{"id":279,"date":"2011-09-05T15:20:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T21:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2011-09-05T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T22:31:17","slug":"fcs-week-1-recapweek-2-precap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/2011\/09\/05\/fcs-week-1-recapweek-2-precap\/","title":{"rendered":"FCS: Week 1 Recap\/Week 2 Precap"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of teams forged upsets, several more came up just short, and one team laid a very embarrassing egg. Scores and notes beyond the jump.<\/p>\n

BIG SKY<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously the big winner on the day was #24 Sacramento State, who allowed the Pac-12’s Beavers to erase a 21-6 deficit in the fourth quarter before righting the ship and prevailing in overtime, which led to a jump all the way to #12 in the new poll. Eastern Washington and Weber State have plenty to be proud of, taking their FBS opponents to the wire, while Montana State has nothing to be ashamed of either.<\/p>\n

Northern Colorado, on the other hand, fell to a Lindenwood team in the final year of their transition from the NAIA to Division II, which can also be read as “Northern Colorado lost to a team that’s not even a D-II team yet.” That’s got to hurt.<\/p>\n

None of this, however, should be a surprise. Sacramento lost three conference games last year by a total of 10 points, and although EWU is clearly the class of the league, Sac State is in the discussion. There’s little separating the top five teams in this conference, and the four exceptional performances this weekend were turned in by four of those top five teams. The important thing is that Sac State has made an early claim to a potential at-large bid to the playoffs should they come up short in the chase for the league title. It would be welcome; they haven’t sniffed the post-season since the 1980s, and that was in D-II.<\/p>\n

   Portland State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 1-0\u00a0 52\u00a0 0\r\n12 Sacramento State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 1-0\u00a0 29 28\r\n 1 Eastern Washington\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 27 30\r\n   Idaho State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 21 64\r\n15 Montana\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 16 42\r\n 6 Montana State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 10 27\r\n   Northern Arizona\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 10 41\r\n   Northern Colorado\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 20 22\r\n   Weber State\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0-0\u00a0 0 0\u00a0\u00a0 0-1\u00a0 32 35\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1400 ET: NORTHERN COLORADO at Colorado State (1-0; FBS)\r\n1505 ET: Cal Poly-SLO (0-1) at MONTANA\r\n1505 ET: Cal-Davis (0-1) at MONTANA STATE\r\n1505 ET: SACRAMENTO STATE at Southern Utah (0-1)\r\n1705 ET: EASTERN WASHINGTON at South Dakota (0-1)\r\n1705 ET: Fort Lewis (1-0; D-II) at NORTHERN ARIZONA\r\n1800 ET: Western State (0-1; D-II) at IDAHO STATE\r\n2000 ET: WEBER STATE at Utah State (0-1; FBS)\r\n   IDLE: PORTLAND STATE<\/pre>\n
Next week, Big Sky action will center around cross-conference matches with the Great West. Northern Colorado will probably get curbstomped if last week is any indication. Given Weber’s valiant effort against Wyoming (over 500 yards of offense, kids) and Utah State’s thrilling defense-free loss to Auburn, the Weber\/USU game should be of particular interest even to the casual observer.<\/p>\n
