FCS Weekly Preview For 10/29-10/30

October 27, 2021 by Staff

A 57-game schedule of FCS vs. FCS games begins with a single Ivy League contest on Friday night, featuring undefeated and 8th-ranked Princeton (6-0, 3-0) at Cornell (1-5, 0-3) in a conference matchup. The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have Princeton by 14.69, well under the established 23.5-point line at docsports.com.

No. 4 Montana State is idle this week, along with four other Top 25 members - - No. 6 Eastern Washington, No. 11 UC Davis, No. 15 Prairie View A&M, and No. 17 ETSU.

The computer has three opposite picks with Alabama A&M by 5.29 at ALABAMA STATE (-1), Illinois State by 3.92 at Western Illinois (-2), and Richmond by 3.03 at New Hampshire (-3).

One of the best games offered up this week is No. 9 Southern Illinois (6-1, 4-0 MVFC) at No. 26 Northern Iowa (4-3, 2-2 MVFC). The sportsbooks list the Panthers as a 5.5-point favorite, but the computer goes significantly under that spread with a pick of Northern Iowa by 1.83.

No. 16 Dartmouth (5-1, 2-1) on Saturday visits No. 19 Harvard (5-1, 2-1) in a key Ivy League clash with the Crimson favored by 7. However, The computer basically rates this one a toss-up with just a 0.06-point advantage for Harvard.

No. 23 Davidson (5-1, 4-0) faces 40th-ranked Morehead State (5-2, 4-0) in a Pioneer League contest. The visiting Wildcats are favored by just 1.5 and the computer gets even lower at 0.30.

Virtually all of the highly-ranked teams are heavy favorites. For example, top-ranked Sam Houston State (-24.5) visits Tarleton State as a 19.46-point computer play, No. 2 North Dakota State (-27.5)  gets 29.94 points from the computer when it hosts Indiana State, 3rd-ranked James Madison (-20.5) is a 23.42-point computer pick over Elon in Harrisonburg, and No. 5 SE Louisiana (-13) is a 16.78-point computer favorite.

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. 107 of those 117 games have been played.

There are no such games this week.

The FBS is 97-10 vs. the FCS this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,566-138 (.919).

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 42-7 at home over Jacksonville State on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Visits Tarleton State on Saturday, Oct. 30.

ALCORN STATE - Won 12 straight home games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 44-27 at Texas Southern on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Visits Southern on Saturday, Oct. 30.

MONMOUTH - Won 13 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 34-17 at Campbell on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Visits North Carolina A&T on Saturday, Oct. 30.

PRINCETON - Won 11 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 18-16 at home over Harvard in 5 OT's on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Visits Cornell on Friday, Oct. 29.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Lost 16 straight road games (tied FCS longest).
Last: Lost 44-27 at home to Alcorn State on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, Oct. 30.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE - Lost 16 straight road games (tied FCS longest).
Last: Lost 28-17 at Indiana State on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Hosts South Dakota State on Saturday, Oct. 30.

BUTLER - Lost 12 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 49-35 at home to Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Visits Dayton on Saturday, Oct. 30.

WAGNER - Lost 16 straight overall (FCS longest).
LAST: Lost 31-10 at homt to Bryant on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Next: Visits LIU on Saturday, Oct. 30.