MEAC/SWAC Clip Board: Do not blame the MEAC officials

by beepbeep

FCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - If you watched the national championship game last evening, let us be the first to tell you that your eyes were not lying to your brain. Appalachian State University Mountaineers are a top 15 Division I-A club, although they play at the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly 1-AA) level. The final score of 49-21 does not quantify how thoroughly the University of Delaware was beaten by Appalachian State. The Mountaineers were so superior in speed, play calling and defense, that Delaware had no answers for ASU's superiority.

No need to blame the MEAC officials, as they called an outstanding game and only missed one call, which was corrected by the re-play official after review. The replay booth awarded Delaware a touchdown on Flacco's 39-yard pass to Mark Duncan at the right edge of the end zone with 1:46 left in the second quarter. Officials on the field had not called a touchdown; they only called pass interference. The replay official decided Mark Duncan had either come down in bounds or been forced out by the ASU defender. This was a gift touchdown given by the Southeastern Conference official controlling the re-play evaluations.

Re-plays are not used in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference games nor FCS games other than the championship game. The officials made the adaptation very nicely. However, it was priceless to have one of the MEAC officials announce that "Delaware State" calls a timeout before the half, which was met with booing from the UD fans.

The ESPN announcers were awful as usual and were upset with the officials because they were all prepared to heavily tout UD quarterback Joe Flacco as the second coming of Joe Montana or Peyton Manning. How silly is it to say that Flacco will be drafted in the NFL second round--in a college championship game, when there is no factual evidence that Flacco will be drafted at all from the 1-AA level.

Why do these announcers feel compelled to hype any player for that matter when the stats show ASU sophomore Armanti Edwards was the top quarterback on the field with one NCAA national championship to his credit. Serves them right for not be objective in calling the game as it developed on the field.

The 6-0, 175 pound Edwards won the national championship as a freshman and has repeated that performance this season, completing 67 percent of his passes (148/222, 17 TDs 7INT) for 1948 yards and rushed for 1588 yards (237CAR, 6.7 ypc., 21 TDs). No other player in the FCS has played at his level the past two championship seasons in the division.

Edwards quarterbacked ASU to a 34-32 upset of #5 ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor before 110,000 hostile Michigan fans, completing 74 percent of his passes (17/23, 227 yards/3TDs/2 INT)and 17 rushes/62 yards, one TD. No doubt, Armanti Edwards is the best quarterback in the division and has an opportunity to win four national championships before his college career is over.

ASU senior quarterback Trey Elder could have been a starter for any other FCS team but was content to be Edwards backup for the past two season.

Delaware, blame the MEAC officials all you want but give credit to 68 year old head coach Jerry Moore and his staff for assembling this three-peat championship team that can beat most of the teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision with only 63 scholarship players. In lieu of looking for excuses, let us all use Appalachian State on field performance as the standard that all FCS teams should be striving to achieve with our student athletes. UD was simply outclassed by a superior team that plays to their full potential each game, especially when a championship is at stake.

Incompetents blame subordinates. Let us not blame the officials for University of Delaware being outclassed by the most successful dynasty in NCAA 1-AA football history. The Blue Hens were beat-down by more powerful offensive and defensive lines that handled their business. Appalachian State was clearly the superior football program on this night.


Delaware State University, Al Lavan was second in balloting for the Eddie Robinson award, which goes to the Coach of the Year for the Football Championship Subdivision. DSU ended the season at 10-2, won the MEAC title and made the first round of the FCS Playoffs. The Hornets lost 44-7 to University of Delaware.

Northern Iowa head coach Mark Farley was named the 21st winner of the Eddie Robinson Award. The Panthers were 11-0 in the regular season and held the No. 1 ranking in the Sports Network Top 25 poll for six weeks. The Panthers grabbed attention in the second week of the season when they dominated an FBS opponent, Iowa State, by a 24-13count on the way to a 4-0 non-conference start.

Former Florida A&M University offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Bob Cole has been hired in the same titled positions at the University of Wyoming. Cole served two years under fired FAMU coach Rubin Carter and will work for Cowboys head football coach Joe Glenn. Wyoming is in the FBC subdivision and finished last season with a 5-7 overall, 2-6 record in the Mountain West Conference. Cole’s salary will be $123,480 per year for two years.

The Southwestern Athletic conference championship game is scheduled today at 1:00 pm from Birmingham, Alabama Legion Field. Expect 8-3 Grambling State University Tigers to beat 7-4 Jackson State University Tigers in this battle for television exposure and more program income. GSU defeated JSU 30-20 on their home field on October 20.

