Survive and Advance.

That is all that you here from the coaches, the media and everyone associated with the NCAA Division I-AA Football Playoffs about the playoffs before, during and, of course, even after the melee is finished.

In essence, what they are saying has more than a microcosm of truth, as the only thing that matters is the victory.

The institutions that were involved in the 16-team field at the outset of the playoffs on Nov. 25 knew that if they did not end their game with more points on the scoreboard then they would be watching the rest of the playoffs from the comforts of their home.

Only eight teams could advance and two SoCon teams were among the eight that lived to fight another day and face off against another team in the quarterfinals of the 2005 version of the I-AA playoffs.

Appalachian State, the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, earned a home game until the finals, but still faced a resilient Lafayette squad in the first round that did not want to end their title hopes.

The Leopards led the Mountaineers at halftime and outgained the Apps in the contest, but the Mountaineers were able to walk away with a victory, which in the end as Steve Behr of the Watauga Democrat mused is all that matters “since no team has ever advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs by gaining the most yards.”

The Patriot League institution may have tallied the best numbers in all of the statistical categories, but the end result of a 34-23 win was all that mattered for Jerry Moore and his Appalachian squad.

The Mountaineers will once again face a stiff test at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 when they host Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals of this year’s 2005 I-AA playoffs. The Gateway Conference co-champion defeated in-state rival and Ohio Valley Conference champion Eastern Illinois 21-6 to move on to face the second-seeded Mountaineers in Boone.

The Antithesis

If the Mountaineers were the standard of a team getting tested in the first round and then finally executing the end result of a victory then the Georgia Southern Eagles were the antithesis in their first round game with Texas State on the school’s campus in San Marcos, Texas.

The Eagles led for a vast majority of their game against Texas State and even held a 35-16 advantage with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.

Barrick Nealy and the Bobcats of Texas State found their way though, scoring 34 unanswered points and earning a 50-35 victory over the Eagles at Bobcat Stadium to advance.

Nealy was the stalwart on offense for the Bobcats, throwing for 400 yards and rushing for another 126 yards on 12 attempts.

Nealy’s 526 yards of total offense in the win included five touchdowns, four through the air and one on the ground.

The Texas State quarterback was not the only quarterback on the gridiron in San Marcos making play after play, as the Eagles’ Jayson Foster finished with a game-high 151 yards rushing and passed for a career-best 135 yards in the loss for Georgia Southern.

Due to the loss, the game also saw one of the best running backs ever to grace a SoCon field end his illustrious career, as Jermaine Austin’s 147 yards gained in the loss left him with a personal season-best 1,546 yards.

The gaudy numbers from the 2005 season end Austin’s career with the bruiser owning a career total of 5,411 yards, the sixth-most rushing yards in NCAA I-AA history.

The Eagles loss was also the last time that Mike Sewak will coach the Eagles as the school decided on Tuesday, Nov. 29 to not renew his contract.

Nevertheless, after the game against Texas State, Sewak had nothing but good things to say about his squad, remarking to the school’s athletic media relations department after the game, “I think our guys played their hearts out today and showed a lot of class, dignity and pride which is something you build your program on. I thought they gave us a great effort after week three (1-2 start) to where we ended. They put the program ahead of themselves.”

Switch

Over the course of the 2005 season the Furman Paladins have used a strong offensive attack led by quarterback Ingle Martin to run ramshackle over their opponents.

The defense has taken a back seat most of the year, but during their first round game against a strong Nicholls State rushing attack, the Paladin defense showed their worth to the team to the rest of the nation, taking center stage and allowing the Paladins to advance.

Nicholls commenced the game with the second-best rushing offense in the country, just behind Georgia Southern, but the Paladins proved up the task, as linebackers Andrew Jones and William Freeman helped lead Furman to allowing the Colonels to a season-low 199 yards rushing.

Jones recorded a career-high 16 tackles in the game, while Freeman matriculated 15 on the day.

The Paladin defense held their containments all game long in the win and became the Paladins’ saving grace.

“The story of the day was our defense,” noted Furman coach Bobby Lamb during the press conference after the game. “... I am just happy to be sitting here with you now talking about a Furman victory.”

Still, no team wins without putting more points than the other team on the board, so in that respect the offense did their job.

Martin, who finished with 68 yards in the air and 41 on the ground, passed for the game’s first touchdown in the latter minutes of the second quarter to give Furman a 7-6 lead entering halftime.

The go-ahead touchdown occurred when Martin found Justin Stepp wide-open for a 29-yard touchdown and the eventual game-winning points.

Martin then punctuated things with a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Paladins a 14-12 victory.

Nicholls State head coach Jay Thomas was impressed with the fortitude of the Paladin team, noting during his team’s press conference after the game that, “they (Furman) made the plays when they needed to make them,” articulated Thomas. “Our hats go off to coach Lamb and his team.”

Furman’s win at Paladin Stadium last Saturday advances the Paladins on to play the Spiders of Richmond at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Richmond, Va. Richmond claimed a 38-10 victory at third-seeded Hampton to advance to the quarterfinals.

Do Not Be Cast Off

In last Saturday’s tale of three SoCon teams, two found their way and one fell just short.

Regardless, things start all over this weekend for the Paladins and the Mountaineers, as they have to survive and advance once again.

Anything can happen. The programs can play the best game of their lives or they can struggle to stay alive.

Just ask Lamb, whose Furman team played their best game of the season a year ago in their first round playoff game against Jacksonville State, winning easily 49-7.

The next game the Paladins fell at home to eventual I-AA national champion James Madison, 14-13, after starting strong in the contest.

The events prompted Lamb at the team’s press conference after the Nicholls State game to remark when asked about those events and whether or not he would rather face Hampton or Richmond in the quarterfinals to continue with the trite adage:

“We do not care who we play next,” said Lamb. “It does not matter who you play. You have to play.”

Once again survive and advance, but nothing captures the I-AA quite perfectly.