B4
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
THE ITEM
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013
Chants brace for Montana cold in FCS playoffs BY JEFF HARTSELL Post and Courier Chicken soup is good for the soul, they say. It might also be good for the core body temperature of Coastal Carolina football players this weekend. Serving soup in the locker room during today’s FCS playoff game at Montana is just one of the steps Chanticleers coach Joe Moglia is contemplating to combat the cold expected at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Forecasts for the 2 p.m. quarterfinal playoff game call for a high of 6 degrees (and a low of -4) with a 10 percent chance of snow. What’s it like to play football in that kind of cold? Montana running back Jordan Canada explained to reporters this week. “Your hands and arms get numb, so you have to focus a little bit more on it,” said Canada. “You can’t feel the ball in your arms if it’s really cold. One play, your hand or arm goes numb, and the next play you might not necessarily be aware of the ball.” Moglia, whose Chanticleers departed from Myrtle Beach on a charter flight Thursday — when temperatures on the Grand Strand reached a balmy 77 degrees — is well aware of the challenge. “We’re kidding ourselves if we make believe we’re going to acclimate to the cold weather in 48 hours,” he said this week. “It takes weeks to do it
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Coastal Carolina wide receiver Matt Hazel, front, and the rest of the Chanticleers are bracing for the freezing temperatures they will face tonight in their FCS playoff game in Montana.
right. Hopefully, we’re going to have a good heating system on the sideline.” The 11-2 Chants are doing what they can to get ready. Moglia will have his strength coach give the players a clinic on preventing heat loss, and the
team is using cold footballs in practice. The school has purchased extra cold-weather gear, and the team is leaving early enough to hold a couple of practices in Missoula. “Any piece of fabric we have in the
Auburn, Mizzou guard against SEC letdowns Mason. Auburn’s hurry-up spread formation incorporates elements of oldschool offenses such as the wishbone, but can strike suddenly with its lesserused passing attack.
BY PAUL NEWBERRY The Associated Press ATLANTA — Auburn and Missouri are competing for the Southeastern Conference title today, and possibly a chance to play for the national championship. Yet both teams have to guard against a letdown. As ludicrous as that might sound, Auburn and Missouri are coming off emotionally charged victories last week that gave each coach a reason to fret just a bit. No. 3 Auburn (11-1, 7-1 SEC) used one of the greatest finishing plays in college football history — a 109-yard return of a missed field goal with no time on the clock — to beat two-time defending national champion Alabama in the Iron Bowl for the West Division title. No. 5 Missouri (11-1, 7-1) won the East with a thrilling victory of its own, knocking off Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M 28-21. “The challenge of any coach, the leadership of the team, the coaching staff, everybody, is can you stay focused to do what you do
equipment room, we’re bringing it with us,” said sports information director Mike Cawood. Montana will provide two sideline heaters, but Coastal Carolina is bringing some extra firepower. Moglia’s even talked about having chicken soup in the locker room at halftime. “At the end of the day, it’s about understanding that you don’t want to lose your body heat,” he said. “If we’re able do that … I mean, it’s going to be cold, we know that, but we have to be able to handle it.” The Montana Grizzlies are 10-2 with a proud history in the FCS playoffs — championship game appearances in 2004, 2008 and 2009 and national titles in 1995 and 2001. And Montana players love the idea that the weather gives them a hometundra advantage. “We look forward to it,” defensive end Zach Wagenmann told reporters. “I know some of the guys on defense don’t mind it when the running backs get a really cold, hard ball and have to run into any one of our three linebackers. Bring on the cold — fine by us.” Montana has won seven straight home playoff games and nine of its last 11. Dating back to 1989, the Grizzlies have won 19 of 20 home playoff games against a team from the South. But the Chanticleers don’t have to look too far to find inspiration. Wofford, from sunny Spartanburg, went to Montana in 2007 and came away with a 23-22 victory. It was 13 degrees that day.
Unpredictable Furman takes on N. Dakota St. BY SCOTT KEELER Greenville News
JOSEY’S COMEBACK
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Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, left, poses with Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel behind the Southeastern Conference championship trophy earlier this week in Atlanta. Both sets of Tigers are hoping to avoid letdowns in today’s SEC title game after emotionally-charged victories last week.
day-to-day to play your best?’’ Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said Friday at the Georgia Dome, where each team held its final workout. “I would like to think we’re doing all the right things. We’ve done it all year long.’’ Auburn must get past one of the most improbable victories ever, beating its biggest rival in a game that likely eliminated the Crimson Tide from its quest for an unprecedented third straight national title. Auburn coach Gus
Two years ago, Missouri running back Henry Josey tore up his left knee in a game against Texas. Fully recovered this season, the 5-foot-9 back is averaging 6.2 yards per carry and has broken off four 50-yardplus gains — including a 57-yard scoring run that gave Mizzou its victory over Texas A&M. OVERLOOKED D
Malzahn watched the frenzied crowd storm the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, then urged his team to get right back to work. The winner could get a shot to play for the SEC’s eighth straight national title, but that will depend on what happens in Charlotte and Indianapolis.
Auburn’s defense plays in the shadow of the team’s explosive offense but has come up with huge stops in the red zone. It stopped Georgia’s Aaron Murray at its own 20 to preserve a 43-38 victory, and kept Alabama from converting on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter, which made it possible for the Tigers to pull off the amazing finish.
