2018 e-Systems College Football Pool – Week 11 Results

We only get thirteen full weekends of college football, so each one is to be appreciated and savored. But the feeling held by many is that this particular weekend is the least-anticipated one of the year. Lots of Power 5 teams intentionally schedule “paycheck” games against smaller schools in order to hopefully ensure easy wins, resting players for rivalries and championship games. These games are usually the ones with the lowest attendance and lowest television ratings of the year. In the South, people would tell you if you absolutely have to have a fall wedding, this is the weekend to do it. But these games, as we have discussed before in this space, are really important to the smaller schools for several reasons. And so, in honor of these teams, I present to you the first all-“small-school news” update! This update focuses primarily on the rivalries between teams in the lower divisions.

In FCS, this weekend is the last of the regular season, and is thus rivalry week.  Notable rivalry games include:

• The 135th edition of “The Game” between Harvard and Yale.  This year, the teams will meet in Fenway Park in Boston. Neither school is having a great season – both are 5-4 – but winning this game will be a major point of pride. Yale leads the series 67-59-8 and has a two-game winning streak over the Crimson.
• The 154th game in “The Rivalry” between Lafayette and Lehigh. The teams have met the most times in college football history. Lafayette holds the series advantage 78-70-5; Lehigh has won the last three meetings. Lehigh is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Lafayette in Easton, Pennsylvania, about 25 minutes away. This year, the teams will meet in Lafayette’s Fisher Stadium, also known for hosting the annual cross-state Thanksgiving Day football game between Easton Area HS (PA) and Phillipsburg HS (NJ).
•  The 52nd “Battle of the Blue” between Delaware and Villanova. The teams first played in 1895, and annually from 1964 to 1980, at which point Villanova dropped football. Beginning in 1988, the Wildcats again began to play football, and the rivalry picked back up, having been played every year since then. Villanova has the series lead 29-21-1, and has won the last six meetings. The schools are separated by about 50 minutes between Newark and the outskirts of Philadelphia.

In Division II, the regular season is complete, which means that several classic rivalries within the division were played recently. They include:

• The 92nd “Battle of the Ravine” between Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State University. These two teams may hold the record for the closest rival – they’re literally across the street from each other! North 10th Street in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, separates HSU’s Carpenter-Haygood Stadium from Ouachita’s Benson-Williams Field. A unique tradition between the schools is that the visitors walk from their own locker room to the opponent’s field at the beginning of the game. This year’s edition was won by OBU 38-10, improving their record to 11-0. With the result, the series between the two is knotted 43-43-6.
• The 78th meeting between the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos and the Northeastern State (OK) RiverHawks. The teams first met in 1912, but played sporadically until 1929, after which only World War 2 prevented them from playing annually until 1979. Starting in 1998, with Northeastern State’s move to Division II, the teams began playing for the President’s Cup. UCO won 62-0 this year to expand its lead in the series to 49-27-2 and its win streak to five games. When the teams both competed in the NAIA, they met in the 1982 NAIA Playoff semi-finals, which UCO (then Central State) won 21-0 on its way to the NAIA championship.
• The 48th “Battle of the Valleys” between Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State. These two Michigan schools have met at least once each year since 1975 (they’ve faced each other four times in the NCAA Playoffs). Grand Valley has a 37-11 series advantage. The series is also well-known for the fundraising efforts of the two schools; each college’s student body chooses a charity for which to raise money and the two compete to see which school can raise the most. The fundraising series even has its own trophy to the winner; named “Victoria”, it’s a large V mounted on a pedestal.

Division III has also completed its regular season, and so some long-time rivalries were renewed:

• The 133rd “Biggest Little Game in America”, between Amherst and Williams. This is the most-often played Division III game, having been played since 1884. Amherst won this year’s game 45-14, but Williams holds a 72-56-5 lead in the series. The rivalry predates football – in fact, it goes back to the founding of Amherst in 1821! The then-president of Williams defected, along with several professors and a portion of the student body, to found what would become Amherst College. The schools, which each only consist of about 2,000 students, regularly have crowds of over 10,000 for this game. College GameDay hosted from Williams for the 2007 edition of this game.
• The 116th battle between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College, schools separated by 35 minutes in east-central New York.  This game has been played for the “Dutchman’s Shoes” since 1950. The trophy consists of a wooden base with a pedestal on which the aforementioned shoes are placed. One is RPI red with an “R”, the other Union garnet with a “U”. Union won this year’s game 34-10 to improve its record in the series to 82-30-4.
• The 125th Monon Bell game between Wabash and Depauw, two small schools in Indiana. Wabash won this year’s meeting 24-17 to take a 62-54-9 series lead. The namesake bell is a 300-pound former locomotive bell from the Monon Railroad, which ran through both school’s towns, located 27 miles apart on US Highway 231. The schools have played each other every year since 1911.

Congratulations to JagRag, who wins week 11 (their second weekly win!) with 218 points! BEVO and JagAL were tied for second with 215 points, and AllySun and Liquid Heat were next at 211.

Standings after eleven weeks:

There are twenty-two games this week, the most we’ve had to pick since week four! It’s a chance to make up some ground before (FBS) rivalry week! The first game this week is Boise State at New Mexico, Friday, November 16 @ 9 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!