BIG SOUTH<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The best result on the day was probably Coastal’s win over a generally decent Furman squad, although special recognition must be given to Stony Brook’s near-upset of UTEP.\u00a0 Presbyterian did well against a tough Wofford unit, and Liberty can’t be too upset over their loss to NC State.\u00a0 The only real cringe-worthy result was Charleston Southern’s loss to UCF, but then UCF is a decent FBS team, and Charleston’s simply not very good anyway.\u00a0 We’ll have to wait and see whether VMI’s loss was bad or just disappointing, but Delaware State hasn’t had a decent program for three years now.<\/p>\n
In terms of pre-season expectations, the only real surprise of week one was Presbyterian’s performance against Wofford. Presby was the consensus pick to finish last in the conference, but given their performance and Charleston Southern’s incompetence I think we can already discard that notion. A close battle against the #8 team in the country bodes well for a more optimistic season for the Blue Hose. Keep an eye on them.<\/p>\n
   Coastal Carolina    0-0  0 0   1-0  30 23\r\n   Gardner-Webb        0-0  0 0   1-0  34 17\r\n   Charleston Southern 0-0  0 0   0-1   0 62\r\n24 Liberty             0-0  0 0   0-1  21 43\r\n   Presbyterian        0-0  0 0   0-1  28 35\r\n   Stony Brook         0-0  0 0   0-1  24 31\r\n   Virginia Military   0-0  0 0   0-1  21 24\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1330 ET: North Greenville (1-0; D-II) at PRESBYTERIAN\r\n1330 ET: William & Mary (0-1) at VIRGINIA MILITARY\r\n1800 ET: CHARLESTON SOUTHERN at Florida State (1-0; FBS)\r\n1800 ET: Catawba (0-1; D-II) at COASTAL CAROLINA\r\n1800 ET: STONY BROOK at Buffalo (0-1; FBS)\r\n1900 ET: GARDNER-WEBB at Ohio (1-0; FBS)\r\n1900 ET: Robert Morris (PA) (0-1) at LIBERTY<\/pre>\n
The only things I’m willing to say for certain here are that Coastal’s going to go to 2-0 and that after last week a Stony Brook win over Buffalo may not even be an upset. Charleston Southern may still not have scored a point by the time we next discuss them; if UCF smashed them around that badly, certainly it’s going to be even worse visiting Tallahassee.\u00a0 We’ll see what Presbyterian’s really all about, as North Greenville is a potent D-II squad; a close game may dash our early optimism, while a solid butt-spanking will alter our perceptions even more.<\/p>\n
Colonial<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
This was not the typical opening-week gala fiesta party we’ve come to expect from the CAA.\u00a0 William & Mary, James Madison, New Hampshire, and Villanova were humiliated rather than threatening or even knocking off mediocre FBS competition.\u00a0 Richmond did beat Duke, but let’s be honest: who wasn’t expecting that to begin with?\u00a0 Massachusetts struggled with a Holy Cross team they should have manhandled, and while Maine handled Bryant with relative ease, it was still closer than one might have hoped for.<\/p>\n
The only teams that did what they were supposed to do were brand-new member Old Dominion and not-quite-yet member Georgia State.\u00a0 (Towson didn’t do what they were supposed to; Towson had no business throttling Morgan State in such convincing fashion.\u00a0 They’re officially your team to watch; not that they have any chance of winning the CAA, but it’ll be fun to see if they can actually stay out of the cellar.)\u00a0 There’s no real reason for anyone to panic just yet; nobody in the conference has lost to an FCS team yet, after all.\u00a0 But it was not an impressive opening weekend by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n
