INDIANA, USA — It was rivalry week for small college football programs in Indiana. NCAA Division II, III and NAIA programs have now concluded their regular seasons and look to begin their respective postseasons in the coming weeks.
FBS and FCS colleges still have a couple weeks to go until their traditional rivalry weeks. On Tuesday, the Ball State Cardinals won their "MACtion" matchup against Northern Illinois on a last-second field goal. While not an in-state rivalry, Ball State's win over NIU meant the Bronze Stalk Trophy will be in Muncie for a full year.
IU football lost a heartbreaker in overtime against Illinois, while Purdue all but destroyed Minnesota's Big Ten West title hopes. Neither Purdue nor IU are bowl-eligible with seven losses apiece, but the Old Oaken Bucket Game is now just two weeks away. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish did not play this week, nor did FCS team Butler.
The remaining two Indiana-based FCS teams scored major wins on Saturday. The Indiana State Sycamores won their first game of the season over Western Illinois on Senior Day. The Valparaiso Beacons won their second game in a row with an overtime victory over Stetson.
In Division II, the UIndy Greyhounds dropped to No. 22 in the AFCA coaches poll after last week's loss to McKendree. However, the Greyhounds rebounded Saturday with a rout of Southwest Baptist. They now await their playoff destiny. The Division II postseason selection show begins Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. ET.
Division III football featured some of the largest rivalry games in the state on Saturday.
Arguably the biggest rivalry game of the day was the 129th Monon Bell game between DePauw and Wabash, but there were also other historic rivalry matchups on Saturday.
In the Bronze Ball Game between the Anderson Ravens and Manchester Spartans, both teams were looking to end the season with their first win of the year. Manchester dominated on offense and defense, outscoring the Ravens by 30 points and holding them to just 177 total offensive yards and one touchdown. Manchester quarterback Eric James completed 9 out of 25 of his passes for 125 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
Manchester's defense harassed Anderson quarterbacks Aidan Meek and Jacob McClosky, sacking the pair a total of 11 times.
The 93rd Victory Bell game between the Franklin Grizzlies and Hanover Panthers featured Hanover retaining the Bell for the second straight year. Panthers quarterback Eian Roudebush completed 17 out of 25 of his passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Franklin quarterback Kai Ross had a monumental game statistically, completing 32 out of 53 of his passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns. However, four sacks hurt the Grizzlies' offense in the end.
Elsewhere in Division III, the Trine Thunder took down Kalamazoo College, while the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers dropped the Heartland Conference championship game to Mt. St. Joseph.
In the NAIA, coming off a hard-fought victory against in-state rival Marian last week, the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats lost their first game of the year to Concordia. The loss will likely hurt the Wildcats' seeding in next week's playoffs, but barring anything crazy, they should make the postseason.
The Marian Knights avenged last week's loss against IWU by taking down Siena Heights, while the Saint Francis Cougars ended their season with a win over the Taylor Trojans.
Here are all the state college football scores from across Indiana for the 11th week of the college football season. Indiana-based teams are listed in bold.
Indiana college football scores for the week of Nov. 11
Concordia 21, Indiana Wesleyan 10
Hanover 36, Franklin 17
Indiana State 27, Western Illinois 6
Manchester 37, Anderson 7
Marian 24, Siena Heights 14
Mt. St. Joseph 68, Rose-Hulman 20
St. Francis 44, Taylor 31
Trine 42, Kalamazoo 29
UIndy 41, Southwest Baptist 3
Valparaiso 23, Stetson 20, OT
