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The road to Frisco will go through Huntsville after the Sam Houston Bearkats were named the No. 1 overall seed in the FCS Playoffs when the bracket was revealed a couple of weeks ago.
These two teams have never faced each other. Both offenses are prolific.
The Rattlers are averaging 29 points per game, which is 44th in the FCS; they’re averaging 389 yards per game, which is 43rd in the FCS.
Incarnate Word’s offense is hard to stop – they’re scoring 39.6 points per game, which is 4th in the FCS.
Eastern Kentucky/Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana/Incarnate Word headline a critical week.
If you weren’t following the key FCS Playoff matchups last week involving the playoffs, boy did you miss out!
The Cowboys will be tough on the road.
The Cowboys put up 21 points in the second quarter, which proved to be sufficient in their 35-17 win over the Demons. It was their first league win of the season.
Cole Kelley is among the national leaders in every passing category, having thrown for 1,593 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions on 135-of-182 passing (74.2 % completion percentage).
With a Bearkat win over Stephen F. Austin, K.C. Keeler would win his 247th career game. That would move him into sole possession of eighth place all-time among FCS head coaches who have spent at least 10 years at FCS schools.
McNeese entered last Saturday’s game against LSU wanting to show some improvement from last week’s season opening loss to West Florida – the Cowboys battled from start to finish in a 34-7 loss.
Southland Conference Game of the Week The first three seasons of Brad Laird’s tenure as the head coach at his alma mater have produced record-setting offenses, turnover-happy defenses and arguably the most challenging set of circumstances faced by a Northwestern State football team. As Laird enters his fourth season at the helm of the Demon.
Game of the Week: Incarnate Word at Youngstown State
The game will feature two of most explosive offenses in the FCS with the Hawks averaging 41.7 points per game which is fifth in the FCS and Sam Houston scoring 45.4 per contest just ahead of MU in fourth.
Lots of playoff implications on the line for the Southland this weekend.
Scoreboards may break as one of the biggest games of the week features two of the best spring offenses squaring off.
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”.
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.
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.
With three playoff teams in 2019, including 2018 champion and 2019 co-champ Nicholls, the Sam Houston State Bearkats seek a return to form following seven straight NCAA trips from 2011-17 that began with two title game appearances.
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.
Nicholls is the favorite for the Southland Conference spring football season based on a preseason vote, the league announced Wednesday.
How do teams outside the FCS “Big Three” conferences take that final step to become national championship contenders, and how do these conferences gain national respect?
With the second round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games.
Hosting their first FCS Playoff games since 2015, the Grizzlies put on a show for their home fans, setting program and national records as they defeated Southeastern Louisiana 73-28 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
FARGO, N.D. — Top seeded North Dakota State set a new FCS record with its 34th consecutive victory, pulling away from Nicholls in the second half for a 37-13 win in the second round of the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs in front of 15,690 at the Fargodome. North Dakota State (13-0) broke a tie.
Illinois State RB James Robinson followed up his 297 yard effort last week against Southeast Missouri State with a 210 yard rushing game against Central Arkansas, including two touchdowns as the Redbirds defeated Central Arkansas 24-14 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
This weekend eight seeded teams join the FCS Playoff party, including North Dakota State, who has made December dome football a North Dakota tradition, and four teams from the Big Sky, who saw an unprecedented four teams seeded in the playoffs. As a result, seven of the eight games are being played west of the Mississippi River.
FCS Second Round Playoff Matchup: Illinois State at Central Arkansas Where: Estes Stadium, Conway, Arkansas When: Saturday, December 7th, 3:00 PM TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) Illinois State Redbirds (9-4), Head Coach: Brock Spack Missouri Valley Normal, Illinois In order for Illinois State to come away with a victory in its first-round playoff game.
The oddsmakers don’t give them much of a chance – on a popular gambling site, Nicholls was a 28 point underdog.
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.
When the bracket was released last Sunday, many fans pointed to the Villanova/Southeastern Louisiana as the most potentially entertaining game and the one most likely to see a lot of scoring. The two teams did not disappoint, scoring a total of 89 points in a 45-44 Lion win that went down to the very last minutes of the game.
Julien Gums and Dontrell Taylor combined for 267 yards on the ground and quarterback Chase Fourcade completed all but two of his 16 pass attempts as Nicholls State defeated North Dakota 24-6 on Saturday on Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium.
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.
Are the Wildcats just a streaky team? Can they continue their hot streak into the playoffs? A matchup with a strong Southeastern Louisiana Lions team will certainly test Villanova on both sides of the ball.
Perhaps no other matchup in this year’s opening round of the FCS playoffs pits two teams with such a varying discrepancy in terms of history and achievement in the sport of football. But, in the end, history will be made for one team as the sun sets on the day after North Dakota and Nicholls State meet for the first time in the history of the two schools.
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.
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.
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.
It has taken until the last week of the regular season, but we finally have some clarity in the Southland Conference.
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.
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.
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.
Two weeks to go, and how many autobids have been clinched? How about… none?
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.
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 Southland continues to be one of the most confusing conferences to figure out. As soon as we think a team has taken a step forward to enhance their profile, they perplex us all by losing a game you would never expect them to lose.
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.
If the playoffs started today, the Southland would easily have four teams in the playoffs, and would still have at least one team that would feel snubbed. The Southland has taken a big step forward to become that fourth conference just behind the big three. There is still a lot of football to be played, but this is one of the more intriguing races as we head down the stretch.
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.
