The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) awards up to 63 scholarships(they may give fewer, but not more, & maintain their good standing in the FCS ranks) in their respective football programs, while the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) must give 85 scholarships to maintain their membership in that division of the NCAA. Clearly, when a club from the FBS takes on a FCS Team, they have the advantage of 22 more scholarship athletes on their rosters. That said, the results from this week’s games seem to fly in the face of reason, as the FCS team’s won 8 games on opening weekend. Let’s start at the top with conferences that make up the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and then move on to the four conferences & Independents that are in the FBS but not part of the BCS.
SEC: Only two of the fourteen teams from the Southeastern Conference took on a FCS opponent; Tennessee & Missouri. The results are in line with what one would expect, the Volunteers hammered Austin Peay, 45-0, while Missouri pounded Murray State, 58-14! The SEC obliterates its 2 FCS opponents, 103-14!
Big Ten: Two clubs from the league, Illinois & Indiana, played host to two squads from the FCS. The Illini took on an in-state opponent, Southern Illinois, and struggled to a 42-34 victory. While Indiana ran all over, another in-state opponent, Indiana State, scoring 70 points, but give up way to many points, 35, to the Sycamores. Neither one of the Big Ten teams performed very well in these games. However unimpressive, the Big Ten goes 2-0 vs the FCS!
Big 12: Four Big 12 were in action Saturday against FCS Teams and the results were a shocking, 2-2 against these 63 scholarships programs. Baylor performed as one would expect, they blasted Wofford, 69-3, while West Virginia struggled to a hard fought, 24-17 victory over William & Mary. Then, another in-state tilt, as Northern Iowa surprised Iowa State, 28-20, @ Jack Trace Stadium, home of the Cyclones. Now for the upset of the day, defending Big 12 champion, Kansas State fell to two time defending FCS champion, North Dakota State, 24-21. If you go to the Blog, the Big 12 preview, written on February, 23, Sully’s CFP predicted this result!
ACC: The Atlantic Coast Conference scheduled four FCS Teams on opening weekend and beat all four and for the most part, did so solidly. Wake Forest man-handled Presbyterian, 31-7, Duke destroyed a Durman, in-city opponent, North Carolina Central, 45-0, while Georgia Tech demolished Elon, 70-0. The only ACC team to struggle was Boston College, surviving Villanova, 24-14. The ACC handled FCS competition with relative ease!
PAC 12: The West Coast Boys took on 3 FCS Teams with typical results, Oregon wasted Nicholls State, 69-3 and Arizona steamrolled Northern Arizona, 35-0. Then came the “what” ,,, Oregon State, the 25 ranked team in the AP’s Top 25 was shocked by Eastern Washington, 49-46. The PAC 12 finished 2-1 vs the Football Championship Subdivision!
AAC: (Former Big East) This league is in transition and trending the wrong way. While they will be with the powers of college football (in the BCS) for one more year, it is unlikely they will remain in an elite position for the 2014 season. Case in point, they took on three FCS teams and not only lost to two of then… they got hammered, pounded, and slapped up! Houston started the AAC out on the right foot, blasting Southern 62-13, then, disaster; U-Conn lost to Towson, 33-18, and South Florida was annihilated by McNeese State, 53-21! The AAC, in search of respect, may have lost all credibility, by going 1-2 vs FCS programs, in the first week of the season.
FCS goes 5-13 vs the FBS/ BCS. They usually win 4 to 6 games against BCS opponents in a year .. never recall a week like this where they win 5 games in a single week-end!
MWC: The Mountain West went 2-1 vs their FCS foes. Air Force beat Colgate, 38-13 and San Jose handled Sacramento, 24-0. Their lone conference loss was experienced by San Diego State, at the hands of Eastern Illinois, a 40-19 tail whipping.
C-USA: The conference took on two FCS programs, Middle Tennessee beat Western Carolina, 45-24 and Tulane beat Jackson State, 34-7. Conference-USA went 2-0 in its match-ups vs the FCS.
MAC: Ball State beat Illinois State, 51-28, Eastern Michigan stopped Howard, 34-24, & Kent State beat Liberty, 17-10! The Mac, while going 3-0, played in 2 very competitive games.
Sun Belt: The SBC played against three FCS opponents, but did not fare well, as they went 1-2 against them. Georgia State lost Samford 31-21 and South Alabama lost to Southern Utah, 22-21. Their lone win was provided by Arkansas State vs Arkansas Pine Bluff, 62-11!
The FBS Independents: Did not play an FCS Team in week one!
The Non-BCS, FBS Conferences played played 11 games against FCS opponents and finished 8-3.
Overall, the FCS won 8 games against FBS competition: 1) Northern Iowa beat Iowa State, 28-20, 2) North Dakota State shocked Kansas State, 24-21, 3) Eastern Washington outscored Oregon State, 49-46, 4) Towson stopped U-Conn 33-18, 5) McNeese pounded South Florida 53-21, 6) Eastern Illinois ran past San Diego State 40-19, 7) Southern Utah held off South Alabama, 22-21, & 8) Samford moved past Georgia State, 31-21!
FBS 21 wins vs FCS 8 wins in 29 games. This is by far the best the FCS has done in recent years. The irony to this is the Big Ten and others will stop playing FCS teams in 2015!
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