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Murray State lost all three of their non-conference games, which sealed their fate in 2018. In the Ohio Valley, the Racers were 5-3 including one of the most improbable comeback victories and crazy plays of the football season.
FAMU was oh-so-close to being “back” last year after years of losing records. After a 6-2 start, the Rattlers lost their last three games to finish 6-5, including a 33-19 loss to archrival Bethune-Cookman in the Florida Classic.
This team was an offensive juggernaut but, it fell short in important games like overtime against UC-Davis and a touchdown short of beating now FBS Liberty University.
Tennessee State had two winnable games cancelled by weather leading to a 4-5 overall record. The Tigers really struggled on the road, going 1-4 in 2018.
Few schools had a more confounding season last year than NCCU under interim coach Grant Eastman. After a 1-3 start, the Eagles stunned Howard 40-35, dominated Norfolk State 36-6, then inexplicably lost to one of the worst teams in the MEAC, Delaware State 18-13.
The Vikings have been on a losing season skid since 2015 and have not shown promise outside of impressive recruiting classes.
A promising 2018 season ended up a disappointing 6-5, lowlighted by losses to Prairie View in the State Fair Classic (22-16) and a loss to Southern in the Bayou Classic (38-28). Those two losses kept Grambling from an appearance in the SWAC Championship Game.
Two close conference losses, both by a single score to Sacred Heart and Duquesne, were all that separated the Blue Devils from a conference title.
Few teams have seen as many setbacks as the Bears. Northern Colorado showed a glimpse of success with two 6-5 seasons two years ago, but have returned to the bottom of the Big Sky.
Prairie View A&M Panthers Location: Prairie View, TX Coach: Eric Dooley (5-6) 2nd Season at PVAMU Stadium: Panther Stadium at Blackshear Field (Capacity: 15,000) CSJ Projections: 4th: SWAC (3rd in West Division) 9th: HBCU 15th: Texas 75th: FCS 204th: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: A tremendous 3-3 record to start the year, with a.
The Cardinals finished with its first ever FCS playoff appearance (first round loss to Northern Iowa) with a 7-5 overall (6-2 SLC) record–this after finishing just 2-9 in 2017.
Tennessee-Martin struggled to a lowly 2-9 record in 2018. The culprit for the Skyhawks was generally their defense, which had a hard time getting off the field.
The word “disappointing” does not adequately cover how poorly 2018 went for the Thunderbirds.
The Bison had very high expectations going into the season, but stumbled multiple times in MEAC play to fall to a 4-6 record.
In August 2018, long time head coach Jimmye Laycock announced that his 39th season would be his last. William and Mary sent him out with a 4-6 record, which is not what they were looking for.
Five wins in 2018 would be considered notable progress if not the fact it was loaded with patsies, including poor Big Sky opponents (Sacramento and Southern Utah) and Brown, who went 1-9 on the season.
Northwestern State was a 5-6 team overall but did win three of its last four and was just three points shy of NSU’s first winning season since 2008 in Coach Brad Laird’s first season in Natchitoches. They played in a number of very competitive games, including a double OT win over a ranked McNeese State.
The Bulldogs finished 2018 with a 7-4 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the Pioneer Football League to tie for second in the league standings in what would be Coach Rich Fox’s last season with the team as he resigned after the season.
The FCS Playoff autobid came down to the wire in Pittsburgh, PA, but Sacred Heart’s 28-24 loss to Duquesne meant 7-4 Sacred Heart would end up tied for 1st for the NEC championship , but without the autobid.
The Pirates played as an independent last year and after starting off the season at 1-3, finished it off with a 6 game winning streak.
Dayton Flyers Location: Dayton, OH Coach: Rick Chamberlin (83-38), 12th season at Dayton Stadium: Welcome Stadium (Capacity: 11,000) CSJ Projections: 3rd: Pioneer 10th: Ohio 86th: FCS 216th: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: Dayton was 6-5 in 2018, and finished fourth in the Pioneer Football League with a 5-3 record. Three of the Flyers’ losses.
2018 was a complete let down from a 7-4 record during the 2017 season with too many close losses. After the Hornets’ 2-1 start, they dropped their next seven games to end at 2-8.
The Lions finished 7-3 in a schedule split between Division I and Division II.
After a 1-4 start in out-of-conference, the Hoyas went a surprising 4-2 in conference to finish in 2nd place in the Patriot League en route to a 5-6 record.
Alabama State’s shock 28-25 win over Alcorn State seemed to put Alabama State in a good position going into the second half of the year, even after a brutal schedule put the Hornets at 2-4.
A tough 1-4 start for “Buddy” Pough’s Bulldogs gave way to a great 4-1 stretch with a home win over Howard and a big road win vs. Florida A&M.
