Close your eyes, imagine it’s around Labor Day, pretend the smell of chimney smoke is the aroma of smoked brisket and pork shoulder, and just say this is a normal opening week.
What do we have? Do we have a team blowing out one from a lower division by some ungodly score? Check. Do we have a matchup of two pretty good teams, maybe contenders, that comes down to the wire? We got that.
There may be snow all over the ground still, but it’s football season again.
Games That Happened
Friday
South Dakota State 24, Northern Iowa 20
I said this one would be good and I was right. Not a lot of offense here but what a finish. Mark Gronowski threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Strong with just 19 seconds left to get the win. Gronowski, making his college debut, had 194 yards and two touchdown passes to go with no picks. He also had a score on the ground. UNI was down 17-7 at the half but got two field goals and a touchdown to take the lead with six minutes left. What more do you want? Football is back.
Nicholls 87, Lincoln (Missouri) 3
I hope the Blue Tigers (of Division II) enjoyed the visit to Thibodaux. I hear Louisiana is usually pretty nice in February. Enjoy the boudin!
Saturday
James Madison 52, Morehead State 0
The Dukes ran for 369 yards and six touchdowns, which is 375 more yards on the ground than Morehead had. I’ll let you do the math on that. Got it?
Wofford 31, Mercer 14
The Terriers didn’t outgain the Bears much in terms of yardage but there are factors other than how much territory you gain and lose at play. Wofford controlled the first half, taking a 17-0 lead into the break. Also Mercer lost two fumbles while Wofford held onto the ball. Mercer drops to 0-4 counting the fall games, so it has not been a great past 12 months so far. We all understand.
East Tennessee State 24, Samford 17
ETSU won the second half, turning a 14-7 deficit at the break into a win thanks to a long touchdown pass from Tyler Riddell to Juliun Lane-Price with under six to go in the fourth. Quay Holmes added 125 yards and two scores on the ground for the Buccaneers.
North Dakota 44, Southern Illinois 21
This was a two-point game at the half but the Fighting Hawks reeled off 21 points in the third quarter, including two Tommy Schuster touchdown passes out of his three in the game. We also had a defensive score: Devon Krzanowski ran back a fumble 36 yards for a North Dakota score in the second quarter. That was one of six takeaways by the Fighting Hawks and one of Krzanowski’s two fumble recoveries.
Elon 26, Davidson 23
This game turned on a Joey Baughman touchdown pass to Donovan Williams with just 32 seconds left as Elon earned the late win. Davidson got almost all of its scoring done in the second quarter.
Furman 35, Western Carolina 7
Hamp Sisson threw three touchdown passes and also two picks for Furman, who rolled over the Catamounts. WCU went 0-3 in the fall against Liberty, EKU and North Carolina, so holding Furman to 35 is an improvement, I guess.
Sunday
Jackson State 53, Edward Waters 0
Ho-hum. Deion Sanders gets his first win as the coach of the Tigers with an easy win over Edward Waters. Jalon Jones threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score.
Tennessee Tech 27, Austin Peay 21
The Governors, who went 0-3 in the fall season (including losing the first game of the fall) now start 0-1 in the spring circuit. The Golden Eagles mounted a hell of a comeback in the fourth quarter, putting up 17 in the final frame. That spoiled a hell of a day for Austin Peay’s DeAngelo Wilson, who had 124 yards and a touchdown on eight catches. That’s half the catches the Governors had.
North Dakota State 25, Youngstown State 7
Allegedly the film “Fargo” was titled “Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream” in China. Nothing mysterious here.
Tarleton 43, New Mexico State 17
Sometimes you lose in double OT, like the Texans did last week. Sometimes you put up 23 in the first quarter and never look back. Cameron Burston had two touchdown passes and two scores on the ground -- 79 yards on four carries will do -- and Gabe Douglas had 190 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches. Juwuan Price had a kick return touchdown for the Aggies but, uh, you don’t want to run back too many kicks.