Covering All College Sports Since 2012
The Patriot League’s dilemmas, whether the rest of FCS admits it or not, is the FCS’ dilemmas. And as we inch closer to an alleged 2020 college football season, the NCAA needs to make some things very clear before a huge mess happens.
The writing has been on the wall for months, but many seem unable or unwilling to accept what is now reality. The college football season will not be starting on time, if it happens at all.
If these are the only two plans that are actively being considered by the Ivy League, it means that, effectively, all out-of-conference games involving Ivy League opponents are cancelled for the fall.
The challenges of reopening fall sports is still very considerable, to put it mildly, but the Patriot League president’s statement seemed to move the conversation forward as to what fall sports might realistically look like.
The Patriot League Office announced on Monday guidance regarding the 2020 fall competition, a list of principles to “guide the development of a Patriot League 2020 Athletics Plan.”
The only possible explanation as to why college football has undertaken such a fairy-tale response to this pandemic is that Willy Wonka is running this show for the NCAA and the schools of the Power Five.
Sixty student-athletes in the NCAA Division I Football’s Championship Subdivision have been named to the 2020 College Sports Journal Preseason FCS All-America Team.
In my opinion, there is a lot of recklessness out there, with plenty of blame to go around.
Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore will be the first person to tell you that he’d prefer to have a regular spring assessment season for his football team.
Though it might not be the time to make definitive plans to tailgate at Michigan/Ohio State this November, the latest news on mitigation strategies for COVID-19 inform potential strategies on trying to form answers some of the big questions still out there.
In the past, college football has survived through outbreaks of disease and mass disruptions, and how the sport handled those circumstances provide a possible roadmap to a late post-COVID-19 football season. Looking to the past, how could we adapt that to today?
It was the weekend of March 8th where a slew of institutional decisions were made that really put Ms. Heppel on high alert.
It was an historic week that nobody could have foreseen.
Entering the Big South conference as the 2 seed behind Radford, the Highlanders’ stunning loss to Hampton in the semis meant the Eagles hosted the Pirates in the Big South Championship game, handling Hampton 76-68 to capture its 12th Men’s Basketball title.
If the Big 10 and the Power 5 have their way, however, the Trey Lance’s of the world won’t be sticking around at FCS schools like North Dakota State for very long.
I’m proud to unveil this year’s edition of the Patsy Ratings.
The Tigers were dominant all season and got here by winning the SEC Crown by defeating Georgia and by boat racing Oklahoma in the CFP Semifinal. Coach Ed Orgeron has put together a team that has been very good on both sides of the ball.
Patriot League Women’s Basketball conference play continues this week with five games on Wednesday, January 8, four on Saturday, Jan. 11 and one on Sunday, January 12. This week features 10 women’s basketball games around the Patriot League with all 10 on the Patriot League Network (PLN).
Tennessee will look to cap the 2019 season with its sixth straight win as the Volunteers take on Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. The Big Orange are playing in their first bowl game since the 2016 Music City Bowl.
The game will mark Virginia’s first appearance in the Orange Bowl. The Cavaliers are 9-4 overall and the ACC Coastal Division champion. The Orange Bowl will mark UVA’s 21st bowl appearance and third consecutive under fourth-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Mississippi State goes for its third straight victory when it meets Louisville of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Monday from Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
A berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game is on the line as Ohio State and Clemson do battle in this year’s PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.
In a way it’s very fitting that Michigan State returns to the Bronx to play a football game, as there is an amazing Michigan State and Fordham connection.
Mack Brown took on the challenge of getting North Carolina back into postseason play in November of 2018, and a year later, after some dancing, some oh-so-close monumental upsets and some agonizing losses, Mack has brought North Carolina back. All that’s left for him to so is get a win and head into the offseason with a winning record.
BYU vs. Hawai’i (New Orleans Bowl) When: Tuesday, December 24th, 8:00 PM EST/3:00 PM HST Where: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawai’i TV/Streaming: ESPN, WatchESPN (subscription req’d) Hawai’i Bowl History (Last 6) Dec. 22nd, 2018: Louisiana Tech 31, Hawai’i 14 Dec. 24th, 2017: Fresno State 33, Houston 27 Dec. 24th, 2016: Hawai’i 52, Middle Tennessee State 35 Dec. 24th,.
Appalachian State vs. UAB (New Orleans Bowl) When: Saturday, December 21st, 9:00 PM EST Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana TV/Streaming: ESPN, WatchESPN (subscription req’d) New Orleans Bowl History (Last 6) Dec. 15th, 2018: Appalachian State 45, Middle Tennessee State 13 Dec. 16th, 2017: Troy 50, North Texas 30 Dec. 17th, 2016: Southern Miss 28, Louisiana-Lafayette.
Happily for Bulls fans, Buffalo was able to reload, not rebuild, as they competed for the MAC East title all season and easily qualified for bowl eligibility with a 49-30 win over Toledo and, for good measure, pounded Bowling Green 49-7 the following week, leaving zero doubt.
