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Central Oklahoma, Carson Newman debuts in DII Football Power 10

Central Oklahoma, Carson Newman debuts in DII Football Power 10

Harding and Grand Valley State continue to go head-to-head for the top spot in the DII Football Power 10 rankings. This week, both beat their opponents and remained undefeated on the season, leaving the Bisons at No. 1 and the Lakers right behind at No. 2.

However, there are two other undefeated teams – the Central Oklahoma Bronchos and Carson-Newman Eagles – making their first DII Football Power 10 ranking appearances. The Bronchos jump to No. 9 after their convincing win over Northwest Missouri State and the Eagles debut at No. 10 after a thrilling 28-27 victory in which they came from behind. UT Permian Basin’s big 14-13 upset over then-No. 8 Central Washington late Saturday night opened the door for both.

DII FOOTBALL NEWS

🏆 Potential Harlon Hill winners
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🏈 Most championships in DII football history

The Power 10 are my rankings. There is no committee or voting body that puts these teams together, just my spreadsheets, coaches’ notes and a lot of deep dives into roster plans and stats. I try to combine metrics from the selection committee — like strength of schedule, regional record and PI — with what I see to get a big-picture view of the landscape of DII football’s top teams.

The DII Football Power 10: Week 6

#1 Harding | Back: 1: The Harding Bisons is a video game. This week they won 62-0 – their third shutout of the season, winning all three games by at least 59 points. They have outscored their opponents 366-13. That’s 61 points per game. When Pittsburg State set the DII record of 837 points in a season in 2004, they scored 55.8 points per game. To show you how absurd this run is: Last year the Bisons completely broke the NCAA college football rushing record, and this year they are on pace to break the DII single-season scoring record .

Oh yeah… the Bisons are averaging 51 more yards per game than last year when they ran for a record 6,160 yards, so this record may not last very long. By the way, the Bisons defense allowed a total of 32 yards, three first downs (one via penalty) and scored two pick-sixes this week. Seriously, it’s like Harding let a bunch of Madden 99 run amok on the football field.

No. 2 Grand Valley State | Back: 2: It took the Lakers less than two minutes to put this one out of reach. An opening kickoff return for a touchdown, a quick fumble recovery by the Lakers defense and a 29-yard scramble by Avery Moore later and the Lakers are 6-0 (5-0 vs. DII). There’s not much to say that hasn’t been said: This team is losing nearly 35 points per game and has one of the best defenses in DII. They have a big matchup this week against Saginaw Valley State.

#3 Valdosta State | Back: 3: Kudos to North Greenville. The Trailblazers fell to the Blazers 21-9, but Sammy Edwards led Valdosta State back to a 32-24 win. Surprisingly, in all three of North Greenville’s record wins, the Blazers trailed at halftime. It was truly the first flaw in Valdosta State’s game plan, as the Blazers have been dominant thus far. The Blazers still have the best offense and defense in the Gulf South.

No. 4 Slippery Skirt | Back: 5: The Rock earned a commanding victory over Gannon and is now 6-0. They scored on their first five possessions, getting things out of the way early. Brayden Long threw for three points and rushed for another. The Rock have a big matchup against Cal (PA) next week, and if they emerge victorious they will all but secure a spot in the all-important PSAC Championship game. This team checks all the metrics the selection committee is looking for, and a win against Cal only strengthens the case for the No. 1 seed in Super Region One.

No. 5 Pittsburg State | Back: 6: The Gorillas win another MIAA contest to stay in the hunt for their third straight conference title. The number that stands out to me is that, like the previous two seasons, the Gorillas lead the MIAA in scoring defense, scoring 17.5 points per game. That’s pretty impressive considering all but one team in the conference scores more than 20 points per game (and the one team that doesn’t average 19.4 points). This is the main reason the gorillas are jumping this week.

No. 6 Ferris State | Back: 4: The Bulldogs were still in action at press time as weather postponed their Week 6 game to Sunday. Still, they held a 10-0 lead over Wayne State (MI) at the time of the postponement. Why did the Bulldogs fall this week? We’re halfway through the season and now it’s the metrics that matter: Slippery Rock and Pittsburg State are superior in the big metrics like strength of schedule and KPI. So why does Ferris State stay at No. 6 and not fall further? Because even though the Bulldogs played a somewhat “simpler” game plan, they absolutely dominated it. The Bulldogs’ final stretch here is brutal, we’ll see, but the way this team performs gives the impression that they can compete with anyone in DII football.

