Tag Archives: college sports

“Mountain Lion” Ryan And Sioux Falls Remain Perfect – Wr Jon “Mountain Lion” Ryan starred as the NAIA’s Top-Ranked USF Cougars defeated the 4th-ranked Morningside Mustangs 28-3. The game was Victory Sports Network‘s Game Of The Week. At the start it looked like things would not go the Cougars’ way, especially after the usually automatic “Brassy” Braden Wieking missed 2 early field goals. The Sioux Falls defense (and some excellent punting by Wieking) kept Morningside’s offense scoreless long enough for the offense to start countering the Mustangs’ defensive gameplan. QB Jon “Jonny East” Eastman connected with Mountain Lion Ryan on 3 td’s while RB Chevon “Fire” Walker and the rest of the Cougar offense found their rhythm. The defense was led by Dom “The Studmeister General” Studzinski who had 6 tackles. Up next in USF’s quest to Threepeat are the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers.

Top 25 Upsets – NAIA – The Dickinson State Blue Hawks, ranked #9, suffered their 1st loss of the season at the hands of the unranked Black Hills State Yellow Jackets in a 19-13 Instant Classic … The 13th-ranked Walsh Cavaliers fell to an unranked team for the 2nd week in a row, losing to the Taylor Trojans 21-17 … The unranked Baker Wildcats, who had such high pre-season hopes, have settled into a spoiler role, upsetting the 20th-ranked Benedictine Ravens by a score of 20-14 … #21, the Montana Tech Orediggers, lost to the unranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers in a beautiful 31-28 game. The Mountaineers will hope to keep this upset mojo going next week when they take on the Frontier Conference’s Fighting Saints in next week’s VSN Game Of The Week.

Top 25 Upsets – NCAA Division 3 – The 6th-ranked Coe Kohawks, obviously jarred by my recent investigative piece linking their mascot to the giant buzzard from outer space in the movie The Giant Claw (I’m kidding!), lost at home to the unranked Wartburg Knights 31-21 … The #19 Alfred Saxons lost on the road to the unranked RPI Engineers by a score of 27-24 … The Washington and Lee Generals, still undefeated in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play, upset the 20th-ranked Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets 42-28 … The Cortland State Red Dragons, ranked at #23, lost on the road to the Rowan Profs in a 20-17 Instant Classic.

Top 25 Upsets – NCAA Division 2 – In a slight upset rankings-wise, the 6th-ranked West Texas A&M Buffaloes lost to the 10-ranked TA&M– Kingsville Javelinas 28-24 … The 9th-ranked Delta State Statesmen fell to the Harding Bisons (they go by Bisons, not Bison) by a score of 38-35 … The #17 Tuskegee Golden Tigers, in the midst of one of their most up and down years ever, lost again to an unranked team, the Fort Valley Wildcats, in a 26-0 shutout and the 23rd-ranked Wayne State (NE) Wildcats lost at home 17-14 to the Concordia-St Paul Golden Bears.

Hard-Charging Chargers – In this, just the 2nd season of their revival of football, the New Haven Chargers have wracked up an impressive 6-1 record and are an amazing 4-0 on the road. And they’re not playing teams below their own division to do it, either. All of their games have been against fellow D2 teams with their only loss coming against the ever-tough Assumption Greyhounds. Yesterday the Chargers blanked the American International Yellow Jackets 13-0 and are at the top of the Northeast 10 Conference standings.

It Isn’t News If A House Isn’t On Fire Dept – The Top-Ranked and undefeated teams in D2 and D3 won big yesterday. D2’s Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs crushed the Mary Marauders 49-0 and D3’s Whitewater Warhawks devastated the Eau Claire Blugolds 45-0.  

We Went To A Football Game And A Baseball Game Broke Out – This week’s game that fits this category just barely qualifies. The UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs defeated the Nichols Bison 9-7. Where have all our 3-0 and 6-3 games gone?  

We Went To A Football Game And A Basketball Game Broke Out – This week’s entry for a game in which the defenses seem to have just stayed on the team bus for the whole game is the matchup between the Georgetown (KY) Tigers and the Pikeville Bears, with the Tigers winning 70-58. The 6th-ranked Lindenwood Lions tried to provide a 2nd game for this category this week by scoring 90 points yesterday, but their opponents, the Culver-Stockton Wildcats indignantly refused to play along, putting up only 19 points in return.

MVC VIKINGS TIE NAIA RECORD – As hyped here yesterday the 11th-ranked Missouri Valley College Vikings had a chance to tie the NAIA record for total football victories at 560 and, as luck would have it, were playing against the team that had a 1-win edge over them: the William Jewell Cardinals! As this “What are the chances?” game unfolded, the Vikings actually trailed at half-time 13-10 but went on to win by a score of 40-23. Congratulations to MVC and it will be interesting to watch the Vikings and Cardinals jockey to see who gets to hold the new record week by week. 

Hurlin’ Hewitt Enters The Record Books – In a game played Friday night, Johns Hopkins Blue Jays QB Hurlin’ Hewitt Tomlin became the all-time wins leader for Blue Jays quarterbacks as JHU crushed the Dickinson Red Devils 44-10. Tomlin also had a personal best 4 td passes in the game  and threw for 271 yards. Next week the Blue Jays take it on the road against the 5-0 Ursinus Bears, who currently sit at the top of the Centennial Conference standings. 