On a wet, snowy evening at Stewart Stadium, Weber State’s defense and special teams were the main reason the Wildcats defeated their bitter rivals Montana 17-10 and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history.
“The only thing that is fun about this game is winning it,” Army head coach Jeff Monken said this week.
OGDEN, UT – Kennesaw State jumped to a 17-12 halftime lead over Weber State in their FCS Playoff matchup, but the host Wildcats used a big defensive play to take the lead and rode its momentum to a 26-20 second-round win.
Hosting their first FCS Playoff games since 2015, the Grizzlies put on a show for their home fans, setting program and national records as they defeated Southeastern Louisiana 73-28 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
Illinois State RB James Robinson followed up his 297 yard effort last week against Southeast Missouri State with a 210 yard rushing game against Central Arkansas, including two touchdowns as the Redbirds defeated Central Arkansas 24-14 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
FCS Second Round Playoff Matchup: Illinois State at Central Arkansas Where: Estes Stadium, Conway, Arkansas When: Saturday, December 7th, 3:00 PM TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) Illinois State Redbirds (9-4), Head Coach: Brock Spack Missouri Valley Normal, Illinois In order for Illinois State to come away with a victory in its first-round playoff game.
The oddsmakers don’t give them much of a chance – on a popular gambling site, Nicholls was a 28 point underdog.
It’s the nightmare scenario for any playoff team – seeing your starting quarterback go down midway through the second quarter with an injury. That’s exactly the scenario Kennesaw State found themselves in against Wofford, a battle between triple-option teams with hard-running quarterbacks.
To the delight of Owl fans, QB Jonathan Murphy was able to carve his name on the plank of champions as he rallied his team to a thrilling 28-21 win.
Monmouth piled up 502 yards of total offense as the Hawks beat Holy Cross 44-27 in the first-ever FCS Playoff appearance for the program and the only head coach they have ever had, Kevin Callahan.
Though they tripped up against 4-8 Lafayette, behind a strong, young defense the Crusaders pulled off an early upset of New Hampshire early and used their defense to outlast their opponents. If this game is to remain close, Holy Cross will need to make this game a slow-down, field-position battle.
Two-time defending national champion North Dakota State (12-0) tops the bracket as the number one seed after winning the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Bison are making their 10th consecutive and 15th overall appearance in the championship.
The FCS Playoff Committee has a pretty unenviable job this time around in trying to determine the playoff seeds. With a crazy day of upsets of Montana, South Dakota State, Illinois State and others, teams who looked like certain seeds suddenly look like they are going to be practicing on Thanksgiving Day instead.
It is rare that the MVP of the Lehigh/Lafayette game is a kicker, but that’s exactly what happened this afternoon at Murray Goodman Stadium as the Leopards beat their bitter Mountain Hawk rivals for the first time in five years in a 17-16 win.
This season, though, there isn’t the same feeling of continuity that permeated many of these other games. Part of that comes from the fact that, unusually for The Rivalry, both teams are packed with young underclassmen, many of them playing in their first Rivalry ever. Normally, The Rivalry is filled with narratives. This season, it feels like the master narrative is waiting to be written with two teams that, even at this late date, have unknowns.
Going into this game, Lehigh’s defense had a serious challenge on their hands – to stop, or a least slow down, the leading rusher in FCS, Sacred Heart RB Julius Chestnut. For three quarters, they did just that, but in the fourth quarter Chestnut would score a pair of rushing touchdowns to lifted Sacred Heart to a 13-6 victory.
I’ve been doing this FCS Playoff field predictions a very long time now, and it’s been a very strange year. It’s not customary for so many autobids to be in doubt this late in the season. But this week, a lot of results came in that clarified five of the autobids.
It’s highly unusual for Lehigh (4-5, 3-2) and Sacred Heart (6-4, 4-2)to be playing a non-conference game this late in the season, but for both teams, important milestones remain.
Two weeks to go, and how many autobids have been clinched? How about… none?
We are two weeks away from the end of the Patriot League regular season, and there is a very distinct possibility that the winner of the League is going to have a losing record.
It was, depending on your perspective, either the roughest Lehigh offensive performance of the season, or the greatest Bucknell defensive performance of the year.
It’s somewhat serendipitous, according to John Feinstein of The Washington Post, that this week’s battle of undefeated teams between Dartmouth and Princeton came to be.
Holy Cross will be trying to cement their hold on the top of the Patriot League standings when they host Lafayette this weekend. They could clinch at least a share of the title and FCS Playoff autobid if they win and Lehigh loses at Bucknell.
Most games between head coaches in their first years at a school are ones where the opponents need to feel themselves out, thanks to unfamiliarity. That will not be the case this weekend, as Cecchini and Gilmore have more than two decades of awareness of one another and their tendencies. It should have the feel of a brotherly fight.
