Week 3 Highlights

Another week and another conference realignment shakeup. The Pac-12 is coming back from the dead by poaching four Mountain West schools; Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State; to bring its membership to six football teams with eyes on more expansion in the coming weeks. As we’ve seen happen over and over, realignment has a ripple effect so expect to see a new wave of schools jumping ship to join new conferences, not just the Pac-12.

The LA Chargers, known for having one of the league’s top QBs, defeated the Panthers largely behind the performance of RB JK Dobbins. In only his second game as a Charger, Dobbins became the first player in franchise history to run for 100 yards in each of the first two games of a season, and his 266 yards through two games also set a franchise record for total rushing yards in the first two games of a season. On Sunday in Charlotte, he rushed for 131 total yards and averaged 7.7 yards per carry. The Chargers had 219 yards on the ground for the day and added 130 through the air to win 26-3 and move to 2-0.

Dobbins isn't the only newcomer to the Chargers this season, as the team hired a completely new coaching staff as well. A newcomer to both the Chargers and the NFL, Coach Justin Poindexter, the Alex G. Spanos Coaching Fellow, is enjoying success in his start to his NFL coaching career. In LA he is reunited with Chargers’ Senior Offensive Assistant Marc Trestman and Passing Game Coordinator, Marcus Brady. The trio won a Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts in 2017 where Trestman served as Head Coach, Brady as Offensive Coordinator, and Justin as Assistant OL Coach. Trestman also hired Justin to coach RBs for his Tampa (XFL) team in 2020. So far, so good for the reunion tour in Los Angeles.

Oregon hired Assistant HC/RBs Coach Ra’Shaad Samples in April and he made big news on the recruiting trail leading up to the season. That momentum, along with the Ducks being ranked in the preseason Top 5, meant this team had high expectations for 2024. Although most teams would be feeling pretty good after starting 2-0, there were plenty of doubters about what this team could accomplish because those wins didn’t have the style points fans and media would have liked. Shutting out the noise, they got back to business on the road for their rivalry game on Saturday night and proved the doubters wrong with a convincing win over Oregon State.

The Ducks put up 546 yards of offense and had 7 run plays of 10-plus yards, finishing with 240 yards on the ground and a 7.5 yard per carry average to win 49-14 over rival Oregon State. Ra’Shaad’s group played well and Oregon limited its mistakes that had proved costly in the first couple of games. The entire team seemed to be coming together Saturday night which is good news as the Ducks look forward to conference play as a new member of the Big Ten.

Duke RBs Coach Willie Simmons’ group hadn’t yet hit their stride even though the team started off 2-0. Last Saturday, RB1, Jaquez Moore, was out with an injury and Star Thomas was the next man up. In an offense designed to pass first after snagging highly touted Texas transfer QB Maalik Murphy in the offseason, Duke looked to finally get the ground game on track. Saturday night proved that the RBs can contribute when given the chance as Star Thomas had 122 yards rushing and Peyton Jones added 40. The Blue Devils’ ground game was crucial as they were able to shut down a potential upset bid by the Huskies by controlling the ball in the 4th quarter to run out the clock.

At Duke, Willie reunited with HC Manny Diaz. The two worked together at Middle Tennessee years ago where Diaz served as Defensive Coordinator while Willie served as Offensive Coordinator under HC Rick Stockstill. Coincidentally, Middle Tennessee happens to be Duke’s opponent this weekend so Willie and Coach Diaz will take their 3-0 record into a familiar setting in Murfreesboro. Willie has won more than most over the last several years during a historic run as HC at Florida A&M that culminated with a 2023 season in which the Rattlers won both the SWAC Championship and the Celebration Bowl.

Going into Saturday’s matchup with Air Force, Baylor had lost nine straight home games against FBS opponents, and was facing a team that had beat them in the 2022 Armed Forces Bowl. Their starting QB was dressed in street clothes due to a throwing arm injury and Baylor was up 6-3 at the end of the first half. Determined to end the streak, the Bears came out strong in the second half and went on to score 25 unanswered points to win 31-3.

