The opening round of the California playoffs are in the books and with only four teams remaining in the Golden State, Riverside City College finds themselves in a terrific spot in the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Rankings. The Tigers moved up to No. 2 in the rankings and have the potential for two big wins in the coming weeks.
RCC made a mess out of El Camino College, 63-24, and sent a message to the rest of the state that it could be their time. The Tigers rolled up 622 yards of offense behind star quarterback Stone Smartt. Fresh off being named the No. 1 ranked dual-threat quarterback in the nation by JCGridiron.com, Smartt had arguably his best game of the season by completing 20-of-27 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns through the air while rushing for another three scores on the ground. Riverside will get another tough test this Saturday when they host No. 11 Ventura, who stung previous top-5 Canyons 21-13 on Saturday. Canyons fell to No. 12 in the rankings with the loss.
The NJCAA Bowls are set and as expected No. 1 East Mississippi will play No. 3 Garden City in the NJCAA Championship Game. As a change from the norm, the game will take place before all of the other bowls as it goes off on Thursday, November 29, at Carnie Smith Stadium in Pittsburg, Kansas. That should be one to watch, as both programs are undefeated with a legitimate shot at a JCGridiron Dirty 30 National Title. Two other games on the NJCAA slate will also be critical, as No. 13 Eastern Arizona travels to Mississippi to take on No. 5 Jones in the Mississippi Bowl while No. 15 Snow hits the road for Iowa to take on No. 4 Iowa Western in the Graphic Edge Bowl.
A hearty congratulations goes out to No. 8 Laney and No. 10 Fresno on making the Northern California title game. The Eagles and Rams both have two losses and aren’t likely to make any push for a national title, but with two potentially big wins ahead of them could find themselves in the top-5 if they can run the table.
In closing, keep the people of California in your minds this holiday season and donate money where you can. The fires have ruined thousands of lives, and really puts into perspective the fragile nature of life. As a result of the fires, some of the bowl games in Northern California have been moved to December 1. You can donate money at www.redcross.org or 1-800-733-2767 or the North Valley Community Foundation at www.nvcf.org or 1-530-891-1150.
The rest of the JCGridiron.com Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, JCGridiron.com does not include games against prep schools, club teams or non-affiliated programs in the records.