There is more excitement anticipating the announcement on Monday that Grambling State head coach Rod Broadway is accepting the offer to head Florida A&M University storied football program. Expect GSU to win this one for Broadway.

A&T foe goes from bottom to top in MEAC

By Rob Daniels, Greensboro News-Record

DELAWARE STATE AT N.C. A&T
When: 1:30 p.m. today
Where: Aggie Stadium, Greensboro
Records: Delaware State 4-1 overall, 3-0 MEAC; N.C. A&T 0-6, 0-3
Tickets: General admission tickets on Fan Appreciation Day are $5 online at http://www.ncataggies.com or call 334-7749

GREENSBORO -- Follow the money, a furtive figure once said. To discover why Delaware State has upended the MEAC and become what N.C. A&T would like to be again one day, it's instructive to study the Hornets' commitment to scholarships and facilities and other obvious elements. Just make sure you go beyond that trail.

"I think what we're seeing now is the beginning of a journey of hard work and energy so we can be a leader regionally and nationally," said Rick Costello, who took over as athletics director in August after a tenure at another place now famous for development, South Florida.

The context of today's football game at Aggie Stadium surely confounds longtime MEAC observers. Delaware State owned the longest losing streak in conference history, 19 games in 1997-99, until last month, when A&T absorbed its 20th straight defeat. The Aggies' string now is at 22, and the Hornets are tied for the league lead after an eye-catching victory at Hampton, the class of the MEAC the past few years.

Delaware State is the No. 1 team in black college football, according to two polls.

"That's good, but I did not know that," said Al Lavan, who became the Hornets' coach in 2004.

Every successful reconstruction project starts at the top. When he took over the 3,700-student university as president in 2003, Dr. Allen L. Sessoms sought to use athletics as a prominent vehicle in a long-term growth initiative. That's not uncommon in American higher education, but it seemed odd at Delaware State, a school with inherent roadblocks to success in sports.

Simply put, there aren't many football players in Delaware, which ranks 45th in population. The database at http://www.scout.com Thursday listed only 13 prospects for college football's highest division in the state.

Photo: DSU Head Coach Al Lavan

To field a competitive roster, the Hornets must rely disproportionately on athletes from elsewhere, and that means out-of-state tuition and fees ($13,100 as opposed to $6,146). Only nine of Lavan's 86 players are from Delaware; the rest come from as far away as Berlin, Germany, and Gresham, Ore.

To make it happen, the university's governors did something extraordinary: They increased football scholarships from 41 in 2003 to the division maximum of 63 a year later. That was appealing to Lavan, an 18-year NFL assistant with a Super Bowl ring (1990 San Francisco 49ers) and references such as Tom Landry and George Seifert on his resume.

"When we came in, the talent level was very, very low, and you've got to recruit some better players," Lavan said. "There was and is a tremendous economic commitment to the program."

That included a recruiting budget that allows the coaching staff the latitude to travel in search of talent.

"That was at best very modest when I got here, and not even good enough for the scholarships they had had," Lavan said. "Right now, we've got enough money to do the recruiting we need."

The infrastructure also was been improved. Last week, a 17,000-square-foot strength and conditioning facility -- the second-largest in the MEAC behind A&T's 25,000-square-foot Bryan Fitness and Wellness Center -- was opened. An academic enrichment center also is planned.

Beyond the dollars, outsiders frequently cite Lavan and his staff for their work. Among Lavan's NFL pupils were Roger Craig, Priest Holmes, Tom Rathman, Earnest Byner, Robert Newhouse and Bam Morris.

"This is not his first time at the barbecue," Costello said. "He has really revitalized the program."

The staff includes Rayford Petty, an Elon and A&T graduate who served as Howard's coach in 2002-06; and Douglas Sams, a head coach for 15 years at smaller colleges and a former offensive coordinator in the Canadian Football League.

"You get good people on board and keep going after it," Costello said, "and you can get it done."

-------------------------------------
SBN Sports Black College Football Poll
(As of 10/08/2007)
Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 Delaware State (23) 4-1 268 1
2 Tuskegee (7) 5-0 229 2
3 Hampton 4-1 186 4
4 Alabama A&M 5-1 165 6
5 Albany State 5-1 132 7
6 Southern 5-1 102 3
7 North Carolina Central 4-2 83 8
8 Norfolk State 4-1 54 NR
9 Grambling State 4-1 42 NR
10 Virginia Union 6-0 31 10

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Norfolk State 27, Bethune- Cookman 23, Prairie View A&M 19, Grambling State 16, Tennessee State 13.

DROPPED OUT:

Ranking includes number of first-place votes and record in parentheses, total points and previous ranking