Jacksonville State, the No. 4 seed in this year’s playoffs, will play host to Davidson, the Pioneer League champion, in one of eight first-round games. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Gamecocks and Wildcats.
Tag: Pioneer Football League
College Sports Journal Pioneer Football Conference Football Preview Week of 3/13, 2021
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.
2021 CSJ Pioneer Football League Spring Football Preview
CSJ’s Predicted Order of Finish 1. San Diego 2. Drake 3. Davidson 4. Stetson 5. Morehead State 6. Butler 7. Valparaiso 8. Presbyterian Dayton & Marist * (not participating in spring season) 2019 PFL NCAA Division I FCS Playoff Results First Round Northern Iowa 17 San Diego 3 The Pioneer Football League will begin […]
Historic Spring College Football Season Set to Begin
The National Football Foundation (NFF) highlighted today the more than 310 schools and 35 conferences playing college football this spring at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division II, Division III and NAIA levels. FBS independent New Mexico State will also play games this spring.
ANALYSIS: As Ivy League Contemplates Moving to Spring, NCAA Needs to Clarify Whether An FCS Championship Will Happen
The Patriot League’s dilemmas, whether the rest of FCS admits it or not, is the FCS’ dilemmas. And as we inch closer to an alleged 2020 college football season, the NCAA needs to make some things very clear before a huge mess happens.
Patriot League Council of Presidents Announces Guidance On Fall Competition, Including Travel, Preseason Camp Restrictions
The Patriot League Office announced on Monday guidance regarding the 2020 fall competition, a list of principles to “guide the development of a Patriot League 2020 Athletics Plan.”
2020 College Sports Journal FCS Preseason All-America Team Announced
Sixty student-athletes in the NCAA Division I Football’s Championship Subdivision have been named to the 2020 College Sports Journal Preseason FCS All-America Team.
2019 FCS Playoffs, Round 1 Review: CSJ Staff Gives Their Opinions
With the first round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games. Monmouth 44, Holy Cross 27 FCS 1st Round Playoffs: Monmouth Overwhelms Holy Cross 44-27 For Hawks First-Ever Playoff Victory Chuck: Monmouth proved they have a balanced offense that can give […]
FCS 1st Round Playoffs: Defense Key to Northern Iowa Defeating San Diego 17-3
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa–With Northern Iowa’s offense struggling to make plays, the Panthers got a defensive touchdown and forced four turnovers to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs with a 17-3 win over San Diego (9-3) in front of 3,743 in attendence at the UNI-Dome. DE Brawntae Wells returned an interception for a […]
2019 FCS Playoffs: CSJ Playoff Picks
The FCS playoffs are finally here! Enjoy the picks of the staff of the College Sports Journal and find out who we think will win the FCS National Championship.
2019 FCS First Round Playoff Matchup: San Diego at Northern Iowa, How To Watch and Fearless Predictions
FCS First Round Playoff Matchup: San Diego (Pioneer) at Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) Where: UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls, Iowa When: Saturday, November 30th, 2:00 PM EST TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) San Diego Toreros (9-2), Head Coach: Dale Lindsey Pioneer Football League San Diego, California The PFL Champion Toreros enter their fourth straight trip to the FCS […]
2019 FCS Playoff Bracket Announced: How To Watch, CSJ Staff Impressions
Two-time defending national champion North Dakota State (12-0) tops the bracket as the number one seed after winning the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Bison are making their 10th consecutive and 15th overall appearance in the championship.
Pioneer Football League Reviews: Week 13
Dayton and Drake finished tied for second place in the league standing with identical 6-2 records, while Davidson placed fourth after compiling a 5-3 record.
College Sports Journal Sagarin FCS Playoff Predictions–FINAL 2019
Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the 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 24 for the 24 teams that make the FCS playoffs. The seven Division I win criteria was […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Final Playoff Picks, 11/23/2019
The FCS Playoff Committee has a pretty unenviable job this time around in trying to determine the playoff seeds. With a crazy day of upsets of Montana, South Dakota State, Illinois State and others, teams who looked like certain seeds suddenly look like they are going to be practicing on Thanksgiving Day instead.
College Sports Journal Pioneer Football League Previews, How To Watch: Week of 11/23/2019
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.
College Sports Journal Top 25 11/19/19
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.
Pioneer Football League Reviews: Week 12
The Toreros had little trouble in steamrolling their way to another Pioneer Football League championship with an impressive win over Morehead State on Saturday.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Finally, Finally! A Whole Heap of Clarity
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.
College Sports Pioneer Football League Previews, How To Watch: Week of 11/16/2019
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.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Two Weeks Til Selection Sunday, Zero Autobids Offered
Two weeks to go, and how many autobids have been clinched? How about… none?
Pioneer Football League Reviews: Week 11
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.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Finally, Things Start To Come Into Focus
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.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: When Last Week’s Bracket Goes Terribly Wrong
Remember when I had Villanova as a seed? Good times. Harken back to when I had Delaware in my field? Yes, way back when – last week. Do you recall the time that I had more than two Southland teams in my bracket? It’s so long ago, why, when it happened, North Dakota State and […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Where Everything Is Made Up And the Picks Don’t Matter
As of right now, the FCS Playoff field feels like the show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway”, where the picks are just random improvisations of things that end up not making any sense. Nonetheless, we’ll keep pressing on, trying to figure out some version of truth.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Who Will I Cast Out Of the Projected Bracket This Week? (By Picking Them)
Welcome, America, to the FCSP’TID Cover Photo Curse.
Eastern Washington, UC Davis, Jacksonville State, and, last week, Montana State graced this space as rising teams that were all but guaranteed spots in the FCS playoffs after a particularly impressive win, or a gut-check performance.
