The program compiled a record of 27-35 with Thomas as head coach, including a 21-21 record in his first four seasons and a Southland Conference title in 2005.

But the Colonels have not had a winning conference record since 2005 and have gone 6-14 over the last two seasons, including a 3-8 mark in 2009, which they ended with a victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday.

Webster coached the Tigers to a 21-10 win over Eastern Illinois Thursday night in his final game at the school.

Webster, who was hired in January 2005, ended his tenure as head coach of the Tiger football program with a five-year record of 25-31.

Taking care of business is exact what a number of teams did over the weekend as the regular season inched a little closer to the finish line.

Four more teams joined Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley Football Conference( with automatic bids to the NCAA Division I football tournament, Appalachian State (Southern Conference), Holy Cross (Patriot League), Montana (Big Sky) and South Carolina State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference).

Glanville ends his three-year run as coach with a 9-24 record. The Vikings just completed their 2009 slate at 2-9 overall with a 1-7 record in the Big Sky Conference.

"I want to thank Coach Glanville for his dedication to Portland State Football and the greater University and community," said director of athletics Torre Chisholm.

Griffin is completing his fourth season with the Racers, who are 3-7 heading into the season-finale on Saturday against Tennessee Tech. Murray State is just 11-33 during Griffin's tenure.

"I appreciate what Coach Griffin has done to advance the rebuilding process at Murray State," said Murray State athletic director Allen Ward. "We have a good nucleus of players, and he made some significant progress in a number of areas important to the long-term stability of the program.

But is that the end of the story? Although the Crusaders have consistently been the best team in the league all season and were ranked 13th in last week's Sports Network poll, the PL has two other teams that could potentially find its way into post-season play.

With the Leopards (8-2, 4-1 in PL) and Colgate (9-2, 4-2 in PL) both with two losses and some quality wins this season, many have wondered if the conference will get a second playoff bid.

The Salukis, who vaulted to the top of the poll last week when Richmond had its 17-game winning streak snapped, received 49 of 137 first-place votes.

SIU (9-1) closes out the regular season Saturday with a non-conference game at Southeast Missouri State, after going a perfect 8-0 in league play. The Salukis will be looking to finish in first place at the end of the regular season in the poll for the second time in school history, after previously accomplishing that feat in 2004.

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Dominique Johnson, Cal Poly, Junior, 6-3, 206, WR, Moreno Valley, CA.

Johnson established career highs with 13 catches for 273 yards and five touchdowns in Cal Poly?s 50-48 loss to South Dakota Saturday at home. Johnson?s five scoring catches is a school record, breaking the old mark of four set by Ramses Barden against Weber State in 2007. In setting a season high in receiving yards for Great West Conference receivers, he scored on catches that spanned 20, 59, 13, 42 and 42 yards. Cal Poly trailed 50-28 with 4:23 to go in the third quarter and Johnson ignited the comeback with his last three touchdown catches.

Edwards hobbled off the field at halftime of Saturday's Southern Conference championship clash at Elon with three touchdown runs and a 21-0 lead, but also with a strained anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after taking a hit from Elon defensive end Andre Campbell late in the second quarter.

When the Mountaineers returned for the second half, it was backup quarterback Travaris Cadet who led Appalachian State back into the fray and Edwards was nowhere to be seen along the sideline.

But looking at the teams battling for the 2009 playoffs, it might have been better to have moved to 20 teams this season.

The NCAA Division I football playoff committee is going to be faced with some tough decision when they meet in a little over a week in Indianapolis to choose the field for the 2009 championship tournament.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rob Curley, Lafayette, Senior, 6-1, 200, Quarterback, Cinnaminson, NJ.

Curley set a Lafayette record and tied a pair of Patriot League marks with seven touchdown passes to lead the Leopards to a crucial 56-49 PL victory over Colgate Saturday at home. Curley completed 18-of-31 passes for a career-high 373 yards as he accounted for seven of Lafayette's eight TDs. He tied the PL record of seven TD passes that was set by Jeff Wiley of Holy Cross in a 1987 game against Lehigh and matched a mark for touchdowns responsible for that was held by Wiley and Fordham's Kevin Eachin (2003 vs Rhode Island). Curley's new Lafayette TD passes mark broke the record of five held by Tom Kirkhhoff (1991 vs Buffalo), Frank Bauer (1987

Southern Illinois (8-1) is ranked on top for the first time since Oct. 10, 2005. The Salukis, who were No. 3 last week, were ranked No. 1 for two weeks in the 2005 season after spending 11 weeks at No. 1 during the 2004 campaign.

Richmond (8-1) dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 with its 21-20 loss to Villanova on Saturday at home. The Spiders, who had their 17-game winning streak snapped by the Wildcats, had been ranked No. 1 for nine consecutive weeks.

