How in the world did you beat that FBS Foe?

[Appinator]

Ahh, the off-season. Speculation reigns supreme, opinions have legitimacy, and everyone is undefeated.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/12/14/upsets/index.html

This SI article tries to highlight some of the reasons why this season was “The Season of Upsets”. It does a good job of creating excuses for the FBS (They're playing 12 games!!) and tries to hail the spread offense as the great equalizer. However, it does make me wonder, what all went into the FCS over FBS upsets this year? This is not another “Man App beat Michigan, We are awesome!” thread. More of a way to share all of what went into beating the FBS opponent you faced this year.

UNI doesn’t have a spread attack, nor does Delaware, but they both beat the big boys (UNI, UNH, UD, and SIU all faced each other in the playoffs, and all had an FBS win – that is AMAZING).

Some teams probably had more talent on the field (McNeese over LA-Lafayette), some had great skill positions and were better prepared (App over Michigan), and some went undefeated because they didn’t play at all (Montana)xsmiley_wix .

What went into the victory? Any Luck? Bad calls? Great Offense? Great Defense? Great Special Teams? Are you going to be able to bring that level of play back next year? I look forward to finding out.

[McNeese72]

Some teams probably had more talent on the field (McNeese over LA-Monroe),

Uh, the last time we played La-Monroe was in 2002 and we just ran the ball all over them.

Doc

[appstate38]

The excuse about being tired is pretty lame. Like the FBS guys play harder and hit harder than all other divisions of college football thus making the fatigue greater. Any FCS team that has made a decent playoff run has added 2-3 extra games to their schedule and yet they find a way to compete at a high level. Sports writers holding up the FBS house of cards. When will the madness stop?

[Appinator]

Uh, the last time we played La-Monroe was in 2002 and we just ran the ball all over them.

Doc


Sorry, I meant La-Lafayette. I will change it in the post. Thanks.xoopsx

[McNeese72]

Sorry, I meant La-Lafayette. I will change it in the post. Thanks.xoopsx

Okay, we wore them them down (especially their lines) and then ran the ball down their throats in the second half. We ended the game by kneeling in their redzone.

Doc

[WrenFGun]

From a UNH perspective,

Marshall took UNH for granted. A couple of things happened: first, Marshall sat the "injured" Bernard Morris for most of the first half, and inserted him only on the last drive, where UNH stopped him on a 4th and 4 near the goal line. Meanwhile, UNH marched down the field at will, and were up 24-0at halftime. They didn't stop Morris again for the game, and Marshall scored on all five second half possessions, at one point taking a one point lead, if I remember correctly. Santos was absolutely unstoppable though and UNH hung on 48-35. There was a memorable drive by UNH which took eight minutes where they ran it down the throat of Marshall and Marshall could not stop them.

Ultimately, though, if Morris plays the whole game, they win.

[Bisondad]

From an NDSU perspective, we punched both of them (Central Mighigan and Minnesota) square in the nose. I thik post game interviews from both squads will tell you the same thing.

[Appinator]

From an NDSU perspective, we punched both of them (Central Mighigan and Minnesota) square in the nose. I thik post game interviews from both squads will tell you the same thing.

Do you all have any FBS oppenents set for next year? Even after losing Walker, you are still quite a team to be scared of. I hope ASU gets to meet up with the Bison in the playoffs, that will be a great game.

[Bisondad]

Do you all have any FBS oppenents set for next year? Even after losing Walker, you are still quite a team to be scared of. I hope ASU gets to meet up with the Bison in the playoffs, that will be a great game.

None on the schedule yet. We're still waiting to see. I would also love to see ASU vs the Bison. Don't know if we are to that level, but it would be fun to find out.

[Touchdown Yosef]

Do you all have any FBS oppenents set for next year? Even after losing Walker, you are still quite a team to be scared of. I hope ASU gets to meet up with the Bison in the playoffs, that will be a great game.

I can think of no two teams teams that I would rather see a home and home with than NDSU and Montanna. Maybe there is some hope for an NDSU matchup in the future.

[UNIFanSince1983]

UNI was the better team when they beat Iowa State. ISU was getting used to a new coach. I thought at the time we just plain had more talent on the field. ISU did bring it together at the end of the season so it would have been nice to have seen them play later on and see if we still were better. I felt they played well towards the end of the year while we seemed to have used up our best football early in the season.

[schmofstra]

This thread makes the Schmofstas nostalgic. Papa Schmofstra's alma mater, Morehead State, not only beat I-A opponent Wichita State at Wichita in 1986, they did it in dramatic fashion -- the biggest comeback in Division I history. Morehead was losing 35-3 at the half. Final score: Morehead 36, Wichita State 35.

How'd they do it? Well, the Eagles had a nice offense that year for one thing. But, honestly, the Schmofstras always believed the Wheat Shockers went into the locker room at halftime and started planning their post-game victory parties (what kind of beer they're gonna buy, which cheerleaders to invite, etc.) instead of planning to play a second half of football.

Does that sound familiar to anybody?

[Chi Panther]

[QUOTE=Appinator;808080]

UNI doesn’t have a spread attack, nor does Delaware, but they both beat the big boys (UNI, UNH, UD, and SIU all faced each other in the playoffs, and all had an FBS win – that is AMAZING).

QUOTE]

I guess it feels good that UNI went 2-1 against those teams.....

UNI won the game against Iowa State with a 4 year starting QB (calm/turnover free, 23-29 passing), and an O-Line that was dominant (41 rushing attempts for 147 yards).xthumbsupx

Also had a chip on the shoulder from blowing the game the year before.....

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

From a UNH perspective,

Marshall took UNH for granted. A couple of things happened: first, Marshall sat the "injured" Bernard Morris for most of the first half, and inserted him only on the last drive, where UNH stopped him on a 4th and 4 near the goal line. Meanwhile, UNH marched down the field at will, and were up 24-0at halftime. They didn't stop Morris again for the game, and Marshall scored on all five second half possessions, at one point taking a one point lead, if I remember correctly. Santos was absolutely unstoppable though and UNH hung on 48-35. There was a memorable drive by UNH which took eight minutes where they ran it down the throat of Marshall and Marshall could not stop them.
Ultimately, though, if Morris plays the whole game, they win.


That was the only game this year the UNH had the 5 O-linman on the field and in the positions they should have been in. Injuriesxbawlingx

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

One guard -ankle- yes but he finished the Marshall game.

The rest were lost/came back thru out the season.

Both starting tackles were lost for the season at about the mid point.

After a couple years of good luck health wise up front this year was a tough one.

[93henfan]

UNI doesn’t have a spread attack, nor does Delaware

Actually, Delaware does run the spread.

Regarding how Delaware beat Navy: Navy did not punt the entire game and had over 500 yards of offense. Delaware forced two turnovers and Flacco was near-perfect. That's how we won.

Interesting sidebar: Navy and North Texas set the NCAA combined scoring record two weeks later when Navy won 74-62, IN REGULATION!!! 63 points were scored in the second quarter.xeekx

[08Dawg]

Ok, so The Citadel didn't beat Wisconsin, but we played very strongly. We just stepped up and hit them in the mouth. Duran was playing well that day. Depth got us, though, and we couldn't shut down their huge RB forever. Still, we came close.