The College Sports Journal

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College Sports Journal Big Sky Conference Previews: Week of 9/21/2019

Week 4 is upon us and the last of the intriguing non-conference play will be wrapping up for the majority this week. The Big Sky – Missouri Valley games will see several games this week of varying degrees of competitiveness to be observed. Missouri Valley fans will likely be harassing Big Sky fans after this week as the matchups are lopsided even when seemingly close. Despite the spreads, this week will feature two marquee matchups, even if the Big Sky is favored in neither.

College Sports Journal Patriot League Previews: Week of 9/21/2019

Last week was a mixed one for the Patriot League. Georgetown overwhelmed a Division III team 69-0, while Fordham topped Bryant by double digits. The rest of the league was not so lucky, however, losing to two CAA schools (William and Mary, Villanova), a NEC school (Sacred Heart) and a Big Sky school (UC Davis). This week, the entire Patriot League faces daunting challenges against tough competition – three CAA teams and an Ivy League title favorite.

College Sports Journal Southland Conference Previews: Week of 9/21/2019

Week three brought a mixed bag of results in the Southland. Houston Baptist shocked the FCS world with their exciting 53-52 upset of MVFC member South Dakota. Sam Houston State was unable to avenge their 2018 loss to North Dakota, again falling to the Fighting Hawks. In conference, Central Arkansas and Abilene Christian lived up to the pregame hype with the Bears prevailing late 31-30.

College Sports Journal Colonial Athletic Association Previews: Week of 9/21/2019

Towson showed they aren’t going away in the CAA and FCS race. The Tigers easily beat Maine by 22 points last week. In the only other CAA matchup, Elon picked up its first conference win, cruising by Richmond. In a couple more weeks, conference play will be in full swing. But for this week there are only two conference matchups while James Madison plays an interesting out of conference contest at Chattanooga.

The Week That Was: Highlights of the Five Top FCS Games, Week Ending 9/14/2019

It was a week of high-profile Top 25 clashes in FCS this week, as the marquee games of the week pitted Delaware vs. North Dakota State and Eastern Washington vs. Jacksonville State. One was a Bison display of dominance, the other a thriller that could be the game of the year. Adding to the fun of this week’s games was a shootout in Vermillion, South Dakota and another big FBS upset in Georgia.

College Sports Journal Big Sky Conference Previews: Week of 9/14/2019

The non-conference gauntlet continues in Week 3 with PAC 12 and Mountain West FBS matches, long distance FCS games, and one D-II game. Weber State has the best chance to make a “Fear the FCS” moment, but all of the FBS games this week have the potential to be ugly. Looking ahead at the FCS games is a different story, as Big Sky teams have the talent to win big. NAU versus Western New Mexico will be an obvious win barring a strong Lumberjack performance.

College Sports Journal Ohio Valley Conference Previews: Week of 9/14/2019

Only one Ohio Valley team picked up a win last week – Jacksonville State – while everyone else lost. Of course six of the teams played FBS opponents, so those results are not too surprising. In FCS action, both Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri State lost well hyped out of conference games last week. Week three brings even more competitive non-conference games, including the game that probably got the most hype of any non-conference game over the summer.

College Sports Journal Top 25 Rankings, 9/10/2019

Week two was a little more tame than week one from a top 25 standpoint. At the bottom of the FCS, six teams lost to sub D1 opponents while only one FCS team was able to beat and FBS team – Southern Illinois easily defeated Massachusetts. Over the first two weeks there have been 100 games against non-FCS teams. This week there are 30, so the FCS picture will start to sharpen. Conference play will swing into full gear over the next two weeks as well.

College Sports Journal Southland Conference Previews: Week of 9/7/2019

The Southland Conference picked up two of the biggest early wins and one of the most talked about close losses to an FBS team in week one. Central Arkansas scored 21 fourth quarter points to upset Western Kentucky. Southeastern Louisiana took Jacksonville behind the woodshed in the biggest upset of the week. Unfortunately the Lions will not get to build on that momentum due to Hurricane Dorian causing the cancellation of their game with Bethune-Cookman. Houston Baptist surprised everyone by taking a fourth quarter lead against UTEP. The bottom rung Southland team came up just short, but Bailey Zappe put himself on the map as a quarterback to watch.

College Sports Journal Ohio Valley Conference Previews: Week of 9/7/2019

The OVC as a whole had a nice opening weekend, going 7-2. But the biggest surprise loss was felt by a team many thought would challenge for Frisco, Jacksonville State. The question on everyone’s mind is: was it just a bad game and JSU will bounce back, or is it a sign of things to come? Either way, the rest of the OVC surely took notice of the open door and will be looking to kick their way through.

College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 9/7/2019

On paper, the Missouri Valley Football Conference did not get off to a great start, with only one win in Week 1 (although another was in Week 0). But the conference’s teams’ play was very good, as I explained in the my MVFC recap for Week 1. In Week 2, nine of the ten squads see action with six of the nine games featuring out-of-conference FCS opponents and the other three against FBS foes with one being a Power Five match-up.

College Sports Journal Big Sky Conference Game Previews: Week of 9/07/2019

The Big Sky schedule in general switches from an uphill FBS heavy schedule to a now D2 and interesting FCS matches week. With the schedule almost evenly in thirds of D2 (or lower), FCS, and FBS games will show variety of strengths and weaknesses of the Big Sky teams. Considering the hodgepodge of games available the game of the week is centered on SEMO vs. Montana State. Both are last year playoff teams and have a strong depth of players. This could be hard hitting and high-intensity game that gets decided in the fourth quarter.

College Sports Journal Colonial Athletic Association Game Previews, Week of 9/7/2019

The CAA had a solid showing on opening weekend with all its teams combining to go 7-1 against FCS opponents. The lone loss was suffered by Elon to nationally-ranked North Carolina A&T, 24-21, on a 52 yard field goal as time expired. Against an FBS school, James Madison gave West Virginia all they could handle before ultimately falling to the Mountaineers. On to week two where the CAA faces four more FBS teams and a couple of strong non-conference games.

2019 College Sports Journal Conference Previews: Ivy League

Last season was one for the ages in the Ivy League, with Princeton going 10-0. It was the fourth outright Ivy League title in Princeton 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. 9-1 Dartmouth was a heartbreaking second place to the Tigers, their only loss a 14-9 instant classic at Princeton. This season, will it come down to another battle of unbeatens?

College Sports Journal Top 25 Rankings, 9/3/2019

Week one is in the books in the FCS. There was only one FCS upset over an FBS team, but another 11 teams came within one score of an upset. Many of the top teams played FBS competition, so where was not a lot of movement with those teams in the polls. Bad losses by Jacksonville State and Wofford have plummeted both of those teams.

Lehigh Wins The Internet, But Loses The Football Game to St. Francis (PA), 14-13

We live in a strange world where people consume things in bites. People consume bites like video clips quickly, and sometimes they love them enough to keep watching them, enjoy them, and share them with their friends and followers.

That’s what happened today with one play out of the 138 plays that were run in the St. Francis (PA)/Lehigh game this Saturday, the first game of the season for both teams.