By Brandon Lawrence
It didn’t take long for the brand new 2015-16 college football season to turn upside down and give fans a good shake-up, forcing any preconceived knowledge and logic out the window.
In fact, it all went away in the solo contest on Aug. 29 – the ground-shaking Montana upset over top-ranked North Dakota State in Missoula. It was North Dakota State’s second loss since its 2012 campaign.
Saturday’s schedule – college football’s first full slate of games – provided more storylines that suggest this FCS season will be one littered with breakout performances by both individual players and teams as a whole.
A handful of familiar names picked up right where they left off from last season in their first action of 2015. Four FCS teams took down FBS opponents on Saturday, and offenses ran wild in a number of contests. In case you missed the action in the first full week of the FCS season, here are some of the more muted headlines and stats to know:
The biggest storyline Saturday was the clash between former Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. and his current Oregon team taking on the very Eagles he left behind. Adams performed well in his debut with the reigning FBS national runners-up, passing for 246 yards and two scores, and adding another 94 yards on 14 carries.
It was clear his former teammates weren’t too keen on Adams leaving the program to play out his final year of eligibility, though, evidenced by EWU linebacker John Kreifels’s late hit to the head of a sliding Adams after a run up the middle. Kreifels was ejected from the game, and Adams was ushered to the locker room for analysis.
The former beneficiary of Adams’s success with the Eagles, receiver Cooper Kupp, showed he doesn’t care which signal caller is throwing him the ball. The junior pass catcher racked up 243 receiving yards and three touchdown snares on 15 receptions – the second most receiving yards in the FCS behind Tennessee Tech’s Brock McCoin (264 yards in Week 1). Adams and his Ducks took down Eastern Washington, 61-42.
Another Big Sky Conference program – the Idaho State Bengals – made waves on Saturday with a resounding 55-0 victory over Black Hills State. The Bengals, under the leadership of new quarterback Michael Sanders, accounted for a whopping 710 total yards of offense. Sanders, replacing 2014 Walter Payton Award finalist Justin Arias under center, was one of three FCS quarterbacks to throw five touchdown passes over the weekend.
It was Jakori Ford who got the bulk of the work running the ball for the Bengals, not senior Xavier Finney. Ford galloped for 201 yards on 24 carries, although Finney did account for a rushing score.
Idaho State was topped only by James Madison’s explosive offensive effort in the Dukes’ 56-7 win over Morehead State. Quarterback Vad Lee accounted for 402 total yards and four touchdowns as JMU amassed 713 yards offensively in the victory (347 passing yards, 366 rushing).
But when it came to running the football, no program had an easier time Saturday than The Citadel. The Bulldogs accounted for an FCS single-game high 535 yards on the ground in their 69-0 thumping of Davidson. The Citadel scored eight times using the ground attack, which included three scores from Isiaha Smith.
Speaking of strong ground games, it was déjà vu all over again for Fordham back Chase Edmonds. In his first collegiate game one year ago, Edmonds notched 300 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
There must be something about season openers that gets Edmonds’s competitive juices flowing, because he was at the center of the action Saturday in his Rams’ 37-35 victory over FBS opponent Army. Edmonds got loose for 110 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and also led his squad in receiving with 140 yards on six receptions. His 250 all-purpose yards rank fifth among Week 1 players.
It seems like South Dakota State has temporarily put to rest questions about replacing Zach Zenner, one of the best FCS running backs of all-time. In SDSU’s 41-38 victory over Big Ten Conference member Kansas, the Jackrabbits dashed for 170 yards as a unit, led by Isaac Wallace’s 118 yards on 24 carries. He added a rushing score to his stat line.
It was Zach Lujan and Jake Wieneke that stole the show for the Jacks, though. Lujan tossed three touchdowns in the win – two of them to last season’s Jerry Rice Award runner-up for freshman of the year. Wieneke hauled in eight receptions for 160 yards and the two scores to help bury Kansas.
Finally, Central Arkansas was embarrassed by Samford in the Bulldogs’ 45-16 romp of the Southland Conference Bears. Michael Eubank passed for 372 yards and four touchdowns to lead Samford.
The mistakes were numerous for UCA, which was penalized a hefty 12 times for 183 yards, and two fumbles didn’t help the cause. The Bears held possession of the ball for 36 minutes and 30 seconds, exactly 13 minutes longer than Samford, and ran a total of 103 offensive plays – the most by any team in the FCS.