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Angelo State Football Claims Lone Star Conference Title & More Takeaways

Angelo State Football Claims Lone Star Conference Title & More Takeaways

Angelo State Football named Lone Star Conference champions for the second time in three seasons. Here’s a look back at some takeaways following Week 11.

Nov 11, 2024 by Briar Napier
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For the Lone Star Conference football fans who have been following the league’s action throughout the entirety of the season on FloCollege, congratulations. You’ve made it to the final week of the regular season.

The LSC’s conference championship race has wrapped up after last weekend’s results, though if you think that’s the end of all the potential postseason drama, think again. Numerous potential NCAA Division II playoff berths are up for grabs — as is a potential spot in a bowl game — for up to half of the league with one regular-season game to go.

Multiple old Lone Star State rivalries, a showdown between the last bastions of D-II football in the Pacific Northwest, and more are on the docket for the LSC’s final week of play before the playoffs, and if you like watching football with a dose of drama mixed in, this is the weekend that you’ll need to pay attention to what’s all going down in the LSC.

Here’s a look back at some of the top takeaways following Week 11 in Lone Star Conference football:

Champion Rams Rule At The Top

Angelo State’s destiny has been in its hands for some time now as for as long as the Rams kept winning games, they would be LSC champions for the second time in three seasons.

This past Saturday, it was mission accomplished.

ASU defeated Western Oregon 38-16 on the road last weekend to clinch the LSC title no matter what happens in this week’s final games of the regular season, acquiring a two-game lead on the rest of the conference in the standings and winning its eighth straight game — all against LSC opponents — in the process.

Quarterback Braeden Fuller threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns, adding a rushing score to his tally on top of it, as well, as a second-half surge from the Rams following a narrow 17-13 halftime lead made the difference. ASU outscored the Wolves 21-3 in the last two quarters, with wideout Zorhan Rideaux catching touchdown passes of 33 and 80 yards in the process as the Rams made the LSC title race done and dusted.

Automatic bids to the playoffs are not a thing in D-II, so while ASU isn’t officially in the playoff field yet, it should be in good shape to qualify as a member of Super Region 4 as long as disaster doesn’t strike at home in its regular-season finale against West Texas A&M (5-5) on Saturday. The NCAA has not updated its regional rankings through last weekend’s games as of this writing Monday morning, but Angelo State was already in the seven-team bracket at No. 5 before its win over WOU, and the Rams’ ranking won’t be hurt by their victory over the Wolves.

A conference championship is a well-deserved honor for an Angelo State team that’s been the cream of the crop of the LSC this season, and as it now preps for a likely spot in the playoffs and repping the LSC in that way, the Rams will be ready to unleash their might upon the rest of Division II.

Wildcats Can Sneak Into Playoffs

Speaking of playoff talk, Central Washington stayed in the NCAA’s most recent Super Region 4 rankings at No. 6 despite losing to Angelo State in a 17-16 classic on Nov. 2, boosting up the possibility that the LSC will be a two-bid league in this year’s playoffs.

Playing with the knowledge that a misstep could cost them dearly, the Wildcats played like a team that had a point to prove this past weekend as they blanked Sul Ross State in a 66-0 rout, doing exactly what they needed to instill confidence in the playoff selection committee that they’re a squad that deserves to make the field.

It was CWU’s third shutout in LSC play this year plus its highest point total of the season, making the rain in Ellensburg during the game a non-factor early as it raced out to a 35-0 lead after one quarter and made it a cut-and-dry victory the rest of the way.

The Wildcats absolutely ruled on the ground, running for 367 yards and six touchdowns in all as five different players — Tyler Flanagan, Cam Daniels, Ki’Marree Washington, Kennedy McGill, and Beau Phillips — found paydirt. Flanagan found the endzone twice, running for a game-high 89 yards in the process, while the CWU defense held the Lobos to just 86 total yards of offense while intercepting Sul Ross quarterbacks four times, with reigning Cliff Harris Award winner Tanner Volk nabbing two picks of his own.

A loss in the regular-season finale can derail CWU’s playoff hopes, however, and that game will come against none other than Western Oregon in a battle between D-II’s last two football-playing teams in the Pacific Northwest. But if the Wildcats are showing ruthlessness against the Wolves like they did this past Saturday against the Lobos, it might be time to start penciling in CWU as a bracket lock.

Three-School Heritage Bowl Race?

One of D2 football’s few bowl games, the Heritage Bowl brings in two at-large, non-playoff-qualifying teams from the LSC, Great American Conference, and/or Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association for an annual showdown at the Community National Bank & Trust Stadium in Corsicana, Texas, located about an hour’s drive south of Dallas.

Though we won’t know which LSC team (if there’s one selected at all) could be chosen to represent the conference in this year’s Heritage Bowl on Dec. 7 — which was last held by the LSC in 2019 when Eastern New Mexico defeated the GAC’s Southern Arkansas — until the D-II playoff field is finalized, the league could be due for a spot in the game considering that it was played between a MIAA and GAC team a year ago. 

In that case, especially if the LSC becomes a two-bid conference for the playoffs, signs would point toward one of the LSC’s three current 6-4 teams earning a bid.

