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Five to watch
Chattanooga (5-3, 3-3 Southern) at Appalachian State (6-2, 5-0), 3:30 p.m.: Appalachian State, No.7 in The Football Network's Football Championship Subdivision poll, has won four straight in the series, and 18 of 20, and will try to improve on its 17-game conference winning streak. Chattanooga has not won four conference games since 1998.
Davidson (2-6, 2-4 Pioneer) at San Diego (3-5, 2-4), 4 p.m.: San Diego freshman Bo Stompro, the third-string quarterback, will make his second start after getting the call last week and throwing for 169 yards and two touchdowns against Dayton. Davidson and San Diego are on three-game losing streaks, but San Diego has won five in a row against Davidson.
Gardner-Webb (5-3, 2-1 Big South) at Coastal Carolina (3-5, 1-2), 12:30 p.m.: Although Gardner-Webb has lost five consecutive against the Chanticleers, the victory came at Coastal Carolina and the two losses in Conway, S.C., are by a six points total.
Wingate (6-3, 4-2 South Atlantic) at Mars Hill (6-3, 4-2), 1:30 p.m.: To finish second in the conference, Wingate must stop Jonas Randolph, who is second in Division II in rushing and coming off a 260-yard performance. The school record-holder for yards in a season (1,618), he needs 250 to reach the SAC mark.
Bowie State (6-4, 5-2) vs. Fayetteville State (7-3, 6-1), 1 p.m.: The CIAA title game at Durham County Stadium will feature two of the league's best running backs. All-CIAA first-team Rodney Webb (Bowie State) led the league (819 yards rushing, 10 touchdowns), and second-team pick Calvin Harris (Fayetteville State) was fourth (693 yards, seven scores). However, Bowie State has the league's best rushing defense (53.4 yards allowed per game) and Fayetteville State is second (108).
Short kicks
Chattanooga, which needs one victory to equal its total from the previous three seasons combined (six), has gone from worst in Southern Conference scoring (12.8 ppg) and points allowed (37.9 ppg) last season, to fifth (23.1 ppg) and third (21.9 ppg), respectively.
Southern Conference teams are No.1 nationally in total offense (Appalachian State, 513 yards per game), rushing offense (Wofford, 258), passing defense (Elon, 130), scoring defense (Elon, 11.4), and total defense (Elon, 204).
Carson-Newman's Buck Wakefield rushed for 303 yards in a victory against Wingate last week, the second-best in Division II this season after Wayne State's Joique Bell rushed for 314 against Northwood, also last week.
Mars Hill's Randolph has SAC records for rushing touchdowns in a season (16) and all-purpose touchdowns in a season (16).
Did you know?
If sixth-ranked Elon (7-1, 5-0 Southern) wins today at Western Carolina (1-7, 1-5), it would give the Phoenix its first 6-0 start in league history and first 8-1 start since 1986.
Wakefield's 303 yards broke an 11-year-old Carson-Newman record for rushing yards in a game (299), set by Heath Hawkins in 1998.
Only two SAC schools have played Wingate each year since it resumed football in 1986: Mars Hill, which will play the Bulldogs today, and Lenoir-Rhyne.
Bowie State is 1-2 in CIAA championship games, with its victory in 1989. Its last appearance was in 2005 when it lost to N.C. Central. Fayetteville State is 2-1 in championship games and last appeared in 2004 - its third consecutive title game.
Tusculum freshman Bo Cordell has passed for 2,934 yards this season, second-best in school history, and his 326 yards per game is fourth-best in the nation. His total yards also are school and SAC record for freshmen.