Top 25 Upsets – NAIA – Thursday night the unranked Georgetown (KY) Tigers pulled off an upset over the 25th-ranked Campbellsville Tigers 52-21 … In a minor upset the #9 St Francis (IN) Cougars defeated the 8th-ranked Walsh Cavaliers 20-14 … The 12th-ranked McKendree Bearcats were also upset, losing to the unranked St Francis (IL) Fighting Saints 28-24 in the final seconds, with last-second upsets being a Fighting Saints specialty of late … Both the other teams tied for 25th lost to unranked opponents: the Hastings Broncos fell to the Midland Lutheran Warriors 35-23, Midland’s 2nd straight win over a ranked team and the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves upset the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers for the Tigers’ 2nd straight loss to an unranked foe. 

Top 25 Upsets – NCAA Division 3 – The #17 Eau Claire Blugolds got pummeled on the road by the unranked Platteville Pioneers 35-14 … The 19th-ranked Wabash Little Giants (Am I the only one who thinks they should be called the Wabash Cannonballs instead?) also lost on the road, to the Washington (MO) Bears 24-20 … Completing our Trifecta of ranked teams losing on the road to unranked foes are the St John’s Johnnies, who fell to the Bethel (MN) Royals in a 17-14 Instant Classic.

Top 25 Upsets – NCAA Division 2 – The 22nd ranked Winston-Salem State Rams, in their 1st year back in D2 after moving down from Division 1, suffered their 1st loss of the year to the St Augustine’s Falcons 40-35 … The #23 Tusculum Pioneers also fell at home to the Newberry Wolves in a 63-56 Mega-Shootout … As proof that “Rock beats Fighting Scots”, the 24th-ranked Edinboro Fighting Scots lost at The Rock of Slippery Rock 28-14 and the #25 CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves fell to the Colorado Mines Orediggers by a score of 19-16.   

Webber International and Concordia (AL) Rule The World – Two NAIA teams logged wins over Division 2 opponents yesterday. The Webber International Warriors, 1 week after handing the Azusa Pacific Cougars their 1st loss of the year, brought down the UNC-Pembroke Braves, who were ranked #17 in the D2 Poll, by a score of 26-13. Meanwhile, the Concordia (AL) Hornets won on the road against D2’s Stillman (Yawn) Tigers in an 18-17 Instant Classic. Congratulations to the Warriors and the Hornets and here’s wishing that half the college teams called Tigers would be required to change  their names to something less over-used.  

“At Least Put A Color In Front Of Tigers” Dept – D2’s 18th-ranked Tuskegee Golden Tigers were road warriors yesterday, traveling to take on the 20th-ranked Morehouse Maroon Tigers and pulling off a 31-15 win.

It’s A Cliche, But Someone’s “0” Will Go – The NAIA’s Top-Ranked Sioux Falls Cougars (raise your hand if you’re sick of me mentioning that they’re trying to Threepeat as National Champs) won handily yesterday, mauling the Briar Cliff Chargers 66-21. Meanwhile, 1 of the few teams to play USF tough in recent years, the 4th-ranked Morningside Mustangs, obliterated the Dordt Defenders by a score of 71-0. This means both teams go in to next week’s meeting at USF with 6-0 records, adding even extra spice to the matchup in what is sure to be a memorable Victory Sports Network Game Of The Week. “Getcher popcorn ready” as a certain locker-room wrecking wide receiver once said.   

We Went To A Football Game And A Baseball Game Broke Out- This week’s entry for this category would be the game between the Shenandoah Hornets and the Maryville Scots, both from D3. The Hornets won 7-6 in a game where Bud Selig for once didn’t have to worry about bad umpiring.

Lindsey Wilson College Wins Again – Like the Notre Dame College Falcons, the Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders are in their 1st year of intercollegiate football. Yesterday the Blue Raiders got their 2nd win  by defeating the Pikeville Bears in an offensive supernova, 59-52.

Bearcats Tie Their Own Record – The Northwest Missouri Bearcats, ranked #6 in the D2 Polls, tied their own record for consecutive conference wins at 41 by defeating the Missouri Southern Lions 49-21. Coach Tjeerdsma’s boys try to set a new record next week against the Emporia State Hornets.

“Our Division Can Beat Up Your Division” Dept – In this week’s round in the rivalry between the NAIA and NCAA Division 3 things ended in a stalemate. The NAIA’s Southern Virginia Knights kicked around D3’s Guilford Quakers 36-21 but then the Lewis And Clark Pioneers from D3 evened things up by defeating  the NAIA’s Menlo Oaks 31-10. 

How Long, Oh Lord, How Long? – The Marathon Game Of The Week Award goes to the matchup between the Methodist Monarchs and the Ferrum Panthers. The game wound up as a 51-45 win for the Panthers in Triple Overtime.  

Generals Exterminate The Wasps – Insert your own Dalek joke here following that title. The Washington and Lee Generals defeated 1 of the teams that has given them the most trouble over the years, the Emory and Henry Wasps, 45-24. The Generals had 2 backs run for over 100 yds, Luke “The Lambaster” Heinsohn (130 yds; 1 TD) and “Bullet” Brett Murray (121 yds; 2 TD) and a 3rd, Harrison Hudson, “The Hawk” himself, had 95 yds. QB Charlie Westfal, Official Balladeer’s Blog nickname, “The New Canaan Nuke”, was 6 of 9 for 66 yds and 2 TD and added 65 yds and another TD with his legs. (His kidneys had just 11 yds rushing) Washington and Lee is 2-0 in conference play and still hoping to win their 1st Old Dominion Athletic Conference title since 2006. The Generals get to try exterminating another insect team next week as they face the Randolph–Macon Yellow Jackets.

We Went To A Football Game And A Basketball Game Broke Out – With Midnight Madness just around the corner, this category doesn’t seem as unusual as in past weeks. This week’s entry is the 84-55 win the Union Bulldogs had over the Bethel (TN) Wildcats.