FCS Roundup Week 12

How did we get here already? There’s only one more week of the regular season left and 6 days from now we will have a bracket for the playoffs. This weekend brought on tons of chaos in advance of the playoffs.

Upsets galore ruled the landscape, especially in the CAA. It was already a challenge to decipher this conference because so few contenders played each other (it’s almost as if having too many teams in a conference is a bad idea.) Now, it may end up costing some teams. First on the list of upsets was New Hampshire taking down Stony Brook in a wild comeback. The SeaWolves had a 30-10 lead in the 4th quarter before New Hampshire closed the game out scoring 21 unanswered. Stony Brook’s biggest win is over William & Mary. New Hampshire may have gotten themselves in the picture with this win, they’re now 7-4 with this game being their biggest win.

Villanova meanwhile suffered a 40-33 upset loss at the hands of Monmouth. New Hampshire and Stony Brook are some nice wins for the Wildcats so they should remain safely in the field but what might be concerning are their two FCS losses. Their offense suffered a meltdown against Maine and their defense collapsed in this loss. Entering the season Villanova was considered possibly the best championship contender on the East Coast entering the season but it feels like they are falling well short of that.

Rhode Island meanwhile avoided catastrophe against Albany. The Rams had a rough first half and trailed the Great Danes 17-0 at halftime. They rallied to take the lead before holding on thanks to a RedZone interception and blocked field goal at the end. The Rams remain on track for their first playoff appearance since 1985.

Does opportunity loom for William & Mary to get into the playoff picture as well? The Tribe may have an opportunity against their rival Richmond. The Spiders have skated by in recent weeks this time they grabbed a 3 point win over Hampton.

Upsets also rocked the SOCON. It’s a very fun league with teams that can play with anybody but at this point they’re left sweating whether the committee will give someone outside of Mercer the benefit of the doubt or not. ETSU seemed to be gaining momentum to reach the playoffs but the Bucs took a cataclysmic loss to Furman at home. The Bucs have been living dangerously in recent weeks with turnovers and it came back to bite them in this one.

Chattanooga was projected by many to win the SOCON this year and maybe go on a run in the playoffs, perhaps even similar to last year’s Furman team but it’s just not in the cards for the Mocs. They found themselves in a tight battle with Samford early on, managing to get a field goal to close the gap and seemingly bring some momentum into halftime. Instead Samford returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD and it all unraveled from there in a 36-13 loss. This Samford team absolutely confounds me. They walloped both Mercer and Chattanooga, but lost to West Georgia, and Wofford.

UT Martin felt like they were getting themselves pretty solidly in the field but the Skyhawks put themselves in a troubling position after a 10-9 upset loss to Tennessee Tech. We won’t know until the selection day how much the committee values their win over Kennesaw State and the Skyhawks have the win over Tennessee State as well. Tennessee Tech is an improved team as well, they aren’t in the race for the playoffs despite now being in a 4 way tie for second in the Big South/OVC. They really cost themselves with the stunning loss to Western Illinois.

SE Missouri State followed up last week’s stinker in the rainstorm with a 54-45 shootout win over Western Illinois. The Redhawks had one of their better days on the ground but it was still jarring that they gave up 45 points to the Leathernecks despite 3 Western Illinois turnovers. They have a challenging game with Tennessee State next which could set up the nuclear scenario, a FIVE WAY TIE for the conference championship! This scenario isn’t being talked about enough. That one Tennessee State over SEMO result is the only upset needed, outside of that it just requires the favorites winning.

One of the more surprising results of the weekend was Drake’s home upset loss to Morehead State. The Bulldogs had been a wagon, undefeated in Pioneer league play but Morehead State took them down thanks to a last moment FG (they also scored a TD on Drake’s last moment desperation play for good measure.) Fortunately for Drake they will wrap up the season at Stetson who isn’t a threatening team.

Missouri State has been having a strong last FBS season and the Bears seemed like they could at least challenge the Bison, but North Dakota State had none of it. They jumped all over the Bears 28-0 very quickly and never looked back in a 59-21 destruction. Yet another reminder that North Dakota State is very much still that team.

North Dakota hosted South Dakota and jumped off to a fast start leading 14-0 and even 21-10. Maybe the Fighting Hawks could save their at large hopes after all, but it still wasn’t to be. South Dakota reeled off 32 unanswered points to take over the game. This is a very impressive Coyotes squad.

Abilene Christian and Tarleton State met with the UAC title, along with their first ever bid to the playoffs on the line. It was one of the best games of the day, both teams battled back and forth all game. Late in the game Tarleton State went on a nice drive but Abilene Christian held them to a FG. That set them up with an opportunity to tie or go for the win. Maverick McIvor pulled it off for them, he made so many excellent throws on their last drive. Abilene Christian scored with 19 seconds left to win it. Tarleton State didn’t win the conference but it feels like they have pretty good odds of making the playoffs thanks to losses elsewhere.

