Well...I think this is the season of chaos or at least confusion cause things once again got turned on its head this week. Things were thought to have finally got to a point where we knew where everyone stood then a couple conferences had some bad weekend (more on that in a sec).
It is kinda cool that all this is going down because it makes for a more interesting conversation of who may or may not get into the playoffs this year. And it also opens the door for a few teams that wouldn't normally get some consideration, more than a fair shot if they take care of business.
Now the argument can be made that while it is nice to see the middle nice and tight it won't matter come the end of the day cause the top tier of the FCS is now miles away from the pack. And to an extent, they would be right, but its still fun to see the race to the playoffs. One more week left...it will definitely be fun.
Oh boy was it a bad week
It was a bad week for a few teams and conferences but the worst of the worst had to reside in the Missouri Valley. With Northern Iowa, Illinois St, and Western Illinois all losing (all just completely flat, huge stinkers). And yeah call me a homer but the worst of the bunch had to be Western at S. Dakota. I know its a tricky road game but man the Coyotes had given up 50+ its last two games and well over 300 yards rushing in its last three and the Necks go for 21 yards on the ground on 22 carries (no that's not very good) and 12 points. They went into Saturday controlling its own destiny, now they need a minor miracle
After the mess from the weekend, it now means that one of the best conferences in football probably just beat itself out of an extra two bids. This may end up being a three-bid league or even (gulp) two if Western beats Indiana St next week. Now one the bright side? If Indiana St wins they probably get in even without that golden seven D-I victories.
It also helps the CAA in their bid for six playoff teams and eases a ton of pressure off of Elon who also laid an egg at home but still should make the field with a win. Also probably the Southland and Big Sky benefit with their fringe teams as a few more games this weekend hold more weight
Comeback of the...
I don't know how to explain what happened in Murray, Ky on Saturday it was just unbelievable. Any given week, I'm probably flipping thru 10-12 games and checking the scored constantly and I'll be honest, I stopped paying attention when it was 31-0 and boy did I regret it. Yes it was an amazing comeback but for everything good and incredible about what Murray St did, SEMO really took the foot off the throat.
And the ending could possibly be an all-timer...I really can't explain how this went. Luckily here is some video proof of the excitement. Yes you really should look at the full video...its crazy all around
SEMO's possessions after it went 31-0 went like this; Punt, Punt, INT, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, TD, End of Game. They ran 31 plays in the second half for a total of 81 yards with 64 coming on the near game surviving drive. That's not good at all.
Now not to heap a bunch of bad on the Redhawks, the Racers did their part too. But this is really all about SEMO and how this loss really has a ripple effect on the landscape of the FCS going into the final week of the season. As it stands now, SEMO should still get into the playoffs with a win this weekend vs EIU but it no longer controls its own destiny. The loss also handed Jacksonville St the OVC title and the auto-bid when it was right on the edge of safety. The loss also opens up the door to a lot of fringe teams in the Southland, Big Sky, and maybe even the Northeast (seriously that's how crazy its been this year)
You know you are going to be entertained
Every year you have that one team that every week just makes their games interesting for whatever reason...this year I give you the Davidson Wildcats. Why would a Pioneer League team be one of the most interesting teams this side of the early Houston run n shoot teams? Well this team already has put up 91 points and then FCS record 685 rushing yards in a game earlier this year and has scored 30 or more in all but two games this year.
So to top all of that...Davidson ran for a Division I record 789 and somehow found a way to lose the game 56-52 to San Diego. That would be entertainment. Four players ran for over 150 yards in the game, both teams combined for 1477 total yards which would be 72 short of the record (defense came to play!)
This marked the second time Davidson has run for 500 yards in a game and lost! This is what makes this even more incredible, they have run for 400+ yards now in 5 games and have lost the last three games
Oh and before I forget...San Diego quarterback Anthony Lawrence threw for 556 yards and a school-record seven touchdown passes, and Toreros receiver Michael Bandy was on the receiving end of 324 yards, also a school record and four of the seven touchdown passes. Lastly, the Toreros clinched the Pioneer league and are going back to the playoffs
Unexpected Champion
It goes without saying that if you had the University of Incarnate Word sharing the Southland title this year you were a very optimistic member of the football program or alum. This team was one of the worst in all of FCS last year going 1-10 and giving up an FCS-worst 47.7 points per game. But with a 40-27 road win @Central Arkansas, UIW won a share of the Southland title. And it did it by winning three of the four games over the preseason favorites in the conference only losing to Nicholls.
And here is the potential bonus prize for the Cardinals...if Nicholls loses this weekend, they are the outright champs and gets the Southland's auto-bid. Could they get in without the auto-bid? Probably not, but either way its been the most successful season hands down for a team that had only reached the six-win mark once since it became a football program in 2009.
Little brother disappointment
Its never expected for the FCS to have a great record when they step up to FBS schools, but this season was a bit of a disappointment in terms of how the record and performances have gone.
