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Monday, November 18, 2002

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

IUP got the bid to the playoffs it expected. The exciting news is the Indians will be at home.

Washington and Jefferson received a bid it wasn't certain it would get, and the Presidents got a bigger surprise by getting the home field for the opening round.

Duquesne and Geneva weren't nervous yesterday because both already knew they're headed to bowl games.

No. 2 seed IUP (10-1), the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion and winner of 10 consecutive games, will play host to No. 3 Saginaw Valley State (9-2) Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II Northeast Region.

Saginaw Valley State tied for second place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Saginaw Valley State rallied from a 32-7 halftime deficit to defeat IUP, 33-32, in the opening round last season.

"Our players remember that," said IUP Coach Frank Cignetti, who is taking the Indians to the playoffs for the 13th time in 16 seasons. "We have another level to get to, but we have all the ingredients to make a run in the playoffs."

IUP will be without four starters -- three on defense and one on offense -- who were suspended for one a game by the PSAC for their involvement in a postgame melee after IUP's 34-28 overtime victory against Slippery Rock two weeks ago.

"That won't be an issue," Cignetti said. "We won't let it be an issue. We'll move some personnel around on defense and we probably will go more to one-back on offense."

Elice Parker, a senior transfer from LSU who rushed for 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns, will be the featured back with fullback Justin Spence on suspension.

The defensive players who won't be available are cornerback Kairi Cooper, tackle Craig Price and end Andrew Battle.

The only common opponent IUP and Saginaw Valley State played was Findlay. IUP lost to Findlay, 37-34, and Saginaw defeated Findlay, 69-7.

Duquesne (11-0), winner of 11 games in a season for the first time in school history, will play at Albany (7-4) in the ECAC Classic, noon Saturday. The Dukes qualified as champion of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Great Danes made it as champion of the Northeast Conference.

This will be Duquesne's fourth appearance in the game, which previously was called the ECAC Bowl. The Dukes are 1-2 after a 31-15 loss to Sacred Heart last year.

"I don't know much about them," Duquesne Coach Greg Gattuso said. "I know they have a big offensive line and are fifth in the country in rushing."

Duquesne, which has given up 91 points and allowed 10 touchdowns, is the only team in I-AA to allow fewer than 100 points.

Gattuso figures the Dukes need a convincing victory to impress the selection committee that will offer at-large bids Sunday to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs that includes scholarship, partial scholarship and non-scholarship programs.

A non-scholarship program such as Duquesne never has participated in the playoffs. The Dukes are ranked No. 1 in I-AA Mid-Major and are No. 24 in The Sports Network poll and No. 25 in the USA Today/ESPN poll. Both polls consider all I-AA programs.

Asked if he thinks Duquesne has a chance to get a bid, Gattuso said, "It revolves around how we do in the bowl game. Our goal is to win the bowl game. There is work to be done."

This is the last ECAC Classic. Officials from the I-AA Mid-Major schools are in the process of putting together a four-team playoff that could begin in 2003 and would include the champion of the MAAC, NEC, Pioneer Conference and possibly the Southern Conference. If the Southern Conference isn't involved, the fourth team would be the non-champion with the best credentials.

Washington and Jefferson (8-2), in Division III playoffs for the fourth consecutive season under John Banaszak, will play host to Christopher Newport, Va., (6-4) noon Saturday in the first round of the South Region.

W&J, the Presidents' Athletic Conference champion, received an at-large bid while the Captains earned an automatic bid as champion of the Dixie Conference.

Geneva (6-5) will play Northwestern (Minn.) College (8-1) in the National Christian College Athletic Association Victory Bowl at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, 2 p.m. Friday. The Golden Tornadoes won the Victory Bowl in 1998 and 1999 and can become the first three-time winner.