2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

[Nidaros]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Wildcats are fumbling and intercepting the game away

Wildcats have shown their talent in the second half. Out scored USD 15 to zero. Kstate now leads 27-24.

[jakejc795]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Wildcats have shown their talent in the second half. Out scored USD 17 to zero. Kstate now leads 27-24.

27-24 is the final. USD loses a close one

[Nidaros]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

27-24 is the final. USD loses a close one

Definitely a good showing by USD. I am going to enjoy the Showdown game.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Montana held off a late UNI comeback attempt to win 26-23. Didn't see the game, but apparently the griz looked like their 2008 selves again, at least in the first half. It'll be interesting to see how they develop in Missoula this year.

Another game of note: Idaho gives up 70+ against Fresno state in their debut as an FCS team. Apparently the Vandals have a qb controversy: the head coach's son is splitting snaps and he's nowhere near as talented as their other QB. That game was one that they needed, since they'll be playing a non-counter D2 Eastern New Mexico squad next week. They'll need to go 7-2 to finish the year to be in the post season.

McNeese beat Northern Colorado 17-14. The bears aren't all that great, but any southland over Big Sky victory is bound to help them come selection time.

Speaking of the Southland, Nicholls State scalped Kansas in overtime, giving them their first P5 win in program history. NSU could be the team to beat in that conference. They have a big showdown with SHSU in late spetember.

JMU played NC STATE close, but came up short, 24-13. And Kennesaw state just narrowly missed a Georgia state upset in Atlanta. The owls should be a top 8 team this year with the talent they return.

[thumper_76]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Since it’s the bye week, might be good to put up some of the eye catching games this weekend. Obviously we’ll all be interested in what happens north of us, that game could be a trap for the cows if they get caught peeking ahead to their dream of revenge against us. There are some others that will be good to keep an eye on.

Maine @ Central Michigan- Maine has looked like the real deal, and already have an FBS win after coming back from a 21 point deficit in their previous FBS game. They have a real shot at two FBS scalps this year.

ISUr @ Colorado St- I wouldn’t be shocked if the Redbirds win this one. CSU hasn’t looked good this year and ISUr is coming off a bye.

Sac St @ Montana- Should be an interesting matchup, a lot of people think that the Hornets should be pretty solid this year. Will be interesting to see how the Griz respond to losing to WIU and help us get a grasp of where we sit with WIUs performances vs both Montana schools.

SHSU @ Nicholls- Could be virtually a playoff elimination game for both teams. If SHSU loses they have to get a lot of help to make the playoffs IMO. Nicholls looks to be a solid team this year, and at home I think they have a good shot.

Samford @ Chattanooga- Samford was projected to be the top SoCon team and stubbed their tie against Mercer last week after giving Florida St all they could handle. Chatty has looked surprisingly good after an abysmal season last year.


If anybody thinks I missed one be sure to add it. Going to give ESPN+ a workout on Saturday. If you want to watch Big Sky games download the Pluto app, it’s free. There’s supposed to be a free app to watch CAA games too but I haven’t looked that hard for it yet.


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[Kemo]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Since it’s the bye week, might be good to put up some of the eye catching games this weekend. Obviously we’ll all be interested in what happens north of us, that game could be a trap for the cows if they get caught peeking ahead to their dream of revenge against us. There are some others that will be good to keep an eye on.

Maine @ Central Michigan- Maine has looked like the real deal, and already have an FBS win after coming back from a 21 point deficit in their previous FBS game. They have a real shot at two FBS scalps this year.

ISUr @ Colorado St- I wouldn’t be shocked if the Redbirds win this one. CSU hasn’t looked good this year and ISUr is coming off a bye.

Sac St @ Montana- Should be an interesting matchup, a lot of people think that the Hornets should be pretty solid this year. Will be interesting to see how the Griz respond to losing to WIU and help us get a grasp of where we sit with WIUs performances vs both Montana schools.

SHSU @ Nicholls- Could be virtually a playoff elimination game for both teams. If SHSU loses they have to get a lot of help to make the playoffs IMO. Nicholls looks to be a solid team this year, and at home I think they have a good shot.

Samford @ Chattanooga- Samford was projected to be the top SoCon team and stubbed their tie against Mercer last week after giving Florida St all they could handle. Chatty has looked surprisingly good after an abysmal season last year.


If anybody thinks I missed one be sure to add it. Going to give ESPN+ a workout on Saturday. If you want to watch Big Sky games download the Pluto app, it’s free. There’s supposed to be a free app to watch CAA games too but I haven’t looked that hard for it yet.


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Not a ton more to add being that this is a bye week for a lot of teams, but Richmond @ Stony Brook and McNeese State @ BYU could be consequential.

Richmond and Stony Brook will probably be fighting for one of the last at-large bids come playoff time, so head-to-head winner may be the deciding factor in who's in and who's out.

McNeese State is interesting to me because they have been skyrocketing up some polls after the Nichols win, but I'm a little unsure how good they actually are (A Southland Conference schedule usually doesn't test a team's mettle, either). I don't expect them to beat BYU, but them being competitive will help ease some concerns.

[BitsTD]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

We need to get McNeese back on the schedule. We still owe them some payback.


