Covering All College Sports Since 2012
Late-season setbacks against Southern Miss and Western Kentucky prevented Louisiana Tech from contending for a Conference USA title, but the Bulldogs bounced back with a 31-14 win over Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl to finish 8-5 overall (5-3 C-USA).
Its hard to replace a Walter Payton Award winner like Samford has to do with Devlin Hodges. Hodges finished his career at Samford by breaking Steve McNairs 24 year old passing record. A large part of that success was wide receiver Kelvin McKnight.
Colgate’s 2018 defense was one of the most suffocating defenses in recent memory. The Raiders allowed a total of three touchdowns in conference play, two of which were scored by Holy Cross in the first week of the season.
The Jackrabbits got to the FCS playoffs last year after finishing second in the MVFC and went on a great run before losing to North Dakota State in the playoff semifinals. SDSU finished the season 10-3 overall (6-2 MVFC).
Marshall has had back-to-back bowl winning seasons, going 8-5 in 2017 and 9-4 in 2018 and the Herd enjoyed the season finale,where the Marshall defense sparked a 38-20 win over USF in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Georgia Southern closed the year on a high note when K Tyler Bass hit a 40-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Georgia Southern to a dramatic 23-21 victory over Eastern Michigan in the Camellia Bowl to finish 10-3 overall.
Tulane has turned a corner under coach Willie Fritz after the Green Wave finished off their first winning season in five years(7-6, 5-3 AAC) and the program’s first bowl win (over Louisiana in the Cure Bowl) in more than 16 years.
FIU recorded a school-record nine (9-4 overall, wins in 2018, building on the surprising success of Coach Butch Davis’ debut season leading the Panthers. There was some frustration, as the Panthers lost to rival FAU and Marshall to end the season, but FIU soon rebounded to defeat Toledo in the Bahamas Bowl.
What wasn’t surprising about the Jacksonville State 2018 Season? That they won the Ohio Valley Conference title for the fifth year in a row with a 9-4 overall record. What was a surprise? How they did it.
There were a lot of “firsts” for the Razorbacks that Arkansas fans would rather forget in Year One of Chad Morris’ rebuild of the Razorbacks. First season with double-digit losses. First ever loss to North Texas, a thorough 44-17 beatdown at home. First season with only 2 wins since 1952.
The Southern Conference is always a competitive league, and 2019. The SoCon only put two teams in the playoffs in 2018, but there was at least one other team with an argument that they belonged as well. In 2019, as many as six teams feel they have at least a shot to qualify for the.
Maine was the biggest surprise of the 2018 FCS season. The Black Bears entered the season projected to finish 8th in the CAA and went out and won the league outright. Maine reached the semifinals of the FCS playoffs before falling to eventual national runner-up Eastern Washington. The Black Bears also picked up a win over an FCS foe with a 31-28 victory over Western Kentucky.
A very up and down year in Jeff Brohm’s second season at West Lafayette featured the good (their upset win over Iowa, their season-ending win over Indiana to get bowl eligible), the bad (home losses to Eastern Michigan and Missouri in back-to-back weeks at home), and the ugly (a 63-14 Music City Bowl thrashing by Auburn).
Despite a terrible passing game, the 2018 season went very well for the Wildcats until they lost a close second-round playoff game. The defense carried the team through tough games such as Eastern Washington and Montana State. Without the help of breakout freshman RB Josh Davis, the Wildcats would not have accomplished as much as they did.
The 2018 Patriot League football produced two tiers of teams. The first tier was Colgate, who had the best defense in FCS, gave a bowl team all they could handle (Army-West Point), and upset perennial FCS powerhouse James Madison before falling to the eventual FCS National Champions North Dakota State. The second tier was… the other six teams of the Patriot League, who all ended with records under .500. In 2019, can anybody get to the Colgate tier?
The Buffs’ have not returned to the dominance they showed in their 2016 season. Since then the records have been disappointing, despite churning out NFL talent left and right. Phillip Lindsay, Chidobe Awuzie, Ahkello Witherspoon, and Juwann Winfree are among the talent CU has produced recently.
