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Monmouth's Derek Robertson Delivers Unreal Performance For Hawks In Week 12

Monmouth's Derek Robertson Delivers Unreal Performance For Hawks In Week 12

Monmouth's Derek Robertson and UAlbany Football's Dontae Lunan headline Week 12 of Video Game Numbers, college football's craziest stats from the weekend.

Nov 20, 2024 by Briar Napier
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It’s the final week of Video Game Numbers before the playoffs start in NCAA Divisions II and III, and boy, do we have some big-time statistical performances to show you.

Between a pair of 600-yard passing games and a receiving game that made a player set college football history, it was one of the wildest weekends yet in showcasing the wildest performances of all of college football from the week prior.

It’s late in the college football season now, but the eye-popping numbers aren’t stopping anytime soon.

Here’s a look back at some of college football’s craziest stats of Week 12 from all across the sport:

Derek Robertson, QB, Monmouth (22-for-23 passing, 358 yards, three touchdowns vs. Villanova)

Going nearly perfect at quarterback is relatively easy when you’re doing it virtually with a controller. It’s a lot harder to do it in real life against one of the best teams in the FCS.

Alas, Robertson was playing under center like he was a pro on the sticks in the Hawks’ upset 40-33 win over Villanova this past weekend at Kessler Stadium.

In one of Monmouth’s biggest wins since joining the Coastal Athletic Association, it shook up the Wildcats’ playoff aspirations and got itself a marquee victory on a season that can only finish .500 at best, depending on if the Hawks can defeat Stony Brook this weekend in their regular-season finale. And while Robertson’s numbers don’t jump off the page like some of the other performances seen throughout Video Game Numbers this season (including this very week), his reliability against a Villanova squad that had a lot to play for this past weekend was striking.

Robertson ensured his arm was true whenever he went back to pass, setting the tone when he connected with Sone Ntoh on a touchdown reception on the Hawks’ opening drive. He added two more in the second quarter to give Monmouth a 12-point lead that it would never relinquish the rest of the way, leading it to a big-time upset and shaking up the FCS playoff race on the penultimate week of the regular season.


Dontae Lunan, LB, UAlbany (19 tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions at Rhode Island)

It’s been a tough season for the Great Danes, who lost their fifth straight game in a 20-17 defeat at Rhode Island last Saturday, but Lunan did his part in the defeat and had a stellar afternoon as he almost helped lead UAlbany to victory.

An instant impact player for UAlbany after transferring to the program in the offseason from Bryant, he led the CAA in tackles with 118 total stops on the year and broke the century mark for 2024 with a season-high 19 against the Rams, but his big day on defense didn’t stop there.

Lunan entered the game against URI with no interceptions on the season but had two on the Rams by the end of the first half as he was crucial toward UAlbany building a 17-0 cushion of a lead at the halftime horn. A total of 20 unanswered points in the second half led to a thrilling comeback win for Rhode Island and a brutal defeat when victory was in their sights for the Great Danes, but Lunan’s eighth game on the season with double-digit tackles showed that he did all he could to try and prevent UAlbany’s late collapse.

The Great Danes will try to end their 2024 season on a high note this weekend when they face Hampton, whereas Lunan will also come into the matchup a realistic nine tackles away from breaking into the top-10 in UAlbany program history in single-season tackles.


Zach Zebrowski, QB, Central Missouri (44-for-47 passing, 614 yards, four touchdowns, nine carries, 18 yards, three touchdowns vs. Missouri Southern State)

Zebrowski, the reigning Harlon Hill Trophy winner, won’t be playing in the Division II playoffs despite leading the Mules on a five-game winning streak to close the regular season that included big upsets over Pittsburg State and Emporia State.

However, the now two-time Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Offensive Player of the Year (as revealed by the league office Tuesday) put on a ridiculous show in the final home game of his UCM career regardless.

D-II’s season passing yardage champion by over 1,000 yards, Zebrowski had an unreal day under center, even by his standards, in the Mules’ 62-47 shootout win over the Lions this past weekend. Breaking his own single-game school record for completions while also posting a season-high completion percentage of 93.6%, absolutely nothing and no one could stop Zebrowski from having one of the greatest individual displays seen at any level of college football this season.

With the game hanging in the balance following a Missouri Southern State touchdown to make it a 41-40 lead to UCM with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter, Zebrowski then found the endzone with his feet on back-to-back Mules drives to up UCM’s lead to 15. He then iced it with his final score of the day with 5:03 to go, throwing a 60-yard touchdown to Derrick Rose for the last blow in a 109-point game.

With a total of 9,619 passing yards and 99 touchdowns in just two D-II seasons after transferring in from FCS Southern Illinois, Zebrowski’s numbers will demand attention from NFL scouts. Days like last Saturday only further drive the point home ahead of his final college game, the Heritage Bowl on Dec. 7 against Texas Permian Basin from the Lone Star Conference.

Destin Chance, QB, Illinois College (37-for-49 passing, 620 yards, seven touchdowns, four carries, 28 yards, one touchdown vs. Beloit)

Remember just a few paragraphs ago when we mentioned that Zebrowski had one of the greatest individual displays seen at any level of college football this season? While that’s still true, he somehow does not have the most ridiculous passing game of the week in this edition of Video Game Numbers.

That honor goes to Chance, D-III’s season passing yardage and touchdown champion who essentially did whatever he wanted in the Blueboys’ 96-14 — yes, 96 — smashing of Beloit this past Saturday to close their season at 8-2 with a six-game winning streak.

