Pirate Galaxy » UNEXPECTED FINISHWe were picke

(STATS) -- Look at it this way with the Missouri Valley Football Conference: even recently struggling Missouri State has a 2-0 record to surpass last years win total.Weve suggested the nations strongest FCS conference will become the first to put six teams in the playoff field this year.Through two weeks of the season, its looking quite possible. All 10 teams are at least 1-1, with Missouri State, a mere 1-10 last season, the surprise among the 2-0 teams that also include top-ranked North Dakota State, Illinois State and Western Illinois.The Missouri Valley won its mini-battle with the Big Sky over the weekend, capturing three of the four matchups -- NDSU over Eastern Washington and Western Illinois over Northern Arizona within the Top 25 and South Dakota over Weber State. Only Northern Iowa, which has beaten Iowa State, was a loser, falling to Montana.Last years five playoff teams -- NDSU, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Western Illinois -- have done nothing to suggest they wont be back again, even with the upcoming conference schedule so brutal. All but WIU from that group are ranked in the Top 10, and Illinois State, the two-time defending Valley champ with NDSU, has an FBS win like UNI, taking down Northwestern on Saturday.Youngstown State is the other viable playoff candidate. Coach Bo Pelinis team has an solid win over Duquesne and a credible loss to West Virginia. The Penguins are improved.Six playoff teams is a number other people say wont happen. Thats all MVFC teams usually have to hear.---=SECOND AND 10=Ten more observations from the FCS weekend:1.) In addition to Illinois States win, Eastern Illinois scored one as well as the two head to the 105th meeting of their rivalry next Saturday. EIU beat Miami of Ohio 21-17 on Mitch Kimbles 7-yard touchdown pass to Devin Church with 56 seconds remaining. The Panthers withstood a 2-hour, 45-minute weather delay to give third-year coach Kim Dameron his first non-Ohio Valley Conference win after nine losses.2.) The team of the week is MEAC favorite North Carolina A&T, which went four overtimes to outlast Kent State 39-36 for its first win over an FBS team. Both teams scored in each OT, but the difference in the final one was Kent State kicked a field goal and the Aggies followed with Oluwafemi Bamiros 15-yard TD pass to Denzel Keyes. Coach Rod Broadway used three different quarterbacks who threw at least 12 passes and All-America running back Tarik Cohen totaled 251 yards from scrimmage. With a trip to Tulsa next Saturday, the Aggies can go for another FBS win.3.) The almost team of the week was Nicholls in defeat. A visit to FBS No. 9 Georgia appeared to be a lopsided FCS-FBS matchup, but the Southland Conference squad continued to show improvement under second-year coach Terry Rebowe as 92,746 watched a tight game in disbelief in Athens. The Colonels, in their season opener, had a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter. But after closing within 26-24 with 3:42 left in the game, they never got the ball back. Freshman Chase Fourcade threw two touchdowns and Jeff Hall had a 91-year interception return in the loss.4.) SWAC teams usually take a beating against the FBS and the last one from the conference to beat an FBS opponent was Grambling State in 1985 (23-6 over Oregon State). The Tigers had an opportunity to end the drought Saturday night at Arizona, but their 21-3 halftime lead wilted in the desert to a 31-21 loss. Coach Broderick Fobbs squad lost the turnover battle 6-0.5.) The Southern Conference lost its two standout quarterbacks after last season -- Chattanoogas Jacob Huesman and Western Carolinas Troy Mitchell -- but two new standouts are emerging. Chattanooga junior Alejandro Bennifield and Samford sophomore Devlin Hodges have each thrown eight touchdowns for their 2-0 teams. Bennifield has completed 79 percent of his attempts and also rushed for a touchdown. Hodges, the next big standout in the conference, has completed nearly 74 percent of his attempts and has led a big win at Central Arkansas.6.) Eastern Washington must hope All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupps shoulder injury -- considered a sprain that sidelined him for the second half against North Dakota State -- doesnt linger this season. Of course, no team has the incredible depth at the position quite like the Eagles, including Kendrick Bourne, Shaq Hill and breakout sophomore Stu Stiles.7.) The Big Sky has the feel of a conference headed for another wild, deep title race, but three of the teams expected to be in the mix are off to 0-2 starts. Northern Arizona was the preseason favorite and North Dakota and Weber State took big steps last season. NAU and Weber State have been outscored a combined 66-7 in the fourth quarter, with Weber letting a 21-point lead slip away at South Dakota. All three teams will play their first home game next Saturday and expect to get into the win column.8.) Towson rallied from 28-10 down for a 35-28 win over Saint Francis and it might have found its quarterback, and perhaps its not Oregon transfer Morgan Mahalak, who suffered a shoulder injury and was in a sling afterward. Backus Ellis Knudson led the rally, looking the most to wide receiver Christian Summers, who totaled 232 receiving yards and two touchdowns (94 and 43 yards) on only six catches.9.) Have to wonder how the off-the-field mistakes at Charleston Southern are affecting fourth-year coach Jamey Chadwells stock in the coaching profession. Hes created an FCS power in a short time at the Big South school and is a young, articulate, innovative coach who should be rising. But to add his upcoming one-game suspension for an assistants impermissible social media contact with a high school player on top of the 32 one-game player suspensions in the book scandal, its drawn a lot of negative attention nationally.10.) The NFL season kicks off with Week 1 active rosters full of 140 FCS players, an increase of seven from one year ago. Each of the 32 NFL teams consisted of at least one FCS alum, with the New York Jets 11 players leading the way and followed by Buffalo, Arizona, Detroit, Indianapolis and the New York Giants with seven each. Among FCS schools, Montana led the way with seven players, followed by Delaware and North Dakota State with six apiece, and Harvard, Northern Iowa, Samford and South Carolina State with five each. Another 39 FCS players were added to practice squads.