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The first week of in-conference games started to shape the race to the Big Sky Conference title and eventual playoff hopes. Dog fights, statement wins, and lucky stars all aligned on this week as conference opponents took a step ahead of others while Sacramento State absolutely embarrassed FBS Colorado State. All of the conference leaders.
Weber State absolutely dominated FBS Utah State and picked up the Wildcats first FBS win since 1993.
After hiring head coach Brent Vigen in January – and opting out the the spring season – they find themselves with a 12-2 record and this time facing North Dakota State in Frisco to possibly win their first National Championship in in 37 years. How did they do it?
Montana State has spent nearly half a century panning for another national title in football and it’s taken a graduate of North Dakota State to lead the Bobcats to the threshold of achieving that goal.
GAME PREVIEW: # 8 Montana State vs. #1 Sam HoustonWhen: Saturday, December 11 at 7:30PM CSTWhere: Bowers Stadium; Huntsville, TexasTV/Streaming: ESPN+ Sam Houston’s defense came up with a clutch stop on fourth and goal to hold off a late rally in a 49-42 victory over Incarnate Word in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Fans of James Madison, who will be competing in the Sun Belt next season, feel like this is the “rubber match” between the two programs and would be a fitting sendoff for the Dukes to avenge that semifinal loss. Montana fans, however, would like a different type of sendoff.
With two weeks to go, no autobid has been determined for the upcoming FCS Playoffs, and without the FCS Playoff Committee releasing their working list of seeds, FCS fans have been left to the sift through the chaos as to what the heck the FCS Playoff bracket might look like.
Check out highlights of last week’s big games, and check out out CSJ composite playoff bracket, bubble team of the week, and playoff implication game of the week as well.
It was a late start being on the west coast, but it was worth staying up for.
ith a strong Spring resume and a good culture that Hawkins has established in Davis, CA the Aggies have a great chance to make another good run towards the top of the Big Sky.
Weber State is coming into the season with a four-time conference title they look to defend vigorously.
Sacramento State had a magical 2019 championship run, but the Hornets have not played since then.
The top recruiting class from just a few years ago seems to be on of mostly duds. Can the Vikings set sail for a legacy bigger than their high school home field?
One of the biggest headlines in the FCS was lost behind the dust of the Spring headlines. Ed McCaffrey (NFL veteran and 3-time Super Bowl Champ) is the new head coach of Northern Colorado.
The Lumberjacks know how to defend the dome, but can they go on the offense successfully?
The Heartbreak Kids were five drives away from a 6-0 season in the Spring.
Montana State opted out of the Spring Season and chose to only do an inter-squad spring game. Despite being out of competition for a year the Bobcats are loading up and have a host of hungry seniors ready to have a last hurrah. Between Isiah Ifanse, Lewis Kidd, Troy Andersen, and North Carolina State transfer.
Montana may have opted out of the spring season, but their two-game schedule of Central Washington and Portland State had tremendous results of 56 points and 41 points margins of victory. The powerhouse from Missoula is trying desperately to reclaim relevance and a conference title under Coach Hauck. Despite their best efforts, Weber State has.
Tyler Vander-Waal is the first quarterback worthwhile watching since Tanner Gueller was at the helm with his brother Mitch. The Bengals new dynamic duo of Vander-Waal and Tanner Conner is one of the more electric combos in the Big Sky Conference. Vander-Waal averages 323.5 yards through the air per game and Conner accounts for 114.2.
Paul Petrino and company were eight points away from being 0-6 in the spring season. The Vandals out-schemed EWU in the first game of the season, but their only other win would be a one-point escape from the clutches of Southern Utah.
Can the Eagles send Barriere onto his pro aspirations with a conference title or better this season?
There is no way to sugarcoat just how awful the Mustangs performed in Spring. While every single team in the nation had a weird season there are few sympathies allowed for Beau Baldwin who is a proven program builder. A new coach, new quarterback, and new offense were simply too much for Cal Poly to.
