Oct. 12, 2004
Complete Great West Weekly Release in PDF Format
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Complete Cal Poly Weekly Release in PDF Format
Complete UC Davis Weekly Release in PDF Format
Complete North Dakota State Weekly Release in PDF Format
Complete Northern Colorado Weekly Release in PDF Format
Complete Southern Utah Weekly Release in PDF Format
Complete South Dakota State Weekly Release in PDF Format
One player each from South Dakota State, Cal Poly and Southern Utah earned Great West Football Conference player of the week honors for their performances in games on Oct. 9.
South Dakota State quarterback Brad Nelson was chosen as offensive player of the week for the second time this season while Cal Poly cornerback Karl Ivory picked up defensive player of the week honors. Selected as special teams player of the week was Southern Utah punter Trevor Ward.
Cal Poly defeated Southern Utah 24-17 while South Dakota State edged North Dakota State 24-21 in Great West Football Conference games Saturday. In non-conference contests, UC Davis routed Western Oregon 54-2 and Northern Colorado fell 26-13 at Southeastern Louisiana.
Games scheduled for Oct. 16 include one Great West Football Conference matchup --Southern Utah (2-3, 0-1) at North Dakota State (4-2, 0-2) -- and three non-conference games -- Texas State at Cal Poly (5-0, 2-0), Stephen F. Austin at UC Davis (5-0, 2-0) and Florida Atlantic at Northern Colorado (1-5, 1-1). South Dakota State (4-2, 1-2) has a bye.
Nelson (6-5, 215, Sr., Winona, MN) was 20-for-35 with one interception and one touchdown in South Dakota State¹s Dakota Marker victory over North Dakota State in the Beef Bowl. He also rushed three times for 26 yards. With SDSU trailing 21-17 and only one timeout remaining, Nelson directed a 14-play, 80-yard drive which end in the winning touchdown, a 22-yard pass to Chris Molitor, with 39 seconds remaining. Nelson completed seven passes on the drive, including two fourth-down plays.
Ivory (6-0, 188, Sr., Ontario, CA) intercepted a pass in the endzone with 31 seconds remaining to preserve Cal Poly¹s win over Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds were driving for a potential game-tying touchdown and extra point and had second and goal at the Cal Poly 4-yard line with 40 seconds remaining. Casey Rehrer's pass to Jerome Eason in the left corner of the end zone was a jump ball. Both Ivory and Eason caught the ball in the air, but when the pair landed on the ground, Ivory wrestled the ball away from Eason and returned it 21 yards to clinch the Mustang win. It was Ivory's fourth interception of the season, among the nation's leaders. Ivory also had three tackles.
Ward (6-4, 215, Fr, Ogden, UT) punted five times for 245 yards, a 49.0 yard average, with two punts pinning Cal Poly inside the 20-yard line. His punts went for 55, 47, 50, 40 and 53 yards.
Other nominees:
Offense -- UC Davis running back John Quinn and Cal Poly quarterback Anthony Garnett.
Defense -- UC Davis linebacker Ben Reece, South Dakota State linebacker Chris Coauette, Southern Utah linebacker Mike Overly, Northern Colorado defensive back Reed Doughty and North Dakota State linebacker Jayd Kittelson.
Special Teams -- Cal Poly linebacker James Pryor, UC Davis placekicker Emmanuel Benjamin, Northern Colorado placekicker Justin Zaitz and South Dakota State placekicker Parker Douglass.
Updated Payton, Buchanan Watch Lists Includes Three GWFC Players
PHILADELPHIA -- An updated list of 32 players has been established by The Sports Network, I-AA college football's most widely recognized information service, indicating the current and official "Payton Watch" and "Buchanan Battle" members. The list still includes Cal Poly's Jordan Beck, Southern Utah's Nick DiPadova and UNC's Vincent Jackson.
The "Payton Watch" and "Buchanan Battle" pages, which can be found at The Sports Network's website (www.sportsnetwork.com) keep track of the quest for the 18th Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the top player in I-AA football, and the 10th Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the top defensive player in I-AA. The honors will be presented at the 18th annual I-AA College Football Awards on Thursday, December 16th in Chattanooga, TN, on the eve of the 2004 I-AA National Championship.
The official "Payton Watch" and "Buchanan Battle" lists will undergo two additional revisions prior to the distribution of ballots on November 22nd. The next revisions will be announced November 3rd, and the final changes will be made just prior to the distribution of ballots. The ballots will be mailed electronically to the media and I-AA sports information directors selected for the voting process on November 22nd, and will be due Wednesday, November 24th. The top three finalists (in terms of votes received) for the Walter Payton Award will be invited to attend the presentation in Chattanooga, TN, with the winner of that Award not announced until the event.
