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Wagner, who came within a blown defensive penalty from having a chance to beat FBS UConn, isn’t the only NEC team chomping at the bit to start Week 2 of the football season. Duquesne, Central Connecticut State, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart also have their home openers this week.
Davidson’s narrow win against Georgetown last week was a really nice win for the Pioneer, who went 2-4 in their games last week. This week boasts another interesting grouping of games against the top teams of FCS and sub-D-I opponents.
0-2 Colgate, who lost two extremely challenging games to Villanova and FBS Air Force to start the season, earn a well-deserved bye week, while the rest of the Patriot League enters action looking to achieve their first victories of the season. As a conference, the Patriot League is a combined 0-8 to start the year.
The Southland Conference picked up two of the biggest early wins and one of the most talked about close losses to an FBS team in week one. Central Arkansas scored 21 fourth quarter points to upset Western Kentucky. Southeastern Louisiana took Jacksonville behind the woodshed in the biggest upset of the week. Unfortunately the Lions will not get to build on that momentum due to Hurricane Dorian causing the cancellation of their game with Bethune-Cookman. Houston Baptist surprised everyone by taking a fourth quarter lead against UTEP. The bottom rung Southland team came up just short, but Bailey Zappe put himself on the map as a quarterback to watch.
The OVC as a whole had a nice opening weekend, going 7-2. But the biggest surprise loss was felt by a team many thought would challenge for Frisco, Jacksonville State. The question on everyone’s mind is: was it just a bad game and JSU will bounce back, or is it a sign of things to come? Either way, the rest of the OVC surely took notice of the open door and will be looking to kick their way through.
30. 33. 38. 35. 26. 35. 31. No, that’s not a high school locker combination, or a quarterback audible. Those are the point totals Villanova were able to exact on Lehigh during their last seven meetings on the gridiron, all Wildcat victories. The Mountain Hawks have played the Wildcats seven times in the last eleven.
The Southern Conference did not get off to a great start in 2019, picking up only two out of conference wins. The poor weekend was punctuated by early favorite Wofford getting easily handled by South Carolina State, a team most picked to finish in the middle of the MEAC. Was it a blip in the radar? Or is the Southern Conference headed for a down year?
On paper, the Missouri Valley Football Conference did not get off to a great start, with only one win in Week 1 (although another was in Week 0). But the conference’s teams’ play was very good, as I explained in the my MVFC recap for Week 1. In Week 2, nine of the ten squads see action with six of the nine games featuring out-of-conference FCS opponents and the other three against FBS foes with one being a Power Five match-up.
The Big Sky schedule in general switches from an uphill FBS heavy schedule to a now D2 and interesting FCS matches week. With the schedule almost evenly in thirds of D2 (or lower), FCS, and FBS games will show variety of strengths and weaknesses of the Big Sky teams. Considering the hodgepodge of games available the game of the week is centered on SEMO vs. Montana State. Both are last year playoff teams and have a strong depth of players. This could be hard hitting and high-intensity game that gets decided in the fourth quarter.
A Dalton Sneed-led Montana team went on the offensive and never looked back. It took a Coyote field goal in the second quarter for the Grizzlies to jump back from hibernation. That South Dakota field goal would be the only led Austin Simmons and company would enjoy all game long.
The CAA had a solid showing on opening weekend with all its teams combining to go 7-1 against FCS opponents. The lone loss was suffered by Elon to nationally-ranked North Carolina A&T, 24-21, on a 52 yard field goal as time expired. Against an FBS school, James Madison gave West Virginia all they could handle before ultimately falling to the Mountaineers. On to week two where the CAA faces four more FBS teams and a couple of strong non-conference games.
Last season was one for the ages in the Ivy League, with Princeton going 10-0. It was the fourth outright Ivy League title in Princeton 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. 9-1 Dartmouth was a heartbreaking second place to the Tigers, their only loss a 14-9 instant classic at Princeton. This season, will it come down to another battle of unbeatens?
Week one is in the books in the FCS. There was only one FCS upset over an FBS team, but another 11 teams came within one score of an upset. Many of the top teams played FBS competition, so where was not a lot of movement with those teams in the polls. Bad losses by Jacksonville State and Wofford have plummeted both of those teams.
Week One saw quite a few Power 5 FBS teams celebrate wins against powerful FCS teams as if they had won a bowl game. Only one FCS program, Central Arkansas, managed to knock off an FBS opponent: for the second straight year, Western Kentucky was defeated by an FCS program
We live in a strange world where people consume things in bites. People consume bites like video clips quickly, and sometimes they love them enough to keep watching them, enjoy them, and share them with their friends and followers.
