Thoughts, musings and observations from a wild week three of college football around North Carolina, remembering that no lead is safe and everybody loves a good back-up quarterback:
More, please!
Joey Aguilar threw for a career-best 424 yards, and Appalachian State rallied to beat East Carolina 21-19 in an action-packed thriller at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville. Our first thought as the teams shook hands and trotted off the field? We need more games like these between in-state rivals.
Yes, we understand all the arguments various schools make for not playing the other NC teams that aren’t in their conference. But showdowns like App-ECU, App-UNC, NC State-ECU will always pack stadiums and generate maximum buzz around the state, regardless of what the TV schedule-makers think or whether a national audience cares to tune in. That has to be worth something.
For sure, no one is clamoring for more State-Syracuse, UNC-Cal, Duke-Boston College or ECU-Tulsa match-ups.
Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark said it best Saturday night after his team’s thrilling win: “Why we don’t play these kind of games every year with Power 5 programs, Group of 5 programs, man, we are shortchanging fans in the state of North Carolina. This is great for everybody. We keep the money in state. Why wouldn’t we do this? This is what college football is all about.”
Western Carolina Rights The Ship, Just In Time
The Catamounts used a blocked field goal and a quarterback willing to go airborne near the goal-line to defeat Elon in the marquee FCS match-up in our state Saturday night. Despite falling behind early, WCU earned its first victory of the season, 24-17, against the newly minted No. 22 team in the nation.
Things could have gone off the rails for WCU had the team fallen to 0-3. This victory provides a nice resume builder and builds back some confidence with conference play soon on deck. The Catamounts still have everything in front of them, including their goal of breaking a four-decades long playoff drought.
So who rules the state among our FCS teams right now? Still too close to call. Our FCS heavyweights have been beating up on each other the first three weeks. Campbell upset Western Carolina. Elon dominated North Carolina Central. Western Carolina cut down Elon.
We still have Campbell-Elon, Campbell-NCCU, NCCU-NC A&T and Campbell-NC A&T left among in-state rivalry games. Still a lot of time to sort things out.
Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne Look Like Heavyweights Again
We took a little heat when we listed Wingate as the top Division II team in our state in the preseason. That pick went against national pundits (Lenoir-Rhyne was ranked in the preseason top 25, Wingate was not) and coaches from the South Atlantic Conference (who tabbed Lenoir-Rhyne at No. 1 and Wingate at No. 2 in their league predictions).
We’re feeling better about starting Wingate at the top after Saturday’s action. The Bulldogs took down 12th-ranked Delta State 21-7 at home to improve to 2-0. Wingate lived in Delta State’s backfield, made enough plays on offense and controlled the clock to keep Rashaan Jordan unbeaten as the school’s new head coach.
With that being said, early returns on Lenoir-Rhyne look equally as promising. Yes, they have a new coach (Doug Socha), a new system and a mostly overhauled roster.
But the Bears have been sharp and explosive at times the first two weeks of the season, bagging a 38-17 win over Tiffin on Saturday.
There is a lot of football left to be played before Lenoir-Rhyne entertains Wingate in November, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that these two teams could be Top 15 (Top 10?) nationally when they do collide.
Don’t Overlook Catawba
Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate (or Wingate and then Lenoir-Rhyne) look to be the standard-bearers in the South Atlantic this season. But Tyler Haines is quietly building something at Catawba, and the Indians could be a factor this season
Catawba earned a 37-28 win over up-and-coming Shaw on Saturday night. Preston Brown threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns. This group certainly could challenge for an upper division finish in the SAC Piedmont.
Johnson C. Smith, North Carolina’s CIAA Teams Flexing
After three weeks, North Carolina’s CIAA “Six Pack” — Johnson C. Smith, Winston-Salem State, Shaw, Livingstone, Elizabeth City State and Fayetteville State — own a combined 12-5 record. They have done their part in helping the CIAA compile a 6-0 mark against SIAC opponents, being responsible for four of those wins (JCSU 2, Shaw 1, Livingstone 1).
Contrast that to last season when this same group of six was 5-13 after three weeks (and St. Augustine’s, not fielding a team this year, was 0-3).
Johnson C. Smith continues to impress and ascend. JCSU was picked fourth in the conference behind Virginia State, Virginia Union and Fayetteville State. But the Golden Bulls look the part of legitimate title contender so far, improving to 3-0 with a 52-6 dismantling of conference foe Lincoln.
The Bulls have added a serious offensive punch to what was one of the best defensive units in D2 last season. Wide receiver Brevin Caldwell can take the top off a defense (80-yard TD reception on Saturday), and the addition of D1 running back transfer Quavaris Crouch levels up the run game.
Winston-Salem State, Shaw, Livingstone and Elizabeth City State all own 2-1 records. Fayetteville State is 1-1 with a satisfying win over UNC Pembroke in hand (and its loss coming to a top five Valdosta State squad).
We’ll know a lot more where our Six Pack stands after next weekend. Johnson C. Smith entertains reigning CIAA champion Virginia Union. Winston-Salem State visits preseason favorite Virginia State. Fayetteville State will meet Elizabeth City State in the annual Down East Viking Classic in Rocky Mount. Livingstone goes to Bowie State, while it will be Shaw’s turn to host Lincoln.
Not So Fast My Friend
With Gardner-Webb leading Charlotte 20-6 heading into the fourth quarter, we started crafting an “Upset Special” story on an in-state FCS team knocking off an FBS neighbor.
But the 49ers threw that story into the garbage can, woke up from their slumber and rallied for a 27-26 triumph at Jerry Richardson Stadium. Backup quarterback Trexler Ivey threw a pair of touchdown passes, and Charlotte eventually grabbed a 27-20 lead.
Credit Gardner-Webb for fighting to the end. The Bulldogs pulled within 27-26 with less than two minutes to play but got stuffed on a two-point conversion attempt. We love the moxie of the play-call, the undergoing going for the win on the road. But instead, the play didn’t deliver and GWU suffered its third loss of the season, the second by a single point.
Charlotte began the week as a more than 30-point betting favorite against Gardner-Webb. The line came way down by Saturday, but few outside of Boiling Springs likely expected things to be this close at the end.
Gardner-Webb has a solid team and should be a factor in its conference if it can figure out how to close games. GWU has led in all of its contests thus far.
Quick Hitters
Guilford College, one of two teams to earn shutouts this season, enjoyed another banner defensive effort in a 14-12 win over Methodist … The Quakers have only allowed opponents into their end zone once in eight quarters…
Davidson put up video game rushing numbers against overmatched Point in a 42-12 triumph. The Wildcats rolled up 482 (!) rushing yards, averaging 7.1 yards per attempt.
We’ll take one last paragraph to appreciate the uniqueness of this past weekend. Of North Carolina’s 34 college football programs, 28 played within the state’s borders and 21 hosted games. That’s a lot of football in our great state, and we love being right in the middle of it.
And we’ll take one last paragraph also to repeat what you probably already know: Florida State is 0-3. This has nothing to do with college football in North Carolina, of course. But after listening to this malcontent fan base for a year whining about how superior it is to the rest of the ACC, we’re quite enjoying karma’s response to all the bluster.
