team Western Illinois probably didnt want to lose again

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Jalen Hurd recovered quarterback Joshua Dobbs overtime fumble in the end zone and No. 9 Tennessee overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to escape with a 20-13 victory over Appalachian State on Thursday night.Tennessee faced third-and-goal from the 2 when Dobbs ran to his right and lost control of the ball as he tried to stretch his arms across the goal line. Hurd won the scramble for the loose ball in the end zone to give the Volunteers their only lead of the night.Micah Abernathy ended the game by breaking up a pass into the end zone on fourth-and-5 from the 20.Tennessees comeback prevented Appalachian State from producing another shocker nine years to the day after the Mountaineers stunned No. 5 Michigan in one of the greatest upsets in college football history.The Vols tied it on Dobbs 67-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone with 10:30 left in regulation. Appalachian States Michael Rubino, who earlier missed an extra point, was wide right on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 5:24 remaining.Rubinos miss wasted a 57-yard punt return by Jaquil Capel that gave Appalachian State the ball at the 28.Tennessee entered the season with its highest ranking since 2006 after winning its final six games last year, but the Volunteers looked nothing like a Top 10 team Thursday. The Volunteers committed two turnovers and lost linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to a targeting penalty in the first half as Appalachian State built a 13-3 lead.Cam Sutton fumbled on a punt return and Appalachian States Alex Gray recovered at Tennessees 36 to set up the first touchdown, a 5-yard keeper from Taylor Lamb barely four minutes into the game. Appalachian States other touchdown came in the second quarter on a 33-yard completion from Lamb to Marcus Cox, who also rushed for 115 yards.THE TAKEAWAYAppalachian State: The Mountaineers had lost by at least 28 points in each of their six meetings with Power Five teams since that Michigan game, but they showed Thursday that they could compete with college footballs big-name programs. Appalachian State refused to get pushed around and kept Tennessees offense out of the end zone for the first 49 1/2 minutes.Cox, who has rushed for over 1,200 yards each of the last three years, showed he can run effectively against any team from any conference.Tennessee: The Vols vowed they werent overlooking Appalachian State and werent distracted by sky-high preseason expectations, but something was clearly missing Thursday. Tennessee didnt bear any resemblance to the team that ended the 2015 season on a six-game winning streak.The biggest question surrounding Tennessee during the offseason was whether it could add efficiency and explosiveness to its passing attack. That area remains a major concern.UP NEXTAppalachian State: The Mountaineers have their home opener Sept. 10 against Old Dominion. Appalachian State must avoid looking ahead to its Sept. 17 home game with Miami.Tennessee: The Volunteers face Virginia Tech at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The Sept. 10 Battle at Bristol is expected to draw over 150,000 fans, which would mark the largest recorded attendance for a college football game. Fake Yeezy 451 . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. Wholesale Fake Yeezys . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/ .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Fake Yeezy 950 . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Fake Yeezy Boost 350 ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. (STATS) -- It will be interesting to see what the NCAA Division I FCS selection committee thinks of the potential playoff field later this week.What the rest of us think doesnt matter.On Thursday, the selection committee will release the first of three weekly Top 10 rankings -- much like what happens on the FBS level. Its a new feature of the committee leading into Selection Sunday on Nov. 20. The first rankings will be aired on ESPNUs CFB Daily, which begins at 4 p.m. ET.Sam Houston State is top-ranked in the STATS FCS Top 25 and in other leading FCS polls. But the Bearkats, playing in a relatively down Southland Conference, are lacking a high strength of schedule, so the committee may not have them atop its first rankings.The STATS postseason projection has had the Bearkats as the fourth seed in recent weeks, behind North Dakota State, Eastern Washington and Jacksonville State.In support of Sam Houston, its handled every challenge with relative ease and hasnt trailed in a game this season. Plus, two of its final three games would be considered excellent wins -- McNeese and Southland co-leader Central Arkansas.SECOND AND 10Ten more observations from the FCS weekend:1.) If it seems like there is not a lot of movement near the top of the STATS FCS Top 25, well, there hasnt been much recently. In an October which had five Saturdays of action, a Top 10 team