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The Southern Conference is always a competitive league, and 2019. The SoCon only put two teams in the playoffs in 2018, but there was at least one other team with an argument that they belonged as well. In 2019, as many as six teams feel they have at least a shot to qualify for the.
Maine was the biggest surprise of the 2018 FCS season. The Black Bears entered the season projected to finish 8th in the CAA and went out and won the league outright. Maine reached the semifinals of the FCS playoffs before falling to eventual national runner-up Eastern Washington. The Black Bears also picked up a win over an FCS foe with a 31-28 victory over Western Kentucky.
Despite a terrible passing game, the 2018 season went very well for the Wildcats until they lost a close second-round playoff game. The defense carried the team through tough games such as Eastern Washington and Montana State. Without the help of breakout freshman RB Josh Davis, the Wildcats would not have accomplished as much as they did.
The 2018 Patriot League football produced two tiers of teams. The first tier was Colgate, who had the best defense in FCS, gave a bowl team all they could handle (Army-West Point), and upset perennial FCS powerhouse James Madison before falling to the eventual FCS National Champions North Dakota State. The second tier was… the other six teams of the Patriot League, who all ended with records under .500. In 2019, can anybody get to the Colgate tier?
2018 marked the first season in 30 years that Mike Ayers wasn’t the head coach. But the Terriers made Ayers proud in the first year under Josh Conklin going 9-4 including a first round playoff win over Elon.
The Bobcats took a big step forward by reaching the second round of the playoffs. Along the way there was only three bad losses during the season. Included in those losses were blowouts from top ten NDSU and SDSU, and getting outplayed by a scrappy Idaho State team.
10-0 Princeton had a year to remember in 2018, clinching the fourth outright Ivy League title in program history, and the first since 1995. It was also the program’s second 7-0 Ivy season since league play officially began in 1956, and the 13th 7-0 season in Ivy League history, and the first since 2014.
MEAC Predicted Order of Finish Last season, North Carolina A&T were the Celebration bowl champions. This season, who is likely to be competing for a Celebration Bowl bid, and who’s likely to be sitting at home? Can the Aggies repeat, or will there be a new team headed to Atlanta this year? Would-Be Celebration Bowl.
Nicholls started the 2018 season off strong with an upset win over FBS Kansas in overtime. The Colonels would go on to have an excellent season, finishing 9-4 and winning the Southland Conference outright. The Colonels won their opening round playoff game before falling in the second round to eventual national runner up, Eastern Washington.
Elon had a strong start to their season, including handing James Madison its first home loss in three years. However, the Phoenix encountered some key injuries on offense which led them to lose their final three games of the season. Elon made back to back playoff appearances for the first time in school history.
Illinois State Redbirds Location: Normal, IL Coach: Brock Spack (74-45 @ ISU & overall), 11th season at ISU Stadium: Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391) CSJ Projections: 3rd: MVFC 2nd: Illinois 14th: FCS 99th: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: Illinois State began the season 5-1, including a 35-19 FBS win at Colorado State, but lost their.
Towson found a quarterback to start the 2018 season and that made all the difference. QB Tom Flacco, brother of the NFLs’ Joe Flacco, took the reins and led the Tigers to a 7-5 season and an FCS playoff appearance. After a strong start, Towson fell off, losing 4 of their last 5 games including an inexplicable playoff loss at home to Duquesne.
When your only losses are to a bowl-bound Army team and the eventual FCS National Champions in Fargo, that’s the very definition of a great year. Add to that a defense that only allowed touchdowns in 6 of the 12 games they played – that’s the definition of an amazing year.
Kennesaw State again rolled through the Big South unbeaten and finished the season 11-2. The Owls nearly beat FBS Georgia State on opening weekend and then won every game on their schedule until they met South Dakota State in a game on a sloppy field in the quarterfinals.
Southeast Missouri State had an excellent 2018, going 9-4 overall and making the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Redhawks took down perennial OVC goliath Jacksonville State and had the inside track on the OVC title before falling on a returned squib kick against Murray State.
A yearly competitor for an FCS playoff berth, Furman barely missed out in 2018 after a 6-4 season. The Paladins went 6-2 in conference play, but lost both of their non-conference games: one at Clemson and one at Elon.
The Panthers finished tied for third in the MVFC and earned its 10th FCS playoff appearance under Coach Farley, but lost in the second round to UC Davis to finish 7-6 overall (5-3 MVFC).
Kennesaw State has dominated the Big South Conference for the last couple of years. After losing 17 OGs to graduation, 2019 will be interesting to see if any of the other teams below them have closed the gap.
A wild 5-5 year saw Yale beat both Mercer of the SoCon and an FCS Playoff semifinalist in Maine, but lose a wild game in overtime to Holy Cross and an inexplicable 17-10 defeat to Columbia. A loss to Harvard in “The Game” to close the year left Eli fans wondering what could have been.
After many years of success for the Bearkats, 2018 brought a down year. Two time defending Walter Payton Award winner Jeremiah Briscoe graduated after the 2017 season and the Bearkats had to find a way to fill his big shoes.
The Aggies had impressive wins against Jacksonville State and FBS foe East Carolina, along with a couple of head scratching losses to Morgan State and Florida A&M. They won the Celebration Bowl, but I feel like most fans feel like they could have gone undefeated.
Central Arkansas started the 2018 campaign 5-2 and looked to be on their way to defending their Southland title. Then the wheels fell off, and the Bears lost three straight games to seal their fate as a team that would miss the playoffs.