---=A LOOK AHEAD=Top-ranked North Dakota State will put its five-game winning streak against FBS competition on the line at Iowa next Saturday.Coastal Carolina will visit Jacksonville State and Northern Iowa will head to Eastern Washington in games matching nationally ranked teams. The list also will include Towson at Villanova in the CAA if the visiting Tigers re-enter the Top 25 on Monday.Eastern Illinois will go to Illinois State for the Mid-America Classic, Western Carolina and East Tennessee State will play a Southern Conference game at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Stephen F. Austin at McNeese is a good Southland game. James Madison has an FBS matchup at North Carolina.Also, the later-starting Ivy League will kick off its season with eight games, including Penn at Fordham.Fake Balenciaga For Sale . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Balenciaga Shoes Sale . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. https://www.fakebalenciaga.com/ . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Wholesale Balenciaga . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66. Fake Balenciaga Cheap . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said.FORT WORTH, Texas -- When Gary Patterson coaches his school-record 202nd game for TCU, he can easily put in perspective what that means by looking at Bill Snyder on the other side of the field.Snyder will be going for his 201st win with Kansas State when the two bowl-bound teams play Saturday.I saw what Coach Snyder said on his 200th win, not his 200th game, just a lot of people that have made a lot of sacrifices, Patterson said. The guy sitting in my chair takes a lot of grief but also gets probably too much credit some time for what they did and how they do it.Patterson is already TCUs winningest coach with 149 wins in his 16 seasons, and will break a tie with Dutch Meyer for the most games as head coach when the Horned Frogs (6-5, 4-4 Big 12) face his alma mater. A Kansas native, Patterson played at K-State and was a graduate assistant for the Wildcats before Snyder got there.Kansas State (7-4, 5-3), which plays its 307th game in 25 seasons under Snyder, will finish no worse than a tie for fourth in the Big 12 after being picked eighth in the preseason poll. Snyders 200th victory came last week in a win over instate rival Kansas.It is about possessing the commitment to reach the highest capabilities that you have and improve toward that end as an individual, day in and day out, Snyder said about his team, which has won four of its last five games. When you do that, then collectively you are going to make some progress.Some things to know when Kansas State and TCU play:BOWL DESTINATIONSA trip to the Texas Bowl in Houston to face an SEC team could be next for the winner of Saturdays game. The Texas Bowl gets the fourth pick from available Big 12 teams. The loser is likely headed to the Liberty Bowl to play an SEC team in Memphis or the Cactus Bowl against a Pac-12 team in Phoenix. The Wildcats will be going to a bowl for the seventh season in a row and 19th timee under Snyder.dddddddddddd TCU will be in a bowl for the 14th time in Pattersons 16 full seasons.RUNNING CATSKansas State has rushed for 924 yards and 14 touchdowns in its last three games, and the Wildcats have five consecutive 200-yard games -- their longest Big 12 streak since 2003. Banged-up quarterback Jesse Ertz is their leading rusher (71 yards per game) and redshirt freshman running back Alex Barnes has back-to-back 100-yard games. If we have the capacity to run the football, then we will do that, Snyder said.RECEIVING RUNNERKyle Hicks can run and catch for TCU. He leads the team with 894 yards rushing and 40 receptions, putting him on pace to be the first TCU player to lead the team in both categories since Basil Mitchell in 1996.SO SIMILARIn Big 12 games this season, Kansas State is averaging 30.6 points a game, and TCU 30.5. On defense, the Wildcats are giving up 27.2 points per game, just less than Pattersons defense allowing 27.9 points per game.UNEXPECTED FINISHWe were picked eighth in the conference and everything that we have accomplished so far was not expected from us, Kansas State junior linebacker Trent Tanking said. We could go from the team that was considered young and inexperienced to the team that can finish strong with eight wins in the regular season. I think having a 6-3 record in a conference would be a great accomplishment.ANOTHER COOL, WET FINALE?TCUs regular-season finale at home last season, a double-overtime win over Baylor, was played in a steady rain with temperatures in the 30s. I was cold, but ... It was awesome, Patterson said. The forecast this week calls for rain, heavy at times, with temperatures in the 40s.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '