January 5, 2011

It's Game Week: FCS Champion to be crowned Friday night

The Tennessee Tech football team will be watching Friday night when the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) crowns its champion in Frisco, Texas. Like so many other college football teams around the country, Tech is hoping to someday be playing in the title game.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech football team will be watching Friday night when the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) crowns its champion in Frisco, Texas. Like so many other college football teams around the country, Tech is hoping to someday be playing in the title game.

"Absolutely," said fourth-year TTU head cach Watson Brown. "That game is our goal. If we win the OVC championship, we're just a few wins away from playing for a national championship. That's our number one goal, and I truly think it's reachable. We just have to keep working."

The championship game will be played in Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, and will feature No. 3 Delaware against No. 5 Eastern Washington. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Deleware Blue Hens got to the title game with a 27-10 over Georgia Southern in the semifinals. Delaware's road through the playoffs also included victories over Lehigh (42-20) and New Hampshire (16-3). Eastern Washington defeated OVC champion Southeast Missouri (37-17) and North Dakota State (38-31), before downing defending champion Villanova (41-31) in the semifinals.

"I would think many of our staff and our players will watch the game," Brown said. "We're all very committed to getting to that game. Every time I was available, I watched (FCS) playoff games already this year."

Brown has been watching many of the bowl games, including the TCU victory in the Rose Bowl. In the Sugar Bowl, Arkansas narrowly lost to Ohio State. Tech faced both TCU and Arkansas early in the 2010 season.

"I think I said way back in the first week of the season at one of our luncheons that both TCU and Arkansas could be playing for the national championship, and both of them got pretty close," Brown said. "That gives you an idea of just how difficult our schedule was this year. We played two of the Top 10 BCS teams and two of the Top 10 FCS teams (SEMO and Jacksonville State)."