I - A A P R E V I E W ( V O L U M E I I I , N U M B E R 1 8 ) W E E K O F 1 2 / 2 4 / 9 4 N A T I O N A L C H A M P I O N S H I P R E P O R T A N D S E A S O N W R A P - U P ********************************************************************** C O N T E N T S I. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME REPORT II. PDUNN'S SEASON SUPERLATIVES III. FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE 1994 SEASON IV. THE LAST WORD FROM VOLUME III V. DISCLAIMERS AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR COMMENTS ********************************************************************** I. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME REPORT YOUNGSTOWN ST 28 BOISE ST 14 The National Championship game lived up to its bidding as a game between Boise's gambling style of offense and defense and Youngstown's grind-it-out, no nonsense game. The game hinged on the inability of the BSU offensive line to protect QB Tony Hilde, who was sacked five times on the day, and YSU's ability to execute its option running attack. Key to the YSU offense was the running of QB Mark Brungard, who rushed 17 times for 97 yards, most of those on options around the ends. BSU scored first, in the opening period, after Chris Cook returned an intercepted Brungard pass to the five yard line. A play later, Hilde found WR Randy Matyshock in the end zone for a 7-0 lead at the 2:46 mark. YSU came back, however, on a 9-play, 43 yard drive capped by a 2-yard dive for a score from Brungard in the second period. Four minutes later, Brungard broke through the line and ran 38 yards untouched into the end zone to put the Penguins up 14-7 with 35 seconds to go in the first half. After intermission, Brungard found WR Don Zwisler on a 5-yard scoring toss with 3:02 to play in the third quarter to cap an impressive 91- yard drive and go up by two touchdowns. Midway through the fourth period, Penguin RB Shawn Patton placed the game virtually out of reach with a 55-yard scoring scamper, making the score 28-7. Hilde led the Broncos back for a six yard TD pass to Matyshock with 4:19 to play to finish the scoring. The Penguins then recovered an onside kick and drove for two first downs to kill the clock. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* YSU 0 14 7 7 -- 28 BSU 7 0 0 7 -- 14 SCORING SUMMARY: BSU--Matyshock 5 pass from Hilde (Erickson Kick). YSU: Brungard 2 run. (Massaro kick). YSU: Brungard 38 run (Massaro kick). YSU: Zwisler 5 pass from Brungard (Massaro kick). YSU: Patton 55 run (Massaro kick). BSU: Matyshock 6 pass from Hilde (Erickson kick). ATTENDENCE: 27,674 GAME STATISTICS YSU BSU FIRST DOWNS 20 13 BY RUSHING 12 5 BY PASSING 7 8 BY PENALTY 1 0 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 51 29 YARDS GAINED RUSHING 270 83 YARDS LOST RUSHING 7 24 NET YARDS RUSHING 263 59 NET YARDS PASSING 159 166 PASSES ATTEMPTED 19 31 PASSES COMPLETED 9 17 HAD INTERCEPTED 2 2 TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS 70 60 TOTAL OFFENSE 422 225 RETURN YARDS 18 58 FUMBLES--LOST 1-0 3-0 PENALTIES 3-40 4-40 INTERCEPTIONS-YARDS 2-12 2-58 PUNTS-YARDS 6-222 6-233 AVERAGE PER PUNT 37.0 38.8 PUNT RETURN YARDS 2-6 0-0 KICKOFF RETURN YARDS 2-37 4-92 SACKS 5 1 TIME OF POSSESSION 33:58 26:02 YSU STATISTICS: RUSHING (Attempts, Yards, TDs, Longest): Patton 27-140-1-55; Brungard 17-97-2-38; Inglis 5-21-0-7; Toy 2-5-0-3. PASSING (Attempts, Completions, Interceptions, Yards, TDs, Longest): Brungard 9-19-2-159- 1-68. RECEIVING (Catches, Yards, TDs, Longest): Zwisler 3-91-1-68; Patton 3-23-0-12; Boykin 2-23-0-18; Bracy 1-22-0-22. KICKOFF RETURNS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): Smith 1-21-0-21; Parks 1-16-0-16. PUNTING (Number, Yards, Average, Longest): Dreslinski 6-222-37-57. PUNT RETURNS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): Boykin 2-6-0-6. INTERCEPTIONS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): L. Jones 1-12-0-12; Smith 1-0-0-0. TACKLES (Assisted, Unassisted, Total): L. Jones 9-0-9; Lee 7-1-8; Hopkins 3-4-7; Brown 5-1-6; Jethroe 3-2-5; Weaver 3-1-4; JeanBaptiste 2-1-3; Conn 3-0-3; Thompson 1-1-2; Inglis 1-1-2; McLeod 2-0-2; Chipman 1-1-2; Kollar 1-0-1; Marshall 1-0-1; Paolucci 1-0-1; Brungard 1-0-1; Smith 1-0-1; Massaro 0-1-0; Amill 0-1-0; Detelich 0-1- 1; Mayes 1-0-1. BSU STATISTICS: RUHSING (Attempts, Yards, TDs, Longest): Adams 11-30-0-7; Hilde 17-28- 0-10; Bowens 1-1-0-1. PASSING (Attempts, Completions, Interceptions, Yards, TDs, Longest): Hilde 17-31-2-166-2-25. RECEIVING (Catches, Yards, TDs, Longest): Ikebe 5-63-0-25; Hausske 4-56-0-21; Adams 3-10- 0-8; Matyshock 2-11-2-6; Schrack 