EDINBORO — The good news is that the Slippery Rock University football team ended its season with a win.

The bad news is that it ended its season, period.

SRU and Edinboro combined for 49 first downs, 957 yards, 192 yards in penalties and 13 touchdowns Saturday, The Rock coming away with a 59-34 triumph at Sox Harrison Stadium.

But SRU(9-2) learned Sunday it was denied an NCAADivision IIplayoff berth.

"Our seniors walked off that field not realizing it was their last football game,"SRUcoach George Mihalik said.

With his team leading 45-26 after three quarters, Mihalik gathered his team together on the sidelines before the start of the final period.

"The associate athletic director at Edinboro is on the (playoff pairings)committee and he told me earlier that if IUPlost Saturday and we won, then we were in,"Mihalik said. "I had just heard that IUPlost, so I told the players to go take care of business.

"They did everything we asked them to do. We won convincingly and proved we belong in the playoffs."

Edinboro (7-4) passed for 375 yards, rolled up 28 first downs and had two receivers — Ryan Rybicki and Rich Cerro — with over 100 yards each in receptions.

Still, the Fighting Scots lost by 25 points.

"It's not hard to see where our problems lie,"Edinboro coach Scott Browning said. "But all the credit in the world should go to Slippery Rock.

"They ran at will. They threw at will. We couldn't stop them."

The Rock overcame immediate adversity when Paul Favers fumbled away the opening kickoff at SRU's 26-yard line. But on fourth-and-1 from the 17, Edinboro running back David Bostic was stopped short of the first down by The Rock defensive front.

Shortly thereafter, The Rock had a 10-0 lead. C.J. Bahr booted a 32-yard field goal and Favers redeemed himself by snaring a 17-yard touchdown pass with 1:19 left in the first quarter.

SRUnever trailed all day.

"That defensive stand at the start was probably the turning point of the game,"Mihalik said.

Browning agreed.

"When somebody hands you a turnover like that right off the bat, you have to take advantage,"Edinboro's coach said.

Edinboro quarterback Trevor Harris entered the game with six interceptions, but threw four on Saturday. Sam Morant picked off two passes while linemen Cory Lacek and Tyler Boudreau intercepted deflected passes at the line of scrimmage.

Dom Razzano intercepted backup quarterback Joe Wanson as well, and the Scots lost a fumble.

"Turnovers killed us,"Browning said. "You can't win a shootout like this if you're giving up possessions."

Nate Crookshank threw for 212 yards and four touchdowns, ending his collegiate career with his name atop the SRUrecord book in single-season (23) and career (60) touchdown passes, career completions (554) and single-season passing yardage (2,196).

"We knew coming up here that they had an explosive offense and that we needed to have a big day," Crookshank said. "Our receivers were making incredible catches, ESPNhighlight reel-type catches."

Favers made a leaping catch over two defenders to extend one touchdown drive for The Rock while Terry Grossetti made a sprawling grab in the corner of the end zone while keeping one foot inbounds for a 36-yard touchdown play at the end of the first half.

Corey Manfull rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for 1,258 yards this year — eighth highest single-season total in school history — despite playing in only nine games.

"That's all our offensive line,"Manfull said. "No matter who we played all year, big holes were there. We had to win today and those guys didn't play around."

The 59 points scored by The Rock marked the most it has scored in a game since a 61-21 win at West Virginia Wesleyan in 2000. Edinboro had not allowed that many points since Bloomsburg scored 65 on the Scots in 1999.

SRU59, Edinboro 34

Slippery Rock 10 21 14 14—59Edinboro 0 14 12 8—34SRU E21 First Downs 2845-287 Rushes-Yards 30-83212 Passing Yards 37515-23-0 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 39-60-5499 Total Yards 4582-2 Fumbles/Lost 3-111-103 Penalties-Yards 9-89

First QuarterSRU— C.J. Bahr 32 field goal, 4:30SRU— Paul Favers 15 pass from Nate Crookshank (Bahr kick), 1:19

Second QuarterE — Trevor Harris 1 run (Justin Gomes kick), 9:15SRU— Ryan Lehmeier 26 run (Bahr kick), 5:34SRU — Frank Cremonese 6 pass from Crookshank (Bahr kick), 3:14E — Ryan Rybicki 9 pass from Harris (Gomes kick), 1:00SRU — Terry Grossetti 36 pass from Crookshank (Bahr kick), :22

Third QuarterE — Harris 1 run (run failed), 10:09SRU — Corey Manfull 1 run (Bahr kick), 4:38SRU— Manfull 17 run (Bahr kick), 1:17E — Rybicki 24 pass from Harris (kick failed), :00

Fourth QuarterSRU— Favers 57 pass from Crookshank (Bahr kick), 14:06E — Taureen Valentine 11 fumble return (Gary Nolen pass from Harris), 12:18SRU — Damarcus Cleckley 28 run (Bahr kick), 5:29

Individual Statistics

Passing: SRU, Nate Crookshank 15-230-212-0. Edinboro, Trevor Harris 39-58-375-4, Joe Wanson 0-2-0-1.

Rushing: SRU, Corey Manfull 23-172, Ryan Lehmeier 7-45, Damarcus Cleckley 3-43, Travis Sarver 6-15, Nate Crookshank 5-14. Edinboro, David Bostic 18-65, Ulysee Davis 2-15, Trevor Harris 9-4.

Receiving: SRU, Terry Grossetti 4-70, Colin Golden 4-15, Paul Favers 3-94, Frank Cremonese 2-17, Jarmale Cromerdie 1-14, Josh Prigroac 1-2. Edinboro, Ryan Rybicki 11-120, Rich Cerro 10-106, David Bostic 7-47, Jeremy Burr 6-72, Gary Nolen 3-18, Kyle Witucki 2-12.