   Maine               0-0  0 0   1-0  28 13\r\n21 Massachusetts       0-0  0 0   1-0  24 16\r\n   Old Dominion        0-0  0 0   1-0  41 14\r\n 9 Richmond            0-0  0 0   1-0  23 21\r\n   Towson              0-0  0 0   1-0  42  3\r\n   Rhode Island        0-0  0 0   0-0   0  0\r\n 8 Delaware            0-0  0 0   0-1  17 40\r\n19 James Madison       0-0  0 0   0-1  10 42\r\n13 New Hampshire       0-0  0 0   0-1  22 58\r\n20 Villanova           0-0  0 0   0-1   7 42\r\n 5 William & Mary      0-0  0 0   0-1   3 40\r\n   Georgia State       ---  - -   1-1  17 40\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1200 ET: OLD DOMINION at GEORGIA STATE\r\n1230 ET: NEW HAMPSHIRE at Lehigh (1-0)\r\n1300 ET: MAINE at Pittsburgh (1-0; FBS)\r\n1330 ET: WILLIAM & MARY at Virginia Military (0-1)\r\n1630 ET: RHODE ISLAND at Syracuse (1-0; FBS)\r\n1800 ET: West Chester (0-1; D-II) at DELAWARE\r\n1800 ET: Central Connecticut State (1-0) at JAMES MADISON\r\n1800 ET: Wagner (1-0) at RICHMOND\r\n1900 ET: VILLANOVA at TOWSON\r\n   IDLE: MASSACHUSETTS<\/pre>\n
If there’s one game that’s truly interesting this week, it’s Old Dominion and Georgia State. It, of course, is not a conference game yet, but it will be a quick check on the relative progress of the two new programs. Towson\/Villanova will also be curious, as both teams performed pretty much at the opposite ends of the spectrum last week, both compared to one another and compared to expectations. A close game (or even, heaven forfend, a Towson win) will cause a serious reconsideration of the way this year’s CAA race is going to shake out. New Hampshire should also be on alert, as Lehigh is no pushover; outside of those games, next weekend should play out as expected.<\/p>\n
GREAT WEST<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nAt first glance, not a great start to the season. At second glance, Southern Utah and South Dakota’s losses are more impressive than North Dakota’s win, and Cal Poly didn’t really do badly either. Southern Utah’s still the favorite after the first lap.<\/p>\n
   North Dakota        0-0  0 0   1-0  16  0\r\n   Cal-Davis           0-0  0 0   0-1  14 48\r\n   Cal Poly-SLO        0-0  0 0   0-1  21 49\r\n   South Dakota        0-0  0 0   0-1  20 37\r\n   Southern Utah       0-0  0 0   0-1  28 29\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1305 ET: CAL-DAVIS at Montana State (0-1)\r\n1305 ET: CAL POLY-SLO at Montana (0-1)\r\n1305 ET: Sacramento State (1-0) at SOUTHERN UTAH\r\n1700 ET: NORTH DAKOTA at Idaho (0-1; FBS)\r\n1705 ET: Eastern Washington (0-1) at SOUTH DAKOTA<\/pre>\n
Except for North Dakota, everyone will be facing Big Sky competition this weekend. That could be bad, as they’re facing the upper rung of that conference. North Dakota is almost certainly going to join the rest of the conference in already having a loss as they travel to Moscow to face the Vandals.<\/p>\n
IVY<\/strong><\/span>:
\nNone of the teams in the Ivy League begin play until September 17. As usual, Harvard and Penn will be the favorites, but in an exceptionally experienced league — all eight teams return last year’s starting quarterbacks — everyone outside of New York appears to have a legitimate shot this year.<\/p>\n
MID-EASTERN<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nAn examination of the pre-season predictions would indicate that there was only one surprise outcome last weekend, that being Morgan State’s obliteration at the hands of the CAA’s resident bottom-dwellers from Towson.\u00a0 Bethune-Cookman showed why they’re the favorites; SC State, Florida A&M, and Hampton didn’t do anything to embarrass themselves.<\/p>\n
