D1 College Football News

November 6 , 2006

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Emtman, Hennings On-Campus Salutes Slated for This Weekend
Washington’s Steve Emtman and Air Force’s Chad Hennings will be honored this weekend with On-Campus Salutes at their respective schools for their 2006 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Emtman recorded 134 career tackles and 14 sacks en route to becoming only the ninth player in college football history to win both the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy in the same season. He will be celebrated this Saturday as the Huskies take on Stanford.

As the 1987 Outland Trophy winner and the WAC Defensive Player of the 1980s, Hennings will be honored this weekend as the Falcons host Notre Dame. He was the national leader in sacks (24) and the WAC’s Top Scholar-Athlete in 1987.

Two-Minute Drill
Twenty-four teams entered last week’s games with five wins, needing a triumph to become bowl-eligible. There are 32 bowls and 64 slots for the qualifying teams in NCAA Division I-A membership. At this juncture, 49 teams have reached the six-victory postseason criteria after 11 more schools achieved eligibility over the weekend.

New six-game winners and bowl-eligible after last weekend’s games: Central Michigan (6-3), Kansas State (6-4), Middle Tennessee (6-3), Navy (6-3), Nevada (6-3), Oregon State (6-3), Purdue (6-4), San Jose State (6-2), TCU (6-2), Texas Tech (6-4), and USF (6-3). There are currently 17 five-win teams throughout the country.

Ohio State leads NCAA Division I-A with 17 consecutive victories while San Diego tops I- AA with the same streak. Grand Valley State owns a current-best 23-game winning streak in Division II. NCAA Division III's Mount Union (Ohio) also has a 17-game streak and is 144-4 overall since 1996, boasting15 consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference crowns from 1992-06.

Of the teams ranked inside the AP Top 10, Florida and Louisville have faced the fewest opponents with losing records (two). Ohio State, Michigan and West Virginia have faced the most (five).

Florida secured the SEC East spot in the Dec. 2 SEC Championship game... Harvard senior RB Clifton Dawson had 120 yards in last week’s win over Columbia and is just 53 yards (3,338) away from the Ivy League's career rushing record held by Cornell's Ed Marinaro... Louisville has equaled its best starts in school history (along with the 1925 Cardinals) at 8- 0... Tennessee-Martin has won seven consecutive games for the first time since 1988... The 121st edition of “The Biggest Little Game in America” will be played between Williams and Amherst Saturday at Amherst's Pratt Field. It’s the fourth-most played NCAA rivalry (all divisions) and the most played in NCAA Division III. Williams leads 67-48-5... SMU is off to its best start since 1986 and has tied its school record with 23 TD passes (1990) this fall... Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State played for the 80th time in the fabled “Battle of the Ravine” in Henderson, Ark. Henderson tied the series 37-37-6 after last weekend’s 48-28 win... Ohio State captured the 80th “Illibuck Trophy” after edging Illinois 17-10 last week... Hawaii’s Colt Brennan has passed for a school record 39 touchdowns this season... Navy’s 2007 senior class is within five wins of tying the school record for a grid class (36 by the Class of 1909). Memphis All- America RB and I-A all-purpose yards record holder DeAngelo Williams had his No. 20 retired in ceremonies Sunday night before the Tigers- Southern Miss tussle... The Penn Quakers established an NCAA first this weekend by becoming the first team to lose three consecutive games in overtime... Cal is off to its best start in conference play since 1950... Wisconsin retired the No. 40 jersey of Elroy Hirsch.