That’s what happened today with one play out of the 138 plays that were run in the St. Francis (PA)/Lehigh game this Saturday, the first game of the season for both teams.
Eliah Drinkwitz wasn’t shy about savoring the benefits of his first victory as a college football head coach following Appalachian State’s hard-fought, 42-7 win over former Southern Conference rival and Football Championship Subdivision squad East Tennessee State Saturday afternoon before a home-opening crowd of 25,147 at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
College football season is once again upon us! Fans can rejoice as the wait is over for college football in Colorado, but how will each team shake out? Below is a season preview for what we can expect from each team and ranked.
It was a game a defensive coordinator could love, and it resulted in a thrilling victory for St. Francis (PA) and an agonizing loss for Lehigh when a late 40 yard FG attempt went wide right for the Mountain Hawks, resulting in a 14-13 win for the Red Flash.
Colgate, who hosted Villanova in Week 0, continues their Theater of Pain tour this week as they travel out to Air Force to take on the Falcons. The rest of the Patriot League kicks off their season this Saturday with a full slate of games
The PFL starts their 2019 journeys this week with the most diverse out-of-conference slate in all fo the FCS. Butler takes on the defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State Bison, and nearby D-II Union (KY) takes on Morehead State, but the most interesting matchup might involve two surprise teams that could be a.
The Ohio Valley Conference has been Jacksonville State’s personal playground over the last five years. The Gamecocks actually lost a conference game last year, but still won the title. Can anyone continue to close the gap and knock JSU off of their perch? It doesn’t look like it, but that’s why they play the games.
The PFL starts their 2019 journeys this week with the most diverse out-of-conference slate in all fo the FCS. Butler takes on the defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State Bison, and nearby D-II Union (KY) takes on Morehead State, but the most interesting matchup might involve two surprise teams that could be a big factor in their conference races.
Last season, St. Francis (PA) and Lehigh faced off at the exact same time of year (Saturday, Labor Day weekend) at the exact same weekend. But the teams heading onto the field this weekend are not only filled with new personnel – they are also teams eager to put disappointing, losing season behind them in 2019.
With many people thinking that Alcorn State will run away with the SWAC this year, it’ll be interesting to see how other teams perform out of the gate. From interesting OOC match ups with other FCS schools to potential FBS upsets, the SWAC will have plenty of chances to make their case for being a much better conference top to bottom than most people perceive it to be.
Every Southland team is playing on opening weekend, which means all Southland fans will be in for a treat of quarterback play. Better yet, there are multiple Southland teams that have a chance to pull of upsets of FBS teams this weekend. Who are they?
The Big Sky Conference is one of the Power 3 conferences in FCS football and will continue that tradition this year too. In our College Sports Journal Top 25 four Big Sky teams placed in the top ten, including Eastern Washington and UC Davis within the top five. A strong year is in store for.
We are going to learn about plenty of MEAC teams after this opening weekend, especially when it
comes to North Carolina A&T going up against a power CAA foe in Elon, and a MEAC/SWAC clash
between Jackson State and Bethune-Cookman. A few FBS match ups have the potential for upsets, and we even have an in state rivalry.
The MVFC Conference has been the top confernce in all of FCS for nearly the last decade. All 10 MVFC teams are in action this week in non-conference games. Four games are against FBS opponents highlight the slate this week, along with two MVFC-Big Sky Challenge match-ups. The other four games have the SIU-SE Missouri State annual rivalry
The NEC starts their 2019 football season as road warriors with the exception of Merrimack, who is not a full NEC member but is competing against mostly NEC squads. All of the games should be a challenge – with the exception of Merrimack, once again.
The Southern Conference promises to be one of the most tightly contested races in 2019. While the conference champion won’t be determined in week one, there are a couple of matchups that may be remembered in November when the playoff bracket is released.
A new season is finally upon us. The Colonial Athletic Association is always among the top conference in the country and 2019 looks to be no different. Villanova already made a statement in week zero against Colgate. Most everyone else gets going this week.
Lehigh has just released their game notes for their 2019 Week 1 tilt against St. Francis (PA), and it’s our first look at Lehigh’s starting two deep. Here are my five takeaways from the list.
UCF picked up right where it left off in 2017 in Coach Heupel’s first year at the helm by storming through the regular season, extending its nation-leading win streak to 25 games. The streak included a pair of come-from-behind wins over Memphis (twice) and Temple, to claim the program’s second consecutive AAC championship
Cincinnati kicked off the season with a six-game win streak until an overtime loss to Temple snapped the hot start. But the Bearcats picked right back up by winning four of their final five games (with the other loss at UCF) and qualified for a first bowl game in three seasons.
