That would be running back Arkee Whitlock, a Payton Award finalist who rushed for 207 yards and four touchdowns last weekend as SIU rallied for a 36-30 opening-round victory over Tennessee-Martin at Carbondale, Ill. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior from Rock Hill, S.C., juked past defenders, ran through arm tackles, and shouldered his way for extra yardage to surpass 200 yards for the second time in four weeks and the third time this season.
“Arkee's the best player in the country,” Kill told the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. “Not the best running back, the best player. He's unbelievable and I've never seen anything like it in my life. It's fun to watch him.”
Tennessee-Martin, making its playoff debut, regained the lead, 30-28, on a field goal with 2:44 remaining. But SIU responded by driving 80 yards in eight plays. After Whitlock picked up a key first down near midfield, quarterback Nick Hill found receiver Alan Turner down the sideline for 45 yards and the winning score with 57 seconds to play. An interception by Derrick Belton then sealed the decision.
Whitlock, also a dangerous kick returner, ranks second in the nation in all-purpose yardage, averaging 185.4 per game, and fourth in rushing (145.7). The Hula Bowl invitee has rushed for 1,748 yards and 25 TDs this season, averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
A former junior college star at Coffeyville, Kan., Whitlock rushed for a career-high 218 yards at Youngstown State on Nov. 4, but the Penguins prevailed 31-24 in a game that decided the Gateway Conference title.
Fort Benton pride
None of the eight opening-round games produced an upset, although the margin of victory in Montana State's 31-13 demolition of visiting Furman may have raised some eyebrows.
Coach Mike Kramer's Bobcats (8-4), the first team in 11 years to receive an at-large bid with four losses, jumped out to a 31-0 third-quarter lead and coasted to victory over the Southern Conference runner-up. They'll try to knock off top- ranked and defending national champ Appalachian State (11-1), the Southern Conference kingpin, Saturday at Boone, N.C. (ESPN2, 2 p.m., MST).
The Bobcats broke things open in the second quarter with two decisive plays from its kicking game. Freshman Jesse Anderson blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone to put the Bobcats ahead 17-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Brian Williams forced a fumble that Kory Austin recovered at the Furman 25-yard line. Jack Rolovich immediately fired a strike to receiver Michael Jefferson in the corner of the end zone, bumping the margin to 24-0.
Furman never recovered as MSU cruised to its first playoff win since the 1984 national championship season.
Class B Fort Benton, which competes in the third smallest of Montana's four enrollment classes, is the hometown of Loren Utterback, a starting junior linebacker for the Montana Grizzlies. Now it has another player to brag about in Anderson.
“I'm pretty proud of the fact that Jesse Anderson, a freshman walk-on from Fort Benton, had as big an impact on the game as Jack Rolovich, (linebacker) Bobby Daly and Michael Jefferson,” Kramer told the Great Falls Tribune. “That's why football is such a fun sport to be around.”
Zetts zips Dukes
The opening round's marquee matchup lived up to its billing, as No. 5 Youngstown State rallied past No. 6 James Madison 35-31 on a surprisingly warm night in northern Ohio. The Penguins, ranked 86th out of 122 Division I-AA teams in passing offense, rode a career-high 314 yards from junior quarterback Tom Zetts to eliminate the 2004 national champions.
“We just couldn't stop the guy,” Mickey Matthews told the Harrisonburg (Va.) Daily News, adding that it was the Dukes' “worst pass-defense game” in his eight seasons as head coach.
JMU held Youngstown standout Marcus Mason, the nation's second leading rusher, to a modest 72 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. But with Mason slowed by a sore ankle and JMU's physical defensive front, Zetts calmly zipped a string of clutch throws, guiding scoring drives of 52 and 88 yards after the Penguins fell behind 31-20 early in the fourth quarter.
“We thought going into the game that their quarterback was really underrated,” Matthews said.
It turns out, he was right.
Atlantic 10 rematch
Perhaps the most intriguing quarterfinal matchup sends
No. 9 New Hampshire (9-3) to No. 3 Massachusetts (11-1). It's a rematch of their Atlantic 10 Conference meeting on Nov. 4 in Durham, N.H., which UMass won 28-20.
The outcome will be closely watched in Missoula. Should Montana defeat Southern Illinois, it will play host to the UNH-UMass victor in the playoff semifinals on Friday, Dec. 8, or Saturday, Dec. 9.
UMass jumped ahead of Lafayette 21-0 last weekend, committed a couple of costly turnovers to allow the Leopards to close within a touchdown, then pulled away after halftime for a 35-14 victory. Steve Baylark rushed for 152 yards and two TDs, and the Minutemen limited Lafayette to just 61 rushing yards in advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999.
Only one team in the country has reached the quarterfinals for a third straight year, and it's New Hampshire. Unlike the past two years, however, these Wildcats didn't enter the postseason with all cylinders clicking. UNH needed a 72-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to pull out a 41-38 victory at Hampton.
Payton Award finalist Ricky Santos threw for 315 yards and five TDs, capped by a 25-yard scoring strike to freshman tailback Chad Kackert on a fourth-and-16 play with 4:40 remaining.
“It's going to be very intense,” UNH offensive lineman Tucker Peterson told the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald, looking ahead to the rematch. “We're excited about this win, but we don't have a lot of time to appreciate it.”
Quick kicks
Montana State won despite playing without injured running back Evin Groves and his backup, Aaron Mason, along with starting receiver Josh Lewis. ... Appalachian State rolled up a school-record 560 yards of total offense in its 45-28 victory over Coastal Carolina, 356 of them en route to a 31-0 halftime lead. ... The Gateway Conference has three teams - Youngstown State, Southern Illinois and Illinois State - in the quarterfinals. Youngstown, which has won 13 straight home playoff games, hosts Illinois State, so a Gateway team is certain to reach the semifinals. ... The Gateway, Big Sky, Atlantic 10 and Southern conferences went a combined 8-2 in the first round. ... New Hampshire receiver David Ball had five catches for 70 yards and two TDs against Hampton, putting him over 1,000 receiving yards for the season.
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