Good First Week for FCS Football




Youngstown State players greet fans after win at Pittsburgh

The first week of the college football season saw four FCS teams post wins on the road against FBS opponents, which is a great start for FCS nationally. As you may know, FCS teams are limited to 63 scholarships, as opposed to the 85 limit for FBS teams.

The biggest upset was #13 Youngstown State’s 31-17 win over Pittsburgh, taking advantage of the head coach transition for the Panthers. A four-time FCS national champion, YSU took the first step forward in getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. #12 Eastern Washington, the 2010 FCS national champions, knocked off nearby rival, Idaho, 20-3. The squad gets another chance with another short trip this week, to Washington State. McNeese State, has 14 FCS playoff appearances to its credit, but has not been there since 2009, beat Middle Tennessee, 27-21.  Unranked Tennessee-Martin hit a late field goal to beat Memphis, 20-17, spoiling the debut of another first-year head coach.

Youngstown State took advantage of the success and opened the box office on Labor Day, moving more than 1,200 tickets to Saturday’s home opener against Valparaiso. Three other FCS teams came close. Liberty dropped a 20-17 decision to Wake Forest. Maryland rallied for a late touchdown to best William & Mary, 7-6, while Florida Atlantic beat Wagner, 7-3.

Texas State has moved up to the FBS level this season and will play in the WAC. The Bobcats celebrated by scoring 27 points in the first half against Houston and knocking off the Cougars, 30-13. This is Houston’s final season in Conference USA before the program moves to the Big East in 2013.

 

Only four MAC teams were home the opening weekend, with Central Michigan having the best attendance with 15,250, just besting the 15,115 at Kent State. The Flashes were helped with a reunion of the 1972 Tangerine Bowl team. Former coach Don James led the star-studded reunion that included Jack Lambert and Gary Pinkel, among others. Neither Lambert nor Pinkel remained for the game on Thursday night against Towson. The Flashes took advantage of six turnovers in posting the win. Northern Illinois was the home team in a neutral site game at Soldier Field, where more than 52,000 watched the Huskies and Iowa Hawkeyes battle down to the wire. Iowa scored nine fourth-quarter points for an 18-17 win.

The Peanut Man Created a Legacy

Talk about making the most of your opportunities. Talk about thinking out of the box. The late Rick Kaminski, 67, who died this week from a brain aneurysm, took one of the most ordinary tasks and became a community icon.

I wonder how many peanut vendors were starting their first day in 1977 when 32-year old Rick began working at Seattle Mariners games selling peanuts. I would guess many of them were just counting the hours until the game ended and they could stop toting their box of peanuts around the Kingdome. Others were hoping to quickly advance to selling the more lucrative products - like hot dogs or even beer! But Rick must have seen an opportunity. An opportunity not just to do his job well, but to redefine his job.

His longtime girl friend, Candi Mindt-Keene, said he his passion was to make sure the fans had a great memory to take home. He was not just selling peanuts. He was in the entertainment business! As he toted his box of peanuts around the stadium (estimated that he walked over seven miles of stadium stairs every game), he was creating those memories.

Rick developed his own style - tossing bags of peanuts to fans. He entertained. Even more than Griffey, Rodriguez or others, he could be counted on to be there as part of the Mariners game experience. He was there in the regular season. He even went to spring training to great the new year. He did not just do his job - he created a new job - one with much more appeal. The job selling peanuts at Mariners games was a job with no limits to Rick.

What a great opportunity to reflect. Are we making the most of our opportunities? Are we seeing beyond the ordinary to the extra-ordinary? What can we do with our vocations that adds value to the community? What lessons can we take from a man who sold peanuts at baseball games to shape our lives to see opportunities when others only saw dead-ends. The first step is to put passion into every opportunity. Make the most of it. Don't sell it short. With Rick's passion, he was featured as one of ESPN's top plays. Planters named him the most valuable peanut seller in America. His death was met with grief by much of the Seattle community. We can only hope that our vocation can provide similar results.

Peanuts anyone?

Day 5 - Hello Seattle!

Blogger: Paula
We have arrived in Seattle! Wahoo! 2,800 miles and 12 states in five days - Whew! As we predicted, Day 5 was the most scenic and the longest as we anticipated our arrival in our new home state. We had the earliest wake up call of the trip hitting the road at 6:15 a.m. which allowed us to witness a beautiful sunrise over western Montana. We found the west side of this very long state to be much more scenic with hills, mountains and life! We even saw a herd of buffalo!

