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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- BlizzCon took place at the Anaheim Convention Center in sunny Southern California this past weekend, but inside the venue, you might have mistaken it for Seoul, South Korea. Out of the five esports tournaments at the annual Blizzard Entertainment conference (four of which were world championships), three were won by South Korean players or teams. It could have been four out of five tournaments, but Kim Che0nsu Cheon-su, the countrys top-ranking Hearthstone player, was eliminated in the semifinals of his respective world championship by Virtus.Pros Ukrainian Artem DrHippi Kravets.Still, from a country not even close to a quarter of the United States population, South Korea thrived, while the host country and the North American region as a whole wilted in comparison. While South Korea racked up gold and silver medals on the weekend, the only game in which NA found success was World of Warcraft Arena, the title with the least amount of attention and lowest prize pool of all the world championships taking place at BlizzCon.Other than the early morning glory on the WoW stage, there were little to no high points for the home region throughout the two-day event, with the United States getting crushed by South Korea in the quarterfinals of the Overwatch World Cup and the countrys top StarCraft II player, Alex Neeb Sunderhaft, getting tossed aside by another South Korean talent in Park Dark Ryung-woo.From SK Telecom T1s unrelenting dynasty in League of Legends to Lee Infiltration Seon-woos Download complete of the Street Fighter player base, the revered Mecca of esports known as South Korea has a contentious hand in almost every leading esport of today. Even in Dota 2, a title in which the South Korean server was closed due to lack of interest and player base, there is MVP Phoenix, a ragtag group of Korean players from all walks of life that has continually placed in the top eight of major tournaments and the games world championship.The infrastructure, tireless work ethic and culture of putting the team before self are characteristics of South Korean esports. Weve seen other regions attempt to copy and replicate the South Korean competitive gaming lifestyle that has bred countless golds in a plethora of titles, and yet, here we are.Overwatch, for example, anointed as the next big thing in esports, had its largest audience since the games launch, with a World Cup event pitting the top countries on the globe against each other in an exciting exhibition.South Korea won -- without dropping a map.Overwatch World CupSouth Korean dominance warning: Red/extreme dangerThere are two sides to South Koreas romp of the Overwatch World Cup. First, before we talk about how well the South Koreans played, it has be to be stated that this was an exhibition tournament. Many of the countries decided to send popular streamers or personalities over professional players. With the game still in its fledgling form as a competitive title, a YouTuber from a South American country got voted in over a budding pro gamer with a higher skill ceiling simply because of popularity. Overwatch isnt at the pro recognition stage yet, except in countries such as South Korea and China, where winning leads to popularity.Even so, countries such as Sweden, Finland and the United States brought competent teams with a good core of professional players to combat the likes of South Korea and China. For South Korea, this tournament was a dissection of the field, with their starting six working in perfect harmony to blow past the rest of the competition. The heart of the team was built around South Koreas current top club Lunatic-Hai, with impact players from other formidable teams such as Afreeca Blues offensive star Jeong ArHaN Weon-hyeop and his stellar Genji. To round out the team, team captain and eventual tournament MVP Gong Miro Jin-hyuk brought in AFBs head coach, Kim TaiRong Tae-yeong, a good player in his own right, to play as shot-caller and lead the team.Other teams had the talent of South Korea but nowhere near the chemistry and depth of tactics. Russia and a few other countries rallied behind a single player or brute force strategy with a superstar offensive player, and that was the complete opposite for South Korea. Almost every player had a chance to shine throughout the two-week competition, and the team was never afraid to pull off something eccentric to try out early in rounds. When offense was the name of the game for a majority of the teams, South Koreas sturdy defense of objective points and showcase of fluid coordination in holding other teams back was what helped them not drop a single map.Once club play resumes, dont expect South Korea to wipe out everyone like at BlizzCon. The South Korean World Cup team was special, and the consolidated European clubs, such as Team Envy, Rogue and Misfits, will be a match or more for the best South Korean teams. A year from now, however, with the announcement of the Overwatch League and the continued growth of the game in South Korea, there is a chance that the competitive scene could look a lot like League of Legends, if not for positive developments in other regions.I wonder when SK Telecom T1 will throw its hat in the Overwatch ring.StarCraft II World ChampionshipSouth Korean dominance warning: Red/extreme dangerNot too much to talk about here. StarCraft II, whether or not its popular in the