Big Sky Conference Football: Review April 10th, 2021
The Big Sky Conference saw another competitive week of action as each contest was decided by one possession. Idaho State took Weber State to the brink of losing the outright conference title.
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The Big Sky Conference saw another competitive week of action as each contest was decided by one possession. Idaho State took Weber State to the brink of losing the outright conference title.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week to project the 2021 Spring Division I FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring season. The actual.
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending April 3rd. These rankings are amongst the now 88 schools participating in the spring schedule. Joining Illinois State, who opted out the prior week, to opt out of the season after starting their season are Albany, Chattanooga, and Cal Poly.
OVC Title hopes and an autobid are on the line in Murray, KY this Sunday.
No matter when the game is played, when Lafayette and Lehigh get together on the gridiron, it almost always seems to be close and come down to a few plays.
This week there is only one CAA team playing. The league has four teams vying for most likely two but potentially three playoff spots depending on what happens around the country.
After a week of postponements and further schools opting out of this 2021 spring season, the Missouri Valley Football Conference is down to just two weeks left and there is a four-way tie for the top spot currently. Missouri State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State all sit atop with identical 4-1 records in conference play right now.
Before looking at the games this week, lets look at the playoff picture from a Southern Conference standpoint.
Lots of playoff implications on the line for the Southland this weekend.
This April, the same weekend as The Masters, Lehigh and Lafayette will be playing the first-ever Rivalry football game in the spring, a most atypical 156th meeting in the most-played college football game that’s simply called “The Rivalry”.
The Big Sky conference’s season is coming to a close and some serious questions have yet to be answered before the playoffs.
It was pretty calm at the top of the Top 25 last week. Most teams didn’t play. But the middle, throw it in a blender. We have two weeks left before selection Sunday.
When you look at it in terms of the development of this team – and how this leads into next fall – there’s a lot more positives to draw than a normal fall season when the team is 0-2.
Another close week made waves across the Big Sky as Weber State holds on late in the fourth quarter, Eastern Washington improves their resume for an at-large playoff spot, and Idaho crumbles in the Battle of the Domes. How long can we make excuses for Weber State’s close games? EWU took another step towards playoffs,.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week to project the 2021 Spring Division I FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring season..
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending April 3rd. These rankings are amongst the now 88 schools participating in the spring schedule. Joining Illinois State, who opted out the prior week, to opt out of the season after starting their season are Albany, Chattanooga, and Cal Poly.
Two Ethan Torres FGs, one 26 yards, and one 24 yards, were enough to put the Bucknell Bison atop the Patriot League South Division, shutting out Lehigh at Murray Goodman Stadium 6-0.
As the calendar turns to April with the promise of flowers blooming soon, plenty must first be settled on the football field as the contenders for the FCS playoffs begin to rise to the top.
An already-crazy Patriot League season still had some craziness left to reveal this week, as the 156th meeting between Lafayette and Lehigh was postponed due to a Tier 1 exposure in the Lafayette program.
VMI is now in the drivers seat for the Southern Conference title. With a win this week against East Tennessee State, they would clinch that berth – and avoid a boatload of potential tiebreaker headaches for the SoCon League office in terms of autobid determination.
Last week was a lost week for over half the MVFC squads and this week looks to be same. Two games last week were postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 reasons with the North Dakota at Youngstown State and North Dakota State at South Dakota games both called off last week. The UND-YSU game will.
James Madison/Richmond was postponed this week “due to CoVID protocols at Richmond”, according to James Madision’s official release, and Delaware/Albany was cancelled due to Albany suspending their spring season due to a very large number of injuries. This leaves two games on the CAA schedule this weekend.
This week was full of surprises and highlights in the Big Sky, including a Sports Center Top Play of Weber State winning by a 50-yard Hail Mary throw to Justin Malone. In a week that should have been “blowout week” all but one contest was way closer than it should have been. In fact, those.
Sam Houston head coach K.C. Keeler feels like this could be his best team yet; Northwestern State head coach Brad Laird is in a rebuilding year and knows his team must start games better.
North Dakota State cancellation, Chattanooga opting out – lots happened this past week, and CSJ’s staff writers mulled over the impacts as the dust settled.
