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Our number one team from last week went down. North Dakota State dominated both sides of the trenches to beat North Dakota. Sam Houston continue to roll in the Southland. VMI and Chattanooga kept their unbeaten starts going by a combined 3 points. And in the CAA Rhode Island is 2-0 with two ranked wins, as everyone predicted (not exactly).
We’re about at about the midpoint of the spring season, and the writers at CSJ get together to take stock of the season so far.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 2021 Spring Division I 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 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring.
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.
VMI and Chattanooga are the two remaining teams without a conference loss. Furman is waiting in the wings if they falter.
SIU now gets South Dakota State at home this week. The Jackrabbits had a nail bitter against winless Youngstown State at home last week. The Jacks led the Penguins 16-7 through three quarters of play but YSU came back with 10 straight points to take the lead. SDSU though managed to drive in the wanning seconds of the game to get into field goal position where K Cole Frahm kicked a 29-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining to lift the Jacks to the victory.
It was another topsy turvy week in the FCS. 2 of our top five from last week lost. Things have been changing week by week and this week is no different. We have a new #1 team at College Sports Journal this week but only by one single vote..
In a way, the opening drive which ended with zero Lehigh points summed up the entire afternoon.
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 2021 Spring Division I 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 16 for the 16 teams that make the FCS playoffs for this spring.
BETHLEHEM, PA – The Holy Cross Crusaders beat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 20-3 at Murray Goodman Stadium in the first college football game contested by both schools in over 450 days.
Depending on what happens there could be as many as five teams with one loss by the end of the day and making the second half of the spring schedule even more critical with a smaller playoff field this spring.
It is uncharted waters for both teams, with plenty of questions to answer playing an unprecedented Patriot League spring football season. But many of the principal contributors in that 24-17 game more than a year ago in Bethlehem will be suiting up tomorrow.
William & Mary at James Madison is postponed this weekend, but there are still five games on the schedule to enjoy.
The conference schedule for the eight teams that will play in the Pioneer Football League begin this week. The PFL will play a six-week sprint of a spring season before the champion of the league advances to the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.
Nicholls at Sam Houston is a must-see game – it could decide the Southland. If you like offense, this game is a must-see. The winner has the inside track to the autobid to the FCS Playoffs, and potentially even a seed. The loser isn’t done, but there will be nervous weeks ahead. Is Sam Houston back among the top FCS teams? Is Nicholls ready for that next step?
This week the most intriguing match-up appears to the Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois as we have all MVFC games this week played on Saturday, March 13. The two schools both have a loss and getting their second loss as we will enter the mid-point of the spring schedule will likely result in the loser having to win out the rest of the season to get a playoff berth.
Last week was an excellent week of Southern Conference football with two games going to overtime and VMI continuing its hot start. Chattanooga was able to survive against The Citadel with a gutsy 2-point conversion shovel pass in over time. Furman fell behind 24-7 and 34-20 before saving their season with a touchdown and fumble recovery in overtime. With the games on tap this week, don’t be surprised to see more games come down to the final play.
For this Lehigh team, who has gone through this unique journey back to playing games that count, it feels like this weekend is almost as much a celebration of what football means to them as much as it is a Patriot League conference game against Holy Cross at Murray Goodman Stadium at noon this Saturday.
As chaotic as last week was, this week was as docile. The highest ranked team from last week’s College Sports Journal top 25 that lost was #13. We do have a new #1 team here at College Sports Journal this week.
In one of the more normal weeks of college football the Big Sky saw a trio of close contests at four, five, and ten point differences. Weber State outlasted a gutsy performance from UC Davis. Southern Utah pulled far enough away from Cal Poly before they started to awaken. And Eastern Washington stormed back from.
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”.
It’s been a very, very long wait, but this weekend, finally, we have a weekend of Patriot League football to look forward to.
Three games that were scheduled for the opening weekend were postponed because of a massive winter storm that hit much of the nation. Now, two weeks later those three contests are set to be played.
On February 1st, Northeast Conference Commissioner Noreen Morris announced revised regular season competition and NEC Championship formats for fall-to-spring, winter and spring sports, which included football.
Raise your hand if you had Chattanooga, VMI or East Tennessee State as the team that will be the last unbeaten remaining in the Southern Conference. Now put your hand down because you are lying.