25 Bethune-Cookman     0-0  0 0   1-0  63 14\r\n   Delaware State      0-0  0 0   1-0  24 21\r\n   Florida A&M         0-0  0 0   1-0  28 22\r\n   Hampton             0-0  0 0   1-0  21 20\r\n   Norfolk State       0-0  0 0   1-0  37  3\r\n   North Carolina A&T  0-0  0 0   1-0  38  7\r\n   Howard              0-0  0 0   0-1   9 41\r\n   Morgan State        0-0  0 0   0-1   3 42\r\n   N Carolina Central  0-0  0 0   0-1   0 48\r\n   Savannah State      0-0  0 0   0-1  34 37\r\n   South Carolina St   0-0  0 0   0-1   6 21\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\nTHURSDAY\r\n1930 ET: FLORIDA A&M at HAMPTON\r\nSATURDAY\r\n1200 ET: Central State (OH) (0-1; D-II) at NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL\r\n1300 ET: NORFOLK STATE at West Virginia (1-0; FBS)\r\n1530 ET: Morehouse (1-0; D-II) at HOWARD\r\n1530 ET: NORTH CAROLINA A&T at Appalachian State (0-1)\r\n1600 ET: SOUTH CAROLINA STATE at BETHUNE-COOKMAN\r\n1800 ET: Shaw (0-1; D-II) at DELAWARE STATE\r\n1900 ET: MORGAN STATE at Bowling Green (1-0; FBS)\r\n2000 ET: SAVANNAH STATE at Southeastern Louisiana (0-1)<\/pre>\n
Interestingly, the MEAC race will immediately get some separation this weekend, as the expected top four teams will be pairing up. The winners of those two games will already be in decent position going forward. The remainder of the schedule consists of games whose results should be fairly obvious if one presumes SE Louisiana will handle Savannah State.<\/p>\n
MISSOURI VALLEY<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
An iffy week for the Valley. Its ranked teams did take care of business in FCS games, and Northern Iowa almost pulled the curtains down on Iowa State. South Dakota State escaped with what will probably be viewed later in the year as a solid win over Southern Utah, but aside from these examples things went awry.<\/p>\n
11 North Dakota State  0-0  0 0   1-0  42  6\r\n   South Dakota State  0-0  0 0   1-0  29 28\r\n17 Southern Illinois   0-0  0 0   1-0  38 10\r\n   Illinois State      0-0  0 0   0-1  26 33\r\n   Indiana State       0-0  0 0   0-1   7 41\r\n   Missouri State      0-0  0 0   0-1   7 51\r\n 4 Northern Iowa       0-0  0 0   0-1  19 20\r\n   Western Illinois    0-0  0 0   0-1   6 20\r\n   Youngstown State    0-0  0 0   0-1   6 28\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1200 ET: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE at Illinois (1-0; FBS)\r\n1400 ET: Jacksonville (0-1) at WESTERN ILLINOIS\r\n1405 ET: Butler (1-0) at INDIANA STATE\r\n1600 ET: Valparaiso (0-1) at YOUNGSTOWN STATE\r\n1800 ET: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS at Mississippi (0-1; FBS)\r\n1800 ET: MISSOURI STATE at Eastern Kentucky (0-1)\r\n1900 ET: Saint Francis (PA) (0-1) at NORTH DAKOTA STATE\r\n1900 ET: NORTHERN IOWA at Stephen F. Austin (1-0)\r\n1930 ET: Morehead State (1-0) at ILLINOIS STATE<\/pre>\n
By next Sunday, North Dakota State will probably be the only remaining unbeaten team in the Valley, but Mississippi’s always good for a potential upset. Illinois might be too, given their head coach. Everyone else has a decent chance to win Saturday, but Northern Iowa has a tough task ahead of them with Stephen F. Austin looming.<\/p>\n
NORTHEAST<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
On a week in which the conference had no worries about losing to any FBS teams, it can be taken as a very, very bad sign that the league’s only win over an FCS team was also a loss TO an FCS team (i.e., the conference meeting between Wagner and Saint Francis). Central Connecticut State remains the favorite, and Albany and Duquesne didn’t damage their outlook any despite losses. Judging the Robert Morris loss to Dayton is difficult until we see what sort of team Dayton really is this year, but Dayton’s matchup with Duquesne this weekend will answer more than one question. For the moment, though, Wagner’s all alone in first place.<\/p>\n
