Texas State to Open FCS Playoffs at Montana
The Texas State Bobcats face off against Montana in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championships Saturday at 1:05 p.m. The 8-4 Bobcats beat Sam Houston State 48-45 in overtime in Huntsville last Saturday to clinch the Southland Conference championship and automatic playoff berth.
Texas State, which finished 5-2 in league play, is making its second appearance in the Division I playoffs and its first since 2005 when it advanced to the semifinal rounds. This game will be the first road game in the playoffs for the Bobcats, which played host to all three games in 2005. Texas State was 5-1 on the road this season and has won the last five. The lone blemish came in the second game of the season at SMU.
Montana earned an at-large bid after sharing the Big Sky championship with Weber State, which beat the Grizzlies 45-28 on Oct. 4. It was the only loss for 11-1 Montana, which recorded seven conference wins to get help it advance to its 16th consecutive playoff appearance.
Southland in the FCS Playoffs
Texas State will be trying to buck a recent trend of first-round exits for the league. Not since the Bobcats advanced to the semifinals in 2005 has the league opened the playoffs with a win. Texas State is making only its second playoff appearance and is 2-1. Sam Houston State advanced to the semifinals in 2004 but lost at Montana. A conference team has not advanced to the championship game since 2002 when McNeese State lost to Western Kentucky. Only one league team has appeared in the playoffs each of the last three seasons. In the six seasons prior, multiple Southland teams advanced to the playoffs five times, including three teams in 2001 when Sam Houston State, Northwestern State and McNeese State advanced. The Southland has had three teams in the playoffs three different times (1988, 1998 and 2001).
The Southland Conference is 42-46 all-time in the NCAA Division I Football Championships. Southland schools have won five national championships and have been to 10 national championship games.
Texas State Wins Southland
In a season that featured five comeback victories, the Texas State football team saved their biggest comeback of the 2008 season for their final regular season game when the Bobcats overcame a 21-0 deficit and won their second Southland Conference championship with a 48-45 overtime victory at Sam Houston State on Saturday.
Down 21-13 at the half and 28-13 early in the third, the momentum of the entire game changed when Karrington Bush returned Taylor Wilkins’ kick 79 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-20, giving him his first kickoff return for a touchdown and the longest kickoff return of his collegiate career.
The Bobcats tied the game on their next possession when Bradley George hit Stan Zwinggi for a 91-yard touchdown on a screen pass.
The teams traded scores with Sam Houston scoring the equalizer with four seconds to play in regulation. The Bearkats kicked a field goal on their first possession of overtime. Then five plays later Bush took an option pitch from George and scored from five yards out to give the Bobcats a 48-45 victory.
Noting Texas State
? Texas State’s overtime victory at Sam Houston State last Saturday marked the first win for the Bobcats in an overtime game since beating the Bearkats 26-23 on Nov. 19, 2005 to end the regular season. The Bobcats won their next two NCAA Division I-AA playoff games before suffering a 40-37 overtime loss to Northern Iowa in the National Semifinals.
? This is the Bobcats’ first outright conference championship since winning the 1982 NCAA Division II National Championship and Lone Star Conference championship with a 14-0 record that season.
? Texas State enters the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs with a five-game winning streak in road games. The five road wins are the most by the Bobcats in school history.
? This is the second time since 1983 that Texas State has won eight games in a season. The only other time was in 2005 when it was 11-3 with a roster that included 23 seniors.
? Bradley George is the first Texas State quarterback to record 2,000 yards passing in back to back seasons after ending the regular season with 2,401 yards.
? Karrington Bush became the first Texas State running back to record back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since 1997 when Claude Mathis recorded his third 1,000-7ard seasons. Bush and Mathis are the only two running backs at Texas State to record more than one 1,000-yard season.
? Cameron Luke ended the regular season having set the Texas State record for most receptions in a season with 68 catches after tying the old record last season with 60. Luke also is the first Texas State player to record 1,000 receiving yards in back to back seasons as he enters the Montana game with 1,193 yards. He is the first Southland Conference receiver to record 10 touchdown catches in back to back seasons and ended the regular season with 16 TDs.
? This marks the second consecutive season and just the second time in school history that Texas state has had a 1,000-yard rusher, 2,000-yard passer and a 1,000-yard receiver.
SLC Players of the Week Announced
Northwestern State wide receiver Dudley Guice, Southeastern Louisiana linebacker Quinten Pierre, and Texas State running back Karrington Bush, were named Southland Conference football players of the week as voted upon by the league’s sports information directors. The offensive recipient, Guice, takes home the Demons fourth award of the season. Pierre, the defensive award winner, receives his first of the season and the Lion’s seventh, tying Southeastern with Nicholls State for most awards this year. The special teams honoree, Bush, takes home his first weekly award of the season, giving the Bobcats four in 2008.
Four on Premier Watch Lists
Four Southland Conference football student-athletes appear on the final watch lists for the Walter Payton and Buck Buchanan awards, which were announced Nov. 20 by the Sports Network.
Sam Houston State quarterback Rhett Bomar and Central Arkansas quarterback Nathan Brown are on the watch list for the Payton Award, which goes to the top player in the Football Championship Subdivision. Nicholls State free safety/kick return specialist Lardarius Webb has been on the watch list for the entire season and was joined Thursday by Central Arkansas defensive end Larry Hart, who was added to the final list.
The three finalists for each award will be announced Dec. 1. The winners will be announced at the annual Sports Network Awards banquet in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 18, the eve of the NCAA Division I football championship game. The Eddie Robinson Award, which is presented to the top FCS coach, will also be presented that night.
