We have to wonder, how many college football fans like us got to see some of the best teams of the 2019 season in all four divisions of NCAA football? Our effort toward the end of the season with the addition of one major bowl and several playoff games gave us hopes to see the top team in each. Regretfully, we came up short. Only two national champions ended up in our final tally among 15 nationally ranked teams on our final slate, but how many other fans can say they saw two No. 1 teams this season? We did.
Took a shot to see national champ #2 and won
Our dream to see four national football champs in one year died with losses by Slippery Rock and Muhlenberg when they fell in their respective playoffs. When the decision was made to possibly see the top four, we followed through on our effort by attending the CFP semi-final at The Peach Bowl in Atlanta to see No. 1 LSU play No. 4 Oklahoma. With an affordable game ticket, a round trip plane ticket down and back from Baltimore the morning after The Military Bowl in Annapolis, and the blessing of St. Laurie, the opportunity presented itself to us. We knew it didn’t guarantee us that we would see the national champs with defending champ Clemson and No. 2 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in the other half of the bracket, but we made the right move.
As you all know now, LSU 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow led No. 1 LSU over No. 4 Oklahoma in The Peach, 63-28, throwing for 493 yards and seven TDs all in the first half. The Tigers led at intermission, 49-14. Burrow tied the all-time bowl record for TD passes in a game, and WR Justin Jefferson (14 catches for 227 yards) tied the all-time bowl record with his four touchdown receptions, again all in the first half. Burrow ran for another TD in the second half to punctuate his performance.
No guarantee to see No. 1 until the CFP championship
Burrow showed accuracy for sure (click here for our game review), but the Sooner defense rarely challenged him with a rush nor his receiving corps with tight coverage by their secondary. Clemson, winners of the Fiesta Bowl would surely contest the Bayou Bengals with wily Dabo Swinney and his defensive coordinator Max Venable. What we saw from the comfort of our couch that evening, the Orange Tigers provided tight coverage on the White Tigers totally unlike Boomer Sooner. However, Burrow came up just as accurate as he was against tight coverage as he was against lackadaisical coverage. Of course, Ed Orgeron’s team won the national championship in impressive fashion, 42-25.
We at collegefootballfan.com saw two national champs play by the end of 2019 – LSU (15-0) and North Dakota State (16-0). In addition we saw two national Semi-finalists who finished No. 7 (Muhlenberg) and at No. 9 (Slippery Rock) in their respective divisions. Can any other true college fan lay claim to something better than that in 2019? Will we ever have shot to pursue that again? Not without a lot of luck, but it was a fun pursuit and if the opportunity ever comes up again, we’ll give it our best shot. We love this great game of College Football!
Come back for more best of our 2019 season coming up, including best players, best teams, best games, and other insights about college football before we start focusing on our plans for the 2020 season. To be honest, we’re working on it already, but we don’t want to get too excited yet.
Going for it – D-3
Well since we’d seen North Dakota State play in September knowing they could go all the way, and having seen Slippery Rock and or Kutztown on their way into the D-2 playoffs, we hankered to see a CFP playoff if possible figuring the Peach Bowl CFP could offer us the best of the FBS. Hey, wait a minute! How about D-3? We noted that two schools within reach of us making their moves at that level – Delaware Valley and Muhlenberg – both in eastern Pennsylvania to the 2019 Stagg Bowl for the D-3 title. We paid attention.
Neither team hosted a quarterfinal game on December 7. So DVU traveled out to play North Central of in Naperville, Illinois who conquered perennial D-3 champ Mount Union in the second round in a shoot-out , 59-52. The Mules didn’t have to venture as far and headed to play Salisbury in Maryland where Brian Donnelly, fellow Navy fan living in Frederick, Maryland, joined me. The home team Sea Gulls of the NJAC came in with their high-powered triple option overwhelming SUNY-Maritime in the opening round, 83-0. In the second, they overcame tough Union of New York, 62-41. On the other hand, the Mules dominated defensively blanking MIT, 38-0, in the first game and Brockport State of New York in the second, 42-0. The match-up pitted the unstoppable offense against the unyielding defense. We looked forward to it.
Devastating defense
In the classic match-up, the Mules’ defensive strategy shut down the Gulls triple-option offense that averaged 343 rushing yards per game to just 127. The Sea Gulls, second nationally in passing efficiency, completed only four of 17 pass attempts. The quick, stifling, well-coached Muhlenberg defense held Salisbury (12-1) to only eight points after averaging 51.1 points per game coming into this game at home. Through the second and third periods, the Mule defense moved well laterally on run plays to either side the offense veered to to quickly plug holes for dive plays. They adequately covered the ends tightly on pitch-outs to keep the Sea Gull running game in check.
