Week 13 Headlines: Lenoir-Rhyne still dancing, App State snows JMU, FCS season complete

Lenoir-Rhyne’s still dancing, while the music stopped earlier than expected for Wingate.

Duke football continues to shine under its new management, while UNC’s 20-point loss at Boston College has fans again wondering if the Tar Heels need to move in a new direction.

App State won on a snowy Senior Day, while FCS playoff hopefuls Western Carolina and North Carolina had the NCAA selection committee rain on their postseason hopes. 

These are some of the top headlines from Week 13 of the college football season in the Old North State, where we also were reminded that “interim” isn’t necessarily a bad word:

Gritty App State Fells James Madison In Home Finale

It’s been a challenging year for Appalachian State’s football program – the death of a student-athlete before the season, the lasting effects of Hurricane Helene, struggles to reach expectations on the field (and the crowing from disgruntled fans that goes along with that).

On Saturday, the Mountaineers let it all go in a pleasing 34-20 Senior Day win over James Madison. With mountain snow as a backdrop, and with NFL celeb Jason Kelce providing an energetic on-field halftime speech, ASU dumped a loss on the same Dukes team that scored 70 points at UNC back in September. App State (5-5) still needs another win to get bowl eligible, but it can celebrate being 3-0 at Kidd Brewer Stadium since the hurricane changed lives forever in WNC.

D2 Playoffs Produce Thrill of Victory (Lenoir-Rhyne), Agony of Defeat (Wingate)

Lenoir-Rhyne is the last of our state’s NCAA Division II teams still dancing. The Bears rallied from double digits to upset West Alabama 37-34 in Saturday’s playoff opening round. LR improved to 10-2 overall and will play Virginia Union in round two next Saturday. 

Virginia Union stunned No. 2 seeded Wingate 34-31 in overtime to knock the Bulldogs out of the playoffs. The Panthers found ways to crack Wingate’s vaunted defense, which has been among the D2 leaders in multiple stat categories all season. 

Backup quarterback RJ Rosales did the most damage in the second half, converting a pair of long fourth downs with scrambles and setting up VUU’s overtime touchdown with an 18-yard scamper.

One-Score Wins? No Problem For Duke Football

Maalik Murphy threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns, leading Duke to a 31-28 win over Virginia Tech in the nightcap on ACC Network. The result gives Duke its eighth win for the third year in a row. It was the fifth time the Blue Devils prevailed in a one-score contest this season. Don’t look now but Manny Diaz has Duke with the same overall record (8-3) as the coach he just replaced, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko (8-3). Devils-Aggies would be a juicy bowl match-up if A&M doesn’t make the playoff.

Interim Head Coaches In NC Still Undefeated

Here’s the formula for winning FBS football games in 2024: fire your coach midseason and reap the benefits of the momentum bump from an interim taking over. 

We kid, but that has been what has unfolded for two of our state’s FBS teams so far. East Carolina improved to 4-0 under interim coach Blake Harrell with a 40-28 come-from-behind win over North Texas. Charlotte won its first game under interim coach Tim Brewster, beating Florida Atlantic 39-27. 

ECU, now 7-4, apparently is a program-wrecker. The three teams it beat before this weekend – Temple, Florida Atlantic and Tulsa – have all fired their coaches this month. Harrell has received several endorsements the past few days from players and those close to the program to have the interim tag removed. He is certainly making his case, though keep in mind the four victories have come against underwhelming foes that ECU should be beating anyways — North Texas 5-6, Temple 3-8, Tulsa 3-8 and FAU 2-9.

Season ends for North Carolina’s FCS college teams

Western Carolina and North Carolina Central put their best foot forward on the final weekend of the regular season, but it wasn’t enough to convince the FCS playoff selection committee to put them in the 2024 bracket. The Catamounts used a first-half salvo to beat Samford 47-42 and finish 7-5. NCCU raced past Delaware State 52-10.

The 24-team field, released early Sunday afternoon, will not feature any North Carolina teams for the first time since 2019. North Carolina Central (MEAC runner-up) and Gardner-Webb (Big South/OVC champs) earned a berth into the 2023 playoffs, while Davidson and Elon advanced in 2022. Davidson earned trips to the FCS postseason tournament in 2020 and 2021 as well. 

Western Carolina has the longest playoff drought among our state’s FCS teams. The Catamounts advanced to the national championship game in 1983 (when it was known as the NCAA I-AA division). They haven’t been back since.

Campbell, which restarted its football program in 2008, is the only current FCS school not to make the playoffs at all. NC A&T leads all North Carolina schools with five all-time appearances, the most recent in 2016.

The final day of the season featured pleasing wins for Elon as well as WCU and NCCU. NC A&T concluded another rough campaign with a 1-11 mark. Davidson lost a 17-10 lead in the final seconds against Valparaiso but still managed to chalk up a winning season.

Tar Heels’ momentum stalls out in weekend before NC State game

The roller coaster ride that is North Carolina’s 2024 season hit another low spot Saturday with a 41-21 defeat at Boston College. That brought an end to a three-game win streak and tempered feelings UNC fans may have had surrounding reports that Mack Brown intends to return as head coach in 2025. The Tar Heels are now 6-5 and under a cloud again with NC State (5-6) – struggling under its own dark skies – on deck this coming weekend for the finale.

Andrew Carter, veteran beat reporter for the (Raleigh) News & Observer, summed up UNC fans’ dilemma best in a social media post Saturday night (see below):

Playoff Bracket Aftermath: VUU Upset Provides Vindication For CIAA

Playoff bracket controversies aren’t limited to how many SEC and Big Ten teams should get into the FBS tournament. There was consternation among fans and pundits after the D2 playoff bracket was released last week. 

Virginia Union’s upset of Wingate was somewhat of a vindication for the CIAA, which only received one invite to the D2 tournament. The South Atlantic Conference meanwhile got three into the field (Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate and Carson-Newman, which lost to Miles from the SIAC in its opener).

Johnson C. Smith and Winston-Salem State both found themselves on the outside looking in this weekend despite both having playoff worthy resumes. We’ll never get to know what would have happened had the Golden Bulls and Rams been included. But it’s safe to say that 2024 was a strong season for CIAA football, especially in our state, with five teams boasting winning records. The league was better and deeper than what some gave it credit for.

—> See our STATEWIDE SCOREBOARD for all final scores from Week 13 and the season