A disappointing 3-8 was salvaged somewhat with a 34-3 win against their long-time Rivals Lafayette. With the win, head coach Andy Coen retired as the winningest head coach in program history.
The Great Danes struggled through a tough CAA schedule, but shocked the league by defeating in-state ranked rival Stony Brook on the last weekend of the season to go out on a high note.
After a trip to Brown and securing a 3-3 record, things were looking bright for the Big Red to finally get back to .500 on the season. Then Cornell fell 66-0 to Princeton, and David Archer’s team would then drop their next three games to fall into the cellar of the Ivy League.
Another year, another 4-7 year for the Spartans.
Campbell used a modest non-conference schedule to achieve a winning season in 2018, finishing 6-5.
A tough, brutal early stretch of the schedule saw the Seahawks limp to a 1-5 record, though they would win their final two games against Bryant and Robert Morris to achieve a 4-7 record.
A 70 yard interception return for touchdown allowed the Rams to finish the year on a high note beating Bucknell 17-14, putting the Rams at 2-9 on head coach Joe Conlin’s first year as Fordham’s head football coach.
CCSU scored 48 straight points in a 34 point loss, and the Bulldogs never seemed to fully recover, dropping three of their last five games and squeaking by both Fordham (42-41) and Howard (56-55) by a single point each.
Alabama A&M, while posting a winning record, showed sparks of brilliance on the field, playing very good teams close but inevitably not making that next jump to the top of the SWAC.
A 31-14 win over Southern Connecticut (D-II) brought the Warriors time in Division II to a close with a 5-5 record. Merrimack announced they would be beginning their transition to becoming a Division I athletics program in 2019, where their final destination will be the NEC.
Win or lose last year, one thing was for certain in Gardner-Webb games: it would not be close. The closest margin of victory in every game the Bulldogs played was 16 points – a 16-0 loss to Charleston Southern.
St. Francis (PA) Red Flash Location: Loretto, PA Coach: Chris Villarrial (40-59), 9th Season at St. Francis (PA) Stadium: DeGol Field (Capacity: 3,500) CSJ Projections: 6th: NEC 8th: Pennsylvania 103rd: FCS 233rd: Division I 2018 In a Sentence: Three heartbreaking, last-minute out-of-conference losses to Lehigh, Richmond, and Albany (NY) turned what could have realistically.
After a 1-9 season, longtime head football coach Phil Estes stepped down as Bears head football coach after an illustrious 21 year career.
The Bulldogs got off to a great start with a win at the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s Youngstown State, but could not use that momentum into PFL play to finish 4-7 overall and just 2-6 in PFL play.
SFA hired 2017 D-II national title winning Coach Colby Carthel away from Texas A&M-Commerce.
On Homecoming, head coach Dewayne Alexander and the Golden Eagles broke their 11 game losing streak, upsetting Murray State 27-24. It was the highlight of an otherwise tough 1-10 season.
The Hatters went 8-2 last season and were in contention for the Pioneer Football League title, had PFL winners San Diego slipped up along the way.
Assistant coach John Hendrick was thrust into the head coaching position on an interim basis after Tony Hughes was let go after a 41-7 drubbing by Southern.
Say what you want about the Wildcats and their feather-light schedule – Davidson was a mighty entertaining football team last year.
Going into November, hopes were high that the 3-5 Leopards would turn the corner and do enough to beat their archrival Lehigh in the final game of the season. Instead John Garrett’s team would lose to Holy Cross, Army and their Rivals to close out a disappointing 3-8 season.
The Red Foxes had a chance to end the year with a winning record, but a 31-14 loss to PFL champions San Diego doomed Marist to a 5-6 record. Marist went 5-3 in Pioneer League play, but went 0-3 outside their conference schedule.
The Bears had modest expectations under interim head coach Earnest T. Jones, and seemed to exceed those expectations greatly with their a 4-7 record, highlighted by perhaps the biggest win in FCS last season: Morgan State’s shocking 16-13 upset of North Carolina A&T 16-13 in Greensboro. The historic upset was not enough to have the “interim” label removed from Jones’ job description, however, and former Michigan running back Tyrone Wheatley was hired to become the Bears’ next head football coach.
The Eagles yielded a staggering 6 touchdowns a game en route to a 3-8 season, giving up 40 or more points in seven of eleven contests. In their two Pioneer Football Conference wins, the defense only yielded 28 and 24 points respectively against Davidson and Valparaiso.
College Sports Journal’s NCAA 2019 College Football FCS Team Previews are being released all summer, and we’re ranking every FCS school from Number 126 to Number 1. Check back to see where your favorite school is ranked!