   Wagner              1-0 38 28   1-0  38 28\r\n   C. Connecticut St.  0-0  0  0   1-0  35 21\r\n   Albany              0-0  0  0   0-1  34 37\r\n   Bryant              0-0  0  0   0-1  13 28\r\n   Duquesne            0-0  0  0   0-1  26 27\r\n   Monmouth (NJ)       0-0  0  0   0-1  24 49\r\n   Robert Morris (PA)  0-0  0  0   0-1  13 19\r\n   Sacred Heart        0-0  0  0   0-1   7 20\r\n   Saint Francis (PA)  0-1 28 38   0-1  28 38\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1300 ET: BRYANT at American International (1-0; D-II)\r\n1300 ET: DUQUESNE at Dayton (1-0)\r\n1800 ET: CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE at James Madison (0-1)\r\n1800 ET: WAGNER at Richmond (1-0)\r\n1900 ET: ROBERT MORRIS (PA) at Liberty (0-1)\r\n1900 ET: SAINT FRANCIS (PA) at North Dakota State (1-0)\r\n   IDLE: ALBANY, MONMOUTH (NJ), SACRED HEART<\/pre>\n
I have to be honest: I do not foresee a pleasant Saturday for the NEC. I would expect every single one of the five teams playing FCS opponents to lose (a function of who they’re playing, not so much who they ARE), and Bryant’s got a bad D-II matchup too. Anyone that actually wins this week has to be in the discussion for the league title.<\/p>\n
OHIO VALLEY<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
It wasn’t a bad week for the OVC; the league probably takes second place behind the Big Sky in the “Reasons for Optimism” rankings. Two teams had very competitive losses to FBS teams, and two others tucked good FCS wins into the filing cabinet. The only team that had a tangibly disappointing result was last year’s co-champion Southeast Missouri State, who were completely overmatched by Southern Illinois. (Austin Peay got gobsmacked by Cincinnati, but… well, it’s Austin Peay.)<\/p>\n
The most important piece of information here, however, is Tennessee-Martin’s performance against Jacksonville State. Don’t write the Skyhawks off yet.<\/p>\n
10 Jacksonville State  1-0 24 23   1-0  24 23\r\n   Eastern Illinois    0-0  0  0   1-0  33 26\r\n   Tennessee State     0-0  0  0   1-0  33  7\r\n   Austin Peay         0-0  0  0   0-1  10 72\r\n   Eastern Kentucky    0-0  0  0   0-1   7 10\r\n   Murray State        0-0  0  0   0-1   9 21\r\n   Samford             0-0  0  0   0-1  17 31\r\n   SE Missouri State   0-0  0  0   0-1  10 38\r\n   Tennessee Tech      0-0  0  0   0-1   7 34\r\n   Tennessee-Martin    0-1 23 24   0-1  23 24\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\nTHURSDAY:\r\n2000 ET: TENNESSEE TECH at Maryville (TN) (0-1; D-III)\r\nSATURDAY:\r\n1530 ET: EASTERN ILLINOIS at Northwestern (1-0; FBS)\r\n1700 ET: MURRAY STATE at Mississippi Valley State (0-1)\r\n1800 ET: Missouri State (0-1) at EASTERN KENTUCKY\r\n1800 ET: JACKSONVILLE STATE at Tennessee-Chattanooga (0-1)\r\n1900 ET: TENNESSEE STATE at Jackson State (1-0)\r\n   IDLE: AUSTIN PEAY, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE, TENNESSEE-MARTIN<\/pre>\n
I don’t see any surprises waiting to happen here. The most interesting game this week is probably Missouri State and Eastern Kentucky, and I think the Colonels should be favored here based on their respective performances against FBS competition last week; MSU got throttled by Arkansas while EKU very nearly beat Kansas State. Arkansas is a lot better than Kansas State, but it takes a lot more to nearly beat a bad FBS team than it does to avoid being housed by a good one.<\/p>\n
PATRIOT<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Lehigh’s not screwing around, anyway. Colgate got a nice OT win over Albany. Bucknell handled what may or may not be a decent Duquesne team thanks to DT Josh Eden. Last season, Eden blocked two field goals and six PATs; the margin of victory in Bucknell’s victory was thanks to Eden again, as he blocked the PAT on Duquesne’s first TD. Eden is in a virtual death match with SMU DE Margus Hunt for the title of NCAA’s best kick-blocker. We’ll be paying attention to this through the season, because it’s silly and we’re like that.<\/p>\n
