Leatherneck Nation

Friday at 7:00 PM on ESPN2: #6 Sam Houston State at #2 North Dakota State.

Saturday at 3:30 PM on ESPNU: #5 South Dakota State at #1 James Madison.

Briscoe definitely brings a cannon of an arm to the game.

SHSU pathetic defense. Put a fork in em.

The NCAA Division 3 Championship game (the 45th Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl) was played Friday night in Salem, Virginia.

Mount Union (Alliance, Ohio) beat Mary Hardin-Baylor (Belton, Texas) 12-0.

Attendance at Salem, Virginia = 4,971.

The Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl is leaving Salem Stadium, its home since 1993.

The NCAA awarded the 2018 and 2019 Stagg Bowls to Shenandoah, Texas, and the 2020 and 2021 Stagg Bowls to Canton, Ohio. Canton will mark the furthest north the Stagg Bowl will have ever been played, following a two-year stint in Kings Island, Ohio, outside of Cincinnati, in 1983 and 1984. In Texas, this will be the first time the Stagg Bowl has been hosted west of the Mississippi River. Shenandoah is in the northern suburbs of Houston.

#2 North Dakota State beat #6 Sam Houston State 55-13.

Attendance at North Dakota State = 18,279.

NDSU will lose a flukey game every now and then (too many turnovers, key injury or two, etc.) but few FCS teams will beat them in a grind-it-out physical battle. If you are not even willing to get physical with them, you might as well stay home. It seemed that SHSU used the same OLine blocking schemes regardless of whether it was a running or passing situation. NDSU recruits kids that fit their mold and they have a culture that extends deep into their fan base. Other teams yell and scream when there team is faced with an important 3rd down play. Bison fans are dead silent while QB signals are barked out. When the other team has the ball, young and old have their hands cupped at their mouths directing all of their noisy energy at the other team. Does not matter what down it is, they do it and almost everyone is standing while they are doing it. Come 4th quarter, it is four fingers up for everyone in the FargoDome. I don't see this kind of fandom anywhere else in sports. Opposing coaches need to educate their own kids on what to expect when they face the Bison. It is far more than just noise.

At end of 1st qtr, Jacks, with 5 turnovers and only down 7-0, are either having a terrible day or a really good day so far.

I think we can safely say the Jacks had a bad day. Christion an even worse day.

One more and SDSU will be in double figures in TOs.

Ask and ye shall receive. Another INT in the endzone.