Eastern Washington (9-3) will play two-time defending champion Appalachian State in the second round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs.
McNeese (11-1), the Southland Conference champion, was the second national seed to fall in the first round. No. 3 Montana lost at home to Wofford.
Eastern Washington went ahead for good on Felipe Macias' 24-yard field goal with 9:13 left in the first half. Tony Davis caught a 64-yard pass from Nicholls to make it 16-7 at halftime.
Morris' second touchdown, on the Eagles' opening possession of the second half, stretched the lead to 23-7.
A 1-yard touchdown run by Derrick Fourroux and a Kris Bush two-point conversion run cut the Cowboys' deficit to 23-15. But Morris' third touchdown of the game, from a yard out, extend the lead to 30-15.
Morris finished the game with 130 yards on 22 carries.
Nichols' 434 passing yards were the most allowed by McNeese since the 2004 season; Eastern Washington's point total was the largest allowed by the Cowboys defense in the school's 13-year playoff history.
Massachusetts 49, Fordham 35
At Amherst, Mass., Liam Coen passed for 419 yards and four touchdowns and Matt Lawrence rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns as Massachusetts pulled away late for a win over Fordham.
With the game tied 35-35 in the fourth quarter, Lawrence scored on a 13-yard run with 9:25 to play to put the Minutemen (10-2) ahead 42-35.
After Charles Walker's interception, Lawrence added a 2-yard touchdown run with 5:15 remaining for the final score.
Coen, whose 419 yards passing set a UMass single-game record, threw three touchdown passes in the first half as the Minutemen took a 28-21 halftime lead.
Coen, who was 24-of-37, threw a 7-yard strike to Ian Jorgensen on the first drive of the game, then added scoring passes of 12 and 41 yards to Rasheed Rancher in the second quarter. Rancher finished with eight catches for 198 yards.
Lawrence scored on a 2-yard run in the first half.
Fordham (8-4) got two 1-yard touchdown runs and a 3-yard touchdown pass to Cody Kritzer from John Skelton in the first half. Skelton's second touchdown run came on the final play of the half.
Skelton, who went 25-of-46 for 281 yards, threw a 19-yard scoring strike to Richard Rayborn early in the third quarter to make it 28-28.
After Coen's 33-yard pass to Chris Zardas put the Minutemen back on top, Skelton tied it again with an 11-yard scoring throw to Sylvester Clark early in the fourth quarter.
The teams combined for 1,055 yards of offense, with UMass piling up 649 yards of that.
S. Illinois 30, E. Illinois 11
At Carbondale, Ill., Nick Hill threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another as No. 4 seed Southern Illinois defeated Eastern Illinois.
The Southern Illinois quarterback finished with 234 yards through the air and 32 yards on the ground to bring the Salukis (11-1) their third consecutive first-round playoff victory.
Less than 5 minutes into the game, Hill connected with wide receiver Alan Turner for a 21-yard touchdown to put the team up 7-0 mere seconds after Eastern Illinois running back Ademola Adeniji lost a fumble on the Panthers first offensive play of the game.
Southern Illinois never surrendered the lead, holding the Panthers (8-4) scoreless until the 2:35 mark of the third quarter when the team converted a 42-yard field goal to make it 20-3.
Hill answered with a six play, 46-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard, spinning run into the end zone by the quarterback to put his team up 27-3.
The Panthers threatened late after quarterback Bodie Reeder hooked up with tight end Jordan Campanella for a 7-yard touchdown and tight end Trent Steckel for a 2-point conversion to make it 27-11 with just more than seven minutes remaining.
Southern Illinois answered and ran down the clock almost within the 2-minute mark before settling for a 26-yard field goal to bring the lead out of the Panthers reach.
The win gave Southern Illinois its second first round playoff victory against Eastern Illinois in three years.
The Salukis next opponent will be Massachusetts.
Appalachian State 28, James Madison 27
At Boone, N.C., Armanti Edwards' 5-yard touchdown run with just over a minute left put Appalachian State ahead, and its defense preserved the win with a late fumble recovery in a win over James Madison.
The Mountaineers (10-2), who started with the season with a stunning win at Michigan, kept their season alive with late-game heroics after a surprising move by James Madison coach Mickey Matthews.
Facing a fourth-and-1 from its own 32, Matthews decided to go for it. Quarterback Rodney Landers was stopped for no gain, giving the Mountaineers the ball with 2:35 left.
Edwards later converted a fourth-and-4 from the 25 with a 20-yard pass to Devon Moore. On the next play, Edwards scampered in for the score.
James Madison (8-4) then drove to the Appalachian 9. But Jamal Sullivan fumbled and it was recovered by Pierre Banks with 22 seconds left.
Edwards rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 126 yards as Appalachian State advanced to play McNeese State in the second round.
Landers passed for 124 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 129 yards for the Dukes, who won the championship in 2004 before Appalachian's consecutive titles.
Eastern Kentucky 31, Richmond 14
At Richmond, Va., Tim Hightower rushed for 180 yards and a touchdown and Eric Ward threw for one touchdown and ran for another, leading Richmond past Eastern Kentucky.
The Spiders (10-2) will travel to Wofford next Saturday for a quarterfinal game. Eastern Kentucky, outgained 417-288, finished 9-3.
Ward was 13-for-18 for 139 yards and the Spiders' defense helped out with a pair of interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Richmond did not turn the ball over, becoming the first team this season not to commit a giveaway against the Colonels.
Hightower scored on a 2-yard run to give Richmond a 14-0 lead, capping a drive set up by David Horton's interception. Hightower also had a 30-yard burst on Richmond's opening drive, which ended with Andrew Howard's 25-yard field goal.
Ward's 9-yard scoring run made it 17-0 3:23 before halftime. Josh Vaughan added a 40-yard touchdown run and Ward hit Kevin Grayson for a 5-yard touchdown after halftime.
The Spiders rushed for 278 yards, the Colonels just 54 yards.
Northern Iowa 38,
New Hampshire 35
At Cedar Falls, Iowa, Eric Sanders threw a 24-yard TD pass to Montari Leonard with 7 seconds left for top-seeded Northern Iowa.
Corey Williams added 220 yards rushing and three touchdowns for Northern Iowa (12-0), which drove 71 yards in the final 1:16 without any timeouts.
The Panthers will host Delaware (9-3) next week.
New Hampshire (7-5), which had trailed for much of the game, took its first lead, 35-31, on Chad Kackert's 15-yard touchdown run with 1:16 left.
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