Eastern Kentucky has done a lot of work in recent weeks to get themselves in the picture but they almost saw all of that come undone. They fell behind 24-7 at halftime to Austin Peay and it looked like they were done. The Colonels charged back and scored a TD with 13 seconds left to force OT, held Austin Peay to a FG on their possession and scored a walk off TD to survive.

Southern Utah did a great job to pull off a big win at Central Arkansas. The Thunderbirds ran the ball well and forced 3 turnovers to win the game. Central Arkansas has now lost 3 games in a row, it’s been a stunning collapse for the Bears.

The Big Sky produced a ton of entertainment. The Big game of the weekend was of course Montana State at UC Davis in a battle for the Big Sky conference title. UC Davis and Montana State exchanged TDs on their 2nd drives and it felt like it would be a back and forth battle but it wasn’t, from that point Montana State completely dominated the game. The Bobcats looked like the wagon they’ve been all season. They led 30-8 in the 4th quarter, even halfway through it. UC Davis got what felt like a garbage time TD, but then they got another on the next drive, suddenly the Aggies recovered an onside kick and they were in business. They marched down the field again and scored with an opportunity to tie the game, but the 2pt conversion was no good so Montana State held on. It was a resilient comeback for UC Davis that shows this experienced team will be a tough one to face in the playoffs. Montana State can feel good they dominated the way they did but UC Davis certainly found some flaws at the end.

Meanwhile, the craziest score of the day was Eastern Washington 77, Idaho State 42. This game delivered on the Big plays but most notably, Eastern Washington scored on every drive!! That is so difficult to do. Their offensive production was incredible, they totaled 704 yards of offense. 478 yards on the ground and their QBs combined to go 15 for 15 passing. This was the cleanest, most perfect, offensive performance I’ve ever seen. I challenge you to tell me one better. This was a tough loss for Idaho State, going to the red turf has been a challenge for everyone this year. The Bengals had a lot of momentum come down after this game. Eastern Washington wasn’t inclined to slow down either, one of the wildest games last year featured Idaho State coming back from down 41-14 to win, so this time Eastern Washington was wise to keep their foot on the gas.

Portland State is a team that’s a lot better than their record and the Viks were hoping to land a big upset on Montana before the season ended. This was a strange game, for some reason no one could get much of anything going in the first half with the score being 3-0 Portland State leading at halftime. Suddenly the 2nd half opened with both teams scoring TDs on their first 2 drives. Montana began to stop Portland State again while the Griz kept scoring, eventually taking a 28-17 lead. Then came the weirdest ending of any game this season, the power went out at the stadium. The game briefly halted then continued and eventually the broadcast picked back up in the studio. The studio called the announcers broadcasting station the game and they gave play by play over the phone the rest of the game. It was something else to see.

Bucknell faced Holy Cross in what was a key game in the Patriot League race, win this one and Bucknell would be very close to their first birth to the playoffs. It wasn’t meant to be, they had a 31-17 lead in the second half at one point but Holy Cross came charging back to take the lead, Bucknell answered but Holy Cross hit a FG late to win it. Lehigh now stands to be the biggest beneficiary of this result, the Mountain Hawks now must beat Lafayette to win the Patriot League and earn the automatic bid to the playoffs.

It was a wild weekend in the Ivy League as well. Harvard had to hold off an upset bid from a pesky Penn team with a late FG. Harvard’s only loss remains the random Hail Mary loss to Brown early in the season. Dartmouth meanwhile was beaten 39-22 by Cornell. Them and Columbia are going to be rooting for Yale in The Game next week.

The MEAC featured a lot of blowouts this weekend. NC Central and Howard got a nice linear spot in primetime. Howard hung in for a half despite very little from their offense but NC Central eventually took off. Norfolk State beat Delaware State handily and South Carolina State blew out Morgan State 54-7. South Carolina State officially clinched the MEAC and a celebration bowl birth with the win.

The SWAC had a fun game on linear TV on Thursday. Alabama A&M hosted Grambling in a battle of two teams that were both very inconsistent. Grambling dominated the first half rolling to a 17-6 halftime lead and it felt like the Tigers could run away with it. That didn’t happen, Alabama A&M dominated the 2nd half to come back and beat Grambling 22-17. This game was the perfect summary for both teams seasons.

Jackson State received a challenge from Alabama State but the Tigers held on for a 16-10 win. Southern meanwhile crushed UAPB. Jackson State will face Southern for the SWAC title.

Meanwhile the SWAC game that had my eye was Mississippi Valley State at Florida A&M. The reason it caught my attention was Mississippi Valley State got a 24-10 halftime lead and from that point I was rooting on the Delta Devils to get their first win of the year and break their long losing streak. It got tense because Florida A&M scored to bring it to a one score game but Mississippi Valley State held on to win! This might be the upset of the year. Not only did Mississippi Valley State end their 15 game losing streak, they did it on the road against a Florida A&M program that had been riding a 23 game home win streak! Incredible stuff by the Delta Devils.