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[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Maine has me very intrigued. If they can scalp CMU, I think it'd be tough to find a better resume after 3 games in the country. NDSU would be 3-0, but are Poly, Delaware, and UNA better than UNH, FBS WKU and FBS (although a very bad fbs) CMU? The Black Bears have some tough games remaining against a very improved URI team, Towson, Elon, and Nova, but if they get past the Chippewas on Saturday, I think we could see them at 10-1 or maybe even undefeated. They don't play JMU or UD, and 10/6 vs Nova at home is likely their toughest game left. I believe they have to go to Towson, which will be difficult, but based on what I've seen so far, I don't think they drop more than 2 conference games, and it wouldn't shock me if they run the table. Their schedule sets up nice for a seed. Where do you seed a 10-1 JMU and an 11-0 UMaine that didn't play each other??? Or how about this one: NDSU, JMU, MAINE all go 10-1. SDSU is 9-1 with a loss @ ISUr. Mcneese is 10-1 with a loss at BYU, EWU is 10-1 with a loss at Wazzu, Wofford is 10-1 with a loss to Wyoming and the SoCon autobid, and KSU is 10-1 with a loss at Georgia State.

[Evolution Prime]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Where do you seed a 10-1 JMU and an 11-0 UMaine that didn't play each other??? Or how about this one: NDSU, JMU, MAINE all go 10-1. SDSU is 9-1 with a loss @ ISUr. Mcneese is 10-1 with a loss at BYU, EWU is 10-1 with a loss at Wazzu, Wofford is 10-1 with a loss to Wyoming and the SoCon autobid, and KSU is 10-1 with a loss at Georgia State.

1. JMU
2. NDSU
3. EWU
4. KSU
5. SDSU
6. Maine
7. McNeese
8. Wofford

Given this scenario, JMU and NDSU would be the top two seeds. I give JMU the nod due to only having a loss to an FBS team. I would go with SDSU, EWU, and KSU for seeds 3 through 5. Since we have less games and a loss against FCS, we get slightly punished and slide to the 5 seed. I see EWU better than KSU so they get the 3 seed. Seeds 6 through 8 are a toss up. Even if Maine gets the 6th seed with an unbeaten record, even if they don't get the autobid. I guess I could see them leapfrogging SDSU for the #5 seed, but I will go with the homer pick since we would have beat the #1 FCS team on the road. I see Wofford and McNeese being interchangeable for the 7 and 8th seeds. I went with McNeese at the 7 seed due to the win over Nicholls State.

[thumper_76]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

1. JMU
2. NDSU
3. EWU
4. KSU
5. SDSU
6. Maine
7. McNeese
8. Wofford

Given this scenario, JMU and NDSU would be the top two seeds. I give JMU the nod due to only having a loss to an FBS team. I would go with SDSU, EWU, and KSU for seeds 3 through 5. Since we have less games and a loss against FCS, we get slightly punished and slide to the 5 seed. I see EWU better than KSU so they get the 3 seed. Seeds 6 through 8 are a toss up. Even if Maine gets the 6th seed with an unbeaten record, even if they don't get the autobid. I guess I could see them leapfrogging SDSU for the #5 seed, but I will go with the homer pick since we would have beat the #1 FCS team on the road. I see Wofford and McNeese being interchangeable for the 7 and 8th seeds. I went with McNeese at the 7 seed due to the win over Nicholls State.

Undefeated Maine gets the number one seed, two seed at minimum with two FBS wins. There’s no WAY they drop past 3, and the 3 seed would be a crime with that resume.


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[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Undefeated Maine gets the number one seed, two seed at minimum with two FBS wins. There’s no WAY they drop past 3, and the 3 seed would be a crime with that resume.


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That's my thought as well. Their schedule isn't much weaker than JMU's, if it's weaker at all. 11-0 Black bears are above anyone else at 10-1 imo. I also think it'll be tough to seed an 8-2 SDSU in the above scenario. 9-1 could land anywhere from about 4 to 8 I think. It's still way too early to project who the top 8 teams will be and their record, but it certainly seems like we could end up with several 1 loss team's at the end of the year.

[Nidaros]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Don’t know where to put this: bison up 35-0 on blue hens It could be long day in Fargo next week.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Don’t know where to put this: bison up 35-0 on blue hens It could be long day in Fargo next week.

I watched the first half. Bison looked good. Hens looked terrible. They gave up a quick score followed immediately by a pick 6, and it was over. They are a grind it out, run heavy offense, and they can't get anything going. Not the best O to come into Fargo and keep the ball moving. I actually think it serves SDSU well that the hens are getting blown out. A close game might give the bison a "wake up call" before the marker. Instead, if we come out fast next week and punch them in the mouth, they'll be experiencing it for the first time this season. Lots of unknowns about both NDSU and SDSU at this point, based solely on opponents played so far. They certainly look the part today though.

[Nidaros]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

I watched the first half. Bison looked good. Hens looked terrible. They gave up a quick score followed immediately by a pick 6, and it was over. They are a grind it out, run heavy offense, and they can't get anything going. Not the best O to come into Fargo and keep the ball moving. I actually think it serves SDSU well that the hens are getting blown out. A close game might give the bison a "wake up call" before the marker. Instead, if we come out fast next week and punch them in the mouth, they'll be experiencing it for the first time this season. Lots of unknowns about both NDSU and SDSU at this point, based solely on opponents played so far. They certainly look the part today though.

Their defense looks very good. I hope you are correct.

[SteelSD]

Re: 2018 FCS National Updates and Story Lines

Interesting that the Bison fans were on us about running it up and throwing the ball in the 2nd half. Well, today they threw the ball as many times in the 2nd half as we did last week, but still had Stick playing (and throwing the ball) in the /nd half. But they will still probably claim how much better sports they are for “taking the foot off the gas....”