This Week's Action
Southern Utah at North Dakota State - Fargo, ND - 1 pm (CT)
North Dakota State University (4-2, 0-2 GWFC) is scheduled to host Southern Utah University (2-3, 0-1 GWFC) at the Fargodome (18,700, turf) in Fargo for the Bison Homecoming. The Bison lost to South Dakota State 24-21 in Brookings last Saturday, while the Thunderbirds fell 24-17 against No. 10 Cal Poly. NDSU's losses have come by a combined five points, while Southern Utah has lost three games by a total of 16 points. Five of SSU's first six games are on the road. The Southern Utah game is the first of three straight home games for North Dakota State. Both teams are looking for their first Great West Football Conference win.
#10 Stephen F. Austin at #21 UC Davis - Davis, CA - 1 pm (PT)
UC Davis is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 2000. UC Davis needs just one win to secure its 35th consecutive winning season. The streak is the longest active of any non-Div. III school. It is the fourth-longest active streak overall, following Linfield (Ore.), which has 47, Baldwin-Wallace, which is at 37 and Pacific Lutheran, which sits at 35. UC Davis's 45.0 ppg average is just off its school-record 47.8 ppg of 2000.
Florida Atlantic at Northern Colorado - Greeley, CO - 2:05 pm (MT)
The University of Northern Colorado Bears will take on the undefeated Florida Atlantic Owls (4-0) in Saturday's Homecoming contest at 2 p.m. UNC will come into the contest trying to snap a five-game losing skid, while FAU enters the game riding a four-game win streak to begin the season. FAU has wins over Hawaii, North Texas, Middle Tennessee State and Texas State. The 2004 season marks the first season of I-A football for the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Owls fielded their first football team in the 2001 season and reached the I-AA playoffs last season before falling to Colgate in the national semifinals. FAU head coach Howard Schnellenberger is one of only 10 active coaches to have won an NCAA I-A football national championship (1983 at Miami).
Texas State at #8/#9Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, CA - 4 pm (PT)
Cal Poly (5-0), ranked No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today and No. 9 by The Sports
Network following a 24-17 Great West Football Conference victory over Southern
Utah last Saturday in Cedar City, Utah, will host Texas State (2-3) for a nonconference
homecoming game Saturday afternoon. Texas State, which has already played a pair of ranked I-AA schools, likely has two more to play in the Southland Conference and also has played two I-A schools, fell 20-13 to Florida Atlantic, a team in transition to I-A, last Saturday in San Marcos.The loss was Texas State's third of the season, all by seven points. The Bobcats also suffered a 24-17 loss at Baylor last month and, against No. 21 Appalachian State last week, had another comeback fall short in a 41-34 loss. After posting back-to-back wins over Big Sky Conference teams on the road -- 35-20 at Idaho State and 27-14 at Montana State -- Cal Poly enjoyed a bye week
before opening Great West Football Conference play with a 14-7 victory over
South Dakota State on Oct. 2 and a 24-17 win at Southern Utah on Oct. 9.
Last Week's Games
UC Davis 54, Western Oregon 2
UC Davis scored 47 unanswered points over the final three quarters and the Aggies' defense didn't allow point for the second time this season, as No.24 UC Davis improved to 5-0 with a convincing 54-2 nonconference win over host Western Oregon before 2,800 fans at McArthur Field.
UC Davis is 5-0 for the first time since 2000 when it finished the season 12-1. Western Oregon dropped to 1-5, a week after breaking into the win column with a four-overtime victory over Western Washington.
The Aggies amassed 446 yards of total offense against the NCAA Division II Wolves, including 295 through the air, while holding Western Oregon to just 118 total yards which included just minus-2 yards rushing. Running back John Quinn rushed for a game-high 90 yards on 13 carries to lead UC Davis while starter O.J. Swanigan ran in from five yards and one yard for a pair of rushing scores.
Quarterback Jon Grant completed 15 of 35 passes for 220 yards while receiver Kevin Freeman had a 19-yard TD reception and finished with four catches for 75 yards. UC Davis didn't have any sacks on Saturday but bottled up the line of scrimmage while holding the Wolves to negative rushing yards.
UC Davis got off to a slow start against the Wolves, leading just 7-2 at the end of the first quarter. Grant hit Tony Kays on a 10-yard scoring strike midway through the first quarter before Western Oregon answered with a safety when a snap went out of the endzone on an Aggie punt attempt with 2:55 left in the period.
