Appalachian State Will Host Coastal Carolina in NCAA Championship playoffs
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University is the top-seeded team in the 2006 NCAA Division I Football Championship and will host Coastal Carolina in the first round of the 16-team playoffs on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The matchup will be televised live nationally from Kidd Brewer Stadium on ESPNU.
The defending national champion, Appalachian (10-1, 7-0 SoCon) has won 10-straight since a season-opening loss at NC State and brings a 24-game home winning streak into the playoffs. By earning the nation’s No. 1 seed, ASU is guaranteed homefield advantage should it continue to advance through the fi rst three rounds of the playoffs. The national championship game is set
for Friday, Dec. 15 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Coastal Carolina (9-2, 4-0 Big South), ranked No. 13 nationally in last week’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision poll by The Sports Network, claimed its third-consecutive Big South title with a 31-17 win over Charleston Southern on Saturday and is making its fi rst appearance in the FCS playoff fi eld. ASU has nearly four times as many playoff appearances (14) as CCU has total years of football history (4).
The meeting is the second all-time between the Mountaineers and Chanticleers. On Sept. 17 of last season, the Apps jumped out to a 30-0 halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 30-3 triumph. The teams have fi ve common opponents this season:
Elon (ASU W, 45-21; CCU L, 23-20), Furman (ASU W, 40-7; CCU W, 29-27), Gardner-Webb (ASU W, 41-6; CCU W, 52-24), Georgia Southern (ASU W, 27-20 in 2OT; CCU L, 38-21) and Wofford (ASU W, 14-7; CCU W, 41-38).
Furman Travels to Montana State in NCAA First Round
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman Paladins will travel to Bozeman, Mont., to take on the Montana State Bobcats this Saturday, Nov. 25, in NCAA Division I Football Championship first round playoff action, it was announced today. Kickoff at Bobcat Stadium is set for 11:30 a.m. MT (1:30 ET).
Furman (8-3, 6-1 SoCon) completed its regular season on Nov. 11 with a 13-10 win over Georgia Southern to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I championship playoffs. The Paladins won four of their final five regular season games to finish second in the Southern Conference.
Montana State (7-4, 6-2) dropped a 13-7 decision to Montana on Saturday to finish the regular season tied for second in the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats opened the 2006 campaign with a 19-10 win over Colorado before dropping three straight to Chadron State (35-24), UC Davis (45-0), and Eastern Washington (19-10). Montana State rallied to win six of their final seven games before Saturday’s loss to rival Montana.
Furman and Montana State have never squared off in football. The Paladins are 3-2 all-time against Big Sky Conference opposition, with the last meeting coming against Montana (13-6 loss) in the 2001 Division I Football National Championship game (formerly I-AA national championship game) in Chattanooga, Tenn. All five Furman-Big Sky Conference clashes have been playoff affairs.
The winner of the Furman-Montana State game will play the winner of Saturday’s Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina contest on Dec.2.
The NCAA Division I national championship game is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 15 at Chattanooga’s Max Finley Stadium.
The playoff appearance is Furman’s seventh in the last eight seasons and 15th overall since Southern Conference football was reclassified from I-A to I-AA in 1982. Furman sports a 17-13 playoff record and in 1988 won the NCAA I-AA national championship by defeating Georgia Southern 17-12 in Pocatello, Idaho. In its last playoff appearance a year ago, Furman knocked off Nicholls State, 14-12, in a first round game and clipped Richmond, 24-20, in quarterfinal action before falling to Appalachian State, 29-23, in the playoff semifinals.