FCS Roundup Week 11

It’s hard to believe we are just 12 days away from the field being set for the playoffs, it’s that critical stretch of the season. Who’s making moves and who is sliding at the wrong time?

One huge game was an After Dark special in the Big Sky with Montana hosting UC Davis. The Griz hosted the Aggies looking for a chance to improve their seeding while UC Davis had their eyes on continuing what has been a special season. It was a tight battle early. Montana was able to score on their opening drive as a result of running the ball really well, but outside of that drive UC Davis did a great job of stopping their run game. At one point with UC Davis leading 13-7 in the 2nd half Montana got a good drive out of Ah Yat with his mobility restarting the run game, but UC Davis’ offense did a great job to answer that drive with a TD of their own and then Ah Yat made a critical mistake throwing a pick that set up UC Davis to go up 2 scores. The Aggies rolled from there to a 30-14 win, their seniors QB Miles Hastings and Football guy Lan Larison were both efficient despite a raucous atmosphere. Now the Aggies face a huge test next against Montana State. The Bobcats have been an absolute wagon all season, they’re coming off casually rolling up 500 rushing yards in a 49-7 win over Sacramento State. Truly two titans of the Big Sky facing off next week, too bad College GameDay couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the sport of College Football as a whole.

Elsewhere in the Big Sky Idaho State faced Weber State with a revitalized Train Bell Trophy on the line. The Bengals came into this game with a long losing streak in Ogden against the Wildcats. Weber State has struggled lately so the Bengals smelled blood, they jumped out early to a 23-14 halftime lead and never looked back in a 43-35 win. This Idaho State program is one that has made a lot of changes in recent years to be more competitive in the Big Sky and there’s a lot of bad history to overcome, this stat was a very satisfying one to get rid of.

Idaho went on the road to face a Portland State team that’s gotten hot and is much more dangerous than their record indicates. This was a tight game throughout with Idaho never leading by more than a score until the waning minutes of the game when the Vandals scored and went for 2 to go up 9, that was a smart move made by Jason Eck. Sure sometimes you want to put the pressure to go for 2 on the opponent but if you feel good about your offense why not have your guys just end it?

The UAC continues to bring chaos each week. This time it was Eastern Kentucky upsetting Central Arkansas, or at least we thought it was an upset. Both teams are going in opposite directions now. Eastern Kentucky has definitely played themselves at least into consideration for the playoffs but Central Arkansas is quickly falling out of contention. Disappointing season for the Bears who had high hopes entering the year and spent a lot of time in the top 10.

Abilene Christian had a rough first half against Austin Peay and found themselves down 27-14, but the Wildcats rallied behind a great performance from Maverick McIvor to pull off a 35-34 win. Austin Peay answered at one point because Abilene Christian took a 28-27 lead but Austin Peay scored early in the 4th quarter to go up 34-28, why they didn’t go for 2 is beyond me but it cost them.

The Southland had a couple blowouts with both Southeastern and Incarnate Word winning big, those are likely the only playoff contenders for the conference at this point because…

Stephen F Austin suffered a shocking loss to East Texas A&M. If you don’t recognize that name, it’s because they change their name in the middle of the week and it went into effect immediately. It’s much less confusing and identifiable than Texas A&M Commerce was, but they brought home a historic week by pulling off a huge upset win. The score was 19-14 but it was actually the Lions offense that made it happen as they put up nearly 400 yards and overcame 3 turnovers for only their 2nd win this year. On the other hand this is a disaster of a loss for Stephen F Austin who is out of the playoff hunt now.

It was a pretty quiet week in the Missouri Valley most of the favorites like Missouri State and South Dakota took care of business. The biggest game was North Dakota hosting South Dakota State. The Fighting Hawks had the opportunity to make their last stand and get themselves back into the race for the playoffs. It was a great start they controlled the early minutes and took a 7-0 lead but their last stand didn’t last much longer, the Jackrabbits rolled off 38 unanswered to close the game out.

Perhaps the most shocking result of the weekend was Lindenwood beating SE Missouri State. It was extremely out of nowhere when you look at both teams SEMO had looked great while Lindenwood hasn’t stuck out at all, so what happened? They played in a driving rainstorm that’s what happened. The biggest flaw in the makeup of the Redhawks is that they lack a run game and it’s all in the shoulders of QB Paxton DeLaurent, but the conditions were extremely unfavorable for their style and this team just can’t run the ball.