Conque a Finalist for Robinson Award
Central Arkansas football coach Clint Conque has been named as one of 20 finalists for The Sports Network’s Eddie Robinson Award given to the nation’s top coach at the NCAA FCS level. Conque joins five former winners of the award among the 20 candidates for the 2008 award. Conque’s Bears finished off a 10-2 season last Saturday with a 47-30 victory over perennial power McNeese State. UCA finished atop the Southland Conference standings with a 6-1 record in just their second full season in the league. They are not eligible for the NCAA playoffs because of the transition to Division I. Conque is tied for second with Mike Isom in career coaching victories at UCA with 68. He has led the Bears to two conference championships and two playoff appearances. The Bears are 13-3 against Southland Conference teams since making the move to Division I, and 24-10 overall.
Brown Named Player of the Year
After quarterbacking Central Arkansas to a 10-2 overall record, Nathan Brown was named the Southland Conference Player of the Year Tuesday. UCA defensive end Larry Hart was named the defensive player of the year and Bears’ mentor Clint Conque was named coach of the year.
Brown, last year’s offensive player of the year, capped his career by surpassing the 10,000-yard passing mark. The senior from Russellville, Ark., finished with an even 100 career touchdowns. A candidate for the Walter Payton Award, Brown completed 254-of-375 passes for 3,206 yards and 31 scores, while maintaining the best pass efficiency (164.7) rating by a conference quarterback.
Nearly half of Hart’s 43 tackles went for losses. The junior from Madison, Miss., led the conference with 21 tackles for losses of 96 yards and his league-best 15 sacks totaled 75 yards. He broke up five passes, forced one fumble and blocked a kick. He recorded 9.5 tackles for loss in Southland play, in addition to eight sacks.
Conque led Central Arkansas to the best record in the Southland this season at 6-1 though it was ineligible for the conference championship and league’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division I Football Championships during its transition from Division II. During the last two seasons, Conque has guided the Bears to an 11-3 conference record, matching McNeese State for the best mark during that stretch. The Bears’ win over McNeese State last Saturday gave Conque 10 wins for just the second time in his nine-year career. Conque has guided the Bears to a No. 11 national ranking.
Pendland Named Top Offensive Player
McNeese State tailback Toddrick Pendland was the Southland’s offensive player of the year. Pendland, who averaged 130.1 yards rushing in 11 games this season, saw that number swell to 153.7 yards per game in conference play. The junior from Newton, Texas, totaled 1,431 yards on 219 carries and scored 12 touchdowns. He was second in the league with 174.1 all-purpose yards per game, but led the Southland with 201.9 all-purpose yards in seven conference games.
Yarborough Named Best Freshman
Southeastern Louisiana receiver Simmie Yarborough was named the freshman of the year. Yarborough, a true freshman tight end from Brookhaven, Miss., caught 51 passes for 490 yards and six touchdowns. He averaged 9.6 yards per reception and 44.5 yards per game.
Brooks is Top Newcomer
Stephen F. Austin receiver Duane Brooks was voted the newcomer of the year. Brooks, a freshman transfer from Central Michigan, led the Lumberjacks with 86.3 receiving yards per game. A native of Irving, Texas, Brooks caught a team-high 68 passes for 863 yards and four scores.
UCA Cleans Up on Awards
The Bears placed 13 student-athletes on the two all-conference teams, the most by a Southland program. That included seven first-team selections. Joining Brown on the first-team offense are tight end Marquez Branson and offensive linemen Lane Freiwald and Jeremy Ford. Hart was joined on the first-team defense by defensive backs Pieri Feazell and Anthony Gambles. Six Bears earned second-team all-conference mention including running back Brent Grimes, fullback Nick Cowger, offensive lineman Brad Gordon, defensive lineman Taylor Scott, linebacker James Lancaster and punter Jonathan Beard.
Central Arkansas Was Ineligible for Southland Championship
The Southland Conference announced Nov. 11 it had been notified by the NCAA that the league could not award its 2008 championship to its reclassifying member Central Arkansas. By awarding a championship to UCA, or any declaration or reference by the Southland that the institution is the conference champion, the NCAA will revoke the league’s automatic qualification into the Division I Football Championship. UCA was 10-2 overall and finished with the best conference record at 6-1.
Four Garner Academic Awards
Four Southland Conference football student-athletes have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI football team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Brant Linde and David Ballard, both of McNeese State, were joined on the list by Stephen F. Austin’s Cory Long and Northwestern State’s Kendall Rodrigue.
This is the second year in a row for both Linde and Ballard to be named to the team, Linde as a defensive back and Ballard as an offensive lineman. Linde, a senior from Mandeville, La., went on to be named to the national Academic All-America second team a year ago. He is an accounting major and holds a 3.62 overall grade-point average. Ballard, a senior from Lake Charles, La., received a degree in general studies (3.70 GPA) last May and is now working on another degree.
Rodrigue, a junior from Walker, La., is an accounting major with a 3.69 GPA. Rodrigue won the Northwestern State athletic department’s male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for his class as a freshman and sophomore and was active in 2005 hurricane evacuee service to as many as 1,600 on the Northwestern State campus displaced by Katrina and Rita.
Long is the midst of his best season in a Lumberjack uniform. The senior kicker from Richardson, Texas, is a finance major with a 3.91 GPA. Long was a 2006 Academic All-SLC selection, and a 2006 Division I-AA Athletic Director’s Association Academic All-Star. A 2005 honorable mention All-SLC selection, Long was a semifinalist for the 2008 Draddy Trophy.
To be eligible for the team players had to be a starter or first line reserve, had to be at least a sophomore and had to possess no less than a 3.30 overall grade-point average.