In that year, All four professional sports franchises made it to their respective post season, with the NBA's 76ers and NFL's Eagles making it to championship rounds and the Phillies winning the World Series.

After 1983, when the 76ers won the NBA championship, Philadelphia sports struggled to keep up with neighboring cities such as Washington DC, New York City, and Boston, which all saw championship parades, while the City of Brotherly Love saw losses and disappointing playoff appearances mount up over a 25 year span.

But Football Championship Subdivision fans and critics can't deny that Lafayette and Colgate fought in one of the best offensive battles anywhere this season, Saturday, at Fisher Field as Lafayette took down Colgate 56-49.

Both teams came into the game nationally ranked, with Colgate at No. 18 in The Sports Network Top-25 poll and Lafayette in for the first time in 2009 at No. 24.

But when the top-ranked Spiders take the field on Saturday with their 17-game winning streak, they will face a No. 4 Villanova squad that beat them last season and may have the blueprint for other teams to follow if they want to dethrone the defending FCS national champs.

On the surface, Villanova's 26-20 victory over Richmond last season might look like a tight win. But in reality, the Wildcats controlled the Spiders in ways that no other FCS club managed to do last season.

After Saturday's convincing 31-10 thrashing of No. 14 Weber State, Montana is on the verge of earning a share of its 12th consecutive Big Sky Conference championship and its 17th straight playoff berth.

It's not surprising after this weekend that the No. 2-ranked Grizzlies are in such a position, it's more about how Montana has gotten itself to this place.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Armanti Edwards, Appalachian State, SR, 6-0, 184, Quarterback, Greenwood, S.C.

Edwards piled up the fourth-highest, single-game total offense performance in Appalachian State history as the Mountaineers torched Furman, 52-27, Saturday on the road. Playing just three quarters, Edwards completed 25-of-36 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 106 yards and four more scores. The 2008 Payton Award winner also became the first player in NCAA Division I history to exceed the 9,000-yard barrier in passing and the 4,000- mark in rushing for a career. Edwards now has 9,184 yards passing and 4,132 yards rushing for a career total offense figure of 13,316 yards. His total of

The Spiders improved to 8-0 on the cusp of their Colonial Athletic Association showdown with No. 4-ranked Villanova on Saturday in Virginia.

Richmond received 123 of 141 first-place votes, with No. 2 Montana picking up nine, No. 3 Southern Illinois drawing seven and Villanova and No. 7 Appalachian State grabbing one each.

But at the last moment, Albany inside linebacker Justin Brancaccio broke up the play to preserve a 24-22 victory for the Great Danes, who went on to win the Northeast Conference championship and then the Gridiron Classic.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Blue Devils, who were frustrated by a third consecutive loss in their burgeoning rivalry with Albany.

Now, halfway through the 2009 season, the Rattlers are well on their way to accomplishing that goal.

The rebuilding stage really took hold in 2008. After the 2007 season in which the Rattlers finished 3-8, Joe Taylor was named the team's third coach in five years, as Rattler fans scratched their collective heads in uncertainty.

"It only seems like I've been here that long," joked Bagnoli.

The uber-successful Bagnoli has only been around for 18 years and 174 of those games, but he will be on the sideline on Saturday at Brown when Penn becomes the first program in NCAA history to play 1,300 games.

Rivalries are also made more intense when the stakes of a game are raised to new heights, like playing for a league championship, or meeting in the playoffs.

The other element needed to increase the heat of a rivalry is to have both teams find some success. Having one team win too many games over the course of years ruins the intensity of such matchups.

The decision allows Eastern Washington to regain eligibility for the NCAA Division I football championships, which begin in November.

Eastern Washington was originally banned from the playoffs as part of the penalties imposed by the NCAA in February for rules violations from 2003-2007 in the football program.

If someone would have placed a bet in Las Vegas that the two longest losing streaks in FCS would end within the same hour, no one would have taken the action. But on another wild Saturday, true was stranger than fiction.

STREAK BUSTERS, PART ONE Dartmouth had dropped 17 consecutive games since a 17-14 overtime win against Princeton to end the 2007 season.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK Nick Schwieger, Dartmouth, Sophomore, 5-11, 195, Running Back, Norton, MA.

Schwieger set a school record with 242 yards rushing to lift Dartmouth to a 28-6 home victory over Columbia on Saturday. The win snapped the second- longest active losing streak in FCS at 17 games. Schwieger had 69 yards in the first quarter to set up two Big Green touchdowns, then rambled 66 yards in the fourth quarter for a score that clinched the win. He also had runs of 25 and 35 yards during the game as he broke the school record of 229 yards rushing, set by Al Rosier in 1991. Schwieger's performance was just the sixth 200-yard rushing game in Dartmouth history.