East Tennessee State and Western Carolina played a wild and thrilling game. They combined for 7 turnovers and including ETSU giving up a turnover on 3 of their last 4 possessions of the first half. Despite this the Bucs grabbed a 17-7 lead at one point, then Western Carolina rallied to get ahead 21-17 before ETSU clinched the win with a late TD. It’s hard to tell if the Bucs have done enough to be on the bubble but they’re giving themselves a shot with this win.

The CAA has a muddled mess of contenders who all don’t play each other because the conference is way too big. This has resulted in quite a few teams in playoff contention. There was no shortage of upsets this weekend though. The most intense game was William & Mary’s upset loss to Elon where the Phoenix scored the game winning TD with 5 seconds left. It was a crazy and tough way for the Tribe to lose our on their playoff hopes.

A smaller upset was Delaware taking down Rhode Island. The Blue Hens beat the Rams 24-21. This doesn’t go down as a bad loss as the Blue Hens are 8-1 but are ineligible for the playoffs with the transition to FBS. This will hopefully not hurt Rhode Island’s bid for their first appearance in the playoffs since the 1980s.

The Patriot League race took a dramatic turn as Lehigh took down Holy Cross in a 10-7 rock fight. This result set up a 3 way tie where Bucknell beat Lehigh, Holy Cross beat Bucknell and Lehigh beat Holy Cross. This would be huge if Bucknell manages to win the conference the Bison don’t have much football history, they did win the first ever Orange Bowl over the Miami Hurricanes 26-0 but they have yet to reach the FCS playoffs.

The de facto NEC championship game was Duquesne vs Robert Morris. The Dukes absolutely dominated the game from the start and won 31-6. There’s still a tricky game against Central Connecticut State but the Dukes are in a good spot to make the playoffs now.

It felt for a while that this year could bring a different than usual Ivy League champion, but that’s no longer. Just like that over the last 2 weeks Harvard has taken control of the conference. Following their win over Dartmouth they defeated Columbia 26-6 to really take control. The good news for Dartmouth is that the Ivy League does shared titles so although they would lose on the tiebreaker they currently would be credited with a co-Ivy League title. It’s crazy to think back to Harvard losing on a hail mary to Brown early in the year, what an upset that was.

Now this was the wildest FCS score of the weekend. I’m not completely sure what all went on here but Penn and Cornell popped off on Saturday.

It was a pretty quiet week in the MEAC because a couple teams had a bye so only 2 games happened. South Carolina State handled Howard with ease to strengthen their grip on the conference. Morgan State and Delaware State had a game that was absolutely wild in the 2nd quarter. The teams combined for 38 points and it could have been more because penalties took some TDs off the board. The game did settle after that and Morgan State ended up winning 36-28. That got the Bears to 5-5 and Delaware State was so close to getting a 2nd win.

The SWAC absolutely popped off on Saturday. The first instance was Alabama State and Grambling two teams that have been moving in opposite directions. Alabama State entered this game getting hot, while Grambling was skidding. They appeared to be continuing on those paths entering the 4th quarter until a late Grambling comeback allowed them to steal a 24-23 victory.

Meanwhile Florida A&M randomly got trounced by Prairie View. The Panthers never trailed in a 31-12 win that was just absolutely out of nowhere. Keep in mind the 3 games before this Prairie View lost to Arkansas Pine-Bluff, beat East Texas A&M and nearly lost to Mississippi Valley State. I can’t make sense of this team. Meanwhile Jackson State can just about start printing SWAC championship tickets at this point.

Southern found themselves in a battle with a suddenly feisty Bethune-Cookman team. They looked to be on the verge of losing down 10-7 in the 4th quarter, a loss would have been a disaster as they would have squandered their West division lead back to Alcorn State, but the Jaguars made a late FG to force OT. They exchanged TDs in the first and second OTs but both really struggled with the 2pt conversions. Neither made them after their TDs in 2nd OT, nor did they convert in 3rd or 4th OT. Finally, in 5th OT Southern converted and won. You don’t frequently see a 25-23 score after 5th OT.