Someone has thrown the red challenge flag on us this week regarding our latest Fabulous 14 team rankings, posted Tuesday.
They may have a case.
“You’ve got Lenoir-Rhyne ranked third behind Duke and North Carolina. But if the main criteria of your Fabulous 14 is, as you say, “how special the season is unfolding and the splash teams are making along the way,” how do you not have the Bears at No. 1? They have a higher national ranking and they’ve been more dominant in nearly all phases. It’s not even close!”
This critic makes a good point. Let’s go to the replay booth and consider Lenoir-Rhyne’s resume after three weeks:
* The highest national ranking of any team in North Carolina at any level: 15th in the D2Football.com poll and 17th in the coaches poll (UNC and Duke are 17th/18th in both the AP and FBS coaches polls)
* 3-0 record with wins over St. Augustine’s (45-7), Fayetteville State (24-10) and Erskine (62-0).
* First in the state in points-per-game: 43.7 (Duke 36.0, UNC 34.0)
* First in the state and second in all of Division II in total defense: allowing 119 yards per game (Duke 300.7, UNC 382.7)
* First in the state and second in all of Division II in scoring defense: surrendering 5.6 points per game (Duke 9.3 ppg – fifth in FBS; UNC 21.3)
* FIVE (!) punt returns for touchdowns (Duke, UNC have none)
* Two blocked punts (Duke, UNC have none, though the Blue Devils have blocked two other kicks)
* Highest single-game point total of any team in the state thus far: 62 points in a shutout of Erskine on Saturday (Duke’s best is 42 against Lafayette; UNC hit 40 against App State).
* Wide receiver DeAree Rogers has returned three punts for touchdowns (a new Lenoir-Rhyne single-season record). Rogers, a redshirt freshman from Lexington, S.C., brought two punts back for scores against Erskine (tying the school’s record for most in a game) and finished with 170 punt return yards in that contest (eclipsing another school record). He’s understandably the South Atlantic Special Teams Player of the Week and has been getting national attention for his feats.
* Lenoir-Rhyne’s wipeout of Erskine, albeit against a team that’s not very good, still goes as the most dominant single-game performance of the season by a North Carolina team at any level. The Bears held the Flying Fleet to 56 total yards on 57 plays — sending them backwards 20 yards in the run game.
The Bears picked off three passes, with Percy King returning one 42 yards for a score. Malakei Sumner recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and later caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Ferguson. Zayvion Turner-Knox had a 43-yard scoring run during garbage time in the fourth quarter. Lenoir-Rhyne emptied its bench in the second half and still Erskine couldn’t move the ball or find the end zone.
“There are very few games I’ve been a part of in 22 years where all three phases truly scored,” Lenoir-Rhyne coach Mike Jacobs — who was NOT the one to challenge our Fabulous 14 rankings by the way — said in a post-game interview posted by LRBears.com “We had three special teams touchdowns, a defensive touchdown, the offense moved the ball, we played a ton of young guys. I am just proud of our effort.”
So what’s the verdict from replay? Does Lenoir-Rhyne have enough evidence to overturn this week’s Fabulous 14? Or should the rankings stand as published, citing items like Duke and North Carolina’s much more impressive comparative strength of schedule?
While we wait for the replay booth to decide, you can check out these replays from the top three teams in our Fabulous 14, courtesy of their respective Twitter accounts:
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LR’s DeAree Rogers first punt return TD vs. Erskine
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DeAree Rogers’ second punt return TD (was not called back)
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UNC WR Nate McCollum has career day
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Duke defense dominates Northwestern