Most impressively, Muhlenberg QB Michael Hnatkowsky completed 24 of 38 passes for 264 yards. His three TDs boosted his career school record to 96 passes for touchdowns with another full season ahead of him. The Mules triumphed, 24-8. They advanced to the semifinals to fall to eventual national champ North Central who defeated them 45-14 before taking down another perennial D-3 finalist, Wisconsin-Whitewater, 42-14. Talk about a high-powered offense, Central averaged 45.4 points in five playoff games. Not only did they score 100 points against two programs who won the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl 15 times in the past 20 years, they defeated a very formidable Muhlenberg defense we watched play shutdown defense in person. The Mules finished No. 7 in the final poll. Salisbury trailed at No. 9.
Added the Bison for the first time
Prior to the season, we targeted North Dakota State in September coming east. Our expectation figured they would be shooting for their eighth FCS Championship in nine years. They didn’t let us down in that respect. However, we like Delaware football and hoped they had a chance for an upset. The Bison handled the Fighting Blue Hens easily with a dominating 47-22 victory on September 14.
Eventual Walter Payton Award winner, Frosh QB Trey Lance, completed 18 of 23 passes for 195 yards and three TDs. Kobe Johnson carried 11 times for 101 yards and one TD. This victory under new HC Matt Entz gave NDSU its third straight win of the early season. For the program overall, the Bison recorded their 24th straight victory. They finished undefeated at 16-0 (a modern NCAA D-1 record) by season’s end defeating James Madison in Frisco, Texas, 28-20, taking their eighth title in nine years. JMU had interrupted their streak in 2016. The Bison carry a 37-game winning streak heading into the 2020 season. Call it a stampede!
D-2 Conference championship
This scenario doesn’t get any better than this at any level of the college football regular season. When this opportunity came up, we abandoned our idea of attending a big Ivy league game on November 16 (7-1 Princeton hosting 7-1 Yale) for a championship game arranged last minute in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The PSAC does this every year to determine its Conference champ. With 16 teams, they determine two top teams among all and establish a legitimate championship game.
This season, Slippery Rock and Kutztown both finished undefeated and ranked in D-2 having never played one another. The title game was slated at Andre Reed Stadium, home of the KU Golden Bears who we had seen open their season there against Assumption of the NEC who they pummeled, 54-16. The two opponents originally on their respective schedules to end their PSAC regular seasons on the final week rescheduled to play one another to leave the two best PSAC teams to in it on the field. We love this plan!
Sorting out our best among D-2
The game was a battle. No. 8 Slippery Rock bested No. 15 Kutztown University with 26 seconds left to win the conference title, 37-35. With 2:06 remaining, Slippery Rock started from their 35 . QB Roland Rivers III (28 of 41, 502 yards, four TDs, one INT) got to work running and passing. On a third and ten he completed a pass to WR Jermaine Wynn at the 17 followed by an eight-yard pass to Qaadri Dixon. From there, RB Charles Snorweah took it over to gain SRU the 37-35 lead. Chapla’s conversion failed to lead by only two.
With seconds left, Kutztown HC Jim Clement opted for a 51-yard FG attempt into the wind with his struggling kicker instead of attempting a long pass as time expired. KU had taken a two-touchdown lead into the final period and also opted out of a FG attempt to extend their lead while The Rock (11-0) scored 17 unanswered points to take the title and gain a bye week in the opening round of the upcoming playoffs. Rivers went on to win the Harlon Hill Award that goes to the outstanding player of the year in D-2 football.
Final D-2 rankings
Both The Rock and Kutztown entered D-2 playoffs the following week. In a game we attended, Golden Bear QB Collin DiGalbo struggled unlike the two previous games we’d seen him play. The Bears fell to Notre Dame of Ohio at home on a last second field goal, 20-17. SRU advanced past another PSAC team, newcomer Shepherd, 51-30. In the semi-finals, The Rock got slammed my Minnesota State, 58-15. State fell in the D-2 final to national champion, West Florida, 48-40. In the final D-2 poll, Slippery Rock ranked the highest among D-2 teams we’d seen in 2019 at No. 9. The D-2 Falcons of Notre Dame (12-2) came in at No. 11 while Kutztown (11-2) fell in at No. 16. We got to see great, fun, competitive games played among these three in 2019.