Week 7 of the DII football season is in the books, and what an exciting one it was. Four top 25 upsets are among the many intriguing numbers from Saturday. Let's take a look at the best individual performers and which teams stuffed the box scores from the week that was.
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The DII football top 25 by the numbers
1 βTotal shutouts in Week 7. It was by the same team that recorded the only shutout last week. Colorado School of Mines blanked Fort Lewis, 42-0.
3 β Different ways Colorado School of Mines quarterback John Matocha scored. He threw for four touchdowns, rushed for one and even had a 23-yard touchdown reception.
5 β Top 25 teams that lost in Week 7, which is the most in any week of the 2019 DII football season. Four were upsets as No. 7 Northwest Missouri State, No. 12 West Chester, No. 19 Pittsburg State, and No. 23 Minnesota Duluth fell to unranked teams. No. 20 Texas A&M-Commerce picked up its second loss of the season, both to top 25 schools, this week at the hands of No. 4 Tarleton State.
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22 β Valdosta State's winning streak, the longest current run in DII football. The Blazers' home winning streak moves to 12, tying them with Notre Dame (OH) and Tarleton State for the longest current streak in DII.
24.3β Average margin of victory for the 19 top 25 teams that won on Saturday. That is up about a point from last week. Minnesota State had the largest victory, defeating U-Mary by 57 points, while Angelo State had the narrowest margin of victory with a three-point win over West Texas A&M.
31 β Consecutive wins in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference by Minnesota State, who set a program record with 74 points in a victory over U-Mary this week. The Mavericks last loss in the NSIC was Oct. 29, 2016.
DII football standout players for Week 7
Let's take a look at some of the best stats from inside the top 25.
Quarterbacks
PLAYER | SCHOOL | STATS |
---|---|---|
Cole Kotopka | Grand Valley State | 402 pass, 51 rush, 5 TD |
Roland Rivers III | Slippery Rock | 391 pass, 24 rush, 2 TD |
Brook Bolles | Central Missouri | 341 pass, 8 rush, 2 TD |
John Matocha | Colorado School of Mines | 339 pass, 67 rush, 23 rec., 6 TD |
Rogan Wells | Valdosta State | 338 pass, 83 rush, 4 TD |
Other notables: Ja'Rome Johnson, Bowie State; Ben Holmes, Tarleton State; Brandon Mlekus, Pittsburg State; Miklo Smalls, Texas A&M-Commerce
Running backs
PLAYER | SCHOOL | STATS |
---|---|---|
Ja'Den McKenzie | West Chester | 179 rush, 2 TD |
Jaleel McLaughlin | Notre Dame (OH) | 172 rush, 2 TD |
Justice Evans | Indiana (Pa) | 142 rush |
Nate Gunn | Minnesota State | 118 rush, 1 TD |
Nijere Peoples | Wingate | 109 rush, 1 TD |
Other notables: Adam Houser, Indiana (Pa); Seth McGill, Valdosta State; DJ Penick, CSU-Pueblo
Receivers
PLAYER | SCHOOL | STATS |
---|---|---|
Brian Saunds | Valdosta State | 246 yards, 1 TD |
Shae Wyatt | Central Missouri | 191 yards |
Lorenzo West | Pittsburg State | 152 yards, 1 TD |
Sy Barnett | Ferris State | 132 yards, 1 TD |
Zimari Manning | Tarleton State | 131 yards, 3 TD |
Henry Litwin | Slippery Rock | 131 yards, 1 TD |
Other notables: Jalen Brooks, Wingate; Austin Paritee, Grand Valley State; Shane Zylstra, Minnesota State
DII football outside the top 25
It was quite the week for quarterbacks outside the top 25, but a few running backs crossed the 200-yard mark as well.
Tyson Bagent threw for 413 yards and three scores in Shepherd's upset of No. 12 West Chester. Devin Phelps was his favorite target, reeling in 109 yards and two touchdowns.
Fort Hays State's Chance Fuller and Layne Bieberle had a huge day in the Tigers upset of No. 19 Pittsburg State. Fuller threw for 306 yards and four scores while Bieberle caught 152 of those yards and two of the touchdowns. Running back Charles Tigner added 127 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
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There was a nice matchup between two of the more under-the-radar running backs in DII football. Fayetteville State's Stevie Green ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns while his counterpart, Emanuel Wilson of Johnson C. Smith, piled up 195 yards and three touchdowns.
As we said, there were a bunch of 200-yard rushers on Saturday. Sam Santiago-Lloyd ran for 231 yards and two touchdowns for Winona State. Luke Durkin rushed for 213 yards and two touchdowns for Shippensburg. But it was Newberry's Chance Walker who had one of the best games of the season, running for 261 yards and six touchdowns.
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Let's take a look at some of the other top performers outside the top 25. We're narrowing our focus here to huge statistical, and sometimes career days, with big yards and touchdown numbers.
