FCS Weekend Recap: 4 of Top 9 Fall to FBS Schools

September 18, 2022 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

North Dakota State lost 31-28 in a see-saw battle at Arizona on Saturday night as the Bison were one of four top ten teams on the Congrove Compute Rankings to bow to FBS teams on Saturday.

No. 2 Montana State lost to Oregon State, No. 7 Villanova was thumped by Army, and No. 9 Missouri State let one slip through its hand at Arkansas.

The Beavers chewed up the Bobcats 68-28 in Portland's soccer stadium, the Wildcats were declawed 49-10 at West Point, and the Bears coughed up a 27-17 lead in the fourth quarter to lose 38-27 to Missouri State head coach Bobby Petrino's old Razorbacks team.

All told, there were 22 games that pitted FCS teams against FBS foes and the only winner was Southern Illinois as the Salukis rode fearlessly into Evanston and strutted out with a 31-24 victory in hand over Northwestern.

The FCS football weekend began on Friday night as the Ivy League opened the 2022 season in Cambridge. It nearly got initiated with an upset, too, as Harvard had to scored the last 14 points of regulation to force overtime and then pulled out a 28-21 win over Merrimack. The Crimson were 28-point favorites on the closing line.

Ivy League teams would go on to win 7 of 8 games as Princeton struggled for a bit before rolling to 39-14 win at Stetson, Dartmouth took care of business at home with a 35-13 win over Valporaiso, Columbia romped to a 38-3 win at Marist, Brown needed double-overtime to earn a 44-38 home win over nearby Bryant, Penn was a 25-14 winner at home versus Colgate, and Cornell was a 28-22 road victor over VMI. Yale was the lone loser as the Bulldogs were on the wrong end of a 38-14 beatdown at Holy Cross.

In some other games of interest, Texas Southern blanked Southern 24-0 in the Arlington Showdown, Jackson State walloped Grambling 66-24 after leading by just 4 at half time, and Fordham won a 48-45 barn-burner over Albany in The Bronx.

SE Louisiana opened a 70-6 can on Central Connecticut State in Hammond, while Incarnate Word was a 31-14 winner at Prairie View A&M. Those two victors will square-off next Saturday in Hammond.

Eight FCS teams played D2 or lower programs on Saturday and one of those paid the price as D2 Delta State knocked off host Missouri Valley State 28-17. The Delta Devils fell to 0-3 on the season and 1-5 in their last six meetings with the Statesmen.

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.

There were 22 FBS-FCS games on Saturday with the FBS going 21-1 to improve to 91-7 (.929) vs the FCS this season and 1,665-147 (.920) since we began tracking this in 2003.

The lone FCS win was Southern Illinois 31-24 triumph at Northwestern, leaving the Wildcats with a 1-2 record against FCS teams since 2016.

North Dakota State lost a sea-saw battle at Arizona, 31-28.  And for a long time, it looked like Missouri State was going to give head coach Bobby Petrino a win at his old stomping ground, Arkansas, but the Hogs scored the last 21 points to erase a 27-17 deficit.

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

Streaks

NORTH DAKOTA STATE - Winning streak ended at 8.
Last: Lost 31-28 at Arizona on Saturday, September 17.

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL - Won 6 straight over-all (FCS longest)
Last: Won 45-27 at New Hampshire on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Hosts D2 Virginia-Lynchburg on Saturday, September 24.

MONTANA STATE - Won 14 straight home games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 68-28 to FBS Oregon State in Portland on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Visits Eastern Washington on Saturday, September 24.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - Won 12 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 33-9 at Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Visits North Carolina A&T on Saturday, September 24 as first four games are on the road (first home game Oct. 8 vs Florida A&M).

DARTMOUTH - Won 11 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 35-13 at home over Valparaiso on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Visits Sacred Heart on Saturday, September 24.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Lost 20 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 24-0 over Southern in a neutral site game Arlington, Texas on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Visits FBS member UTSA on Saturday, September 24.

WAGNER -  Lost 23 straight overall, 15 straight conference games, and 12 straight at home (all are FCS longest).
Last: Lost 27-7 at home to St. Francis (PA) on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Visits FBS member Syracuse on Saturday, September 24.