But that would be as close as the Wolves would get as UC Davis tallied 24 points before halftime to take a 31-2 lead into intermission. Freeman's score early in the quarter was followed by Swanigan's short touchdown runs, while freshman kicker Emmanuel Benjamin hit a 31-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
The Aggie defense helped key that surge, picking up a pair of turnovers with a fumble recovery and an interception, part of an effort that held the Wolves to just 11 total yards in the first half including minus-30 on the ground. Western Oregon only ran 25 plays in the first two quarters while being held to five `three-and-out' drives.
UC Davis added to its lead with two more scores in the third quarter. The first came on a fumble recovery in the endzone by senior defensive end Jake Mossawir with 9 minutes, 16 seconds left in the quarter while Jason Yaklich hauled in a 29-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Matt Engle, who threw for 75 yards in relief action.
Benjamin's 25-yard field less than six minutes into the final period preceded Bryan Harrison's 14-yard touchdown run late in the game, rounding out UC Davis' scores. The 52-point margin of victory equaled the Aggies' largest which came in the season-opener when they blanked South Dakota State 52-0.
Defensive backs Angelo Caffese and Brandon Quinn each had five tackles to pace the Aggies while Luis Amaral forced and recovered a pair of fumbles. Western Oregon had six turnovers in the game, including four fumbles.
SE Louisiana 26, Northern Colorado 13
In a game played in a torrential downpour as tropical storm Matthew bombarded the state of Louisiana, the University of Northern Colorado football team could not solve the Southeastern Louisiana University pass rush and lost its fifth consecutive game of the season, 26-13.
Southeastern Louisiana's outside linebacker Damien Huren tallied six quarterback sacks and the Lions notched nine as a team to help them secure the victory.
The Lions (4-2 overall) got on the board early with a little help from Walter Payton Award candidate Martin Hankins. Hankins hooked up on a 19-yard scoring strike to Felton Huggins. The score capped a seven-play 69-yard drive and came with 1:28 to go in the first quarter.
The Bears (1-5 overall) answered back in the second quarter after senior linebacker Ryan Palmer's interception set up the offense with a short field. But the drive appeared in trouble after a personal foul penalty put the Bears on the 30-yard line facing a third-and-24.
However, UNC's own Walter Payton Award candidate Vincent Jackson came to the rescue with a 30-yard touchdown reception from Tony Christensen. Jackson's score tied the game at 7-7 with 10:57 to go in the second half. UNC junior defensive back Reed Doughty snuffed out a late second-half drive by the Lions with an interception. The Bears then drove from just beyond mid-field for six plays and 41 yards but had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by junior kicker Justin Zaitz with 37 seconds left in the second quarter. Zaitz field goal gave UNC a 10-7 lead going into halftime.
The Bears took the second half kickoff and looked to have a promising drive underway. But the drive came to a half after UNC failed to convert on a fourth-and-three from the Lions' 35-yard line.
The Lions retook the lead at 13-10 early in the third quarter on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Hankins to Hutch Gonzales with 9:47 left in the stanza. The Lions' kicker Jim Hall missed the extra point to leave the lead at only three points.
Northern Colorado tied the contest at 13-13 on a 25-yard field goal by Zaitz with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter. Zaitz put the finishing touches on a six-play 29-yard drive that was set up by the Bears defense. UNC held the Lions and forced them to punt from their own endzone on the previous possession.
The Lions wasted little time in responding to the Bears' tying score as Hankins hooked up with Josh Taylor on an 80-yard scoring touchdown with 3:52 left in the third quarter. The drive took just two plays and only 19 seconds off the clock.
On the Bears' ensuing possession, Christensen scrambled to avoid pressure and was stripped of the ball by the Lions' Charles Hall. Southeasern Louisiana's Damien Huren recovered the fumble at the Bears' 20-yard line. Although the Lions had the short field, the Bears' defensive unit held strong and forced a 20-yard field goal by Hall. The Lions upped their lead to 23-13 with the score.
The Lions continued to put points in the board as the fourth quarter got underway. SELU drove 61 yards on five plays, keyed by a 72-yard scamper by Ray Perkins, and got a 30-yard field goal from Hall to give the Lions a 26-13 lead with 11:26 to go in the game.
Cal Poly 24, Southern Utah 17
Karl Ivory wrestled an interception away from Jerome Eason in the end zone with 31 seconds to play, spoiling Southern Utah's comeback bid and its Homecoming in the process as No. 10 Cal Poly hung on for a 24-17 Great West Football Conference win over the Thunderbirds.