- Ryan Barabe, QB, Seton Hill: 348 yards, 2 TD
- Jaden Barr, QB, Truman: 272 pass, 107 rush, 4 TD
- Ben Bolinske, QB, Minot State: 194 pass, 141 rush, 4 TD
- Boyer Bouman, QB, Southwest Minnesota State: 328 yards, 4 TD
- Austin Brenner, QB, Ashland: 292 pass, 199 rush, 3 TD
- Cade Brister, QB, Lindenwood: 311 yards, 4 TD
- John Buska, QB, Adams State: 331 yards, 2 TD
- Dalton Cowan, QB, Emporia State: 313 yards, 2 TD
- T.J. Davis, QB, Nebraska-Kearney: 125 pass, 110 rush, 2 TD
- Trent Easley, QB, Northwestern Oklahoma: 314 yards, 2 TD
- Austin Hensley, QB, West Virginia State: 380 yards, 3 TD
- Tim Heltzel, QB, Glenville State: 301 yards, 2 TD
- Dwayne Lawhorn, QB, St. Cloud State: 347 yards, 2 TD
- Hayden Mallory, QB, Southern Arkansas: 311 yards, 4 TD
- Noah Mitchell, QB, Cal (Pa): 331 yards, 4 TD
- Christian Moore, QB, Central Washington: 332 yards, 4 TD
- Jacob Park, QB, Missouri Southern: 415 yards, 1 TD
- Zach Phillips, QB, West Liberty: 302 yards, 3 TD
- Andrew Rudd, QB, Quincy: 350 pass, 36 rush, 5 TD
- Walter Steigerwald, QB, Missouri Western: 252 yards, 5 TD
- Anton Stoneking, QB, Stonehill: 337 yards, 1 TD
- Hunter Trautman, QB, Northern State: 368 yards, 3 TD
- Kody Wilstead, QB, Dixie State: 302 yards, 2 TD
- Jimmy Urzula, QB, Mars Hill: 328 yards, 2 TD
- James Budgett, RB, New Mexico Highlands: 141 rush, 1 TD
- Bryce Cabrera, RB, Southwest Baptist: 151 yards, 1 TD
- EJ Colson, RB, Ohio Dominican: 140 yards, 3 TD
- Rakeem Dardem, RB, Fairmont State: 109 yards, 2 TD
- Jalen Frye, RB, Bemidji State: 179 yards, 2 TD
- McKinley Habers, RB, Albany State: 148 yards, 1 TD
- JaQuan Hardy, RB, Tiffin: 138 yards, 3 TD
- Sidney Gibbs, RB, Shaw: 161 rush, 63 pass, 3 TD
- Gavin Lavat, RB, Frostburg State: 143 yards, 3 TD
- Shamar Logan, RB, New Haven: 121 yards, 1 TD
- Justin Manyweather, RB, Eastern New Mexico: 147 yards, 2 TD
- Matt McDonald, RB, Upper Iowa: 116 yards, 2 TD
- Deiontae Nicholas, RB, Wayne State (MI): 178 yards
- Jerko'ya Patton, RB, Limestone: 108 yards, 2 TD
- Tyree Randolph, RB, Fairmont State: 125 yards, 2 TD
- Thuro Reisdorfer, RB, Sioux Falls: 171 yards, 2 TD
- W.R. Sanders, RB, Urbana: 141 yards
- Tabyus Taylor, RB, Virginia Union: 120 yards, 2 TD
- Paul Terry, RB, Eastern New Mexico: 180 yards, 2 TD
- Gei'vonni Washington, RB, Ashland: 113 yards, 2 TD
- Deshaun Wethington, RB, Chowan: 133 yards, 2 TD
- Tony Archie, WR, Central Washington: 131 yards, 1 TD
- Tariq Bitson, WR, Adams State: 217 yards, 1 TD
- Logan Bolin, WR, Ashland: 126 yards, 2 TD
- Brian Boyd, WR, Missouri Southern: 157 yards
- Devin Butler, WR, Tiffin: 127 yards, 1 TD
- Matt Cole, WR, McKendree: 123 yards, 2 TD
- Joshua Cornell, WR, Oklahoma Baptist: 143 yards, 1 TD
- Daniel Davis, WR, Southwest Minnesota State: 127 yards, 3 TD
- Jarren Ford, WR, Western Oregon: 121 yards, 1 TD
- Ta'Nauz Gregory, WR, Edinboro: 169 yards, 1 TD
- Kyle Haines, WR, Shippensburg: 120 yards, 2 TD
- Andrew Jamiel, WR, Stonehill: 187 yards, 1 TD
- Dakota Larson, WR, Northern State: 150 yards, 1 TD
- Brandon Plyler, WR, Concord: 165 yards, 2 TD
- Austin Ratliff, WR, Glenville State: 139 yards, 1 TD
- Jaiden Reavis, WR, Virginia Union: 107 yards, 2 TD
- Payton Rose, WR, Lindenwood: 133 yards, 2 TD
- Isaiah Scott, WR, West Virginia State: 149 yards, 2 TD
- John Solberg, WR, St. Cloud State: 120 yards, 1 TD
- Alexander Stevens, WR, Upper Iowa: 124 yards, 1 TD
- Imeek Watkins, WR, Chowan: 140 total yards, 2 TD
There are a lot of box scores. Did we miss someone in the top 25 or elsewhere that had a monster day? Let us know by sending us a note at NCAASupport@turner.com.
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