Weekend Recap: Dukes Eke-out a Tough Win at Elon; Murray State Upsets SEMO

March 7, 2021 by Staff

The No. 1 team almost went down to defeat for the second week in-a-row. James Madison ascended to No. 1 in the media poll last week after North Dakota State's winning streak was halted at 39 games by Southern Illinois. This week, JMU needed to rally from a 17-6 deficit in the 4th quarter to escape the upset bid by homestanding Elon and eke-out a 20-17 victory. The Dukes were favored by 21.5 by the oddsmakers.

North Dakota State recovered from last week's loss with a 25-0 shutout win at Missouri State, and Southern Illinois continued its winning ways by taking a 30-22 decision at Youngstown State on Saturday.

Northern Iowa was a 20-10 winner at home over Illinois State, dropping the Redbirds to an 0-2 start. The Panthers have won 2 straight after losing their opener in the finals seconds to South Dakota State.

Delaware stuffed Maine 37-0 in a game that was suppose to be close with the oddsmakers taking the Blue Hens by 2.5 points and the computer (Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com) taking the Black Bears by 3.07 points. It was the season opener for both schools.

On Sunday, Murray State was a big upset winner by taking down Southeast Missouri on the road, 24-21. SEMO was a 13.5-point favorite with the oddsmakers and an 18.07-point computer pick. Southeast Missouri entered the game ranked 10th by the Congrove Computer and 16th in the FCS Stats Media Poll. The Racers were ranked 50th by the computer and were nowhere to be found among the 40 teams in the media poll.

Another Sunday upset saw Long Island University notch its first win as a FCS team by upsetting Bryant 24-19 in Brookville. The Sharks were 0-10 in 2019 which was their inaugural season at the higher level. LIU was a dominant force in the D2 Northeast-10 Conference.

Eastern Washington recovered from an opening week loss to Idaho by ruining Northern Arizona's opener with a 45-13 beat-down of the visiting Lumberjacks in Cheney, just outside of Spokane.

Idaho State edged Southern Utah, 26-24, on a 30-yard field goal with 5 seconds left. The loss sent the Thunderbirds down to 0-2 with the two defeats by a total of 3 points. Southern Utah dropped a 34-33 decision at Northern Arizona last week by giving up a 2-yard TD pass on the final play of the game. The Bengals improved to 1-1.

Meanwhile, Idaho was vandalized 27-17 in the Kibbie Dome by UC Davis in the season opener for the Aggies.

In a game that was put together after both schools lost their original opponent to covid-related issues, Alabama A&M went to Orangeburg as a 10.5-point underdog and upset South Carolina State 31-7. The battle of teams nicknamed Bulldogs came about when Mississippi Valley State had to cancel its home game against A&M, and Howard was not allowed to travel to South Carolina-and-back due to restrictions in the D.C. area. Alabama A&M had three turnovers - all interceptions - but South Carolina State re-gifted those and added two more.

A fumble recovery by Jackson State just outside the goal line with a little over a minute remaining secured a 33-28 win at Grambling State. Jackson State was a 9.5-point bet to lose for the 6th straight time in the series, but JSU head coach Deion Sanders improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the SWAC as both teams, nicknamed the Tigers, opened conference play and Grambling opened its season. The G-Men had won 16 straight home games since last falling on September 12, 2015 to Bethune-Cookman in a wild 56-53 affair that saw 57 points scored by the two teams in the fourth quarter.

Another upset on Saturday saw 10.5-point favorite Southern fall 33-30 at home to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Texas Southern entered Saturday night's game at Prairie View A&M on a 14-game losing streak, but nearly pulled off the big surprise. The Panthers rescued the 20-19 win on a 4-yard run and subsequent PAT with 1:40 left in the season opener for both programs. PVAMU forced a fumble on Texas Southern's ensuing possession to secure the victory. The Tigers were a 19.5-point underdog in the sportsbooks and a 20.5-point computer dog. It was the 76th meeting in the series which Texas Southern leads 45-30-1. However, Prairie View A&M has taken the last 6, and 14 of the last 17.

Furman rallied from 17 down for a 44-37 win in overtime at Samford. Both teams are now 1-1 after the Paladins were upset 14-13 last week at VMI and the Bulldogs were 55-27 winners at home over Western Carolina.

VMI improved to 2-0 with an expected 30-7 win at Western Carolina as the Catamounts of Cullowhee fell to 0-2.

North Dakota won as expected on Thursday night, 21-10 at home over South Dakota, to open the weekend play. The next night, Albany State was a 24-20 victor at New Hampshire in a key CAA northern division clash and the season opener for both ranked teams.

Chattanooga improved to 2-0 with a 25-24 win at The Citadel, and Richmond downed William & Mary 21-14 to win the 130th Capital Cup clash.

Nicholls State, which had obliterated its first two opponents by a combined score of 140-3, repelled an upset bid by Northwestern State (La.) with a 31-24 win in Natchitoches (Nak-uh-tish) in a Southland conference affair. The Colonels (3-0, 2-0 Southland) had previously defeated Lamar 55-0 last week, and D2 school Lincoln University of Missouri 85-3 in its opener. This was the season opener for the Demons. Northwestern State pulled to within 7 with 5:40 remaining but Nicholls was able to run out the clock on the ensuing possessions with 7 runs and 1 pass completion.

Another Southland game saw Southeastern Louisiana improve to 1-1 overall, and in conference play, while dropping McNeese State (1-2, 0-2) 25-20 in Hammond. The Lions lost their opener 43-38 at Sam Houston State a week ago.

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