Pioneer Bowl likely in offing for CIAA champ
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Fourth-year head coach Kenny Phillips led defending CIAA champion FSU (7-3, 5-2 CIAA W) back to the West Division title despite dropping their final game Saturday to 3-7 Livingstone, 28-27.
Phillips accomplished it without six all-CIAA players from last year's 10-2 team that captured the school's first-ever conference title and Div. II playoff berth.
"We didn't have the superstar or guy that you can point to as we did last year," said Phillips. "This team had to find its own identity. After the WSSU game (a 22-14 win), I thought we were playing pretty good football. But playing ten straight weeks without an open date kind of caught up to us.
"The loss to Livingstone was just one of those things. We had been getting turnovers to stop people but we went through a four-minute stretch (vs. Livingstone) where we lost two fumbles and threw an interception. You can't do that and win football games."
Veteran head coach Willard Bailey's VUU Panthers (6-4, 5-2 CIAA E) were picked by conference coaches to finish third in the East Division. They won the division race and made it to the title game in spite of their own season-ending faux pas.
They lost to 2-8 Elizabeth City State Saturday in their regular season finale and only earned the division title when Virginia State knocked off defending East Division champ Bowie State.
After beginning the season 1-3, Bailey's troops reeled off five straight wins including knocking off Bowie State to seize the division lead. Freshman QB John Cates was the catalyst during the surge winning the league's rookie of the week award three times.
The season-ending losses by the two probably knocked the CIAA out of a shot at getting a team in the NCAA Div. II playoffs for the second year in a row. Last year the Broncos were the first CIAA team in nine years to make the 16-team playoff field.
FSU, sixth before its final game slip-up, dropped to eighth in the South Region ranking. VUU, tenth before the ECSU debacle, fell out of the top ten. Only the top four teams in the Region make the Div. II playoff field.
What's likely left for the title game winner is to represent the CIAA at the Dec. 20 Pioneer Bowl in Atlanta against an opponent from the SIAC. The postseason game is returning after a two-year hiatus.
The title game matches teams that have won the last two CIAA titles and will be a rematch of a Sept. 6 game won by FSU, 27-19.
In that game, VUU jumped out to a 13-0 lead before FSU scored 27 unanswered points. The Panthers scored early in the fourth quarter to pull within a touchdown but their final drive fizzled at the FSU 12-yard line. Cates threw for two TDs and rushed for 85 yards in that game.
"He played very well and we're definitely going to have to contain him," Phillips said of Cates who has thrown for 1,656 yards and 16 TDs and is the team's leading rusher with 508 yards and 4 TDs. FSU senior QB Duane Taylor has completed 54.4% of his 307 pass attempts for 1,910 yards, 16 touchdowns and only six interceptions. Phillips said Darryl Bright, who is among the nation's leaders in pass receptions, has come into his own as a receiver (63 rec., 816 yds., 4 TDs) and kick returner. Amir Holding (176 car., 693 yds., 7 TDs) took over as FSU's rushing leader from preseason all-conference pick, DeAngelo Bridgers.
Placekicker Ross McKernan 16 field goals give Phillips what he calls his "biggest plus."
While the offense got most of the headlines, it was the Virginia Union defense that stepped up in key late season wins over Bowie State and Virginia State. The Panthers are second in scoring defense (16.0 ppg.), pass defense (156.9 ypg.) and total defense (261.8 ypg.).
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