The CAA’s move to become a 13 team superconference begs a different question for the FCS – what if that’s the only way forward for any number of smaller FCS conferences? Are we on the brink of a new era, where five, six, and seven member conferences are a thing of the past?
On offense, you know what you are getting from Kennesaw State, you just don’t know where its coming from. The Owls run the triple option to near perfection.
The game will feature two of most explosive offenses in the FCS with the Hawks averaging 41.7 points per game which is fifth in the FCS and Sam Houston scoring 45.4 per contest just ahead of MU in fourth.
The five teams competing will be Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw State, Monmouth and Robert Morris.
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.
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.
This is the 14th year of BOXTOROW’s Top 10 HBCU FCS Recruiting Class Rankings. Recruiting at HBCUs has really stepped up, to the point that HBCUs are regularly landing recruits that would go to small to mid-sized FBS programs.
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.
The opening fifteen minutes and five seconds of the second round FCS playoff game between Monmouth and Jamses Madison featured six touchdowns, three by the visiting Hawks and three by the hosting Dukes. After that thrilling start, however, James Madison would score 45 unanswered points on the way to a dominating 66-21 victory.
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.
FCS Second Round Matchup: Monmouth (Big South) at James Madison (Colonial) When: Saturday December 7, 1:00 PM Where: Bridgeforth Stadium, Harrisonburg, Virginia Streaming: ESPN3 Monmouth Hawks (11-2), Head Coach: Kevin Callahan Big South Conference West Long Branch, New Jersey Winners of the Big South Conference, Monmouth is currently riding a nine game winning streak. In […]
With the first round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games. Monmouth 44, Holy Cross 27 FCS 1st Round Playoffs: Monmouth Overwhelms Holy Cross 44-27 For Hawks First-Ever Playoff Victory Chuck: Monmouth proved they have a balanced offense that can give […]
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.
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.
FCS First Round Playoff Matchup: Kennesaw State (Big South) at Wofford (Southern) Where: Gibbs Stadium, Spartanburg, South Carolina Saturday, November 30th, 4:00 PM TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) Kennesaw State Owls (10-2), Head Coach: Brian Bohannon Big South Conference Kennesaw, Georgia The 2019 season for the Owls hasn’t really been that far off their more recent […]
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.
One team made a strong bid for a top seed and another did all it could to nail down a playoff berth of its own as Monmouth and Kennesaw State posted huge wins to close the 2019 Big South Conference season.
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 […]
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.
KSU can ill afford a loss in the regular season finale against Gardner-Webb. If that happens, it could open the door to a realm of possible scenarios when the playoff field is announced Sunday. The Owls would finish the regular season with a 9-3 overall record, again, a mark that would normally get a team a postseason opportunity.
Just like that, we are down to the last week of the regular season. Selection Sunday comes to your airwaves thus Sunday November 24th at 11:30 AM on ESPNU. This past week, six of the ten automatic bids were sewn up. Those bids went to Monmouth (Big South), James Madison (CAA), North Dakota State (MVFC), Central Connecticut State (NEC), San Diego (Pioneer), Wofford (Southern). The Southland will be decided on Thursday night, while the Big Sky, Patriot and Ohio Valley will be decided on Saturday. The top 25 this week will look at each team from the prism of the playoffs.
The Big South is a misnomer. It’s footprint extends well past the confines of the southeastern United States. In fact, the celebratory foot-tapping is being heard all the way into New Jersey and the campus of Monmouth University.
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.
Monmouth, currently ranked No. 15 in the nation, and Campbell square off in a huge conference tilt that could go a long way in determining how the long season eventually plays itself out. A Monmouth win will assure the Hawks of no worse than a tie for the BSC championship.
Two weeks to go, and how many autobids have been clinched? How about… none?
Monmouth entrenched itself into the driver’s seat in the race for the Big South Conference championship with a big win over North Alabama on Saturday to remain unbeaten in league play. The Hawks can secure at least a share of the conference title with a win next weekend at Campbell, which also remains alive for the conference title.
The Owls, who lost to Monmouth last weekend, have a chance at redemption and can climb back into the hunt for another Big South Conference title on Saturday when they travel to Campbell in a key BSC matchup.
There are three more football weekends to go before FCS Playoff Selection Sunday, where FCS Nation hopes ESPN pronounces all the schools’ names correctly and don’t forget to specify who is home, and who is away in the first round.