Of those three teams, Western Oregon still has the best chance to make the playoff field and should be pushing for that first, but a Heritage Bowl bid wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize. The Wolves were the No. 8 team — the first team out — in the NCAA’s Super Region 4 rankings before they lost to Angelo State, though a big win over Central Washington in their final regular season game could help swing WOU into the field, depending on results elsewhere across the region.

Then there’s UT Permian Basin, which has already defeated Central Washington for its marquee win of the season and completely ran through Eastern New Mexico by a 64-14 margin this past weekend, indicating that it has an offense that could make the Heritage Bowl a must-watch affair. A similar high-octane display could be coming in the Falcons’ final LSC tilt this weekend at Sul Ross State, especially after what CWU just did to the first-year D-II program last weekend.

Texas A&M-Kingsville is the last of the LSC’s 6-4 bunch, and while the Javelinas were blanked in both of their matchups against the conference’s heavy hitters in Angelo State and Central Washington, they do have a win against Western Oregon if the Heritage Bowl’s selection committee starts to compare resumes. Still, they’d probably need to defeat ENMU convincingly in Kingsville on Saturday to help boost up their standing.

Playoff drama will be the story of the upper tier of the LSC this weekend, but for others in the top half of the league standings who may be on the outside looking in for the playoffs, they’ve potentially got a lot left to play for, too.

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Division II Football Scores In Week 11

  • Bloomsburg 35, Millersville 27
  • California (PA) 28, Edinboro 14
  • Gannon 34, Clarion 28
  • Davenport 52, Northern Mich. 31
  • Fairmont St. 36, West Liberty 35
  • Findlay 27, Northwood 17
  • Kutztown 31, West Chester 13
  • Limestone 40, Barton 26
  • Grand Valley St. 20, Michigan Tech 0
  • West Ala. 31, Shorter 6
  • Winona St. 37, Southwest Minn. St. 15
  • Walsh 24, Ashland 10
  • Elizabeth City St. 27, Bluefield St. 21
  • Bowie St. 45, Lincoln (PA) 7
  • Kentucky St. 24, Central St. (OH) 14
  • Chowan 21, Erskine 3
  • Wheeling 50, Concord 30
  • Minn. Duluth 35, Concordia-St. Paul 7
  • East Stroudsburg 28, Shepherd 7
  • Emory & Henry 62, UVA Wise 14
  • Ferris St. 27, Saginaw Valley 24
  • Bentley 34, Franklin Pierce 26
  • Hillsdale 20, Tiffin 17
  • Ohio Dominican 38, Lake Erie 21
  • Lane 41, Lincoln (MO) 28
  • Lock Haven 42, Shippensburg 21
  • Bemidji St. 25, MSU Moorhead 14
  • Minnesota St. 49, Mary 21
  • Mississippi Col. 35, Northeastern St. 7
  • Assumption 14, Pace 7
  • American Int'l 28, Post 27
  • Slippery Rock 38, Seton Hill 20
  • New Haven 14, St. Anselm 11
  • Carson-Newman 56, Tusculum 14
  • UNC Pembroke 58, Frostburg St. 17
  • Virginia St. 35, Virginia Union 28
  • Wayne St. (MI) 38, Roosevelt 14
  • Northern St. 28, Wayne St. (NE) 21
  • Charleston (WV) 69, West Va. Wesleyan 21
  • Glenville St. 40, West Virginia St. 14
  • Wingate 38, Newberry 0
  • Winston-Salem 37, Fayetteville St. 31 (2OT)
  • Albany St. (GA) 20, Fort Valley St. 15
  • Augustana (SD) 27, Sioux Falls 21
  • Benedict 35, Savannah St. 27
  • Tex. Permian Basin 64, Eastern N.M. 14
  • Edward Waters 33, Allen 28
  • Central Mo. 45, Emporia St. 36
  • Fort Lewis 44, N.M. Highlands 22
  • Henderson St. 35, Southwestern Okla. 17
  • Upper Iowa 28, McKendree 24
  • South Dakota Mines 17, Colorado Mesa 14
  • Quincy 34, Southwest Baptist 25
  • Thomas More 47, Ky. Wesleyan 12
  • Miles 37, Tuskegee 7
  • UIndy 55, Missouri S&T 10
  • Central Okla. 28, Washburn 27
  • West Florida 35, North Greenville 14
  • Tex. A&M-Kingsville 28, Western N.M. 20
  • Black Hills St. 45, Adams St. 3
  • CSU Pueblo 28, Colo. Sch. of Mines 13
  • Valdosta St. 49, Delta St. 20
  • Harding 34, East Central 7
  • Northwest Mo. St. 33, Missouri Western 23
  • Mo. Southern St. 24, Neb.-Kearney 13
  • Ouachita Baptist 55, Okla. Baptist 0
  • Arkansas Tech 6, Southeastern Okla. 0
  • Southern Ark. 78, Northwestern Okla. 0
  • Southern Nazarene 24, Ark.-Monticello 21
  • Western Colo. 21, Chadron St. 17
  • Mars Hill 31, Anderson (SC) 16
  • Truman St. 34, William Jewell 0
  • Angelo St. 38, Western Ore. 16
  • Lenoir-Rhyne 33, Catawba 14
  • West Tex. A&M 17, Midwestern St. 12
  • Central Wash. 66, Sul Ross St. 0

AFCA NCAA Division II 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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