Running FCS thread

Sam's opponents do have a bad composite record, mainly because the Southland Conference is a slop conference. The Bearkats have still been running through teams and knocked off an 'FBS' team in New Mexico. Tough not to put them high.

 

It is bad, but they're unbeaten, and that has to count for something. Though knowing the TSN voters, they'll still have William & Mary ranked at 4-5 this week because URI is "a tough loss" and URI would "win any league in the country because the CAA is so awesomely good."

 

So Old Dominion comes from behind to beat William & Mary 35-31, improving to 9-2 overall and 6-2 in its inaugural season in the CAA. They can still get a share of the regular-season title if Towson, Maine and New Hampshire lose one game apiece (and someone will lose the Towson-UNH shootout in progress), and they will definitely be in the playoffs with a first-round bye a distinct possibility. Is this a testimony to ODU's rapid development as a program, or is it that the CAA is down (or at least more spread out) than previous seasons?

 

Youngstown State beats North Dakota State, which puts them in the playoff picture now provided they beat Missouri State at home next week.

 

YSU would be a lock with a win had the Penguins not scheduled St. Francis and Valpo in the non-con and lost to South Dakota State.

 

Isn't scheduling weak a YSU tradition?

There are now 4 unbeaten D-Is, if I'm not mistaken: LSU, Oklahoma State, Houston and Sam Houston State, the last FCS unbeaten. Looks like they may end up with a top-4 seed.

 

Presuming SHSU doesn't stumble in its final game, its top four seed is assured. North Dakota State is probably safe too, again presuming no last-week loss. I would think Montana State would be OK even if they lost to Montana. As for the last top-four seed, the question is do you penalize Georgia Southern for their upcoming loss to Alabama? If so, then Northern Iowa takes that last seed, unless they lose, at which point you'd open the door for Lehigh, Montana and perhaps Towson. But the SoCon champions have to be a top-four seed with only one loss to FCS competition, you'd think.

 

No way do you penalize Georgia Southern for playing Alabama. They get a 1 seed. Go Eagles!

And ODU's QB, Taylor Heinicke is a friend of my son's. 70% completion rate, 15 TDs, 1 Int.

 

As an ODU fan/alum, I was really skeptical about pulling Heinicke's redshirt after Thomas DeMarco got hurt. I thought it was a bit short-sighted, especially since it wasn't a season-ending injury DeMarco suffered. I was pretty dead wrong, wasn't I?

 

So does the Southland get two teams in?

Central Arkansas has three losses, but one is to Sam Houston and the others are Division I schools La. Tech and Arkansas State.

 

I think UCA is safely in. Seven-game win streak. Healthy Nathan Dick. They struggled without him, but they've been really good with him.

 

First of all, memo to Jay: The FCS IS in Division I (I'm being a technicality nerd when I say that, but it's true).

As to your point Cosmo, UCA's FBS losses are actually to two pretty good teams. Arkansas State won the Sun Belt and La. Tech is now 6-4 after blowing out (an albeit horrible) Ole Miss and Tech has won five straight. And look at their losses: by a point to unbeaten Houston, in overtime at Mississippi State, by two to Southern Miss and one bad loss to Hawaii. They are literally three field goals away from being 9-1 with a sweep of the Mississippi SEC schools and wins over the two best teams in C-USA.

And Central Arkansas took Tech to overtime. That should help UCA, not hurt.