2-22-0-19; Zimmerman 1-4-0-4. KICKOFF RETURNS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): Hudson 1-36-0-36; Bowens 1-27-0-27; Graven 1-17-0-17; Wing 1-12-0-12. PUNTING (Number, Yards, Average, Longest): Weeks 6-233-38.8-52. PUNT RETURNS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): None. INTERCEPTIONS (Number, Yards, TDs, Longest): Cook 1-58-0-58; D. Miller 1-0-0-0. TACKLES (Assisted, Unassisted, Total): Smith 13-4-17; Reid 3-6-9; Cook 5-3-8; Thompson 5- 2-7; Walk-Green 5-2-7; Watson 5-0-5; Fifita 4-1-5; Miller 4-1-5; Gillam 3-0-0; Weston 3-0-0; Payne 1-1-0; Gayle 1-1-2; O'Brien 0-2-2; Haener 1-0-1; Schrack 1-0-1; Byrd 0-1-1; Foley 1-0-1. ********************************************************************** II. PDUNN'S SEASON SUPERLATIVES COACH OF THE YEAR: Pokey Allen, Boise St. Being able to gel all of those juco transfers into a national runner-up was an impressive job, and that alone gets him the nod. TEAM OF THE YEAR: Can it be anyone other than Youngstown St? PLEASANT SUPRISE OF THE YEAR: Boise St., 3-8 a year ago, going 13-2 and making the final game. An amazing accomplishment. UNPLEASANT SUPRISE OF THE YEAR #1: Central Florida did not make the playoffs, after being ranked number one by Sports Illustrated and probably having enough talent to bolster an entire I-AA conference. UNPLEASANT SUPRISE OF THE YEAR #2: Marshall-YSU IV did not happen. TEAM ON THE RISE: Hofstra. The former Division III program went 8-1- 1, had an outside shot at the playoffs, and continues to impress. Future plans are to add a whole compliment of scholarships, upgrade facilities, and join the Yankee Conference. TEAM ON THE DECLINE: Georgia Southern. 6-5 is the worst record in ten years for the team that has attended (5) and won (4) more I-AA championships than any other. BEST CONFERENCE (Scholarship leagues only): This year it was the Big Sky, with three teams in the playoffs, two semifinalists and a runner- up. PLAYER OF THE YEAR (Scholarship programs): Steve McNair. Without him, Alcorn St. might have gone 1-10. PLAYER OF THE YEAR (Nonscholarship programs): Arnold Mickens, RB, Butler. A great season for a great runner at an out-of-the-way place. UPSET OF THE YEAR: Virginia Military beating Appalachian St. 26-23 on the road in the last game of the season. VMI was 0-10 coming in. ASU was 8-2 and would have tied up a share of the conference title with a win and the automatic playoff berth. Unbelievable. UGLY GAME OF THE YEAR: Marshall beating Morehead St. way back in early September, 71-7, in a game that never should have been played and won't be again. Those that saw it saw a terrible, terrible mismatch between two rivals that 20 years ago were very competitive with each other. This series is, however, mercifully over. OVERHYPED STORY OF THE YEAR: I-A transfers who were to "transform" several I-AA programs into national championship contenders. The only transfer that made a difference was EKU's John Sacca, but EKU was established before he got there. SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: Believe it or not, it goes to Marshall. True, they have obnoxious fans. True, they play too many games at home. But, they showed up in suprisingly large numbers for a championship game when they were not playing, and when they surely were hurting and humbled from the Boise St. loss. Hats off to the Herd faithful and the city of Huntington for making the I-AA championship another huge success. THE FIRST 1995 PRESEASON TOP FOUR: Only four teams here, but, after all, it's over ten months until next season. 1. Boise St.--Lot's of people back. 2. Marshall--Ditto. 3. Youngstown St.--Losing lots of key people. If newcommers produce, it could be #4 in '95. 4. James Madison--Look out, Yankee Conference. This team is going to be around for a while. ********************************************************************** III. FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE 1994 SEASON I am going to make a very bold statement here. This was the best season for I-AA football, at least in terms of quality of play, EVER. For the first time in a long while, there were probably a half dozen teams that could have been good enough to win the national title. Youngstown St. was the champ, but Boise St., Marshall, James Madison, Eastern Kentucky all stick out in the mind as teams that were very, very good. And this season, in the most part, was quite unpredictable. Notice Boise St. coming out of nowhere, joined by James Madison, North Texas St., Appalachian St., and New Hampshire as teams which were not ranked at the beginning of the season and yet made