The Bulldogs won their third MWC championship since joining the league in 2012. Fresno State lost 24-17 to Boise State on the road during the regular season but the Bulldogs avenged their loss to the Broncos in the conference title game, earning a 19-16 win in overtime.
The Tigers were 4-4 following back-to-back losses to UCF and Missouri. It was the worst start by a Memphis team since 2013. The team responded by winning its remaining four regular-season games, securing the Tigers’ second consecutive appearance in the AAC Championship Game against UCF.
The Broncos fell short of winning their second Mountain West title in three years when they lost 19-16 in overtime to Fresno State in the MW title game and was the last official game as Boise State’s trip to the First Responder Bowl against Boston College resulted in a game cancellation due to lightning in the first quarter with the Broncos trailing 7-0 for a 10-3 overall (7-1 MWC) finish.
Much of preseason practice for a football involves building the skills, plays and toughness that’s required for the full grind of a full season. For the 2019 Lehigh Mountain Hawks, it seems to be about more than just that. With new head coach Tom Gilmore, a big theme that has emerged in preseason training camp.
FAU went just 5-7 (3-5 C-USA) that ended poorly with closed with painful losses to North Texas and Charlotte by three points apiece. This was a year after Coach Lane Kiffin led the Owls to a bowl victory during his debut campaign in Boca Raton in 2017.
Arizona Wildcats Location: Tuscon, AZ Coach: Kevin Sumlin (5-7@Ariz., 91-50 overall) 1st Season Stadium: Arizona Stadium (Capacity: 55,675) CSJ Projections: 9th: Pac 12 (5th: South) 2nd: Arizona 53rd: FBS 53rd: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: The first year of the Kevin Sumlin era was one of inconsistency. With some great wins (44-15 over Oregon).
NDSU won its seventh national title in the past eight years with its win over Eastern Washington in the National Title Game and did it with its second undefeated record team in that span (15-0, 8-0 MVFC). Coach Chris Klieman coached his last game with the Bison after being named the new head coach at the Big 12’s Kansas State.
The MVFC continues to be the premier conference in the FCS having now had at least one national title game representative for the past eight seasons (NDSU- 7 times, Youngstown State – 1 time, Illinois State – 1 time) and seven national titles over the span.
The Mountaineers almost pulled off amajor upset in the opening week but lost 45-38 in overtime at Top 10 Penn State in the opening week and rode the momentum into a Sun Belt Conference championship by winning the inaugural Sun Belt title game over Louisiana. The Mountaineers then blew out Middle Tennessee 45-13 in the New Orleans Bowl to finish 11-2 overall (7-1 SBC) but one loss was Coach Scott Satterfield departing for the same job at Louisville.
The Red Wolves finished the second half of the schedule strongly, but a 47-43 midseason loss to Louisiana-Lafayette denied them a chance to play for the first-ever Sun Belt championship game and finished with a 16-13 loss to Nevada in the Arizona Bowl to go 8-5 overall (5-3 SBC).
The Aztecs were 6-1 through their first seven games, including wins over ranked Arizona State and Boise State but SDSU lost their final three Mountain West games before losing 27-0 to Ohio in the Frisco Bowl to finish 7-6 overall (4-4 MWC)
Army lost two of its first four games but the Black Knights rolled off eight straight wins, including the third straight in its long-standing rivalry with Navy. Army capped the season in style with a win in its school-record third consecutive bowl game–a blowout win over Houston in the Arm Forces Bowl.
EWU finished second in the nation just behind the perennial Bison champions. A fantastic season of 12-3 is something to celebrate, minus the title loss. The only other losses would be to Washington State and Weber State.
Houston opened last season by winning seven of its first eight games, the program’s best start since winning 10 straight to open the 2015 season. Injuries and miscues on the defensive side caught up with the Cougars after this and lost four of their final five games, including an embarrassing 70-14 setback to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl in what would be Major Applewhite’s last season as the head coach–finishing 8-5 overall (5-3 AAC).
The CAA had an excellent regular season in 2018 culminating with a record 6 playoff berths. However, once they got there, everyone except for Maine fell flat. The Colonial again looks strong with most every team feeling like they have a shot at the playoffs.
James Madison fell short of expectations, missing out on the conference title and losing in the second round of the FCS playoffs to Colgate. The Dukes struggled in the red zone and with turnovers. A 9-4 season was certainly a disappointment in Harrisonburg.
