Cheyney vs North Alabama
North Alabama comes into the game ranked #7 in the Press Poll and #9 in the Coaches Poll, They destroyed St. Cloud State 72-0 in week 1. North Alabama has won the GSC in 6 of Fazbear05's 8 seasons. They feature a balanced pro set attack led by senior QB Andrew Browning who threw for 7,568 yards and 81 TDs last season. DL Howard Salazar had a huge night in the opening game with 10 tackles and 2 sacks and LB Matthew Williams tallied 5 tackles and an interception.
Cheyney scheduled a murderer's row to start the season and will be well seasoned by the time conference play rolls around. They came up short against Bloomsburg in the first game, but a loss against the defending champion isn't a true litmus test of where a team will end up. Gary Hall is a very intelligent QB that makes good reads, but scouts say he may lack the big time arm needed to thread the needle against top D2 teams.
I expect North Alabama to win the game but don't be surprised if Cheyney keeps it close late in an upset bid.
Hillsdale vs Virginia State
Both of these teams won convincingly in their opening games, but this will be a fun matchup in week 2.
Virginia State comes in ranked #6 Coaches / #10 Press after coach lsteenburg led his squad to their 4th CIAA title in the 4 seasons that he has been there. Virginia State would like to take the next step, and a convincing win against Hillsdale would cause some teams to take notice. They are led by senior QB Steven Burgos, who threw for 5,729 yards and 51 TDs with only 1 INT last season. His favorite target is do everything back Mark Carrillo who had 13 catches in week 1 after catching 183 balls last season for 1,702 yards.
Hillsdale made the playoffs in Qcifer's first season, but fell in the first round. Last week they beat a sim 72-6, but that was with their underclassmen playing most of the second half. They like to mix up the run and pass pretty evenly, but WR Derrick Hensley is the focal point of the offense, catching 12 passes on 17 targets for 107 yards in the first game. Hillsdale also managed to pick off 3 passes, and that bawl hawking defense could be the difference in this week's matchup.
I had Virginia State #6 in my preseason poll and expect them to win this matchup, but Hillsdale is loaded with upperclassmen, so their experience could be a factor in helping them try to pull of the upset.