Connecting with his running mate at receiver, Collin Brunstein (more on him later) for four touchdowns, Chance closed the door on a decorated career at IC by notching his seventh consecutive game with at least 300 passing yards and his fifth straight game with at least five passing touchdowns. Plus, it wasn’t even his first eight-touchdown game of the year, having also thrown for six and ran for two in the Blueboys’ win earlier in the season against Lawrence.

The school’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns had five of them by the end of the first half as IC led by a commanding 69-14 at the intermission, with the gunslinger adding two more in the third quarter with the game already done and dusted in true Video Game Numbers fashion. He finishes his Blueboys career with 116 career touchdown passes with 98 of them thrown in the past two seasons, helping to make IC one of the most entertaining offenses in all of college football in both 2023 and 2024.

Collin Brunstein, WR, Illinois College (14 catches, 355 yards, four touchdowns, one kickoff return touchdown vs. Beloit)

Two Video Game Numbers nominees from the same team in the same week? Well, when you break the all-time D-III record for receiving touchdowns in a career off of the back of a 350-plus-yard receiving day, yeah, you probably deserve a spot on the list, too.

Brunstein caught four scores to break a 25-year-old D-III record for receiving touchdowns in a career, with his 76 in five years for the Blueboys one better than the 75 caught by Westminster (Missouri) wideout Scott Pingel during his career from 1996-99. His remarkable feat is made even more wild by the fact that he only caught 18 touchdowns in his first three seasons at IC, having brought down a ridiculous 58 catches in the endzone during his past two years with the team.

Averaging 23 yards per catch for his career, Brunstein’s big-play ability was on full display against Beloit as he had 25.6 yards per catch this past weekend, with touchdown catches of 22, 25, and 29 yards before the end of the first half. His record-breaking touchdown grab came in the third quarter with 9:59 left and the Blueboys already up 76-14, when IC needed just a one-play drive for a classic Chance-Brunstein 45-yard house call and sole possession of the career scores record.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, Brunstein also took a kickoff back 85 yards to the house in the second quarter for the first kick return score of his career, adding another wrinkle to a memorable day for Brunstein and the Blueboys even though they were unable to earn a berth for the D-III playoffs.

When Are The NCAA Division II Football Playoffs?

  • First round: Saturday, Nov. 23
  • Second round: Saturday, Nov. 30 
  • Quarterfinals: Saturday, Dec. 7 
  • Semifinals: Saturday, Dec. 14
  • National championship: Saturday, Dec. 21

When Is The NCAA Division II Football National Championship Game?

The NCAA Division II championship game is set for Saturday, Dec. 21 in McKinney, Texas.

NCAA Division II Football Playoff Schedule

First Round: Saturday, Nov. 23

  • Slippery Rock vs. New Haven
  • Charleston (W.Va.) vs. Ashland
  • California (Pa.) vs. East Stroudsburg
  • Miles vs. Carson-Newman
  • Wingate vs. Virginia Union
  • West Alabama vs. Lenoir-Rhyne
  • Central Oklahoma vs. Ouachita Baptist
  • Grand Valley State vs. UIndy
  • Pittsburg State vs. Harding
  • Augustana (S.D.) vs. Minnesota State
  • Western Colorado vs. Central Washington
  • Angelo State vs. Bemidji State

Second Round: Saturday, Nov. 30

  • Kutztown vs. Slippery Rock/New Haven
  • Valdosta State vs. Miles/Carson-Newman
  • Ferris State vs. Central Oklahoma/Ouachita Baptist
  • CSU Pueblo vs. Augustana (S.D.)/Minnesota State

AFCA Division II Football Rankings

As of Nov. 18, 2024

  1. Valdosta St. (Ga.) (27) 10-0
  2. Ferris St. (Mich.) (3) 10-1
  3. Kutztown (Pa.) 11-0
  4. Harding (Ark.) 10-1
  5. Grand Valley St. (Mich.) 10-1
  6. Charleston (W.Va.) 11-0
  7. Colorado St.-Pueblo 10-1
  8. Central Oklahoma 10-1
  9. Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 10-1
  10. Western Colorado 10-1
  11. Slippery Rock (Pa.) 9-1
  12. West Alabama 9-1
  13. Pittsburg St. (Kan.) 8-2
  14. Indianapolis (Ind.) 10-1
  15. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) 9-2
  16. Angelo St. (Tex.) 9-2
  17. Wingate (N.C.) 9-1
  18. Colorado School of Mines 8-3
  19. Central Washington 8-3
  20. California (Pa.) 8-2
  21. West Florida 7-3
  22. Augustana (S.D.) 8-3
  23. Southern Arkansas 9-2
  24. Carson-Newman (Tenn.) 9-2
  25. Central Missouri 8-3

Dropped Out: Minnesota St. (18), Findlay (Ohio) (22).

Others Receiving Votes: Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 65; East Stroudsburg (Pa.), 45; Virginia Union, 38; Miles (Ala.), 36; Minnesota St., 34; New Haven (Conn.), 21; Findlay (Ohio), 18; Bemidji St. (Minn.), 9; Sioux Falls (S.D.), 4; Davenport (Mich.), 3; Ashland (Ohio), 2; Glenville St. (W.Va.), 1.

To see the D2Football.com Top 25 Poll, click here.

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