country, will always be South Koreas game. There was talk about Americas Neeb possibly challenging for the world title following his historic win at the KeSPA Cup, but that narrative was dismissed in the quarterfinals, when Dark sent him flying out of the tournament with little fanfare. After that, it became the South Korean show for the umpteeth year in a row, and the best Korean Terran, Protoss and Zerg in the world made up the final three of the tournament.In the final, Byun Byun Hyun-woo bested Dark in a thrilling, best-of-seven final to become the world champion of SCII. It was a fitting end to the competitive year, with the reigning GSL champion taking home his first world title after being one of the few pros from the beginning of the games history back in 2010 still playing professionally. He leapt out of his booth and onto the stage in celebration following his win, raised the trophy in delight and gave a V signal with his hands to the onlooking, packed crowd that came to watch the finale.Heroes of the Storm World ChampionshipSouth Korean dominance warning: Orange/high dangerYes, a South Korean team, Ballistix, won the Heroes of the Storm World Championship. However, it was expected to be far, far worse for the rest of the world. Coming into the tournament, Heroes of the Storm might have been considered the tournament with the highest chance of an all-South Korean final, and that included SCII. Heroes of the Storm has been controlled by the South Korean region for a while, and the two clubs they sent to BlizzCon, MVP Black and Ballistix, charged through the group stage with little trouble.Europes Fnatic came up as the heroes for the rest of the world in their fight against South Korea, with a massive upset of MVP Black in the semifinals, sending the former best team in the world out before another major final. The crowds excitement picked up to peak levels to cheer for the non-South Korean club in the final against Ballistix, and it turned out to be closer than expected, going four games of the best-of-five. Yet Fnatic wasnt able to take out both South Korean teams, and Ballistix took home the world championship in exciting fashion.Hearthstone World ChampionshipSouth Korean dominance warning: Blue/mild dangerIn a game South Korea wasnt expected to run roughshod over, they almost produced another finalist with Che0nsu. The Hearthstone world can breathe easy, though, as Europe continued their run as the top region in the game. Two Europeans made the final, and the Americans, who were expected to do some damage in the bracket, failed to break into the top four. South Korea has a glowing Hearthstone and tournament scene, so it shouldnt be completely overlooked when it comes to the card game. Comparing it to the other titles South Korea has challengers in, though, Hearthstone is a safe haven.World of WarCraft Arena World ChampionshipSouth Korean dominance warning: Green/sanctuarySouth Korea did have a team go to BlizzCon, with Longzhu Gaming, but the team bombed in the group stage, with six straight losses. The finals were an all-North American affair, and the Chinese and Europeans did better than the South Koreans.Maybe next year BlizzCon should make WoW Arena the headliner with a bigger prize pool. Fake NMD Human Race For Sale . 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(STATS) -- Eastern Washington knocked off an FBS opponent and all-world wide receiver Cooper Kupp set the FCS career record for touchdown receptions Saturday night.Oh, by the way, Gage Gubrud established an EWU single-game record for total offense in his first career start as the No. 14 Eagles stunned Washington State 45-42 as a 27-point underdog.The upset was one of four wins by FCS teams over FBS opponents on opening weekend, with No. 4 Richmond, No. 5 Northern Iowa and unranked Albany all grabbing the spotlight as well.Its been a meteoric rise for Gubrud considering the redshirt sophomore had to win the starting job away from last years top two QBs -- Jordan West, a 3,000-yard passer a season ago, and Reilly Hennessey. Gubrud held for kicks and was the teams rugby-style punter and saw limited action behind center, but he grabbed the No. 1 position in spring camp and solidified it in the preseason with -- dare we say -- Vernon Adams-esque production.Against Washington State, the 2015 Sun Bowl champ, Gubrud had 551 total yards. He completed 34 of 40 passes for 474 yards and five touchdowns with one interception and rushed for 77 yards and a TD on 14 carries.It helps to have an incredible receiving corps led by Kupp, last years STATS FCS Offensive Player of the Year, but Gubrud also has stepped into a situation in which Eastern Washington has replaced all five starters plus two senior backups on the offensive line.He didnt go out there wide-eyed or nervous, coach Beau Baldwin said. He didnt play perfect -- nobody played perfect and I didnt coach perfect. Youre always searching for that, but he went out there with confidence and attacked it. I think that helps you a lot when you settle down and dont pay attention to everything else thats going on.With a win over Washington State on his resume, Gubruds second career start will come next Saturday at top-ranked North Dakota State, the five-time reigning FCS champion.---=SECOND AND 10=Ten more observations from the FCS weekend:- While Eastern Washington simply outgunned its opponent, winning the turnover battle was the difference for Richmond, UNI and Albany. Richmond was a plus-4 its 37-20 win over Virginia, Albany had the same margin in beating Buffalo 22-16, and UNI came out on top of Iowa State 25-20 with a 4-1 margin.