   Bucknell            0-0 0 0   1-0  27 26\r\n   Colgate             0-0 0 0   1-0  37 34\r\n   Georgetown          0-0 0 0   1-0  40 16\r\n14 Lehigh              0-0 0 0   1-0  49 24\r\n   Holy Cross          0-0 0 0   0-1  16 24\r\n   Lafayette           0-0 0 0   0-1   6 42\r\n   Fordham             --- 0 0   0-1   3 35\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1700 ET: New Hampshire (0-1) at LEHIGH\r\n1300 ET: COLGATE at HOLY CROSS\r\n1800 ET: Marist (1-0) at BUCKNELL\r\n1800 ET: LAFAYETTE at GEORGETOWN\r\n   IDLE: FORDHAM<\/pre>\n
A reminder; Fordham is ineligible for the conference title because they’ve started offering football scholarships, and the rest of the league is trying to decide whether to follow suit. Conference play gets underway, and the Colgate\/Holy Cross matchup could be interesting. Lehigh gets a shot at a New Hampshire team that looked pretty bad last week; admittedly, it was a loss to an FBS team, but then again that team was Toledo. Bucknell\/Marist may be a close game as well, and a Bucknell win will make the Patriot race even more interesting.<\/p>\n
PIONEER<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
This is the only conference where you can already start eliminating teams from playoff contention by Labor Day. One week into the season, and it looks like the PFL’s playoff hopes now rest squarely on the shoulders of Dayton and Marist. Because of the rules that govern the PFL’s eligibility for an auto-bid, half the teams in the conference are already eliminated either due to not playing enough D-I games to begin with, or due to having already lost and thus preventing themselves from earning enough D-I wins. Jacksonville, 10-1 last year and still left out, probably shot themselves in the foot by getting hammered by The Citadel.<\/p>\n
   Butler              0-0 0 0   1-0  31 17\r\n   Dayton              0-0 0 0   1-0  19 13\r\n   Marist              0-0 0 0   1-0  20  7\r\n   Morehead State      0-0 0 0   1-0  67  0\r\n   San Diego           0-0 0 0   1-0  42 40\r\n   Campbell            0-0 0 0   0-1  14 41\r\n   Davidson            0-0 0 0   0-1  16 40\r\n   Drake               0-0 0 0   0-1   0 16\r\n   Jacksonville        0-0 0 0   0-1   9 31\r\n   Valparaiso          0-0 0 0   0-1  35 49\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1300 ET: Apprentice (0-1; n\/a) at CAMPBELL\r\n1300 ET: Duquesne (0-1) at DAYTON\r\n1405 ET: BUTLER at Indiana State (0-1)\r\n1400 ET: JACKSONVILLE at Western Illinois (0-1)\r\n1630 ET: VALPARAISO at Youngstown State (0-1)\r\n1800 ET: MARIST at Bucknell (1-0)\r\n1900 ET: Lenoir-Rhyne (1-0; D-II) at DAVIDSON\r\n1900 ET: Grand View (1-1; NAIA) at DRAKE\r\n1930 ET: MOREHEAD STATE at Illinois State (0-1)\r\n2100 ET: Western New Mexico (1-0; D-II) at SAN DIEGO<\/pre>\n
It’s not going to be easy for Dayton and Marist to keep their records clean this week, but it’s doable. Jacksonville has to recover from last week’s loss, and WIU may be the ticket. The most interesting question may be what Morehead will do in Normal.<\/p>\n
SOUTHERN<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nWoof.\u00a0 The FBS losses were expected, and Citadel’s win was nice, but… Furman absorbed an unexpected loss and Wofford did not look good against a team picked to finish dead last in the Big South.\u00a0 Even Georgia Southern has to be somewhat disappointed, as they were clearly better than two-touchdown favorites over Samford.\u00a0 The important thing now is how the SoCon regroups.<\/p>\n
