Gameweek! Around the FCS

Only five more days till JMU football is back!  We’ll be posting a bunch this week.  Today we’ll share some news and notes from around FCS nationally and we’ll be drilling down all week by going from the national scene to a CAA preview to a JMU season preview and finally to the game preview for CCSU.

These notes are very general on the national level as even us two FCS nerds can’t claim much expertise outside of the CAA’s [expanding, as-ridiculous-as-any-FBS-option] footprint but hopefully this will get us all primed for the most notable items.

First, the playoffs expand again to 24 teams this year.  If you can’t make it this year, firings should be expected.  Put simply, once you take away the teams the sizable number of FCS teams that either are ineligible due to moving up, whose conferences don’t participate in the playoffs, or who individually don’t participate because of conflicting participation in moneymaking “classic” games at season’s end, more than a quarter of the remaining teams will make the field.  Five from the CAA doesn’t seem farfetched at all this year and with eight byes the first week, winning the conference should all but assure that team a bye as opposed to the last few years when there were only four byes available.

Next, while we all know FCS polls are a bit of a joke to begin with, you’ll need to be extra vigilant to avoid getting worked up over them this year. This is because a large number of voters appear to be still ranking some of the former powers who are transitioning to FBS and therefore ineligible for the playoffs (they’re adding scholarships to get ready for FBS).  This includes most notably Georgia Southern and Appalachian St., but in at least one preseason poll also includes ODU.  It should be noted that ASU and GSU may remain in the mix all season as, because their announcements came later in the offseason, they’ll be playing a normal FCS schedule against which they may be very successful.  ODU has been preparing longer and to their credit has scheduled much tougher for the their transitional year.

As far as the favorites go, there probably hasn’t been a more consensus #1 in a long, long time than this year’s two-time defending champion North Dakota St. Bison.  They return a TON of their starters and contributors and are expected to run roughshod over the MVC this time around. After NDSU, the next three are pretty much a consensus group as well with Sam Houston St., Eastern Washington, and Montana St.  As you can see, the power in FCS has definitely shifted west at the moment.  After the top four, you’ll find a slew of CAA teams scattered throughout the top 20 led by Villanova and Towson.

What could have been one of the all-time classic national FCS games when ASU travels to Montana this week has lost a bit of luster with the Grizzlies beginning three years of probation after shenanigans of every conceivable flavor and ASU on the way out of FCS, but it’s still an awesome event for this level and makes you wonder why more of these games can’t be made.

As always, keep your eyes out for some FCS/FBS upsets over the next few weeks.  It won’t carry anywhere near the magnitude of VT, but the Dukes certainly have a shot when they travel to MAC cellar-dweller Akron in Week 2.  On the bigger stage, it will also be interesting to see how NDSU does when they travel to Manhattan, Kansas to take on the highly ranked, but Colin Klein-less K St. Wildcats. Somebody better warn them.

Hope that gets you excited and see you tomorrow with a fuller CAA preview.