NDSU Selected As FWAA’s National Team Of The Week

College Sports Journal 

FWAA News Release

 

DALLAS, TX. – The North Dakota State Bison headlined a banner weekend for teams from the Football Championship Subdivision by knocking off Kansas State on the road, 24-21. 

The two-time defending FCS champions are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Aug. 31.

 

The announcement came exclusively on SiriusXM Radio’s “College Sports Today,” hosted by Mark Packer and Eddie George. 

 

As part of the announcement, College Sports Journal Executive Editor David Coulson was interviewed on the air on Tuesday afternoon by Packer about the wild first weekend of games.

 

 

Bison quarterback Brock Jensen engineered an 18-play, 80-yard march over 8:30 for the deciding touchdown, which he scored on a keeper with 28 seconds remaining to cap a comeback from a 21-7 third-quarter deficit. 

Jensen converted four third-down plays on the final drive, and had two touchdowns in the game.

 

In joining Appalachian State as just the second team from the FCS to earn National Team of Week honors, NDSU (1-0) can now add the defending Big 12 champions to its list of recent Football Bowl Subdivision victims. 

The Bison also own wins over Colorado State (22-7) in 2012, Minnesota (37-24) in 2011, Kansas (6-3) in 2010, Central Michigan (44-14) and Minnesota (27-21) in 2007 and Ball State (29-24) in 2006.

 

“We have a remarkable program. We have a remarkable group of seniors and they have a tremendous amount of confidence,” said coach Craig Bohl after the game. “They are not cocky, they have a strong conviction, and we even talked about that during the course of being down by a couple possessions.”

 

But then North Dakota State is getting used to this type of success in big games.

 

“It certainly does not surprise us but I think it is just another notch,” Bohl explained. “We have had a lot of these type of wins, but never over a program like this.”

 

North Dakota State was the fourth true FCS team to beat a squad ranked in the top 30 in Associated Press Football Bowl Subdivision voting.

 

Some recognize a 14-3 win in 1983 by Cincinnati over No. 20 Penn State as an FCS victory over a ranked team, but even though the Bearcats were temporarily classified as a I-AA squad, they successfully appealed that decision and really didn’t meet modern criteria for FCS schools, playing 10 of 11 games in 1983 against I-A opponents (Cornell was the lone exception).

 

Cincinnati actually went to court to fight the NCAA’s decision and got a one-year reprieve from joining I-AA in 1982, but was reclassified again in 1983 before finally settling back in I-A in 1984, so it hard to consider that game as a true FCS-over-FBS upset.

 

Eastern Washington (1-0) narrowly missed winning national team of the week honors, coming up with a rare FCS win over an AP-ranked opponent.

 

The Eagles stole a road win over No. 25 Oregon State, 49-46, as quarterback Vernon Adams (518 yards of total offense) scored on a two-yard run with 18 seconds left. 

 

EWU rallied twice in the final 13:46 and survived a last-second field goal miss by the Beavers.

 

During the radio broadcast, Coulson was asked by Packer about how EWU could missed out as team of the week when it had sprung such a huge upset and why there were so many upsets last week?

 

But the Eagles’ win was one of a record eight FCS-over-FBS victories in one week.

 

McNeese State beat South Florida 41-7 in the most lopsided win ever by an FCS squad against a BCS team.

The 32-point winning margin bettered Furman’s 28-3 demolition of North Carolina in 1999.

 

Northern Iowa stopped Iowa State 28-20, Towson drilled Connecticut 33-18, Eastern Illinois toppled San Diego State 40-19, Southern Utah edged South Alabama 22-21 and Samford stopped Georgia State 31-21.

 

James Madison defeated a ranked Virginia Tech team, 21-16, in the second week of the 2010 season to join Eastern Washington as a squad that was nominated for national team of the week.

 

Other Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Aug. 31 included:

 

• Clemson (1-0): The No. 8 Tigers opened with a win in the first season-opening meeting of top-10 teams in school history, toppling No. 5 Georgia, 38-35. 

 

Clemson secured the back-and-forth game when Stanton Seckinger caught the last of Tajh Boyd’s five touchdowns on the night (three passing, two rushing) with 7:40 remaining, giving the Tigers a 38-28 lead and the only double-digit lead of the game.

 

• Washington (1-0): Keith Price completed 23-of-31 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns, and Bishop Sankey rolled up 161 rushing yards and two more scores as the Huskies opened the new Husky Stadium with a 38-6 runaway over No. 19 Boise State, which was held without a touchdown for the first time since 1997.

 

The Football Writers Association of America has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the ninth season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

 

Members of the FWAA All-America Committee decide the weekly honor. Each remaining Monday during the 2013 college football regular season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week.

 

Founded in 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has hosted seven games that have decided the college football national championship, including four Bowl Championship Series title games. 

 

This season, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 1, 2014, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl will be played on Dec. 28, 2013, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ.

 

The Football Writers Association of America, a non-profit organization founded in 1941, consists of more than 1,200 men and women who cover college football.

 

The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. 

 

The FWAA works to govern areas that include gameday operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at  tiger@fwaa.com or 972-713-6198.

 

For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to footballwriters.com or fiestabowl.org.