The shockwaves are sure to be felt across the FCS landscape when the national rankings are released later this week after Monmouth handled Kennesaw State in surprising fashion 45-21 on Saturday in Kennesaw, Ga.
Drama promises to be the operative word as the race toward the Big South championship kicks into high gear. But even the drama will not bring things into much clearer focus as two teams will be undefeated in conference play when all the dust settles late Saturday afternoon. Campbell enters the weekend a 3-0 record […]
Remember when I had Villanova as a seed? Good times. Harken back to when I had Delaware in my field? Yes, way back when – last week. Do you recall the time that I had more than two Southland teams in my bracket? It’s so long ago, why, when it happened, North Dakota State and […]
The big boys of the Big South did all they were supposed to do as the race for the conference championship prepares to shift into high gear.
The logjam atop the Big South Conference standings should remain intact for at least one more week as the three undefeated teams are favored to remain that way. Kennesaw State and Monmouth enter the weekend as heavy favorites to handle North Alabama, which is not eligible for the conference championship as the school transitions from NCAA Division II, and Charleston Southern, respectively. Campbell, meanwhile, could be in for a battle on the road at Gardner-Webb, which has played well in spurts in 2019.
As of right now, the FCS Playoff field feels like the show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway”, where the picks are just random improvisations of things that end up not making any sense. Nonetheless, we’ll keep pressing on, trying to figure out some version of truth.
By Brian Mull Special to the College Sports Journal On a rainy Christmas Eve morning in 2012, then–Kennesaw State athletic director Vaughn Williams and Brian Bohannon met for breakfast at the Marietta Diner in the Atlanta suburbs. The men enjoyed a delicious meal. Their conversation lasted 2 ½ hours. They hardly discussed football, although that […]
National power Kennesaw State delivered a statement to Big South foes and to anyone else who may have been doubting the No. 4-ranked Owls with an impressive win over Presbyterian as KSU improved to 2-0 in conference play and 6-1 on the season. Campbell and Monmouth kept pace with the Owls with convincing wins of […]
It’s been a season of highs and lows for Hampton as the Pirates look to be a factor in the Big South race. They will need Saturday to be one of those highs if they are to have any hope of challenging for the conference crown as the Pirates travel to take on Campbell in the Camels’ homecoming.
Welcome, America, to the FCSP’TID Cover Photo Curse.
Eastern Washington, UC Davis, Jacksonville State, and, last week, Montana State graced this space as rising teams that were all but guaranteed spots in the FCS playoffs after a particularly impressive win, or a gut-check performance.
Don’t bother looking at my previous editions of “Playoffs ‘Til I Die” to get a solid playoff bracket. Like the rest of America, I had Eastern Washington and UC Davis in my brackets and now, let’s just say, they are not. As the Big Sky autobid turns, however, we inch ever closer to a better […]
It was a week of thrilling conference rivalries, and it’s the “Military Classic of the South” that yielded the best story of them all.
A week ago, UC Davis was being lauded for giving top-ranked North Dakota State a true run for their money at their place. Last week, thanks to a sneak Grizzly attack, Aggie fans have to wonder whether they can still make the playoffs.
Campbell coach Mike Minter just wanted his kicker to have a fair chance to score the winning points. With an accurate snap and clean hold, Minter believed in Colin Gary’s leg even if the stats – 4 of 11 in his career, 1 of 2 on the night, career-long of 37 yards – said otherwise.
It would be nice if Eastern Washington would stop making my sample FCS Playoff brackets look so foolish. The first playoff bracket of the season, I had the Eagles in the field as a seed, mostly on the backs of their potential to win the Big Sky. Two losses and a 1-3 record later, I’m […]
Conference play is still a couple of weeks away, but the teams of the Big South take on some interesting challenges out-of-conference this week, including an FBS game, a trip to an iconic FCS football stadium, and a game against a Missouri Valley opponent.
Last week, we shook the dust off our first laughable attempt at picking an FCS Playoff field, and this week, we make another laughable attempt at picking an FCS Playoff field, but with a few more data points so that it’s, well, a tiny bit less hilarious. This week, we saw North Dakota State extend […]
There truly is a never-ending search for content, a fact I was reminded of when I was politely and earnestly asked this week about coming up with an FCS playoff projection for the 2019 season.
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 […]