- While CAA Football nabbed two of the FBS wins, Maine almost had a third one in 30-year-old coach Joe Harasymiaks debut as Division Is youngest head coach -- a 24-21 loss to Connecticut. Plus, the conference picked up a terrific intersectional win with Stony Brook beating No. 19 North Dakota 13-9, No. 12 James Madison set a program record with 80 points against Morehead State in coach Mike Houstons debut and Delaware looked strong in a 56-14 rout of Delaware State.- Go outside the FBS upsets and our FCS Team of the Week is East Tennessee State. Yeah, go figure after the Buccaneers didnt beat a Division I team last year when they returned to football after a 12-year break. Talk about a reversal. Kennesaw State opened its 6-5 startup season a year ago with a rout at East Tennessee State, but a year later, the Bucs went down to Georgia and posted a 20-17 double-overtime victory. J.J. Jermans 24-yard field goal was the difference for coach Carl Torbushs squad, whose next game will be a return to the Southern Conference schedule Sept. 17 against Western Carolina at Bristol Motor Speedway.- FCS power Montana would have had an easier time dispatching Saint Francis than 41-31 if it didnt have to face Red Flash senior Lorenzo Jerome (you pick: an All-American at safety or kick returner? Or both?). But turnovers plagued quarterback Brady Gustafson last season and he needs to leave that behind after committing four in the Grizs season-opening win. He can be spectacular, of course, as his five total touchdowns in the second half indicated.- Youngstown State enjoyed a much-needed ffast start to its season, something that happens regularly considering its won 22 straight home openers.dddddddddddd But quarterback Ricky Davis was impressive in his first career start, the run game spread the wealth and the defense was smothering in the much-too-easy 45-10 win over defending Northeast Conference champ Duquesne. Its been 10 years since the Penguins last made the FCS playoffs and second-year coach Bo Pelini has too much talent not to get it done this season.- On a busy day of action Saturday, it shouldnt be overlooked that Wofford linebacker Michael Roach returned to campus two days after going into cardiac arrest during the Southern Conference teams season-opening win at Tennessee Tech. The junior from Kenosha, Wisconsin, collapsed on his teams sideline during the third quarter. He was later diagnosed at a medical center in Cookeville, Tennessee, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes in the United States, and had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator inserted on Friday. Typically only 5 percent of people survive after going into cardiac arrest.- Uncertainty at quarterback -- even when good players are involved -- isnt necessarily beneficial for a team, and Eastern Kentucky has it under first-year coach Mark Elder. Bennie Coney, who had a strong junior season, came off the bench in a loss to Purdue and played better than Maty Mauk, the much-accomplished graduate transfer from Missouri who got the start. And then theres the future of the program, sophomore Tyler Swafford, who was impressive in leading a touchdown on his drive. The Colonels come right back for a Thursday night game against Pikeville. Which QB is the answer?- No team has had as eventful a start to the season as Charleston Southern. Ironically, the highlight has been a loss -- a superb effort against North Dakota State before losing in overtime. Coach Jamey Chadwell and an unnamed assistant were each suspended one game for a violation of NCAA recruiting rules on social media, then starting quarterback Kyle Copeland suffered a season-ending knee tear against Kentucky State. Next weekends visit to Florida State doesnt offer much relief.- The team nobody is paying attention to, FBS transitioning Coastal Carolina, got off to a fine start in what should be an excellent season. The No. 16 Chanticleers scored 35 unanswered points in the second half of a 38-14 win at Lamar. One matchup was worth keeping an eye on -- Coastals DeAngelo Henderson rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns, tying former Virginia Tech standout Lee Suggs for the NCAA Division I record 27th straight game, while Lamars 2,000-yard rusher Kade Harrington broke off two long scoring runs in a 207-yard night.- Heading into Sundays action, the only new coaches to win their opening games came from ranked teams -- No. 11 McNeese (Lance Guidry), No. 12 James Madison (Mike Houston), No. 15 The Citadel (Brent Thompson) and No. 20 Western Illinois (Charlie Fisher). Twelve coaches from unranked teams lost on opening weekend, with SWAC coaches Fred McNair of Alcorn State and Michael Haywood of Texas Southern set for debuts on Sunday.---=A LOOK AHEAD=The highlight of next weekends action is one of the most anticipated games of the season as Eastern Washington visits North Dakota State -- a matchup of the two most recent FCS champions. The Eagles quarterfinal-round win over NDSU in 2010 predated the Bisons 20 straight playoff wins and five consecutive national titles.Other big FCS matchups include Montana at Northern Iowa, Northern Arizona at Western Illinois and Samford at Central Arkansas. The FBS matchups include Charleston Southern at Florida State, Jacksonville State at LSU and Youngstown State at West Virginia. ' ' '