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Perhaps no bigger matchup looms than when Drake travels to play Davidson. Both teams are tied for second place, along with Dayton, with 5-2 league records. A win by any of those teams will assure them of no worse than a share of second place.
Everything has been decided in the Southern Conference with one week to go in the season. Wofford was able to clinch the conference title with its win over Furman coupled by a large blown fourth quarter lead by The Citadel against Chattanooga. Furman should also easily find its way into the field.
This is a big week across the FCS as it is rivalry, make it or break it for playoffs, a chance to end on a high note for the regular season, or all of the above. The famous Brawl of the Wild holds an all of the above label as Montana State needs a win.
This season, though, there isn’t the same feeling of continuity that permeated many of these other games. Part of that comes from the fact that, unusually for The Rivalry, both teams are packed with young underclassmen, many of them playing in their first Rivalry ever. Normally, The Rivalry is filled with narratives. This season, it feels like the master narrative is waiting to be written with two teams that, even at this late date, have unknowns.
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.
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.
So balanced has the conference been over the years that 12 times there has been at least two teams that have shared the conference title. This year could possibly make it 13 as Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri head into the final week of the regular season with identical 6-1 records in OVC play. Both are expected to be selected to play in the FCS playoff when the field is announced on Sunday.
It has taken until the last week of the regular season, but we finally have some clarity in the Southland Conference.
There were very few changes in the BOXTOROW Coaches and Media Polls as the teams that were expected to win did.
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 Toreros had little trouble in steamrolling their way to another Pioneer Football League championship with an impressive win over Morehead State on Saturday.
Montana pulled the upset so things could get messy in the Big Sky as to who is or is not a champion. The rare, but special three way tie is a very realistic possibility for the Big Sky. Montana needs to survive “Brawl of the Wild”, Weber surviving Idaho State, and Sacramento State surviving UC.
Going into this game, Lehigh’s defense had a serious challenge on their hands – to stop, or a least slow down, the leading rusher in FCS, Sacred Heart RB Julius Chestnut. For three quarters, they did just that, but in the fourth quarter Chestnut would score a pair of rushing touchdowns to lifted Sacred Heart to a 13-6 victory.
While many automatic bids for the FCS playoffs were determined over the weekend, the OVC chose to extend the suspense a tad bit longer.
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.
Drake entertains Dayton in the biggest game of the week in the PFL. A win by the Bulldogs would keep the pressure on San Diego for a fourth straight league title, while a loss would all be assure the Toreos of the outright crown.
These final two weeks will define and refine the playoff outlook for fringe teams and those looking to have a seeded position. Two weeks can contain a lot of chaos for post season considerations. The hot ticket question this week is Montana or Weber State the stronger team? Lucky for Big Sky fans is Saturday.
If you know what’s going to happen in the Southland Conference these last two weeks, head out to Vegas and make yourself a lot of money.
We are down to the last two weeks and the Southern Conference has a clear picture of its outlook for the conference title and potential playoff bids. There are three teams in the mix – Furman, Wofford and The Citadel. With a win this week, Furman will clinch the conference title and automatic bid to the playoffs. A Wofford win sets up a week 13 showdown between Wofford and The Citadel – provided The Citadel takes care of business on the road this weekend.
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.
It’s highly unusual for Lehigh (4-5, 3-2) and Sacred Heart (6-4, 4-2)to be playing a non-conference game this late in the season, but for both teams, important milestones remain.
Austin Peay, whose win over UT Martin last week pushed the Skyhawks from atop the conference standings, and Southeast Missouri State must both avoid any sort of letdown this week if they are to keep their goal of an OVC championship and a berth in the FCS playoffs intact.
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?
We are two weeks away from the end of the Patriot League regular season, and there is a very distinct possibility that the winner of the League is going to have a losing record.
While FAMU had a bye week, losses coupled with upsets caused shifts in both the BOXTOROW Coaches and Media Polls. The Rattlers are the unanimous No. 1 in both polls for the first time in the history of the polls.