2018 marked the first season in 30 years that Mike Ayers wasn’t the head coach. But the Terriers made Ayers proud in the first year under Josh Conklin going 9-4 including a first round playoff win over Elon.
Football seasons aren’t supposed to end on an “incomplete”, but that’s how the season of the 7-5 Eagles ended when play was suspended thanks to deteriorating weather conditions in the First Responders Bowl. It obscured a surprising 7-5 record, with solid wins over Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech to become bowl eligible.
The Bobcats took a big step forward by reaching the second round of the playoffs. Along the way there was only three bad losses during the season. Included in those losses were blowouts from top ten NDSU and SDSU, and getting outplayed by a scrappy Idaho State team.
Southern Miss finished being bowl eligible by finishing last season with a 6-5 overall record (5-3 C-USA) but were not selected despite ending the 2018 campaign winning three of its final four games.
After a three-year run that produced 31 wins, a Sun Belt title and several high-profile upsets including a 10-3 (7-1 SBC) and Dollar General Bowl win over Buffalo, Coach Neal Brown left Troy for the Big 12’s West Virginia.
10-0 Princeton had a year to remember in 2018, clinching the fourth outright Ivy League title in program 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.
It was bad. After two wins against teams they were expected to beat, Indiana State and Western Kentucky, the Cardinals would lose all of their remaining games, causing the firing of head coach Bobby Petrino near the end of last season.
MEAC Predicted Order of Finish Last season, North Carolina A&T were the Celebration bowl champions. This season, who is likely to be competing for a Celebration Bowl bid, and who’s likely to be sitting at home? Can the Aggies repeat, or will there be a new team headed to Atlanta this year? Would-Be Celebration Bowl.
The Bulls began 2018 with seven straight wins to equal a program record but the wheels came off in the second half of the season with USF finishing with six straight losses including a Gasarilla Bowl loss to Marshall to finish 7-6 overall (3-5 AAC).
Nicholls started the 2018 season off strong with an upset win over FBS Kansas in overtime. The Colonels would go on to have an excellent season, finishing 9-4 and winning the Southland Conference outright. The Colonels won their opening round playoff game before falling in the second round to eventual national runner up, Eastern Washington.
Western Michigan looked to have a promising season in Coach Lester’s second year but dropped four of its final five games including a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl loss to BYU to finish 7-6 overall (6-2 MAC).
Elon had a strong start to their season, including handing James Madison its first home loss in three years. However, the Phoenix encountered some key injuries on offense which led them to lose their final three games of the season. Elon made back to back playoff appearances for the first time in school history.
Illinois State Redbirds Location: Normal, IL Coach: Brock Spack (74-45 @ ISU & overall), 11th season at ISU Stadium: Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391) CSJ Projections: 3rd: MVFC 2nd: Illinois 14th: FCS 99th: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: Illinois State began the season 5-1, including a 35-19 FBS win at Colorado State, but lost their.
Towson found a quarterback to start the 2018 season and that made all the difference. QB Tom Flacco, brother of the NFLs’ Joe Flacco, took the reins and led the Tigers to a 7-5 season and an FCS playoff appearance. After a strong start, Towson fell off, losing 4 of their last 5 games including an inexplicable playoff loss at home to Duquesne.
After an 4-3 start, interim head coach Matt Canada was not offered the full time position at Maryland, and Mike Locksley, who worked under Nick Saban at Alabama, took over a program who went 1-4 in their last five games to crash out of bowl eligibility.
When your only losses are to a bowl-bound Army team and the eventual FCS National Champions in Fargo, that’s the very definition of a great year. Add to that a defense that only allowed touchdowns in 6 of the 12 games they played – that’s the definition of an amazing year.
Kennesaw State again rolled through the Big South unbeaten and finished the season 11-2. The Owls nearly beat FBS Georgia State on opening weekend and then won every game on their schedule until they met South Dakota State in a game on a sloppy field in the quarterfinals.
