2014 Playoffs - New Hampshire - (all was lost)

[Total Red]

I'm not sure we fully appreciate what Redbird Football accomplished in the 2014 playoffs. We had a huge comeback win against New Hampshire. The Redbirds were down 18-6 in the 3rd quarter. They were nearly finished at the 7:30 mark. The UNH Wildcats were driving and they called a play action fake to two backs and then passed to a WIDE open receiver deep in the middle of the field. Yes even in the playoffs you have breakdowns where receivers are left open for easy touchdowns. That game could have been and should have been over right there. If UNH goes up 25-6 I don't think the Redbirds come back. Fortunately the pass was overthrown and the drive stalled.

We'll come back to what happens next but first let's fiqure out why the Redbird offense might be struggling in a game that takes you to the National Championship. Well I'm not much for conspiracy theories (like say fourthandshort ) but if you didn't know better you would swear that the selection committee had tried their best to stop the MVFC from getting two teams to the Championship. Consider that both Illinois St. and NDSU had to play their first games against Valley teams! No matter what happened two Valley schools would be eliminated right there. Illinois St. had to play a Northern Iowa team that had beaten both Illinois St. and NDSU that season. How's that for an easy first game? The Redbirds responded with a convincing 20 pt. victory 41-21. The Bison had more of a struggle with SDSU but they prevailed 27-24.

Then things got really wicked. The #5 seeded Redbirds got sent all the way out to E. Washington for their next game. #4 ranked EWU had the best offense in the FCS. They had Vernon Adams at QB. He later transferred to Oregon and started for the Ducks. They had All-American WR Cooper Kupp. EWU scored 52 points against the Pac-12 Washington Huskies that season! They were nearly unstoppable. The Redbird defense was good but the EWU offense was better so our only hope was to outscore them. They did 59-46 with Coprich having a monster afternoon.

So now it gets even more wicked. The bracket now whips the Birds around and makes them travel to the other coast to play New Hampshire. And by-the-way UNH was the #1 seed in the entire playoff not North Dakota St. So we traveled to the West, then back to Illinois and then out to Durham, NH. It was the 14th game of the season so the team was tired and road weary, it was cold and the offense was sputtering. Really not a surprise when you think about it. New Hampshire had a very solid team - #1. But great players and great teams don't make excuses. They make plays. Tre Roberson did just that. On a 3rd and 7 play early in the 4th Q Roberson rolls to the right and with a defender bearing down on him he finds James O'Shaughnessy for a 15 yard gain and a 1st down. Coprich would take it in for the TD. Then Roberson came up big again. With 8 minutes left he takes a QB draw up the middle for 47 yards and a Redbird go ahead TD. A 2 pt. conversion made it 21-18 Redbirds and that's how it ended with the defense closing out the win.

I haven't done an exhaustive research but I don't think any FCS team can match what the Redbirds accomplished in those games. I don't think anyone has ever beaten two teams ranked as high as #4 and #1 on the road. James Madison had the big road win against #1 NDSU in 2016 but they were a #4 seed and they were at home the week before. In the Championship JMU faced a Youngstown St. team which wasn't even seeded in the top 8. Further proof of Valley strength.

So the selection committee tried. They tried to rig the bracket to keep the Redbirds and two Valley teams from the National Championship game but they couldn't do it. The Redbirds overcame a nearly impossible path to Frisco. #4 and #1 went down on their home fields. Top that.

 

[fourthandshort]

TR .. thanks for the nice trip down memory lane ... I recall coming out flat at UNH very well and the missed deep ball. Every team has missed deep balls, but yey, that could have ended the run right there.

But you are wrong on one count ... I never thought of it as a "conspiracy theory" at all .... more like a conspiracy fact !!!!

In 2013, MVFC amazingly got just 2 bids .. only thr Big South, NEC, and Pioneer got less bids than us that year. Massey Composite had us as #1 conference that year, same as 2011 and 2012 ... but we got just 2 teams.

In 2014, the MVFC totally dominated OOC games, got 5 teams and went 10-4 in playoffs, but with 3 of the losses to other MVFC teams. Which means the MVFC went 7-1 against playoff caliber teams. Note, of those 8 (non-MVFC" games, 5 were on the road .. our only loss was InSU on road against the 8 seed (TN-Chatt).

Then follow this up with 2015, a year later, MVFC got 5 teams in again, and then in yet another unrecedented slight of MVFC .. the committee put all 5 teams on half of the bracket .. something they never did once in all the years Colonial was getting 4 and 5 teams in playoffs. Colonial teams were always spread to 3 and sometimes 4 regions during their dominant reign. This ensuring there would be no all-MVFC title game again. So we raised hell again and got their attention ... the committee was forced to respond and then publicly admitted it was a mistake.

It's only a "theory", if it might not be true !

:icon-wink:

 

[Total Red]

Hard to argue with those facts :clap:

 

[ISUBU]

I doubt you'll ever see a conference dominate nationally like the MVFC in 2014. Top to bottom, Valley schools beat almost everyone they played. I don't remember the conference's out of conference record, but it was nearly perfect.

 

[fourthandshort]

I doubt you'll ever see a conference dominate nationally like the MVFC in 2014. Top to bottom, Valley schools beat almost everyone they played. I don't remember the conference's out of conference record, but it was nearly perfect.

likely true about 2014 being exceptional year for MVFC,, something like 22-1 OOC regular season, then 7-1 post-season OOC, excluding going 3-3 in MVFC playoff play .. hard to do better than that. But we apparently sucked as conference just one year prior when we got ojnly 2 teams.

2014 was the year USD went 0-8 in conference, losing by average of 21 ppg in conf, including losing to 2nd worst MVFC ream 1-7 MoST by 19. This same 0-8 USD beat 7-5 NAU (who beat 11-3 EWU) and barely lost at 9-5 Montana by 8 points on road.

And MoST was 1-7 in conf and beat UND who was 3-5 in their conf by 38 points.

Our 2 patsies made upper half of Big Sky look pretty weak in 2014.

To think just one year prior (2013), Big Sky had 4 teams in playoffs, while MVFC had just the 2 teams. Note, 3 of the 4 Big Sky teams were one and done, only EWU won games losing in semis.

Sorry, long offseason .... TR started it !!!

 

[Total Red]

Upon further review of the play there have been several other instances of teams with impressive road victories en route to the National Championship. In 2008 unseeded Richmond completed a #2, 3 and 4 trifecta by beating both #2 Appy St. and #3 N. Iowa on the road before topping #4 Montana in the title game. And in 1997 #8 seed Youngstown St. showed that they could be long distance road warriors as well. YSU beat #1 Villanova in Philadelphia in round 2 before traveling out to #3 Eastern Washington in round 3. YSU then bested #6 McNeese St. in the Championship. There have been a lot seasons where the playoff seedings meant very little.


Nonetheless beating #4 Eastern Washington and #1 New Hampshire on the road in consecutive weeks was a great accomplishment and it won't soon be forgotten by this Redbird Football Fan.

 

[gobirds85]

Great game! It was freezing cold until Tre's TD scamper. I felt 40 degrees warmer after that. The best fball game I have ever attended. The night before the game we hunkered down at the hotel bar and proceeded to run up the largest single bar tab at that hotel. We bought drinks for numerous ISU types, the ISU truck drivers, the bus drivers assigned to ISU and some UNH fans. That team was very special. Hope Coach Spack can capture that magic again.