With six more FCS-FBS matchups left, the record sits at 7-97 which will not reach the 10 wins from last year and the record 14 from a few years ago. And outside of the very intriguing matchup between undefeated Colgate and freshly ranked Army, its a bunch of SEC "bye week" games including The Citadel versus Alabama. Someone really needs to explain how this is good
It is kinda cool that all this is going down because it makes for a more interesting conversation of who may or may not get into the playoffs this year. And it also opens the door for a few teams that wouldn't normally get some consideration, more than a fair shot if they take care of business.
Now the argument can be made that while it is nice to see the middle nice and tight it won't matter come the end of the day cause the top tier of the FCS is now miles away from the pack. And to an extent, they would be right, but its still fun to see the race to the playoffs. One more week left...it will definitely be fun.
Oh boy was it a bad week
It was a bad week for a few teams and conferences but the worst of the worst had to reside in the Missouri Valley. With Northern Iowa, Illinois St, and Western Illinois all losing (all just completely flat, huge stinkers). And yeah call me a homer but the worst of the bunch had to be Western at S. Dakota. I know its a tricky road game but man the Coyotes had given up 50+ its last two games and well over 300 yards rushing in its last three and the Necks go for 21 yards on the ground on 22 carries (no that's not very good) and 12 points. They went into Saturday controlling its own destiny, now they need a minor miracle
After the mess from the weekend, it now means that one of the best conferences in football probably just beat itself out of an extra two bids. This may end up being a three-bid league or even (gulp) two if Western beats Indiana St next week. Now one the bright side? If Indiana St wins they probably get in even without that golden seven D-I victories.
It also helps the CAA in their bid for six playoff teams and eases a ton of pressure off of Elon who also laid an egg at home but still should make the field with a win. Also probably the Southland and Big Sky benefit with their fringe teams as a few more games this weekend hold more weight
Comeback of the...
I don't know how to explain what happened in Murray, Ky on Saturday it was just unbelievable. Any given week, I'm probably flipping thru 10-12 games and checking the scored constantly and I'll be honest, I stopped paying attention when it was 31-0 and boy did I regret it. Yes it was an amazing comeback but for everything good and incredible about what Murray St did, SEMO really took the foot off the throat.
And the ending could possibly be an all-timer...I really can't explain how this went. Luckily here is some video proof of the excitement. Yes you really should look at the full video...its crazy all around
SEMO's possessions after it went 31-0 went like this; Punt, Punt, INT, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt, TD, End of Game. They ran 31 plays in the second half for a total of 81 yards with 64 coming on the near game surviving drive. That's not good at all.
Now not to heap a bunch of bad on the Redhawks, the Racers did their part too. But this is really all about SEMO and how this loss really has a ripple effect on the landscape of the FCS going into the final week of the season. As it stands now, SEMO should still get into the playoffs with a win this weekend vs EIU but it no longer controls its own destiny. The loss also handed Jacksonville St the OVC title and the auto-bid when it was right on the edge of safety. The loss also opens up the door to a lot of fringe teams in the Southland, Big Sky, and maybe even the Northeast (seriously that's how crazy its been this year)
You know you are going to be entertained
Every year you have that one team that every week just makes their games interesting for whatever reason...this year I give you the Davidson Wildcats. Why would a Pioneer League team be one of the most interesting teams this side of the early Houston run n shoot teams? Well this team already has put up 91 points and then FCS record 685 rushing yards in a game earlier this year and has scored 30 or more in all but two games this year.
So to top all of that...Davidson ran for a Division I record 789 and somehow found a way to lose the game 56-52 to San Diego. That would be entertainment. Four players ran for over 150 yards in the game, both teams combined for 1477 total yards which would be 72 short of the record (defense came to play!)
This marked the second time Davidson has run for 500 yards in a game and lost! This is what makes this even more incredible, they have run for 400+ yards now in 5 games and have lost the last three games
Oh and before I forget...San Diego quarterback Anthony Lawrence threw for 556 yards and a school-record seven touchdown passes, and Toreros receiver Michael Bandy was on the receiving end of 324 yards, also a school record and four of the seven touchdown passes. Lastly, the Toreros clinched the Pioneer league and are going back to the playoffs
Unexpected Champion
It goes without saying that if you had the University of Incarnate Word sharing the Southland title this year you were a very optimistic member of the football program or alum. This team was one of the worst in all of FCS last year going 1-10 and giving up an FCS-worst 47.7 points per game. But with a 40-27 road win @Central Arkansas, UIW won a share of the Southland title. And it did it by winning three of the four games over the preseason favorites in the conference only losing to Nicholls.
And here is the potential bonus prize for the Cardinals...if Nicholls loses this weekend, they are the outright champs and gets the Southland's auto-bid. Could they get in without the auto-bid? Probably not, but either way its been the most successful season hands down for a team that had only reached the six-win mark once since it became a football program in 2009.
Little brother disappointment
Its never expected for the FCS to have a great record when they step up to FBS schools, but this season was a bit of a disappointment in terms of how the record and performances have gone.
With six more FCS-FBS matchups left, the record sits at 7-97 which will not reach the 10 wins from last year and the record 14 from a few years ago. And outside of the very intriguing matchup between undefeated Colgate and freshly ranked Army, its a bunch of SEC "bye week" games including The Citadel versus Alabama. Someone really needs to explain how this is good
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