lost only five times, and two of them had to because they were in a matchup against another Top 10 team. Another game was a No. 8-versus-No. 15 loss. The only Top 10 teams to lose to an unranked team occurred on the road -- Montana at Northern Arizona last weekend and South Dakota State falling 38-17 to Illinois State this weekend.2.) So the team of the week lost. But why shouldnt Samford be the team of the week after it rolled up 627 yards and made SEC member Mississippi State work for a 56-41 win? Sophomore Devlin Hodges completed 42 passes for a career-high 468 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Im just really proud of our football team, coach Chris Hatcher said. We came in and we fought extremely hard on a very hot afternoon. We ran out of gas a couple of times, but somehow the guys filled their tank back up. Up next for the Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1): Back into the Southern Conference at unbeaten The Citadel.3.) New Hampshire answered the call with a 43-14 rout of No. 22 Stony Brook. The perennial playoff qualifier out of CAA Football didnt have a win over a team that had a winning record last week, but it changed after the Wildcats defense resembled the typical Stony Brook performance, forcing five turnovers. The Cats have a bye next weekend before hosting Albany and going to rival Maine as they seek a 13th straight playoff appearance.4.) Eastern Washington senior wide receiver Cooper Kupps eight receptions in a 35-16 win over Montana raised him to 378 in his career, just 17 shy of Terrell Hudgins FCS all-time record of 395 from 2006-09. Kupp already owns the FCS career records for receiving yards (5,770) and touchdown receptions with 67.5.) Southerns Lenard Tillery became the SWACs all-time rushing leader, gaining 195 yards in a 41-33 win over Alcorn State to push his career total to 4,132. The West Division has sso dominated the East Division in inter-divisional matchups -- winning 15 of the 20 games -- that the West winner might be unbeaten (co-leaders Grambling State and Southern are 5-0) and the East winner could have four losses (co-leaders Alcorn State and Jackson State are 3-3) when they meet in the conference championship game on Dec.dddddddddddd 3 in Houston.6.) The versatility of Princetons Jon Lovett went to a new level in a 56-7 Ivy League win at Cornell. Playing his usual slash role, he set the school record with seven touchdowns -- four passing, two rushing and one receiving. He was 10 of 11 for 194 yards, rushed six times for 47 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards.7.) Lehighs offense has been relentless during a seven-game winning streak, including 632 yards and 58 points against Fordham on Saturday. With a win over Bucknell next weekend, the Mountain Hawks (7-2) will clinch their first Patriot League title since 2011 and an automatic bid to the playoffs. At-large bids appear unlikely for Fordham and Colgate, last years playoff qualifiers.8.) Just as Lehigh is in control of the Patriot League bid, Saint Francis can say the same in the Northeast Conference following a 38-17 triumph at Sacred Heart. Quarterback Zack Drayer and wide receiver Kamron Lewis connected for the final three touchdowns of the game and the Red Flash (6-3) moved to 4-0 in the NEC for the first time.9.) The Ohio Valley Conference surely has dropped to a one-bid conference with Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State losing in back-to-back weeks. Unless, that is, UT Martin (5-4, 4-1) can win out and steal the automatic bid from Jacksonville State, the two-time defending champ. The Gamecocks (7-1, 4-0) are playing one fewer conference game than UT Martin because theyre not meeting Tennessee State, which played an extra non-conference game this season. If the Skyhawks win out, they could go 7-1 and have at least an extra win over the Gamecocks.10.) Hello, again. If there was one team Western Illinois probably didnt want to lose against this season, it was South Dakota. Bob Nielson, the 2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference coach of the year, left the Leathernecks program after last season to take over at South Dakota. It looked bad for the visiting Leathernecks when they trailed by 17 points, but they rallied for a 35-34 win and left the Coyotes (4-4) in dire playoff position heading into November.A LOOK AHEADNext Saturdays big matchup will come from the CAA as the Top 10 as James Madison visits rival Richmond. Also, its pass-versus-run with Eastern Washington visiting Cal Poly in the Big Sky and defense-versus-defense with Youngstown State going to North Dakota State in the Missouri Valley.Other pivotal conference matchups: Big Sky, North Dakota at Northern Colorado; CAA, Villanova at Maine; Ivy, Penn at Princeton; MEAC, South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T; Northeast, Duquesne at Wagner; Patriot, Bucknell at Lehigh and Colgate at Fordham; Southern, Samford at The Citadel; Southland, McNeese at top-ranked Sam Houston State; and SWAC, Alcorn State at Prairie View A&M. ' ' '