BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The state of Michigan will be the hotbed for college football on Saturday with two big games – #4 Michigan vs. #10 Penn State #2 and Valley State against #1 Ferris State. Big Noon Saturday will be in Ann Arbor but it will Big Rapids, Mich., that will have national title hopes on the line in NCAA Division II and the lead in regional rankings in the Anchor-Bone Showdown. This will be the first time in the series that the two teams have been met as the top two teams in the nation.
Ferris State, who is the reigning national champion and current #1 team in NCAA Division II, has won the last six meetings dating back to 2016. Last year, Ferris State won a snowy, 54-20, game in the NCAA playoffs second round game. With a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, Ferris State 26 unanswered points for a 40-7 lead as they took the game, 54-20. The Bulldogs have won the last six meetings and eight of the last nine regular season meetings.
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Ferris State offensive lineman and senior Adam Sieler says, “It’s a big game every year. They know it. We know it. If we do Ferris State, play our game, we will be good.”
In four of the last five meetings, the game has been decided by a touchdown or less. In 2021, when GVSU hosted the game, they fell, 35-28, scoring with just over two minutes left to pull within seven but couldn’t get the ball back. The 2019 showdown was a 21-16 FSU win as GVSU once again scored with just over two minutes to play to pull within five and once again fell to the Bulldogs. GVSU started the game out with a 9-0 lead but FSU scored 21 straight points to take the momentum.
It was a four-point outcome for FSU in 2018, 35-31, as the Bulldogs scored with 3:11 left to take the lead by four. GVSU ran out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and also had a 24-14 lead in the third quarter before FSU found a way to come back for the win. In the closest contest the past five years, FSU came away with a one-point victory, 28-27, in Big Rapids. It came down to the final seconds of the game as FSU’s Reggie Bell scored on a two-yard run with 15 seconds left for the one-point win. The drive went 60 yards in just 2:09 for the victory.
It was October 9, 2016, that the Anchor-Bone Trophy was last in the hands of GVSU with a 35-23 win. GVSU won on their home field in front over 16,000 fans. The two teams then met again on December 3 in the NCAA Division II playoffs second round where FSU won, 47-32, to start the six-game winning streak over GVSU.
FSU broke through the post season drought under Tony Annese last season winning the program’s first-ever national championship. They are currently on a 43-game regular season win streak setting a new program record and won 32-straight in the GLIAC. They will bring in their second ranked national defense (187.4 yards per game) along with the nation’s top sacker in Caleb Murphy (2.50 sacks per game).
GVSU is eighth in the nation in scoring offense at 41.3 points per game and their defense is fourth allowing just 10 points per game. Cade Peterson has thrown for over 1,000 yards while Tariq Reid is averaging 6.8 yards per carry.
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Saturday will be a great day in Michigan for college football especially for the Anchor-Bone Trophy.
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