Mississippi State ended their 23 consecutive SEC road game losing streak after downing Alabama on Saturday... Baylor punter Daniel Sepulveda set an NCAA record for career punts of 50 or more yards (91), breaking the 20-year-old record held by Mississippi’s Brian Smith... Springfield (Mass.) QB Chris Sharpe has rushed for a Division III QB-record 1,575 yards as well as 28 rushing touchdowns... Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops coached his 100th game last Saturday as the Sooners knocked off Texas A&M 17-16... Pittsburg RB Germaine Race is the top scorer in any NCAA division and the only player among all divisions to amass over 100 career touchdowns... Texas QB Colt McCoy threw three touchdown passes against Oklahoma State, breaking the Longhorns’ single-season record (27) previously shared by Vince Young and Chris Simms (26)... Minnesota scored more points in its 63-26 win over Indiana than it had in a Big Ten match-up in 90 years... Arkansas’ Marcus Monk caught eight passes for a career-best 192 yards as the Hogs defeated South Carolina last Saturday... Nebraska QB Zac Taylor brought his season TD-pass total to 20, tying the 30-year-old school record set by Vince Farragamo... Kentucky’s victory last Saturday gave the Wildcats their first victory over Georgia in 10 years... Washington & Lee (Va.) clinched a Division III playoff spot for the first time since 1951... 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Penn State’s Joe Paterno was injured in the third quarter of the Nittany Lions’ contest with Wisconsin last Saturday. Players rolled off the field and into the head coach, who was taken off the field in a cart after his knee was taped and stabilized.

SMU's football team was recognized by the Awards & Recognition Association (ARA) with the inaugural ARA Sportsmanship Team Award as part of the association's quest to promote good sportsmanship. ARA annually recognizes a collegiate football player for good sportsmanship with its ARA Sportsmanship award. This is the first time a team has been singled out by the ARA. Spike Dykes, former Texas Tech coach and ARA sportsmanship award selection panel member, presented the award to SMU Director of Athletics Steve Orsini.

Georgia Tech student-athletes have extended the Isenhour Toy Drive collecting more than $3,000 and 1,000 toys before and after the GT- Miami (Fla.) football game. The Toys 4 Tots campaign will extend into early December on campus... McMurry University unveiled its new athletics logo last Wednesday... Sam Houston State QB Rhett Bomar was reinstated by the NCAA for the 2007 season... Atlanta attorney David H. Flint was selected to join the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award Foundation Board of Directors... Bucknell head football coach Tim Landis recently signed a multi-year contract extension.

Western Kentucky’s board of regents voted to apply for NCAA Division I-A status for the school in either the 2007 or ’08 season. The Hilltoppers will be eligible to participate in the Sun Belt Conference championship and have a bowl game berth in 2009... Andrew Fellingham, a representative of Inter-Collegiate Athletic Consulting and hired by the University of South Dakota, advised that the school reclassify its athletic programs to D-I. The change could increase the institution’s name recognition and attract new students.

The Louisville-West Virginia game drew ESPN's largest audience for a Thursday night game and the second-most ever for a college football broadcast on the cable network... Notre Dame will boost TV ratings by playing three Big East teams beginning in 2011. The Irish plan on a 7-4-1 schedule model (seven games in South Bend, four on the road and one at a neutral site). Neutral site games with Big East teams could start as early as 2009.

R+L Carriers is the new title sponsor of the New Orleans Bowl... Hawaii accepted an invitation to play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl... Navy secured a berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against an ACC opponent... Stephanie Holland, a University of Arizona senior from Glendale, Ariz., was crowned the 36th Fiesta Bowl Queen and will reign over 40-plus events surrounding the Fiesta Bowl Festival.

Ohio State will replace the turf at the Horseshoe for the second time this season. It was first replaced after the Penn State game on Sept. 23... Louisville set an attendance record last Thursday at Papa John’s Stadium with 43,217 fans.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) has announced that the Gene J. Casey (New Haven, Conn.) Chapter has donated $10,000 towards the $5 million campaign for Play It Smart, the NFF’s highly successful mentoring program targeted at student-athletes in underserved communities that has changed the lives of thousands of participants over the last nine years.

Heritage Hall High School (Oklahoma City, Okla.) kicker Jimmy Stevens kicked his 49th and 50th career field goals last Friday to break the national high school record previously held at 48.

Former Rutgers football player and the first All-State player in Morristown High School (N.J.) history Aaron Goldberg passed away.