Statewide Recap: Last unbeaten team falls; Fayetteville State clinches; don’t disrespect NCSU

Headlines, news, notes and more after a roller coaster weekend of college football across the Old North State:

—> CHECK HERE for all of the final scores from Week 9 action

1. No more unbeaten teams

Lenoir-Rhyne from the D2 ranks came into the weekend as the last undefeated team in North Carolina. But Wingate rose up at home and pinned the first loss of the season on the Bears, getting a 75-yard touchdown pass from Brooks Bentley to Evan McCray with 50 seconds left to win 34-30.

The game befit two of the best D2 teams in the state. There were six lead changes, including four in the final quarter. Lenoir-Rhyne had just taken the lead back when the Bentley-to-McCray dagger play swung things back the Bulldogs way.

Lenoir-Rhyne (8-1) came into the South Atlantic Conference contest ranked seventh nationally in Division II and had a 10-game win streak dating back to last fall. The Bulldogs improved to 6-3.

2. Crown ’em – again

Fayetteville State clinched its spot in the CIAA championship game with a thrilling 21-14 win at Shaw. The Broncos (7-2 overall, 7-0 CIAA) have one more regular season game to play but can’t be caught in the Southern Division standings. FSU will make its sixth-straight appearance in the CIAA finale, winning the league title a year ago.

Fayetteville State gets an A-plus in winning close games, with six of its seven victories coming by seven points or fewer. Saturday was no different. Shaw notched the tying touchdown in the closing minutes after recovering a fumble, only to watch the Broncos complete a 60-yard pass from Joe Owens Jr. to Nigel Fitzgerald with 20 seconds left.

The CIAA title game will be Saturday, Nov. 11 in Salem, Va. The opponent will be either Virginia State or Virginia Union. Both teams are 8-1 overall. FSU beat Virginia Union 10-7 with a late field goal in September but has not played Virginia State this season.

3. Don’t disrespect the Wolfpack on national TV

Former Carolina Panthers great Steve Smith served as the guess picker during ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning. Smith picked Clemson to beat NC State, saying that NCSU was just “waiting for basketball to start.”

The Wolfpack posted an impressive 24-17 win over Clemson, handing the Tigers their second straight loss. Pack coach Dave Doeren unloaded on Smith in his post-game comments:

“No disrespect to him, but he disrespected our program. I’m not gonna let people do that.”

He used saltier language during the post-game interview before heading to the locker room. NC State, which has had its ups and downs this fall, may yet turn out to be the best FBS team in the state when all is said and done. Which leads us to…

4. Deflating losses for early-season darlings

North Carolina, Duke and Western Carolina took the September and early October college football landscape by storm. The Tar Heels raced out to a 6-0 record. Duke beat Clemson on Labor Day and played Notre Dame to the wire after a GameDay visit to Durham a few weeks later. Western Carolina knocked off ranked teams to jump to the top of the SoCon standings.

Then, all three schools stubbed their toes two weeks in a row. UNC couldn’t stop Georgia Tech in the second half on Saturday night. Duke didn’t score at all at Louisville. WCU turned the ball over six times against Mercer, watching a fumble and interception go the other way for TDs.

Fans at all three schools likely have a little whiplash, wondering what stepped in front of the momentum trains each team had been riding.

There is still time to salvage solid seasons for all three schools — upper-tier bowls for UNC and Duke, and an FCS playoff berth for Western. But things seem a lot more in doubt for three of the teams that led our Fabulous 14 statewide rankings during the first half of the season.

5. It’s not how you start but how you finish

Davidson and Fayetteville State both opened 0-2 and faded away from our attention somewhat. Neither school has lost since.

The Wildcats have reeled off six straight, topping Presbyterian 45-28 on Saturday for its latest triumph. As mentioned above, Fayetteville State has captured seven in a row, all against CIAA foes. With Lenoir-Rhyne’s loss, these two schools now hold the longest winning streaks in the state.

Brevard has been on a tear in Division III USA South Conference action, earning five wins in a row. North Carolina Central from the FCS won its fifth in a row Thursday, throttling South Carolina State.

NC Wesleyan, which plays in the same league as Brevard, hasn’t lost in its last four tries. Mars Hill lost early in South Atlantic play but has quietly captured four in a row to lead the Mountain Division.

6. FCS ranked teams beware of playing here

Gardner-Webb became the third FCS team from North Carolina this season to upset a top-15 opponent. The Bulldogs knocked off No. 13/14 UT Martin in a wild 38-34 contest in Boiling Springs on Saturday.

Western Carolina hammered a top-10 Samford team early in the year, then Elon picked off a top-five William & Mary squad.

GWU, which fell to 2-4 after getting blitzed Austin Peay a few weeks back, seems to have righted its ship as the season approaches port. The Bulldogs will take a 4-4 overall mark into its last three Big South/OVC contests. Nice work by Tre Lamb and company to put things back together for the stretch run.

7. A win! At last

Greensboro erased the goose egg in its ‘W’ column, drilling Southern Virginia 47-7 on Saturday. The Pride had lost its first eight games of 2023 and had the longest active losing streak of any college team in the state at 12.

Greensboro’s triumph leaves three teams still in the winless category with the season drawing closer to its end: Chowan (D2), St. Augustine’s (D2) and St. Andrews (NAIA).

8. Reality sets in for ACC, Big Four schools

The sobering truth: Florida State, which drilled Wake Forest 41-16, is the ACC’s only elite team this season. Louisville is really good. But alas, schools like UNC, NC State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech have shown themselves to be only in the top 25-50 caliber range, beating up on each other.

UNC and Duke have flashed top-15 moments. And NC State, that defense (Payton Wilson!)! But alas, this will be another season of elite, playoff-caliber college football eluding fans of our state’s FBS programs.

So is this the ceiling for the Big Four? Eight or nine-win campaigns with decent bowl games, and the occasional, all-the-stars-align 11-win outliers? Should fans hope for more?

9. App State hasn’t cashed it in

During one of its CBS Sports Cover 3 podcasts this week, a discussion broke out on whether Appalachian State was on “quit watch” after dropping several close games. But the Mountaineers showed that wasn’t the case, rolling to a 48-38 win over Southern Miss on Saturday night. App reached a season high in points and total offense (571 yards).

Coach Shawn Clark’s group is 3-1 at home this season and won its homecoming game for the ninth-straight year. Now at 4-4, the Mountaineers face a tough road getting to bowl eligibility, with games coming up against Marshall (4-4), Georgia State (6-2), James Madison (8-0) and Georgia Southern (6-2). But it doesn’t look like the Mountaineers will be on the quit watch going forward.

10. Golden Bull market

Johnson C. Smith (6-3 overall) broke a lengthy losing streak against Winston-Salem State on Saturday, winning 34-31 at home. The last time the Golden Bulls beat the Rams, Bill Clinton was in the White House. Overall, JCSU has been one of the best CFB stories in our state. Coach Maurice Flowers’ group has matched the school’s highest win total since 2012. A win over Livingstone (4-5), another team trending in the positive direction, in Saturday’s season finale will give Johnson C. Smith seven victories for the first time since 2006.