the playoffs. And, highly touted teams such as Central Florida, Georgia Southern, and Delaware were not around playing after Thanksgiving. This will also be remembered as the season in which we saw the McNair phenomenon. McNair is a great athlete, no doubt, and probably has done more to bring I-AA football in the eyes of sports fans across the country than any other person in its history. An interesting though, though, is what will happen next? Will there be a I-AA successor to McNair next season, making the inclusion of a I-AA Heisman long shot a yearly phenomenon? Stay tuned. Finally, there are huge congratulations and adulations due to Youngstown St. So far, the Penguins are the Team of the Nineties, just as Georgia Southern was the Team of the Eighties, and Eastern Kentucky was the Team of the Seventies in Division I-AA. However, one caveat is due: The 1990's are only halfway over. There is still time for another team to take that title away from the Penguins, should they go into the long sleep. On the other hand, there is plenty of time left for YSU to go beyond the Team of Nineties moniker and make itself the I-AA Team of the Ages with two or three more titles. ********************************************************************** IV. THE LAST WORD FROM VOLUME III With the end of the season comes something that is very much welcomed by me: A little bit more free time. Football withdrawl symptoms will soon start, though, as they always do, sometime in January, and I start counting the days until the preseason magazines come out, the conference media rousers get going, the polls are released, the season starts, and we are off to Volume IV. This Preview is a lot of work, and my only reward is the appreciation that people show for my effort, and that has been ample. Thank all of you who have written with stories, statistics, or just to say "nice job." As long as there is I-AA football (which might not be much longer, quite frankly) and I have breath in my body and Internet access, I will continue to write this Preview each week. It is a shame that those who follow this very competitive and talented classification cannot find information more easily and quickly. I am happy to try to do my part to remedy that to some extent. In the meanwhile, although this is the last Preview of the season, don't forget to send me offseason information on your team, what is happening with them, their schedules, their recruiting. And, if you have suggestions for making this Preview better or easier to read, let me know about it. I am always ready to welcome new list subscribers as well, so if you know of someone, have them pass their name and address along to me. Until next August, Goodbye from the I-AA Preview. Have a happy and safe holiday. PDunn ********************************************************************** V. DISCLAIMERS AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR COMMENTS This newsletter is an independently produced product of the editor, and is not affiliated with any particular academic institution, athletic conference, or the NCAA. Opinions expressed are those of the editor alone. This posting depends tremendously on secondary sources for information; largely because of this, errors in data do occassionally occur. If they are spotted, I will make amends when they are brought to my attention. I very much encourage email comments and criticisms of this newsletter, in hopes to give it the highest quality possible for you, the reader. Submissions are also welcome, and will be included if received before 10:00 PM EDT/EST Tuesday. I reserve the right to edit submissions. I-AA PREVIEW is posted weekly throughout the I-AA Season, until the end of the National Championship Tournament. This post may be sent to you through a group mailing by request. It is also available on Usenet (rec.sport.football.college), Prodigy, and CompuServe. It is archived at the I-AA World Wide Web Site at Virginia Tech at http://www.vt.edu:10021/bev/Users/gunner/1-aahome.html (supervised by Michael Crisp, email: gunner@bev.net; PLEASE NOTE: the capital "U" in the address is essential); and also at the R.S.F.C. WWW Site at the University of Wisconsin at http://www.engr.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc (supervised by David L. Wilson at dwilson@engr.wisc.edu). ********************************************************************** Patrick Dunn *********** pdunn@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Editor, I-AA PREVIEW *********** The Ohio State University **********************************************************************