Trailing 24-17 Southern Utah had driven from its own 16 yard line to the Cal Poly four and had second and goal with 40 seconds to play. Casey Rehrer lofted a ball into the left corner of the end zone and Eason and Ivory both had possession before Ivory pulled it away, then returned it to the 21 yard line to seal the win.
Southern Utah piled up 386 yards of total offense to just 248 for the Mustangs, but Cal Poly was able to take advantage of a blocked punt and some good field position to win the game.
Southern Utah took a 17-14 lead with 14 seconds remaining in the first half on a Rehrer to Braden Godfrey pass and the Thunderbirds held that lead until late in the third period. With three minutes to play SUU punter Trevor Ward fielded a bad snap from center and had his punt blocked at the five by James Pryor. It was returned to the SUU four by Matt McCormick, setting up a four-yard Anthony Garnett run for a touchdown and the lead.
The Mustangs tacked on a 40-yard field goal later in the third period.
Cal Poly struck first in the game, as Jonah russell took a Garnett pass over the middle and rambled 42 yards for a touchdown with 10:01 to play. Southern Utah answered with a 37-yard Steve Pulver field goal, but the Mustangs went up 14-3 on a one-yard Adam Martinez dive on fourth-and-one after SUU had held three times inside the three yard line. SUU pulled to within 14-10 on a 6-yard Rehrer to Eason pass.
Rehrer finished with 310 yards of total offense after passing for 254 yards and rushing for another 56, while Garnett, in his first start for the Mustangs, threw for 149 yards. Mike Overly had 12 tackles, including a pair of tackles-for-loss to lead the SUU defense while Kenny Chicone had 12 stops for the Mustangs.
South Dakota State 24, North Dakota State 21
Wide receiver Chris Moliter teamed with Brad Nelson for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 39 seconds as South Dakota State rallied to defeat North Dakota State 24-21 in the 38th annual Beef Bowl at Brookings Saturday night.
A Beef Bowl record crowd of 12,323 saw Nelson direct the Jacks on an 80-yard, 14-play drive to beat the clock and the Bison. SDSU took over on its own 20 after a Bison punt into the end zone with 2:34 to play.
The game was the first between NCAA 1AA opponents in South Dakota, and it gave SDSU its first Great West Football Conference victory after a pair of losses in California. The Jacks are now 4-2 overall and are idle next week before playing at Montana State on October 23.
Nelson completed seven passes on the drive including a pair of fourth down pitches which kept the ball in SDSU's hands. The drive was aided by a pass interference call which gave the Jacks a first down on the NDSU 22. After an incomplete pass on first down, Nelson hooked up with Molitor who evaded a couple of tackles and ran into the end zone.
The game was close all the way. SDSU scored in the first quarter on a one-yard run by Anthony Watson which capped a 68-yard drive.
NDSU scored back-to-back touchdowns, on a 3-yard run by Kyle Steffes and a 6-yard run by Cinque Chapman and the Bison were ahead 14-7.
But the Jacks marched 66 yards on nine plays and scored on 2-yard run by Andy Kardoes to tie it at halftime.
NDSU regained the league on a 22-yard pass from Tony Stauss to A.J. Cooper in the third quarter.
SDSU had a drive stall in Bison territory and elected to attempt a field goal. Parker Douglass was good from 36-yards cutting it to 21-17.
After the SDSU kickoff, NDSU started at its own 27 and gained one first down before the Jack defense put the Bison in a fourth and two situation at midfield. Mike Dragosavich's punt went into the end zone, giving SDSU the ball at its own 20.
SDSU finished with a 373-343 advantage in total offense and Nelson was named the Outstanding Player of the Beef Bowl after completing 20-of-35 passes for 198 yards. he had one interception and one touchdown pass, and also rushed three times for 26 yards.
Watson rushed 22 times for 133 yards while Brian Janecek (52 yards) and Solomon Johnson (46 yards) caught six passes each.
Stauss completed 18-of-27 passes for 183 yards, with one interception and one TD for NDSU. Chapman led the ground game with 75 yards on 19 carries while Steffes had 68 yards, also on 19 carries.
Linebacker Chris Coauette led the SDSU defense with 15 tackles (seven solos). Cornerback Hank McCall had 11 tackles and ended NDSU's last possession with an interception at the SDSU 49 yard line with 20 seconds to play. The Bison used their last two timeouts but SDSU was able to run out the clock. Linebacker Mike Blackbourn added 10 tackles.