As we enter the third week of the Spring season, the full CAA will join the fun with five games this weekend.
Northwestern State’s first game of the spring season, Southeastern Louisiana playing for its playoff lives, and surprising Incarnate Word headline Southland Conference action this weekend.
“I’ve been very impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude across the board,” Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore told me. “Getting the opportunity to be on the field and to be working towards competitive opportunities has really motivated everyone. It just feels different out there this semester. There’s an excitement in the air whenever we’re on the field.”
This week we get a Thursday game that matches two of the three undefeated teams left in league play when South Dakota visits North Dakota as one of the highlight games of the week in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. All other games this week in the MVFC will be on Saturday, March 6. Last.
Five players including QB Nic Baker from Southern Illinois, QB Eric Schmid from Sam Houston State, RB Brian Snead from Austin Peay, LB Connor Riddle from VMI, and PK James Baird from Dixie State have been selected as the College Sports Journal FCS All-Stars for the week ending February 21st, 2021.
COVID-19 has caused several programs to opt out of the 2021 spring football season. Still, there are several teams who are continuing on with the season. One of those programs is Southern who defeated Alabama State 24-21 to open its season on Friday and was voted No. 1 in the BOXTOROW Coaches and Media Polls.
As expected there was a bunch of movement this week. The biggest shock is the one everyone has been talking about: North Dakota State not only lost, but lost big. It still remains to be seen how the Bison will wind up this Spring, but last week was their worst game in almost a decade.
Like many other football fans across the nation of FCS, we watched North Dakota State’s 39 game winning streak come to an end in Carbondale, Illinois, but it wasn’t the only event this weekend that had us shaking our heads.
In a week of chaos and controversy around the FCS we saw the Big Sky feature one of the top headlines. Undoubtedly, the top headline was the end of the North Dakota State winning streak, but a close second was the “missed” field goal during the Eastern Washington/ Idaho game. For those who missed it,.
This week we welcome the SWAC, Big Sky, and Big South to the wonderful world of spring FCS football, to go with the Missouri Valley, SoCon and OVC, who started their spring conference slates last week, and Tarleton State, who spent their time crushing FBS New Mexico State 43-17.
After a short first week of the season with just three of the possible five games played, Week 2 of MVFC play hopes to play the full five games this week. The two games canceled last week (Illinois State at Missouri State and Western Illinois at South Dakota) were postponed to the final weekend of.
The five teams competing will be Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Kennesaw State, Monmouth and Robert Morris.
McNeese State and Nicholls are the only two Southland schools that have already played spring football games, winning both. This weekend the Southland Conference opens with important conference games.
Two games involving MEAC and SWAC teams remain on the schedule for this week.
The Southern Conference is playing an eight game conference only schedule this spring, meaning there are games every week with little room for error. Last week the two teams that everyone expects to battle it out for the conference title, Wofford and Furman, cruised to victory.
Only one of four games scheduled to kick off the 2021 spring season in the Ohio Valley Conference was actually played out last weekend, thanks to storms that hit a big part of the Mid-South. With any luck things will return to a semblance of normalcy as four games are slated to be played Sunday.
Five players including RB Quay Holmes from East Tennessee State, RB Pierre Strong Jr. from South Dakota State, QB Cameron Burston from Tarleton State, Devon Krzanowski from North Dakota, and Hayden Olsen from Tennessee Tech have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Dec. 14, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools.
Here is this week’s College Sports Journal Top 25 as voted on by the staff.
This weekend saw the best-ever spring weekend of FCS football in history, with a near-full slate of thrilling Missouri Valley conference action, a back-and-forth affair in the OVC, the start of SoCon play, and even a good old-fashioned FCS over FBS upset. It’s like a typical FCS football weekend. Except it’s February 22nd.
The CSJ Staff are proud to present this weekend guide to the games being played 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.
The Ohio Valley Conference, which will use a seven game-game round robin schedule for the eight schools taking part in the spring season, is expected to begin play the weekend of Feb. 21 as the spring season is scheduled to get underway.
The top 25 below has been compiled by vote from each member of the College Sports Journal FCS staff. Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, its going to be a weird spring season.
