Spring 2021 FCS Quarterfinal Playoff Preview: Delaware at Jacksonville State
This game may be for the birds, but it will certainly not be for the faint of heart and it certainly has all the earmarks of an instant classic.
Covering All College Sports Since 2012
This game may be for the birds, but it will certainly not be for the faint of heart and it certainly has all the earmarks of an instant classic.
This first round game features the champions of the NEC, Sacred Heart against the champions of the CAA, Delaware.
This game features two teams at opposite ends of the historical FCS spectrum.
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.
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.
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.
William & Mary at James Madison is postponed this weekend, but there are still five games on the schedule to enjoy.
Compared to the chaos of the final week of February, where we saw half the top 25 lose, the results of the first week in March could instead be called “March Mildness”.
As we enter the third week of the Spring season, the full CAA will join the fun with five games this weekend.
The CSJ writing staff answer the questions many of us have about the beginning of this unprecedented FCS season.
Three players were selected as CSJ’s Preseason Players of the Year on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. These awards went to Villanova QB Daniel Smith on Offense, Citadel LB Willie Eubanks III on Defense, and Monmouth WR/KR Lonnie Moore IV on Special Teams.
This Spring, the CAA teams will play six conference games and can schedule up to two non conference games. There will only be 11 of the 12 teams taking the field as Towson has opted out of the Spring 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 Patriot League Office announced on Monday guidance regarding the 2020 fall competition, a list of principles to “guide the development of a Patriot League 2020 Athletics Plan.”
As a JMU fan and alum, it was tough to sit inside a cold Toyota Stadium this past Saturday and watch my team lose. What was even tougher was knowing that JMU lost because North Dakota State simply executed better.
When looking at James Madison’s road to Frisco and the FCS National Championship game this weekend, you have to look farther back than just the beginning of this season.
The FCS National Championship game will be played this weekend in Frisco, Texas and will be televised nationally on ABC. Prior to the game, the College Sports Journal crew – Chuck Burton, Ray Maloney, Ben Schleiger, Kent Schmidt and Jamie Williams – sat down for a Championship game round table to discuss the game.
We are just over a week out from the FCS National Championship game in Frisco, TX. By all accounts, this should be a tightly contested, close matchup featuring the two best teams in the country. Let’s take a position by position look at the number two team in the country, the James Madison Dukes.
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.
Weber State may have taken down the most dangerous team outside of James Madison and North Dakota State. Montana was a fierce competitor that I thought had all the weapons necessary to move past Weber and make a push to Frisco.
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.
James Madison used a suffocating defense and just enough offense to defeat Northern Iowa 17-0 in the Quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.
The Panthers play exceptional defense. They allowed only 220 yards against South Dakota State and 213 against San Diego. They will need a similar performance to stay in the game against James Madison.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
When the bracket was released last Sunday, many fans pointed to the Villanova/Southeastern Louisiana as the most potentially entertaining game and the one most likely to see a lot of scoring. The two teams did not disappoint, scoring a total of 89 points in a 45-44 Lion win that went down to the very last minutes of the game.
The Albany Great Danes, behind a tremendous performance by QB Jeff Undercuffler and defeated the Central Connecticut Blue Devils 42-14 on Saturday in the first round of the FCS Playoffs.
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.
Are the Wildcats just a streaky team? Can they continue their hot streak into the playoffs? A matchup with a strong Southeastern Louisiana Lions team will certainly test Villanova on both sides of the ball.
Picked to finish twelfth in the twelve team CAA, no one expected to see Albany’s name pop up in the playoff bracket. But the Great Danes had an excellent season finishing alone in second in the conference behind James Madison.
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.
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.
The CAA has its champion. James Madison handily defeated Richmond and claimed the outright CAA title. Joining the Dukes in the playoffs should be Villanova, Albany and Towson who each have seven division one wins on the season.
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.
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.
We are down to the last two weeks of the regular season. In the CAA, James Madison is a playoff lock and will claim the outright conference championship with another win. The Dukes should also slide into the seeds when the playoff bracket is released on November 24. Villanova is probably also solidly in the field. From there, its anybody’s guess what other CAA teams will be included on Selection Sunday
Two weeks to go, and how many autobids have been clinched? How about… none?
At this point the CAA could have five teams get into the FCS Playoffs, or they could have two. Its going to be a tense last three weeks.
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.
One of the wildest endings to a game this year happened last week between Stony Brook and Villanova. Villanova held a 35-20 lead with five minutes remaining only to see Stony Brook roar back with 16 points to win on a Nick Courtney field goal as time expired. As a result, the CAA is a huge jumble, as it seems to be every year.
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.
Entering week 9, James Madison is the only CAA school remaining without a conference loss. However, there are five teams with only one conference loss. Of the twelve CAA teams, there are nine teams that could still make a run at a playoff berth.
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.