Jacksonville State has long had a strangle hold on the Ohio Valley Conference, winning the conference every year since 2014. Despite losing to SEMO last year, the Gamecocks still prevailed.
Since reinstating the football program in 2015, East Tennessee State has been slowly improving, culminating in an 8-4 season and FCS playoff berth under first year head coach Randy Sanders. The Buccaneers picked up big conference wins over Chattanooga and Furman on the way to the playoffs where they lost in the first round to Jacksonville State by a touchdown.
Last season, Alcorn State was oh-so-close to knocking off North Carolina A&T in the Celebration bowl. This season, who is likely to be competing for a Celebration Bowl bid, and who’s likely to be sitting at home?
The Griz still missed the playoffs, but made improvements on both sides of the ball. QB Dalton Sneed and the offense did well at moving the ball, but the turnovers were costly for them. Dante Olson made a huge splash in the Big Sky and the FCS as a defensive nightmare for opposing teams.
The Northeast Conference welcomes two new members in 2019 in LIU and Merrimack, two teams that should bring some juice to the league in future years. That newness extends to many of the existing teams of the NEC, many of whom are headed by first or second year head coaches. In such an environment, Duquesne’s returning talent and longtime head football coach really stand out.
The Sycamores were winless (0-11) in Curt Mallory’s first season as head coach in 2017 but improved to 7-4 (5-3 MVFC) in 2018. The turnaround was not quite enough to get Indiana State in the FCS playoffs, however – they were one of the last teams on the outside looking in.
Things looked grim after an early-season defeat to Bryant left the Dukes at 3-3. But Jerry Schmitt’s team would win their next five games to win the NEC title, earning a road game against Towson in the FCS playoffs and pulling off a stunning upset, 31-10, in a rainstorm.
Delaware used a strong defense to start the 2018 season 7-2 to put themselves in contention for the CAA title and potential playoff seed. However, the Blue Hens lost their final two regular season games before falling in the first round of the playoffs against fellow CAA member James Madison.
Chattanooga got off to a promising start in 2018 before losing their last three games to end the season.
These teams are high caliber teams who will be in contention for PFL crown and the league’s automatic playoff bid.
The Toreros finished 2018 with a 9-3 overall record and a 8-0 mark in the Pioneer Football League to win their third straight PFL title outright and fifth straight including ties but USD did bow out a round earlier than the prior two seasons in the playoffs (a 49-30 first round loss at Nicholls).
New Hampshire had high expectations for 2018 that came crashing down to Earth with an awful 1-6 start to the season. The Wildcats bounced back with a couple of nice wins over Villanova and James Madison, but the damage was done early.
If you are an FCS fan and you long to see excellent quarterback play, then have we got a deal for you! The Southland conference is full of excellent returning quarterbacks that should keep the scoreboard operators busy all season long.
Youth. Questions. Fifth.
Those are three words that haven’t normally been associated with Lehigh at the start of preseason training camp in August.
2018 started with a bang for Villanova with a win over FBS Temple. The Wildcats looked like contenders in not only the CAA, but the entire FCS with a 3-1 start, but then the wheels fell off. Nova lost five of their next six games before winning the annual Battle of the Blue game against Delaware.
Bethune Cookman ended the season on a strong note, wrapping up their season at 8-4. Winning almost all the games they were supposed to, they’ll look back at an early season loss to Howard at home and wonder what might have been.
A season that seemed like it was going off the rails in October was righted in November, with a three game winning streak and a sweet 45-27 win over their hated Rival Yale at Fenway Park clinching a winning campaign. It was the 135th meeting between the two bitter rivals.
WIU ended last season with a 5-6 overall record (4-4 MVFC) and finished fifth in the MVFC but twice last season the Leathernecks beat a ranked opponent–against Montana and Northern Iowa.
The Citadel started 1-4 and finished 4-2 in an up and down season. The biggest highlight came in a loss to Alabama – the Bulldogs went to the half tied 10-10 with the perennial FBS National Title contender. In the FCS, The Citadel performed about to expectations. They will be looking to take a step forward in a crowded Southern Conference this year.
Big Sky Predicted Order of Finish, Big Conference Games To Watch, And Ten Players to watch.
The Quakers remained in the upper echelon of the Ivy League with a 6-4 record and a perfect 3-0 out-of-conference record. They couldn’t get over the hump, however, when it came to challenging the top teams for the title.
Eastern Kentucky had a good season in 2018 going 7-4 overall, but 7-2 versus FCS competition, losing games to two FBS teams. The Colonels probably felt like their resume was good enough for a playoff berth and were disappointed being left out of the bracket.
Northern Arizona embodies the wildcard mentality of a fringe playoff team or a losing season in recent years.
Incarnate Word went from a football program that few knew existed and put themselves on the map in 2018. The Cardinals finished the regular season at 6-4, although two of the losses came against FBS competition. UIW earned their first FCS playoff berth where they fell to Montana State in the first round.
A year after making its first FCS playoff appearance and getting a win in the opening round, South Dakota had a disappointing 2018 campaign that saw a 4-7 overall record and a 3-5 mark in MVFC play.
Idaho had high expectations for “dropping down a level” and coming back to the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals and analysts around the FCS quickly found out that the Big Sky is not a joke and can seriously compete at a high level.
Monmouth followed up a 9-3 playoff season in 2017 with an 8-3 record in 2018. Unfortunately for the Hawks and their fans, that record was not enough to garner them a playoff berth.
“Over 40% of our team are first-year players,” Gilmore said. “And we’re excited to see what some of these freshman can do to enhance our roster and push the upperclassmen to be the best version of themselves on the field.”