RUN, AUBURN, RUN
DISRUPTIVE SAM
Malzahn’s team has one of the nation’s most prolific running games, centered on quarterback Nick Marshall and junior back Tre
Missouri’s defense is led by end Michael Sam, who leads the SEC in both sacks (10.5) and tackles behind the line of scrimmage (18).
With Winston cleared, FSU eyes ACC title BY STEVE REED The Associated Press CHARLOTTE — Duke cornerback Ross Cockrell is not offended the No. 20 Blue Devils are a 29-point underdog to Jameis Winston and topranked Florida State for Saturday night’s ACC championship game. “Florida State has been blowing everybody out,’’ he said. The Seminoles (12-0, 8-0) have beaten opponents on average 54-11 this season behind Winston, who set ACC freshman records by throwing for 3,490 yards and 35 touchdowns. They have defeated all but one of their opponents by at least 27 points. Now all that stands in the way of the Seminoles reaching the BCS national championship game is an inexperienced Duke (10-2, 6-2) team appearing in its first ACC title game. “I’ve had the good fortune through the years to play some No. 1 teams in this profession, some of them looked like No. 1 teams, some of them didn’t,’’ Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “Flor-
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No longer facing sexual assault charges, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston (5) and the top-ranked Seminoles look to top Duke in the ACC championship game today in Charlotte.
ida State certainly is.’’ On Thursday, prosecutors said they would not bring sexual assault charges against Winston, the leading Heisman Trophy candidate. A
woman had alleged Winston had sexually assaulted her at an off-campus apartment last December. He will play Saturday night. The Blue Devils (10-2, 6-2) are in many respects the ultimate underdog. They emerged from the weaker side of the ACC conference. They’re 0-12 all-time facing No. 1-ranked teams and 0-18 against the Seminoles. And they’re facing a Florida State team that annihilated three then-ranked opponents by a combined score of 155-28. For Fisher, the biggest challenge may be keeping his team focused, not allowing his players to look ahead to a potential national championship showdown with unbeaten Ohio State. Fisher doesn’t seem worried, saying if his team can’t get up for a conference championship game then “we have an issue.’’ “What we’re thinking about is running through the finish line,’’ Fisher said. “When you run the 100meter dash, being No. 1 at the 90meter mark doesn’t mean anything.’’
When Furman plays North Dakota State today at Fargo, N.D., in the second round of the FCS playoffs, the Paladins will become the fourth Southern Conference team the Bison have faced in the past three postseasons. But for the first time, North Dakota State’s defense won’t be so sure of the opposition’s game plan. The Bison (11-0) defeated Wofford last season and topped Georgia Southern in the 2011 and 2012 semifinals on their way to back-toback national championships. While Wofford and Georgia Southern each are run-heavy, triple-option offenses, Furman (8-5) rallied to the SoCon championship and FCS playoffs with an offense that has featured variety. Nowhere was that more evident than in the past two weeks. A week after quarterback Reese Hannon passed for 326 yards in the Paladins’ 27-14 win over Wofford, the sophomore from Greer completed just three passes as Furman rushed for over 200 yards against the No. 1-ranked run defense in the country in a 30-20 win at South Carolina State to open the playoffs. “Our guys are doing a tremendous job of executing plans,” Furman coach Bruce Fowler said. “They understand our philosophy is doing whatever it takes to win.” No. 1-ranked North Dakota State leads the nation in scoring defense (11.5 points per game) and is second in total defense (243 yards allowed per game).
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE By The Associated Press Today EAST Memphis (3-8) at UConn (2-9), 1 p.m. South Florida (2-9) at Rutgers (5-6), 7:30 p.m. Conference USA championship, Marshall at Rice, Noon Southern U. (8-4) vs. Jackson St. (7-3) at Houston, 2 p.m. SEC championship, Missouri (11-1) vs. Auburn (11-1), at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Louisiana-Lafayette (8-3) at South Alabama (5-6), 8 p.m. ACC championship, Duke (10-2) vs. Florida St. (12-0), Charlotte, 8 p.m. Big Ten championship, Ohio St. (12-0) at Michigan St. (11-1), at Indianapolis, 8 p.m. Oklahoma (9-2) at Oklahoma St. (10-1), Noon UCF (10-1) at SMU (5-6), Noon Texas (8-3) at Baylor (10-1), 3:30 p.m. SWAC championship, Jackson St. (8-3) vs. Southern U. (8-4), at Houston, 2 p.m. Pac-12 championship, Stanford (10-2) at Arizona St. (10-2), 8 p.m. Mountain West championship, Utah St. (8-4) at Fresno St. (101), 10 p.m. FCS PLAYOFFS Second Round Fordham (12-1) at Towson (10-2), 1 p.m. Coastal Carolina (11-2) at Montana (10-2), 2 p.m. New Hampshire (8-4) at Maine (10-2), 2 p.m. Tennessee State (10-3) at Eastern Illinois (11-1), 2 p.m. Furman (8-5) at North Dakota State (11-0), 3:30 p.m. South Dakota State (9-4) at Eastern Washington (10-2), 4 p.m. Jacksonville State (10-3) at McNeese State (10-2), 7 p.m. Sam Houston State (9-4) at Southeastern Louisiana (10-2), 8 p.m.