FCS Roundup Week 7

The FCS slate included a lot of fantastic games and major upsets that really shook up the playoff race. The Championship Subdivision delivered once again!

The headliner game of the weekend was Montana State vs Idaho in Big Sky After Dark. It was a major televised game and in front of a big audience Montana State made a statement. The Bobcats absolutely steamrolled Idaho in a way that no one else has all season. The Vandals desperately need their upcoming bye week, but at the same time this was a result that made it very apparent that one on of the roads to the National Championship game might go through Bozeman.

This fact only adds to the importance of the Battle for the Dakota Marker next week. Neither South Dakota State or North Dakota State want to see their path have to involve traveling to Bozeman. Both teams avoided any sort of lookahead this weekend, handling their matchups well. North Dakota State was as dominant as always, but South Dakota State didn’t look quite as dominant early on, but they’ve activated their scary mode in advance of this game. Primetime ESPN2 game for these two programs, an absolute must watch for any non-casual fan.

Last week Montana saw their defense collapse, and this week it appeared their offense might end up falling apart against Northern Arizona. The Griz rallied in the 2nd half to get the win, things definitely felt problematic after the first half. The fans are going to be relieved with a win but would at some point like to see their team win in non-dramatic fashion.

While some teams are separating in the Big Sky others have dramatically fallen into the pack. Sacramento State in particular was expected to contend for the conference this year but the Hornets were stunned at home by Eastern Washington. Weber State followed up their big victory with a stunning home loss to Northern Colorado, devastating for the Wildcats playoff hopes.

Northern Colorado deserves their own praise. It’s a long road for the Bears to return to being competitive and they’ve struggled to find a win all season until finally getting one in Ogden. This was such a massive victory the program can begin to build off of.

Missouri State continues to impress in a big way, they’re saving one of their best seasons in a while for their last in FCS. The Bears faced their nemesis Illinois State and dominated from start to finish in a statement road victory. It’s hard to tell when or if they’ll ever play again but the Bears will leave with bragging rights until the next time.

Friday Night offered an awesome opportunity for FCS teams to showcase themselves on ESPN2. Harvard dominated Cornell in a game where they had no viewership competition for the entire first half. Meanwhile in SWAC After Dark Arkansas Pine-Bluff got a massive much needed victory over Prairie View, this was a wild game where both teams did basically all their scoring in the 1st half.

Dartmouth entered the weekend as the last unbeaten team in the Ivy League which was unexpected, but surely entering conference play against Yale would end that. It especially looked that way when Yale marched to an early lead, however Dartmouth wasn’t done. They rallied for a huge comeback win in one of the wildest games of the weekend.

Mercer hosted Princeton in an extremely rare SOCON home game vs an Ivy League team. The Bears defense dominated once again with TJ Moore intercepting 3 passes! The Bears actually took a 20-7 lead into the 4th quarter without an offensive TD, and eventually won 34-7.

Chattanooga is getting hot, the Mocs blew out Furman 41-10. It’s obviously a down year for the Dins but it was still a statement for the Mocs to beat them the way they did. The opportunity to keep stacking wins is there for Chattanooga the rest of the year, their toughest games are already behind them.

It was a showdown Saturday in the Pioneer league with Dayton playing Davidson and Drake hosting Butler. These have been the 4 best teams to this point so these games would go a long way toward determining who will win the conference. Dayton took down Davison in an ugly 16-14 game. Dayton struggled with turnovers but made up for it on special teams. The Flyers blocked 3 FGs and a punt to help them win it. Drake who made headlines earlier in the season for their massive win over Eastern Washington crushed Butler to establish themselves as the likely favorite to repeat as conference champs.

The Patriot League has been incredibly difficult to sort out to this point, but we may have gotten some unexpected clarity this past weekend. Georgetown went on the road to preseason favorite Lafayette and dominated in a 17-0 win. Could the Hoyas win the conference?? They’ve never won the Patriot League before and quite frankly haven’t experienced any football success since before World War II. The Hoyas are also the only non-scholarship team competing in the conference which makes it then an even better Cinderella story.

The Southland saw some wild results. Incarnate Word got revenge in a big way over Nicholls, the team that foiled the Cardinals season last year. It was an impressive showing for Incarnate Word, they won 55-10 even LSU wasn’t able to crush Nicholls like that.

Stephen F Austin was off to a 1-2 start to the season, but the Lumberjacks have steadily improved now on a 3 game win streak and picked up an impressive win over Lamar.

Houston Christian previously appeared like they were on the verge of going on a run after blowing out McNeese State but immediately followed it up with a 37-7 loss to Southeastern Louisiana. It was a great effort by the Lions but it also seems the Southland is going to beat each other up.

The most surprising upset of the weekend is North Alabama shocking Abilene Christian 47-34. The Lions weren’t expected to be able to go toe to toe with the Wildcats all game, but it was even more surprising that they closed it with authority. Abilene Christian still has their goals in front of them but this definitely calls their defense into question, meanwhile this is North Alabama’s 3rd straight win over a tough early schedule. The Lions are on a heater.

The battle for the West division in the SWAC continues to gain intrigue. When Grambling beat Jackson State in a “non-conference” game it felt like the Tigers could be a contender for the division but they’re now 0-2 in conference play after losing 17-15 at home to Alcorn State. The Braves meanwhile are still undefeated in SWAC play. Southern is also undefeated in the West division after surviving Texas Southern in OT. Southern faces Alcorn State next week in a game that will provide more clarity to the West division. Jackson State also hosts Florida A&M, so it’s a huge separation Saturday atop the SWAC. In addition to that, Bethune-Cookman faces Mississippi Valley State in a matchup that will give one of the two their first win of the season.