FCS Weekly Preview For 10/15-10/16

October 12, 2021 by Staff

A 57-game slate this week kicks off with a pair of Friday night contests, including a Big Sky showdown at Weber State where the Wildcats will host Montana State. This is Weber State's third home game, all of which have been against teams in the top 10 of the Congrove Computer Rankings. The previous two visitors were James Madison and UC Davis and both resulted in losses. JMU was No. 1 at the time of its visit and the Aggies were No. 5. Now, Montana State comes knocking with a No. 5 ranking and a mere 1.22-point edge from the computer.

Friday night is also the 102nd meeting of Cornell and Colgate with the Big Red holding the hosting honors as a 4.59-point computer favorite to snap a 3-game losing streak to the Raiders. In fact, Colgate has dominated the series since 1980 as Cornell has posted only 6 victories in the last 35 meetings. The schools are located a mere 70 miles apart with Colgate in Hamilton, New York and Cornell in Ithaca.

Yale visits UConn as a rare computer favorite for a game featuring a FCS school over a FBS squad. Congrove's rankings have the Bulldogs by a mere 0.,09 points over the Bulldogs who have a huge 32-17 lead in the series, but the combatants haven't met on the gridiron since 1998. The Huskies are 14-2 in the series since 1982.

Elsewhere, a trio of top 5 schools that lost last week - James Madison, South Dakota State and UC Davis - will each try to bounce back this week. Then-No. 1 James Madison fell 28-27 at home to Villanova, Then-No. 3 SDSU lost 42-41 at home to Southern Illinois, and then-No. 5 UC Davis lost 27-17 at Idaho State.

This week, the Dukes (now No. 3) visit Richmond as an 11.46-point computer pick, the Jackrabbits (now No. 6) journey to Western Illinois as a 18.49-pount favorite, and the Aggies (now No. 14) get a 24.94-point computer edge over the invaders from Northern Colorado.

The new No. 1 team, North Dakota State, is a 16.66-point road favorite over Illinois State, No. 2 Sam Houston State is idle, and No. 4 Eastern Washington is a 13.85-point favorite at home over Idaho.

SEE: Weekly Picks

FCS vs. FBS

2 teams will play 2 FCS teams this fall (UConn and UMass), and 115 teams will play 1 FCS school for a total of 117 such matchups.

105 of those 117 games have already been played and the FBS is 95-10. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,564-138 (.919).

There is one such game this week as Yale visits UConn as a 0.09-point computer favorite,

Last year, 30 FBS teams played a total of just 34 games against FCS schools and the FCS won just 1 game (1-33). That honor also went to Jacksonville State with its 19-10 victory over FIU.

Here are the FCS wins in 2021:
September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
September 2: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 (2 OT)
September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23
September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28
September 4: Montana 13, Washington 7
September 4: ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3
September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26
September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17.
September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34.
September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19

This was the only FCS win vs. the FBS in 2020:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

In 2019, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games. These were the only FCS wins that season:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

Streaks

SAM HOUSTON STATE - Won 15 straight games overall (FCS longest).
Last: Won 41-7 at home vs. Lamar on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Next: Hosts Jacksonville State on Saturday, Oct. 23.

EASTERN WASHINGTON - Owns 19-game home winning streak (FCS longest).
LAST: Won 63-17 at Northern Colorado.
NEXT: Hosts Idaho on Saturday, Oct. 16.

MONMOUTH - Owns a 12-game conference streak (FCS longest).
LAST: Lost 31-28 at home to Princeton.
NEXT: Visits Campbell on Saturday, Oct. 16

PRINCETON - Won 9 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 31-28 at Monmouth on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Next: Visits Brown on Saturday, Oct. 16.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Owns a 15-game road losing streak (tied for FCS longest with Youngstown State).
Last: Won 35-31 vs. Southern at Arlington Saturday, Oct. 9.
Next: Visits Grambling State on Saturday, Oct. 16.

BUTLER - Has 10-game conference losing streak (FCS longest).
LAST: Lost 52-21 t home to San Diego.
NEXT: Visits Morehead State on Saturday, Oct. 16.

WAGNER - Has lost 15 straight overall (FCS longest).
LAST: Lost 56-7 at Fordham on Saturday, Oct. 9.
NEXT: Hosts Bryant on Saturday, Oct. 23.