I have to admit that Idaho was not a state that I thought would make my top highlights list. I thought it would be flat land with potato farms. Boy was I wrong! While we only traversed the skinniest part of the state, the views were by far the most dramatic of the trip! The mountains were stunning with vertical rock formations and thick evergreens with a few gorgeous lakes and streams intertwined. I was disappointed that it was one of the shortest states since it was indeed the most spectacular.

We were certain that the entire city of Seattle (four hours away) heard us whooping when we crossed into the state of Washington. We couldn't pass Spokane without stopping at the Jesuit University of western Washington - Gonzaga. It was a beautiful campus, and the Hermanns jumped out to "stretch their legs" coincidentally at the athletic facilities.

Those last four hours seemed to take forever. The scenery was not what we had expected - it was very flat and pretty boring until we hit the central part of the state. We saw another wind farm, a few lakes, and had a big laugh when we passed into the city of George, Washington! I was also a little hesitant to get out at the scenic lookout as there was a sign that said "watch for rattlesnakes." Gratefully, Mike and Andrew did not see any (I enjoyed the view from the van).

Our first rain of the trip came as we drove into Seattle - an appropriate welcome! My cousin's wife is from Seattle and her parents graciously extended the offer for us to stay with them during the transition week. We arrived for our first home cooked meal in a week and it was delicious, (not to mention it was terrific not to have to balance dinner on a hotel mattress).

An exhausting day, but a true sense of accomplishment! We drove across America. Much like the pioneers who made that journey in months instead of days, we now have an appreciation of the diversity of the land and the size of our beautiful country. Let the chapter begin.

Day 4: What a Country!

Blogger: Mike

After today's ride, we were impressed once again with the diversity of landscape and lifestyles in our country. We completed the trip through South Dakota, traveled about 200 miles in Wyoming and started to cross Montana, pulling up for the night just past Bozeman in the town of Belgrade. We've left ourselves quite a challenge for tomorrow - about 300 miles more in Montana, across the thin part of Idaho and then crossing Washington, from Spokane to Seattle. We hope to get started early!

But back to today! We started the day with our biggest sight-seeing adventure of the trip. We stayed in Rapid City and had about a 30-minute drive to Mt. Rushmore. It was a must-do! We were on the road before 8 and there were few guests when we arrived at the monument. It was an interesting exhibit - a tribute to four outstanding Presidents that led with different causes. But it was also just as much a reflection of what can be done with great ideas. As I learned about the history of sculpture, the idea came from a South Dakotan who thought it would be good for tourism. He was certainly right. Completed 14 years after it started, the monument is the centerpiece for a thriving South Dakota tourism industry. From the exhibits we saw along the way on I-90 yesterday to the plethora of entertainment options in the Rapid City area, including a live bear exhibit, a petting zoo, the required wax museum, the reptile gardens, plus all types of family attractions. Our hotel even had an indoor water park attached. The tourism idea continues to be a mainstay in a state that would not be much of an attraction without the manmade monument and the supporting attractions.

From the manmade wonder, we then began to observe the natural wonder of the Rocky Mountains over the rest of the day. Wyoming was sparse and almost desert like. The further we drove into the state, the mountains became a larger part of the horizon. Our trip did not take us to the natural tourist attractions in Wyoming - Yellowstone and the Grant Tetons.

The massive state of Montana offered large stone mounds, fertile valleys and houses with great views! We enjoyed our first few hours in the state and look forward to more great vistas tomorrow!

Day 3: Hello South Dakota!

Before we made this leg of the journey, I did not realize just how big South Dakota was. It is 380 miles long which we crossed most of today, and ranks 46th in population. Today, we started in Rochester, Minnesota, and the first part of the trip was along the southern part of Minnesota. The land is flat and full of wind farms. Literally, there were hundreds of wind turbines! I have never seen so many in my life. I saw a commercial earlier in the morning that stated 15% of all Minnesota's electricity comes from renewable resources! I beguiled the time by reading "A Tale of Two Cities," by none other than Charles Dickens. I also had the audiobook on my iPod which helped with the pronunciations.