Southeast Missouri State had an excellent 2018, going 9-4 overall and making the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Redhawks took down perennial OVC goliath Jacksonville State and had the inside track on the OVC title before falling on a returned squib kick against Murray State.
A yearly competitor for an FCS playoff berth, Furman barely missed out in 2018 after a 6-4 season. The Paladins went 6-2 in conference play, but lost both of their non-conference games: one at Clemson and one at Elon.
In Coach Dykes first season for the Mustangs, SMU finished just 5–7 overall (4–4 (AAC) after losing its last two games of the season to finish in fourth place in the West Division. The Mustangs missed out on a bowl bid after Dykes coached the team during their bowl game in 2017.
The Panthers finished tied for third in the MVFC and earned its 10th FCS playoff appearance under Coach Farley, but lost in the second round to UC Davis to finish 7-6 overall (5-3 MVFC).
The Huskies won the MAC West and defeated Buffalo to win the program’s fourth MAC title game in its history but lost the Boca Raton Bowl to C-USA champion UAB to finish 8-6 overall (6-2 MAC) and also lost Coach Rod Carey, who took the head job at Temple following the bowl game.
In just its second season since its revival as program, the Blazers won eleven games (11-3, 7-1 C-USA) and a C-USA Championship over Middle Tennessee State in 2018, as well as the Baca Raton Bowl over Northern Illinois.
Kennesaw State has dominated the Big South Conference for the last couple of years. After losing 17 OGs to graduation, 2019 will be interesting to see if any of the other teams below them have closed the gap.
A wild 5-5 year saw Yale beat both Mercer of the SoCon and an FCS Playoff semifinalist in Maine, but lose a wild game in overtime to Holy Cross and an inexplicable 17-10 defeat to Columbia. A loss to Harvard in “The Game” to close the year left Eli fans wondering what could have been.
Buffalo went from 10 losses in 2016 to 10 wins in 2018–finishing 10-2 in the regular season (7-1 MAC) and winning the MAC East before falling to Northern Illinois in the MAC title game. The Bulls also lost to Troy in the Dollar General Bowl to finish on a two game losing streak.
The final season for legendary Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson was a good one – a 7-5 season and a bowl invite. The offseason brought the hiring of former Temple head coach Geoff Collins and the introduction of a brand-new offense.
After many years of success for the Bearkats, 2018 brought a down year. Two time defending Walter Payton Award winner Jeremiah Briscoe graduated after the 2017 season and the Bearkats had to find a way to fill his big shoes.
The Aggies had impressive wins against Jacksonville State and FBS foe East Carolina, along with a couple of head scratching losses to Morgan State and Florida A&M. They won the Celebration Bowl, but I feel like most fans feel like they could have gone undefeated.
Central Arkansas started the 2018 campaign 5-2 and looked to be on their way to defending their Southland title. Then the wheels fell off, and the Bears lost three straight games to seal their fate as a team that would miss the playoffs.
The Ragin’ Cajuns averaged 32 points and 424 yards per game in Coach Billy Napier’s first season in Lafayette and finished 7-5 in the regular season with a bid to the first ever Sun Belt Conference title game (loss to Appalachian State) and a Cure Bowl bid (loss to Tulane).
A case could be made that under Lovie Smith there was some improvement in Champaign thanks to the Fighting Illini’s 4-8 record. A closer look however reveals some wins against subpar opponents (FCS Western Illinois, hapless Rutgers, awful Kent State, and bad Minnesota) and some humbling losses (63-0 to Iowa).
Nevada played a very hot and cold 2018. When playing the lower tier conference opponents the games were stunted offensively. On the flip side, it was a slug fest of offensive will powers when playing the mid tier conference opponents.
Jacksonville State has long had a strangle hold on the Ohio Valley Conference, winning the conference every year since 2014. Despite losing to SEMO last year, the Gamecocks still prevailed.
