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Angelo State Football Inches Closer To A Title & More LSC Takeaways

Angelo State Football Inches Closer To A Title & More LSC Takeaways

As Angelo State races towards a Lone Star Conference Championship title, here’s a look back at some of the top takeaways following Week 10 of LSC Football.

Nov 5, 2024 by Briar Napier
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If one game this week goes one way, the Lone Star Conference football championship for the 2024 season is done and dusted for good.

But if it goes the other way, we’re going to be set for a hectic final week of the regular season following this weekend.

Mix in multiple teams that are jostling for Division II playoff positioning and are playing each other throughout the last two weeks of the regular season, too, and we’re set for potentially the most intense, entertaining week of LSC football that we’ve seen all season, and that’s saying something.

We’re going to learn a lot about the near future of the remaining LSC teams in the playoff hunt after this week, so before you tune in on FloCollege and watch the madness unfold over the weekend, here’s a recap of some of the recent events that led to this tangle in the first place.

Here’s a look back at some of the top takeaways following Week 10 in Lone Star Conference football:

Angelo State Is Oh, So Close

After defeating Sul Ross State on Oct. 26, Angelo State found itself in a scenario where if it won its next two games following that victory against the Lobos, it would win the outright LSC title no matter what happened across the league the rest of the way.

And after taking down Central Washington in one of the games of the year in the LSC this past weekend, the Rams are halfway home toward lifting the league title.

In an absolute classic in San Angelo that will potentially act as the de-facto conference title game, ASU skated by then No. 17-ranked Central Washington by the narrowest of margins, winning 17-16 to officially be just one victory away from being crowned outright conference champions — and winning its seventh straight game in the process after an 0-2 start, too.

Down 17-10 entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats finally got the breakthrough they wanted with 34 seconds left as All-American running back Tyler Flanagan found the endzone from nine yards out, putting CWU just an extra point away from tying the game up and likely taking it to overtime.

And then, following a false start penalty that moved the kick attempt back five yards, the point-after was missed.

In heartbreaking fashion for CWU and sudden relief from ASU, the missed extra point meant that the Wildcats weren’t tied with the Rams after the touchdown and now suddenly had to scramble to get the ball back with barely over 30 seconds left in the game. But CWU’s onside kick try bounced out of bounds instead, allowing ASU to kneel the clock out and escape with a wild win in a high-stakes environment.

A win against Western Oregon this week would mean that the Rams would have an insurmountable two-game lead in conference play over the rest of the LSC, and instead of potentially leaving the title up to chance in the regular-season finale, ASU will be aiming to get the job done once and for all this Saturday in Monmouth.

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Crunch Time At Western Oregon

It all comes down to Western Oregon in terms of being the only team with the power to stop an Angelo State championship in its tracks.

It’s also not the only thing the Wolves are playing for, and it could be the program’s biggest moment of the year in a remarkable season in which they’ve been proving doubters wrong left and right.

At 6-1 in LSC play, WOU is the only team in the conference besides ASU that has fewer than two losses with the Rams unbeaten against conference opponents at 7-0. A Wolves win would mean that the title could come down to the final week of the regular season when Angelo State faces West Texas A&M and Western Oregon squares up against Central Washington.

There’s also a little bit more at stake; WOU is currently on the outside looking in when referring to the NCAA’s most recent Super Region 4 rankings, released following the conclusion of this past weekend’s games and after the Wolves defeated Midwestern State 21-16. Western Oregon is currently ranked eighth out of 10 teams in Super Region 4 with only the top seven at the end of the regular season clinching a playoff spot, and since WOU joined D-II in 2001, it has never qualified for the playoffs.

That all could change if the Wolves have some magic up their sleeve over their last two regular-season games — and wouldn’t be a bad result to the season for a team that was projected to finish eighth in the league in the preseason. With just one D-II defeat (on Oct. 26 to Texas A&M-Kingsville) so far on its record, back-to-back wins over Angelo State and Central Washington to close out the year would instantly give WOU a serious case to make the playoff field. 

The hard part, especially when both of the Wolves’ upcoming opponents are also playing for their postseason lives in the meantime, is actually pulling it off.

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CWU’s Playoff Dreams Shattered?

If the NCAA went by its regional rankings and ended the season now, Central Washington would make the playoff field as Super Region 4’s No. 6 seed. 

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they’ve still got two more games to sweat out in order to learn their fate.

No. 7 Sioux Falls would have a chance at leapfrogging CWU if the Cougars were to win their rivalry matchup against crosstown rival and No. 2 Augustana (South Dakota) this weekend, as could Western Oregon if it indeed upset No. 5 Angelo State and threw the LSC title race into chaos. With the Wildcats having their chance at the Rams and squandering it, that means that they’ll have to put their head down, keep pushing, and hope luck sides their way.

CWU will play its last two games of the regular season on home turf in Ellensburg, starting with a Sul Ross State team that has won two out of its past three games but is just 3-6 overall, meaning that the Wildcats will ideally look to win comfortably. The regular-season closer against WOU looms after that, of which that game could have its own consequences depending on how this weekend’s games across the LSC shake out.

With its chance at a LSC title now likely having slipped through its fingers, CWU, one of the darlings of last year’s playoffs as it made it to the national quarterfinals before losing to Colorado School of Mines, will have some work to do in order to solidify itself a berth into the Super Region 4 bracket and convince the D-II selection committee that it belongs.

The Wildcats’ path back to the postseason, however, definitely just got a whole lot harder.

AFCA NCAA FCS Football Rankings In Week 11

1. Valdosta St. (Ga.) (24) 8-0 - Prev. 1

2. Ferris St. (Mich.) (6) 8-1 - Prev. 2

3. Kutztown (Pa.) 9-0 - Prev. 4

4. Harding (Ark.) 8-1 - Prev. 6

5. Grand Valley St. (Mich.) 8-1 - Prev. 7

6. Charleston (W.Va.) 9-0 - Prev. 9

7. Colorado St.-Pueblo 8-1 - Prev. 10

8. Central Oklahoma 8-1 - Prev. 13

9. Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 8-1 - Prev. 3

10. Slippery Rock (Pa.) 7-1 - Prev. 14

11. Western Colorado 8-1 - Prev. 8

12. West Alabama 7-1 - Prev. 15

13. Pittsburg St. (Kan.) 7-2 - Prev. 5

14. Colorado School of Mines 7-2 - Prev. 18

15. Indianapolis (Ind.) 8-1 - Prev. 19

16. Augustana (S.D.) 7-2 - Prev. 20

17. West Florida 6-2 - Prev. 21

18t. California (Pa.) 7-1 - Prev. 23

18t. Minnesota St. 7-2 - Prev. 22

20. Emporia St. (Kan.) 7-2 - Prev. 11

21t. Carson-Newman (Tenn.) 8-1 - Prev. 24

21t. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) 7-2 - Prev. 12

23. Angelo St. (Tex.) 7-2 - Prev. NR

24t. Findlay (Ohio) 8-1 - Prev. 25

24t. Wingate (N.C.) 7-1 - Prev. NR

Dropped Out: Johnson C. Smith (N.C.) (16), Central Washington (17)

Others Receiving Votes: Johnson C. Smith (N.C.), 74; Central Washington, 41; Virginia Union, 40; Sioux Falls (S.D.), 24; Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 23; Ashland (Ohio), 18; Colorado Mesa, 15; Central Missouri, 13; Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), 7; Southern Arkansas, 7; New Haven (Conn.), 4; Miles (Ala.), 1.

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