Once we entered South Dakota, with not much change in landscape, we came across Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota. It was our lunch stop and we carried our sandwiches and subs to a nearby park that had a river running through it with a waterfall. It was quite scenic, and surprisingly warm. After our lunch break, we started the long and weary journey across the state of South Dakota. The horizon extended for miles and miles and nothing more than ranches and fields were seen. On I-90 in South Dakota there are thousands of billboards that advertise many of the areas local attractions. For example, there is the Corn Palace, a museum dedicated to corn and is entirely made out of it, and the famous Wall Drug Store. Wall Drug Store is in the western part of South Dakota and is known for the ridiculous amounts of stuff that they sell. They practically sell everything from homemade treats to anything you can imagine. There is even a chapel in the store! Wall Drug store has become a tourist hotspot. Unfortunately, the Hermanns did not stop because of the long journey. Wall Drug Store took up a good 40% of the billboard advertisements. Other advertisers were Reptileland, the town of 1880's (a town themed from the 1880's), the National Museum of Woodcarving, Rushmore Caverns, and many more outrageous attractions.

The scenery changed slowly as we trekked across the state. It become hilly and there we more elevation changes. Mountains and hills started to appear on the horizon. We then reached Rapid City, the destination for day 3. Our hotel is new and has been accommodating, and as of right now everyone but me is asleep weary from a long day of travel.

Andrew

Day 2: We crossed the Mississippi!

Blogger: Paula

We achieved several milestones today...we hit 1,000 miles; we crossed through six states; and we have recorded 36 different license plates since our journey began! After 15 hours of travel today and over 730 miles, we were glad to see Rochester, MN. We saw a big piece of Americana today. Picturesque red barns surrounded by corn and wheat fields as far as the eye could see. Some were being cultivated with large modern equipment and some were being tended to by an Amish man who had his plow attached to two horses. We even saw a pumpkin patch that occupied about four acres of land! We travelled through tiny burgs and major cities. We stopped at the University of Notre Dame, got a glimpse of Touchdown Jesus and the gorgeous campus, and a few hours later we made a visit to Loyola University Chicago. This was appropriate at we kept ourselves entertained today with games like "Name all 28 Jesuit colleges" and "Name all the presidents in order." Chicago, one of my favorite cities, could not have been any more beautiful and we enjoyed the ride along Lake Michigan. The terrain changed a bit as we entered western Wisconsin and eastern Montana where were also treated to the most beautiful sunset. As the sun dipped below the horizon, it left behind amazing hues of orange, yellow, red, and blue that stayed around for almost an hour. We will reach the half-way point tomorrow! Something to look forward to...

Day 1: The Lifetime Memory Begins!

Blogger: Mike

It's finally here! We've been waiting for the answer to the question - "Where are we moving?" for the last four months! Even after we had secured the location (Seattle!), we had 26 days finding a house, starting school and beginning work before we could begin this cross country adventure. But after a flight back to Baltimore, a day of packing, and a day of loading the moving truck, we were ready! Today, the cross country adventure begins!

Remember the theme of the blog - unexpected! We had an "unexpected" delay in our start when a piece of molding on the underside of the van became loose. We raced to the Towson Honda, who quickly installed a $1.53 clip, and we were back on track!

Moments later, we closed the door on our house on Forge Acre Drive for the last time, closing the Baltimore chapter in our lives. We circled Baltimore on the outer loop and started our trip west on the east terminus of I-70, knowing that our trip would end on the west terminus of I-90, five days and 2,759 miles later!

Today's trip was filled with memories as we motored through Maryland, passing familiar landmarks and remembering terrific experiences. It was a fun-filled four years, but everyone in this vehicle is ready for the next adventure!

Maryland lived up to its reputation as Little America, treating us today to city, country and the mountains as we left. The views of the Appalachians outside Hagerstown are some of my favorite vistas on this trip, but just an appetizer for what lies ahead as we cross the Rockies later in the week.

We traveled about six hours on this first day, arriving in Randolph, Ohio, giving us the chance to catch up with my family before we really become the dark black sheep. Not only will I be the only Hermann sibling of the eight to live outside of Ohio, but we will be three time zones to the west!

We were welcomed with an early Thanksgiving dinner (I think we even beat the Canadian Thanksgiving!). It was much appreciated and meaningful. During the dark days of the summer, we had kept the faith and comforted each other by expressing that God will show us the way and we will be in our new home and enjoying our new opportunity by Thanksgiving! It was nice that it arrived a little early this year!

My extended family arrived and we were sent off with a great celebration of Ohio. We were presented with snacks from the Buckeye state, including Smucker's jam, homemade buckeyes, local wine and cheese, plus the state drink - tomato juice! We even had a great plate of iced cookies, all cut out in the shape of the state. A large map on the wall showed everyone our planned trip west. I don't mind saying, it's far! The evening was a wonderful and memorable celebration. We have a wonderful blessing in our family!

Now, it off to the local hotel for a short, but needed night's sleep as we prepare for tomorrow - the longest drive of the trip! Sleep well!

Mike