FCS Weekend Preview of Dakota Marker Rivalry and Other Top Games

October 11, 2022 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

A 58-game schedule this week opens on Thursday when Morgan State visits North Carolina Central in a MEAC matchup, followed by an Ivy League Friday Night Lights tussle that sends Brown to Princeton.

That leaves 56 games slated for Saturday with 52 of those being pure FCS-FCS matchups. Two FCS teams, Colgate and Gardner-Webb, play a FBS program and 2 others, North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State, face D2 schools.

18 schools have a bye week, including the computer's fifth-ranked Holy Cross Crusaders and four other schools ranked among the computer's top 25 - William & Mary (13), Samford (14), Delaware (15) and Tennessee-Martin (25).

No. 1 Montana heads a list of the computer's Top 25 teams coming off a bye week, along with Jacksonville State, Chattanooga, Austin Peay, Villanova, and Richmond (23).

The game of the week on Saturday sends South Dakota State, the No. 6 team in the Congrove Computer Rankings, to play 7th-ranked North Dakota State in the 113th edition of that rivalry. The Bison opened as 3.5-point favorites at the sportsbooks, but get a slightly less edge by the computer which puts the margin at 2.44. The Jackrabbits are playing a second consecutive huge rivalry game after beating South Dakota in the 117th edition of the Showdown Series last week, 28-3, to end a two-game losing streak to the Coyotes. This week, SDSU will be going for three wins in-a-row over NDSU for the first time since 2007-2009. The Bison still own a 63-44-5 advantage in the series.

In one of three neutral site games, No. 2 Jackson State and No. 7 Bethune-Cookman will tee it up in Jacksonville at TIAA Bank Field, home of the NFL's Jaguars. The teams split the first two games ever played and the Tigers were installed as 24-point favorites to win this one while the computer gives JSU a slightly larger edge at 25.

Another neutral site game will take place in St. Louis on Sunday in the River City HBCU Classic when No. 77 Alabama A&M takes on No. 109 Arkansas-Pine Bluff. There was still no line on the game as of Tuesday afternoon, but the computer gives the Bulldogs a 7.60-point edge. This one will be played in The Dome at America's Center, former home of the NFL's Rams when they played in the Gateway City.

The third neutral site game has Jacksonville State favored (-14) over North Alabama at Toyota Field in the Huntsville suburb of Madison where the Rocket City Trash Pandas play baseball as a double-A affiliate of the Angels. The computer has the Gamecocks by 12 over the Lions in the 50th edition of this series which dates back to the D2 Gulf South Conference and was not contested between 1993 and 2019. Jacksonville State leads 28-18-3. North Alabama usually plays home games at Braly Stadium on its own campus in Florence which is roughly an hour away. It's a little more than a  2-hour trip from Jacksonville, Alabama.

Meanwhile, No.1 Montana (-16) hosts No. 39 Idaho with the computer tabbing the Griz as a 16.87-point favorite. This game could be much closer than that as both teams are 2-0 in the Big Sky conference. Montana is 5-0 over-all and Idaho is 3-2, but that's a bit deceiving as both of the Vandals' losses came on the road against FBS schools in the first two weeks of the season when they fell 24-17 at Washington State and 35-22 at Indiana.

No. 3 Sacramento State goes to Cheney to take on an Eastern Washington squad that's uncharacteristically in a down year. The Eagles are 1-4 against the nation's toughest FCS schedule, 0-2 in the Big West, and in the midst of a 4-game losing streak after a 45-21 loss at Weber State this past Saturday. The Hornets are ranked 3rd in both total offense and scoring offense. The line opened at 13.5 for the Hornets, but the computer lowers that number significantly to 3.92.

No. 4 Weber State opened as a 14.5-point favorite this week at No. 66 Portland State, while the computer has the Wildcats by 12.89 over the Vikings.

No. 8 Montana State (-18.5) gets a 23.58-point edge from the computer as the Bobcats travel to Greeley to take on No. 106 Northern Colorado.

No. 17 Penn hosts No. 24 Columbia in a key Ivy League battle with the undefeated Quakers (4-0, 1-0) favored by 3 over the once-bitten Lions (3-1, 0-1), but only getting a 1.11-point advantage from the computer.

No. 23 Richmond hosts No. 22 Villanova with both teams 3-2 over-all and 1-1 in the Colonial. The line opened with the Spiders giving 4.5 points while getting just 2.03 points worth of loving from the computer.

Get the entire FCS Schedule & Picks.

FCS vs. FBS

There will be 118 FBS vs. FCS matchups this season with App State, Army and Marshall each playing two such games, and 115 other FBS schools playing one apiece.

Two of this season's final 8 FBS-FCS matchups take place this Saturday when Gardner-Webb visits Liberty and Colgate visits Army.

The FBS is 102-8 this year, and 1,676-148 (.919) since we began tracking this in 2003.

Here are the FCS wins in 2022:
September 2: William & Mary 41, Charlotte 24
September 3: Delaware14, Navy 7
September 10: Weber State 35, Utah State 7
September 10: Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41
September 10: Holy Cross 37, Buffalo 31
September 10: Eastern Kentucky 59, Bowling Green 57 (7 OT's)
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10

Streaks

WEBER STATE - Won 7 straight over-all (FCS longest). Won 7 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 45-21 vs Eastern Washington on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Portland State on Saturday, October 15.

MONTANA STATE - Won 16 straight home games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 37-6 vs. Idaho State on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Northern Colorado on Saturday, October 15.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - Won 12 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 20-14 vs. Florida A&M on Saturday, October 8.
Next: Hosts D2 Virginia-Lynchburg on Saturday, October 15.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Ended 21 straight road game losing streak (was FCS longest).
Last: Won 24-17 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Alcorn State on Saturday, October 22.

WAGNER -  Lost 25 straight overall, 16 straight road games, 15 straight conference games, and 12 straight at home (all are FCS longest).
Last: Lost 28-7 at Columbia on Saturday, October 8.
Next: at Merrimack on Saturday, October 15.