The NCAA News - News and Features

November 24, 1997

Division I-AA Football

Undefeated Villanova leads polls for first time ever en route to playoffs

Event: 1997 Division I-AA Football Championship.

Overview: Top-ranked Villanova (9-0) sits atop the polls for the first time in school history and is off to its best start ever. The Wildcats are the top-scoring team in the division (almost 40 points per game) and have one of the best passing attacks in the country. Sophomore quarterback Chris Boden ranks second in the nation in pass-efficiency rating (180.4) and fifth in total offense (278 yards per game). He has thrown a school-record 28 touchdown passes -- 14 to his favorite target, all-America receiver Brian Finneran. Finneran, who has 48 catches for 837 yards, owns nine Villanova receiving records and has a few more in his sights .... Western Illinois (9-1) has a solid all-around team led by 16 senior starters -- 10 on offense and six on defense. The offense is led by all-everything running back Aaron Stecker, who has set nine school and three conference rushing records and will set more before the season is over. Stecker leads the division (through games of November 1) with 1,584 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns. He also ranks second in yards per game (176) and all-purpose yards per game (204). Possessing excellent special teams and a defense that has been outstanding in the red zone all season, Western Illinois looks to make a lot of noise in this year's championship .... A big reason Eastern Washington (9-1) leads the nation in total offense and is considered one of the top teams in the country is the play of two former walk-ons. Senior quarterback Harry Leons, who ranks fourth in the division with a pass-efficiency rating of 176.0, has thrown for 1,989 yards (through games of November 1) and 17 touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Jeff Ogden is the other walk-on who has made it big. Ogden has 46 catches and ranks third in the division with 972 receiving yards. Eastern Washington's strength -- its offensive and defensive lines -- should enable the Eagles to advance far in the championship bracket.

Field: The 16-team field was selected November 23. Eight conferences have been granted automatic qualification: Atlantic 10, Big Sky, Gateway Football, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern and Southland Football. The remaining teams were selected at large.

Dates and sites: First-round (November 29), quarterfinal (December 6) and semifinal (December 13) games will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The championship game will be December 20 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Television: ESPN will televise the championship game live at 2 p.m. (Eastern time) December 20.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3066 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1344 for bracket/schedule and 5089 for championship-game results. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championship-game results will be published in the January 5 issue of The NCAA News.