The Big Sky crashed out of the spring FCS Playoffs, with Weber State and Eastern Washington losing early leads in two defeats.
The Big Sky Conference earned two bids for the Football Championship Subdivision Playoff bracket. Eastern Washington will travel to Fargo, North Dakota to face the Bison and Weber State will play host to the Southern Illinois Salukis. Both Big Sky teams drew stiff Missouri Valley Conference competition that will provide sufficient challenges for being able.
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.
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.
The CSJ writing staff answer the questions many of us have about the beginning of this unprecedented FCS season.
The National Football Foundation (NFF) highlighted today the more than 310 schools and 35 conferences playing college football this spring at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, Division III and NAIA levels. FBS independent New Mexico State will also play games this spring.
The confetti that rained down from the rafters of Worthington Arena on Feb. 22 may have been a harbinger of things to come for Montana State. At least that’s what the Bobcats are hoping for.
With just over one month remaining before the start of the Big Sky Conference tournament it appears to be a three-team race for the top spot in the league standings.
League leading Eastern Washington travels to Missoula to tangle with the Grizzlies with the top spot in the league standings going to the victor.
James Madison powered their way to Frisco and the FCS National Championship Game with a decisive 30-14 win at Bridgeforth Stadium this past Saturday.
It’s the next-to-last weekend of FCS football action, and it’s going to be a jam-packed Saturday with three games to showcase the best of FCS football. The unofficial HBCU National Championship is on the line, while the FCS Playoff Final Four see who advances to Frisco.
The College Sports Journal staff thought it would be a good idea to get some perspective on the Weber St/James Madison game from the guys who covered them all year. In this roundtable, CSJ staffers Ben Schleiger and Jamie Williams give you a deeper look at the two teams. Jamie -What is the status of.
The Dukes were not happy with their offensive production. Between penalties, turnovers and missed field goals, Coach Curt Cignetti felt the team left a lot of points on the board. A normally efficient red zone offense struggle to add to the early lead. It didn’t cost them this week, but the coaches know they need to tighten that up the rest of the way.
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 irresistible force met the immovable object and on this night the force prevailed.
We’re down to the final eight teams in the FCS Playoffs, as an unprecedented six of those teams face off on Friday evening in an intriguing tripleheader that includes three Big Sky teams. All three games played after sundown could be deeply affected by the weather.
After winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship for just the second time in school history and the first since 1977, the Governors won their second straight playoff game with a resounding win over Sacramento State last weekend. APSU has a chance to knock off another Big Sky Conference foe when the Govs travel to Bozeman, Montana, to take on Montana State in a Friday night clash.
With the second round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games.
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.
Another chapter was written in Austin Peay’s history-making season as the Governors rolled early and often on their way to a 42-28 win over Sacramento State on Saturday in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs at Hornet Field.
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.
Montana State used a balanced offense and solid defense to easily defeat Albany 47-21 in their second round matchup in the FCS playoffs. Even though Albany did get the scoring starting on an excellent 58 yard pitch and catch from Jeff Undercuffler to Juwan Green, From there, it was all Bobcats.
This weekend eight seeded teams join the FCS Playoff party, including North Dakota State, who has made December dome football a North Dakota tradition, and four teams from the Big Sky, who saw an unprecedented four teams seeded in the playoffs. As a result, seven of the eight games are being played west of the Mississippi River.
Albany proved its eight win regular season was no fluke as they cruised to a 42-14 win over Central Connecticut State behind a huge second half where they score three times in the opening seven and a half minutes of the third quarter.
Austin Peay and Sacramento State are both in a position that few pundits imagined at the start of the season: in the second round of the FCS national playoffs. The stakes only get higher for the winner of Saturday’s game.
The FCS playoffs are finally here! Enjoy the picks of the staff of the College Sports Journal and find out who we think will win the FCS National Championship.
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.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 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 24 for the 24 teams that make the FCS playoffs. The seven Division I win criteria was.