While North Dakota State and James Madison continued to beat their opponents into submission, out west, Weber State and Sacramento State each used strong 4th quarter comebacks to maintain their place in the standings. Weber State at Montana looms large this week for the playoff seeding discussion.
San Diego has two games remaining during the regular season. The Toreros are scheduled to face Morehead State and Jacksonville in the final two games before the start of the FCS playoffs Nov. 30.
In week 11 we saw all of the Big Sky favorites pull off wins. Weber State’s claim to the big sky throne continues to strengthen as they fought off a hardy North Dakota team. While week 11 was more so of a transition week, week 12 in the Big Sky looks to heat things up..
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.
Why is 1977 significant? It’s been that long since Austin Peay found itself atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings this late in the season. It was also the last time the Governors claimed the conference title. They are hoping for a similar finish more than 40 years later.
It was, depending on your perspective, either the roughest Lehigh offensive performance of the season, or the greatest Bucknell defensive performance of the year.
It’s somewhat serendipitous, according to John Feinstein of The Washington Post, that this week’s battle of undefeated teams between Dartmouth and Princeton came to be.
Holy Cross will be trying to cement their hold on the top of the Patriot League standings when they host Lafayette this weekend. They could clinch at least a share of the title and FCS Playoff autobid if they win and Lehigh loses at Bucknell.
This week, the super spoiler FAMU has an bye week, and the conference has a lot of match ups that on paper should be easy wins for the top three teams in the title race. We do have an interesting batch up for a couple of teams looking to possibly go .500 on the season and as for the other lop sided games, and if we have learned anything from other conferences this year, it’s no to take any game for granted.
Most games between head coaches in their first years at a school are ones where the opponents need to feel themselves out, thanks to unfamiliarity. That will not be the case this weekend, as Cecchini and Gilmore have more than two decades of awareness of one another and their tendencies. It should have the feel of a brotherly fight.
Three weeks remain in the Big Sky Conference regular season before the FCS playoff take shape.  Weber State, Sacramento State, Montana, and Montana State all look to prove themselves worthy of a playoff spot. For those four teams it should be heavily favored in their matchup’s, except for we Weber State versus North Dakota..
While Central Arkansas seems to have control of the Southland at his point, the conference has shown that anything can happen on a weekly basis. There are three teams nipping at the Bears’ heels just one game back in the standings.
Week 10 in the Big Sky showed us who the true first place team should be. Weber State established their spot in the drivers seat and the rest of the Big Sky should fall in line according to them. Sacramento State is still a force to be reckoned with, but they will have to keep.
The SWAC is still battling it out to see who can challenge the teams atop the East and West divisions. While it might look like Southern and Alcorn State have all but wrapped it up according to the eye test, there are still a couple of teams that could play spoiler so long as they keep winning and have games against the top teams later in the season.
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.
The crème has started to rise to the top in the Southern Conference over the last few weeks. With three weeks left in the season, there are three teams left in the mix for the conference title, and those are likely the only three teams who have a shot to make the playoffs – Furman, Wofford and The Citadel.
The contenders will get a chance to distinguish themselves from the pretenders in the Ohio Valley Conference as a pair of games on Saturday will go a long way in determining who will represent the league in the upcoming FCS playoffs. The first round of the playoffs will begin on Nov. 30.
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.
For the players of both programs, it was more about demonstrating how much they had improved over that battle of 1-6 teams on a wet, rainy, homecoming game a year ago in Worcester. Both teams showed exactly how much more they were than those teams with losing records last year, and in the end, Holy Cross showed that they were one play better than the Mountain Hawks on this afternoon.
The North Carolina A&T Aggies win over South Carolina State in the marquee game of the weekend caused slight shifts in both the BOXTOROW Coaches and Media Polls. Florida A&M defeated Delaware State and remained No. 1.
Weber State showed it’s the best team in the Big Sky, and may be the best team in the country with its 19 point win over Sacramento State.
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.