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Your Modestly Improving 2019 FCS Playoff Projection, Week of 10/8/2019
Don’t bother looking at my previous editions of “Playoffs ‘Til I Die” to get a solid playoff bracket. Like the rest of America, I had Eastern Washington and UC Davis in my brackets and now, let’s just say, they are not. As the Big Sky autobid turns, however, we inch ever closer to a better […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Your Somewhat More Relevant 2019 FCS Playoff Projection, Week of 9/21/2019
It would be nice if Eastern Washington would stop making my sample FCS Playoff brackets look so foolish. The first playoff bracket of the season, I had the Eagles in the field as a seed, mostly on the backs of their potential to win the Big Sky. Two losses and a 1-3 record later, I’m […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Your Modestly More Relevant 2019 FCS Playoff Projection, Week of 9/14/2019
Last week, we shook the dust off our first laughable attempt at picking an FCS Playoff field, and this week, we make another laughable attempt at picking an FCS Playoff field, but with a few more data points so that it’s, well, a tiny bit less hilarious. This week, we saw North Dakota State extend […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Your Near-Meaningless 2019 FCS Playoff Projection, Week of 9/7/2019
There truly is a never-ending search for content, a fact I was reminded of when I was politely and earnestly asked this week about coming up with an FCS playoff projection for the 2019 season.
College Sports Journal Pioneer Football League Previews: Week of 9/7/2019
Davidson’s narrow win against Georgetown last week was a really nice win for the Pioneer, who went 2-4 in their games last week. This week boasts another interesting grouping of games against the top teams of FCS and sub-D-I opponents.
College Sports Journal Pioneer Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 8/31/2019
The PFL starts their 2019 journeys this week with the most diverse out-of-conference slate in all fo the FCS. Butler takes on the defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State Bison, and nearby D-II Union (KY) takes on Morehead State, but the most interesting matchup might involve two surprise teams that could be a big factor in their conference races.
College Sports Journal 2019 Division I Football Conference Preview: Pioneer League
These teams are high caliber teams who will be in contention for PFL crown and the league’s automatic playoff bid.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: San Diego Toreros
The Toreros finished 2018 with a 9-3 overall record and a 8-0 mark in the Pioneer Football League to win their third straight PFL title outright and fifth straight including ties but USD did bow out a round earlier than the prior two seasons in the playoffs (a 49-30 first round loss at Nicholls).
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Drake Bulldogs
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.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Dayton Flyers
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 […]
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Butler Bulldogs
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.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Stetson Hatters
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.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Davidson Wildcats
Say what you want about the Wildcats and their feather-light schedule – Davidson was a mighty entertaining football team last year.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Marist Red Foxes
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.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Morehead State Eagles
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.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Valparaiso Crusaders
The Crusaders regressed to a 2-9 overall mark (2-6 PFL) after posting a 6-5 mark in 2017 and also lost its head coach Dave Cecchini in the offseason, who left to be the head man at Bucknell of the Patriot League.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Jacksonville Dolphins
A somewhat promising season crashed and burned to a disappointing 2-8 record. In eight games, including one of their victories, the Dolphin defense gave up more than thirty points.
Gauging The FCS Football Landscape For 2019 – In Which Tier Is Your Favorite Football Program?
It’s May. Spring football is over, and the preseason camps don’t start for a couple months. We are in the doldrums of the FCS offseason. But at this point, everyone is 0-0 and hope springs eternal. 127 schools think they have a shot to make the playoffs and compete for an FCS Championship in Frisco. […]
FCS Playoffs: Nicholls Goes Up Early, Withstands Late Offensive Fireworks To Defeat San Diego 49-30
Nicholls 49, San Diego 30 Video Highlights Courtesy NCAA.com THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls State raced out to a 32-point lead over San Diego early in the third quarter and held off a late rally to win its first playoff game in 32 years, defeating the Toreros, 49-30, Saturday evening at Manning Field in John L. […]
CSJ First Round Playoff Preview: San Diego at Nicholls, How To Watch and Fearless Predictions
San Diego at Nicholls When: Saturday, November 24, 3:00 PM Where: John L Guidry Stadium, Thoibodaux, LA TV/Streaming: ESPN3 San Diego Toreros San Diego, California Pioneer Football League Enrollment: 5,774 FCS Sagarin Rating: 72 Season Recap: The Toreros, who are playing in their third consecutive FCS Playoffs, won the Pioneer Football League with a perfect 8-0 league […]
CSJ Thoughts On the 2018 FCS Playoff Selection Field
The 2018 FCS Playoff Bracket was announced on ESPNU on November 18th at 12:30 EST, and the NCAA issued their release about the 2018 FCS Playoff Bracket here. There were some interesting matchups, some shocking omissions, and a lot of interesting twists and turns. CSJ’s Jamie Williams, Kent Schmidt and Chuck Burton followed the picks […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: Final 2018 Playoff Prediction
All the regular season games have been played, and let’s get right to it. Once again, a quick recap of the rules for the ability to qualify for the FCS Playoffs: The field for the FCS Playoffs is determined at the conclusion of the FCS regular season, which is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. There are […]
FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: The Drama Before The Drama
Though the field for the 2018 FCS Playoffs was clarified a little bit a week before the selection of the field, a chaotic upset-filled week not only thrust an unlikely team to a conference championship at autobid, it sets up a final weekend of the FCS regular season filled with meaningful games. About the only […]
That Was the FCS Week That Was: The Week That Upended the Playoffs, 11/11/2018
What a weekend! Whatever you thought was true in regards to the qualified teams in the FCS Playoff field last week was almost certainly changed after an epic weekend of upsets. About the only outcomes that came out as expected were that the three remaining undefeated teams, 10-0 North Dakota State, 9-0 Colgate, and 9-0 […]