Overall, the Bears passed for 248 yards and, led by RB Bryson Washington’s 106 yards, ran for 230; a performance Offensive Quality Control, Weston Glaser, can be proud of. Although he wasn’t in Waco for the team’s recent struggles, the pressure on Head Coach Dave Aranda to win this year is no secret, so Weston knew the importance of the Air Force game. A veteran Defensive Coordinator, Weston arrived in Waco after serving as Interim Head Coach at Northwestern State last season and moved over to help on offense. His defensive perspective is helping the offense prepare and the Bears sit at 2-1 before heading to Colorado this weekend.  

Georgia State found itself looking for a new Head Coach after Sean Elliott left to take an assistant job at South Carolina in February. They turned to Dell McGee who then turned to his former Auburn teammate, Dameyune Craig, to join him as WRs Coach. Timing is so critical in life and coaching, and Dameyune happened to be available after spending the past six seasons coaching wideouts for Texas A&M.

The win, only Georgia State’s second victory over a power conference team in school history, didn’t come easy. GSU mounted a 29-17 lead in the beginning of the 4th quarter but saw Vandy score 15 unanswered points to take a late game advantage. The Panthers got the ball back down two and put together a drive that ended with a 25-yard TD pass to WR Ted Hurst, who finished the night with 7 catches for 128 yards and 2 TDs, with just 15 seconds left on the clock to seal the win. The college teammates who won a bunch of games for Auburn are off to a 2-1 start as coaches in Atlanta.

The Lafayette Leopards have started the season off strong and are ranked 14/18 in this week’s FCS polls. A big reason is the offensive production orchestrated by Offensive Coordinator, TJ Dimuzio. Lafayette had 528 yards of offense, 284 passing and 244 rushing, and cruised to a 56-14 win over Marist on Saturday. After three games, TJ’s group is averaging 425.7ypg which is good for 13th in the country.

Last week, the offense produced 526 total yards and provided game winning heroics in a comeback win over Monmouth in which WR Elijah Steward hauled in a school record-setting 15 receptions, including the game winning TD, for 244 yards. That performance earned him an ESPN Helmet Sticker and the Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week. Against Marist, Steward had his second career 100-yard receiving game, catching 6 balls for 106 yards, and is proving to be a valuable weapon for TJ and the Leopards offense.

Seton Hill Scores Last Second TD to Complete Comeback Win      

Seton Hill found itself trailing 14-3 at the end of the third quarter to fellow PSAC member Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon. Down but not out, the Griffins put together two sustained TD drives in the fourth, taking the final lead with 9 seconds remaining on a 4th and 4, 14 yard TD pass for the road win.

Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator, Daniel Day, had his unit coming up big under pressure. Although 287 yards of total offense isn’t remarkable these days, the Seton Hill offense won the Time of Possession battle, converted 7 of 18 3rd down conversions, 2 of 3 4th down conversions, and scored 3 times in 4 trips to the red zone. Defensive Coordinator, Kevin May, saw his group come up with 4 sacks and 2 INTs in the win.

We live in a world of constant  conference realignment, but it’s safe to say CIAA member Elizabeth City State won’t begetting an invitation to the Gulf South Conference anytime soon. The Vikings went on the road to beat Erskine to move to 2-1 on the season and notched another win over a GSC opponent, having defeated Chowan last week.

Going into the season opener, HC Marcus Hilliard, had a question mark at the QB position. At the opener versus Shaw, the offense struggled for the first three quarters under two veterans. It wasn’t until Marcus turned to Freshman QB Damarcus Creecy that the offense got moving and Marcus’ team is a dropped TD pass away from being 3-0 for the season. The Vikings took their time to get going against Erskine, but another strong 4th quarter performance in which ECSU scored 20 unanswered points proved to be the difference on Saturday.