Saturday Thoughts

After a rough opening on Thursday, the Missouri Valley stepped it up on Saturday. The games on Saturday featured five games against FBS competition, two games against weaker FCS opponents, and a Big Sky-MVFC match-up. Missouri Valley teams managed only three wins out of the eight games on Saturday, however, the way they performed against higher-level competition is what stood out to me.

Illinois State RB, Cameron Hunt
(Photo: Steve Smedley/The Pantagraph)

Illinois State 56, Dayton 14

No surprise here. Illinois State welcomed a non-scholarship team and had their way up and down the field. QB Matt Brown was very solid (22-34, 192, 3 TDs) and was able to get the offense going early which allowed the Redbird run game to get going. Two Redbird running backs went over 100 yards on Saturday. Darrelynn Dunn took the majority of the carries and ran for 127 yards and 3 TDs. Cameron Hunt also eclipsed the 100-yard mark. Illinois State travels to Ypsilanti, MI this week to take on Eastern Michigan; I expect Illinois State to come out with a win.

South Dakota 24, Montana 35

South Dakota played close with Montana throughout the majority of the game; they were actually winning in the third quarter 24-16. However, as I suspected, Montana would pull away late in the game. In fact, Montana dominated this game. The Grizzlies put up 586 yards of offense compared to the Coyotes 233 yards. The 'Yotes were lucky the game was this close.

Northern Iowa 21, Wisconsin 26

This game was much closer than I thought. I knew that Northern Iowa had always played tough against Iowa State and Iowa, but Wisconsin is on a whole different level. I expected this game to look much like other FCS-BCS match-ups and Northern Iowa proved once again that it is not just another FCS team. Sawyer Kollmorgen, a freshman, threw for 265 yards and 3 TDs in his first game ever. On the downer-side-of-things, if Northern Iowa had been able to run at all then they might have been able to win this game. David Johnson was UNI's leading rusher on Saturday with 18 yards.

Youngstown State 31, Pittsburgh 17

YSU WR's Andre Stubbs and Christian Bryan
(Photo: US Presswire)

The Penguins made a statement in this game that they are the real deal. I knew that Youngstown State would be good this year, but I was skeptical of their defense. This upset of Big East Pittsburgh erased any doubts I had against Youngstown State. Kurt Hess was solid and threw two touchdown passes, but the standout performance on offense was freshman Andre Stubbs. Stubbs had over 170 yards all-purpose and scored twice. Next up for Youngstown State is FCS non-scholarship Valparaiso.

South Dakota State 17, Kansas 31

This game played out like a typical FCS-FBS match-up. South Dakota State hung in their--trailing 10-7 at half-- but SDSU's defense wore out and Kansas took control. Austin Sumner threw 4 INTs, but three were in garbage time in the fourth quarter. This week SDSU will battle SE Louisiana; look for a close game but I expect SDSU to come back to South Dakota with a victory under their belt.

North Dakota State 52, Robert Morris 0

The nations best defense last year made a statement in this game that they're back. North Dakota State absolutely destroyed Robert Morris. The Colonials were held to 88 total yards of offense. This week the Bison travel to Colorado State. Colorado State is coming off of a fresh 22-17 win over rivals Colorado. We'll see how Colorado State responds at home this week. I still expect North Dakota State to win.

Sycamore RB, Shakir Bell (Photo: ISUAthletics)

Missouri State 9, Kansas State 51

I was following this game pretty closely. I saw the 9-6 halftime score and thought maybe Missouri State might be a different team this year--then the fourth quarter happened. Kansas State scored 35 fourth quarter points. The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Bears this week as they travel to Louisville.

Indiana State 17, Indiana 24

I was pretty confident that Indiana State would pull of the upset here. I figured Shakir Bell would run all over the Hoosier defense--and he did (192 yards and a TD). However, it wasn't enough to keep up with the Hoosiers. This week the Sycs will take out their frustration on Quincy; the starters should be out by halftime.