No. 7 Minnesota State | Back: 9: As expected in Wednesday’s weekly preview, MSU Moorhead gave the Mavericks a tough matchup, but in the end, Minnesota State prevailed. The Mavs have a top-10 KPI per factor and are the undisputed No. 1 team in Super Region Four. The Mavericks back up their impressive SOS with a matchup against nationally ranked Augustana (SD) this week.

No. 8 Kutztown | Back: 7: The Golden Bears are now 6-0 after posting their second shutout of the season. They have the best defense in the PSAC and their 8.5 points allowed per game is among the top 5 in DII football. The defense committed a season-high five turnovers and Judd Novak added three more touchdowns to lead the PSAC in touchdown passes.

No. 9 Central Oklahoma | Back: The first five out: The Bronchos beat Central Missouri by 17, Nebraska-Kearney by 15, Fort Hays State by 25 and Northwest Missouri State by 28. All four of these teams were either ranked or receiving votes in the top 40 in DII at the time the Bronchos beat them. This team is on an incredible resurgence and features one of the best quarterbacks in DII (Jett Huff), running backs in DII (Jaylen Cottrell), and perhaps the best wide receiver in DII (Terrill Davis).

No. 10 Carson-Newman| Back: The first five out: The Eagles got to 6-0 on one of the craziest two-minute runs of the season. Trailing 27-14 with less than two minutes to play, the Eagles scored two goals for a 28-27 win. Wins like this show the courage a team needs to compete in November. The Eagles have played the fifth toughest schedule in DII and have the second best KPI in DII according to Factor. This is a well-deserved promotion.

The first five (somehow) out (in alphabetical order)

This week it was too close to call, so there’s an extra team.

  • Central Washington: I still think this is the team to beat in the Lone Star Conference and the defense makes them a frontrunner in the Super Region Four. Although victory was still a few misses away, this was still a tough loss for UTPB, and the Wildcats will have to bounce back next week against a tough Texas A&M-Kingsville team.
  • Charleston (WV): Chavon Wright will lead the Golden Eagles back to the postseason. He had 170 yards and five rushing touchdowns this weekend and now has 1,074 yards and 19 touchdowns with five games remaining before the postseason.
  • Colorado School of Mines: The Orediggers pulled off a big comeback victory as Evan Foster rushed for 319 yards and four touchdown passes. The RMAC is pretty tough this year, so the Orediggers have time to get back into the top 10 if they win Western Colorado and CSU Pueblo.
  • Ouachita Baptist: The Tigers are 6-0 and have outscored their opponents 237-48 so far. We’ll find out what they’re made of next weekend against Harding.
  • Western Colorado: The Mountaineers did nothing wrong falling out of the top 10 and winning by 21 points this week. When it comes to strength of schedule and other metrics, they simply lag behind Central Oklahoma. However, they still have Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo and Colorado Mesa left that can improve their selection criteria with wins.
  • West Alabama: It’s a shame we won’t see Valdosta State vs. the Tigers to see who is at the top of the GSC. But even though that game was canceled due to the hurricane, UWA played a tough schedule and answered the call by remaining undefeated with premiership wins over Limestone and West Florida.

DII Football 5 Stars: Stats that stood out

It was another week full of great stats. Jarod Epperson of Augustana (SD), for example, had a monster day rushing for 151 yards and adding 64 receiving yards, but his lack of touchdowns keeps him off the list. That’s how big the performances were this week.

Take a look at this week’s “5 Stars” for each of the three major offensive positions.

player position School statistics
Colin Johnson QB UNC Pembroke 514 passes, 7 touchdowns
Jett Huff QB Central Oklahoma 441 pass, 15 rush, 3 TD
Chase Ricke QB Emporia State 485 pass, 7 rush, 4 total TD
Branden Berwald QB Missouri Western 379 pass, 93 rush, 4 TD
Judd Barton QB South Arkansas 286 pass, 75 rush, 5 total TD
Elijah Grey RB Southern state of Connecticut 204 rushing, 14 receiving, 1 TD
Derek Crosby II RB Fairmont State 193 rushing, 44 receiving, 3 TD
Jada Byers RB Virginia Union 188 rushing, 2 TD
Trevon Hester RB Winston-Salem State 181 rushing, 29 receiving, 1 TD
Chavon Wright RB Charleston (WV) 170 rush, 5 TD
Tony Pannunzio WR Ashland 204 receptions, 2 TD
Tyler Carey WR Missouri Western 178 receptions, 3 TD
Terrill Davis WR Central Oklahoma 176 receptions, 1 TD
Max McLeod WR Colorado School of Mines 172 receptions, 2 TD
Jayden Horace WR Fort Hays State 160 receptions, 2 TD