Another week, another round of upsets in the FCS. Jacksonville State and Chattanooga were both top 10 teams last week. Both lost. We nearly had a second straight week where our number one team lost, but Weber State got a 50 yard hail mary on the last play of the game to preserve the win. VMI has moved within one win of the Southern Conference title. Our eyes will be on them this weekend.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 2021 Spring Division I FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring.
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending March 28th. These rankings are amongst the now 91 schools participating in the spring schedule. NOTE: the Ivy League and Mid-Eastern (MEAC) conferences are not participating in the 2021 spring schedule. The Big Sky Conference was the big winner.
A full Sunday of OVC action is going on today.
The race for the SoCon title looks to be down to three teams, Chattanooga, VMI and East Tennessee State. ETSU only has one loss and still plays both of the unbeatens. As of now, VMI and Chattanooga do not play.
Scoreboards may break as one of the biggest games of the week features two of the best spring offenses squaring off.
This week with just four games, the biggest appears to be Southern Illinois at Missouri State with the winner staying in the MVFC title and FCS playoff race and the loser likely will be on the outside. Here are all the previews and my predictions for the MVFC games this week.
In a way it’s fitting during this strange season that two of the teams playing this weekend are in their season openers, while their opponents are coming off of two weeks off after winning their openers. It is a byproduct of this crazy Patriot League spring, and results in two fascinating games that are basically playoff games. And with no game film on Bucknell or Fordham, it feels like anything can happen.
James Madison returns to action after a two week pause of their own, while a huge clash looms between Delaware and Rhode Island for first place in the CAA North.
Our number one team from last week went down. North Dakota State dominated both sides of the trenches to beat North Dakota. Sam Houston continue to roll in the Southland. VMI and Chattanooga kept their unbeaten starts going by a combined 3 points. And in the CAA Rhode Island is 2-0 with two ranked wins, as everyone predicted (not exactly).
We’re about at about the midpoint of the spring season, and the writers at CSJ get together to take stock of the season so far.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 2021 Spring Division I FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring.
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending March 21st. These rankings are amongst the now 91 schools (Illinois State just announced it will forgo the rest of its spring schedule) participating in the spring schedule. NOTE: the Ivy League and Mid-Eastern (MEAC) conferences are not participating in.
This week was shaping up to be a good week for the CAA. But both games between two ranked teams have been postponed due to Covid protocols: #23 Richmond at #1 James Madison and #12 Delaware at #20 New Hampshire.
VMI and Chattanooga are the two remaining teams without a conference loss. Furman is waiting in the wings if they falter.
SIU now gets South Dakota State at home this week. The Jackrabbits had a nail bitter against winless Youngstown State at home last week. The Jacks led the Penguins 16-7 through three quarters of play but YSU came back with 10 straight points to take the lead. SDSU though managed to drive in the wanning seconds of the game to get into field goal position where K Cole Frahm kicked a 29-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining to lift the Jacks to the victory.
It was another topsy turvy week in the FCS. 2 of our top five from last week lost. Things have been changing week by week and this week is no different. We have a new #1 team at College Sports Journal this week but only by one single vote..
In a way, the opening drive which ended with zero Lehigh points summed up the entire afternoon.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 2021 Spring Division I FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring.
Below are the Top 25 rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending March 14th. These rankings are amongst the 92 schools participating in the spring schedule. NOTE: the Ivy League and Mid-Eastern (MEAC) conferences are not participating in the 2021 spring schedule. North Dakota State moves back into the top spot.
BETHLEHEM, PA – The Holy Cross Crusaders beat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 20-3 at Murray Goodman Stadium in the first college football game contested by both schools in over 450 days.
Depending on what happens there could be as many as five teams with one loss by the end of the day and making the second half of the spring schedule even more critical with a smaller playoff field this spring.
It is uncharted waters for both teams, with plenty of questions to answer playing an unprecedented Patriot League spring football season. But many of the principal contributors in that 24-17 game more than a year ago in Bethlehem will be suiting up tomorrow.
William & Mary at James Madison is postponed this weekend, but there are still five games on the schedule to enjoy.
The conference schedule for the eight teams that will play in the Pioneer Football League begin this week. The PFL will play a six-week sprint of a spring season before the champion of the league advances to the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.