IUP football faces big challenge on road

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  Winston Salem State is 12-0, finished the regular season ranked No. 3 in the D2football.com poll and will be at home today for the NCAA Division II playoff regional final.

Mixed together, it makes perfect sense that the Rams are big favorites against IUP (12-1). But that doesn't mean much to IUP coach Curt Cignetti whose Crimson Hawks have been the underdogs several times this postseason but managed to advance.

"This is the third time in four games we are playing against an undefeated team," Cignetti said. "Winston-Salem is a great team; they have no weaknesses. But we've been able to overcome that and last weekend we did it on the road against New Haven.

"People may count us out or overlook us, but we are a good football team. We play hard, we're going to fight until the end, so we don't mind being sort of the underdog."

Cignetti said he isn't naive, however, and he knows what a challenge this game will be. After all, the Rams are playing at a bit of a higher level than most of the Division II teams because they dropped from Division I-AA to Division II in 2010.

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