   Citadel             0-0 0 0   1-0  31  9\r\n 2 Georgia Southern    0-0 0 0   1-0  31 17\r\n 7 Wofford             0-0 0 0   1-0  35 28\r\n 3 Appalachian State   0-0 0 0   0-1  13 66\r\n   Elon                0-0 0 0   0-1  14 45\r\n   Furman              0-0 0 0   0-1  23 30\r\n23 Tenn-Chattanooga    0-0 0 0   0-1   7 40\r\n   Western Carolina    0-0 0 0   0-1  21 63\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1530 ET: North Carolina A&T (1-0) at APPALACHIAN STATE\r\n1530 ET: WOFFORD at Clemson (1-0; FBS)\r\n1800 ET: Jacksonville State (1-0) at TENNESSEE-CHATTANOOGA\r\n1800 ET: FURMAN at CITADEL\r\n1800 ET: Tusculum (1-0; D-II) at GEORGIA SOUTHERN\r\n1800 ET: Mars Hill (1-0; D-II) at WESTERN CAROLINA\r\n1900 ET: Concord (0-1; D-II) at ELON\r\n1900 ET: Stillman (1-0; D-II) at SAMFORD<\/pre>\n
Everyone except Wofford has a decent chance of correcting any issues this week, although a Citadel win over Furman is going to cause a wholesale reappraisal of the SoCon race, as Citadel was expected to be in a fight for last place and a 2-0 start would belie that.<\/p>\n
SOUTHLAND<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nOn the surface, it was a good weekend for the Southland, but… Northwestern State nearly got knocked off by a D-II team. Admittedly, it’s the defending national runners-up, but come on. Stephen F. Austin freight-trained McMurry, but McMurry is in its first year transitioning from D-II to D-III, which means whatever players they do have on scholarship are mostly freshmen. Lamar and Nicholls crushed… NAIA teams. It wasn’t a BAD week by any stretch of the imagination; it just wasn’t as good as it looks at first blush.<\/p>\n
18 Central Arkansas    0-0 0 0   1-0  38 14\r\n   Lamar               0-0 0 0   1-0  58  0\r\n   Nicholls State      0-0 0 0   1-0  42  0\r\n   Northwestern State  0-0 0 0   1-0  24 23\r\n   Sam Houston State   0-0 0 0   1-0  20  6\r\n16 Stephen F. Austin   0-0 0 0   1-0  82  6\r\n22 McNeese State       0-0 0 0   0-1  24 42\r\n   SE Louisiana        0-0 0 0   0-1  33 47\r\n   Texas-San Antonio   --- - -   1-0  31  3\r\n   Texas State         --- - -   0-1  10 50\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1700 ET: LAMAR at South Alabama (1-0)\r\n1900 ET: CENTRAL ARKANSAS at Louisiana Tech (0-1; FBS)\r\n1900 ET: NICHOLLS STATE at Western Michigan (0-1; FBS)\r\n1900 ET: Northern Iowa (0-1) at STEPHEN F. AUSTIN\r\n2000 ET: NORTHWESTERN STATE at Louisiana State (1-0; FBS)\r\n2000 ET: Savannah State (0-1) at SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA\r\n   IDLE: McNEESE STATE<\/pre>\n
Lamar\/South Alabama could be interesting, although USA’s probably going to remain forever-and-0. We’ll see just how good SFA is this week. Everyone else is probably going to eat a loss (especially Northwestern State).<\/p>\n
SOUTHWESTERN<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The teams expected to contend won; the rest didn’t. However, Prairie View’s beatdown in Orlando has to be of concern, since they were expected to finish in the middle of the West Division.<\/p>\n
EAST DIVISION\r\n   Alabama State       1-0 41  9   1-0  41  9\r\n   Jackson State       0-0  0  0   1-0  42  2\r\n   Alabama A&M         0-0  0  0   0-1  20 21\r\n   Alcorn State        0-1 14 21   0-1  14 21\r\n   Miss. Valley State  0-1  9 41   0-1   9 41\r\nWEST DIVISION\r\n   Grambling State     1-0 21 14   1-0  21 14\r\n   Texas Southern      0-0  0  0   0-0   0  0\r\n   Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0-0  0  0   0-1  12 19\r\n   Prairie View A&M    0-0  0  0   0-1  14 63\r\n   Southern            0-0  0  0   0-1   7 33\r\n\r\nThis week:\r\n1300 ET: ALABAMA STATE at Eastern Michigan (0-1; FBS)\r\n1700 ET: Murray State (0-1) at MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE\r\n1900 ET: ALABAMA A&M at SOUTHERN\r\n1900 ET: ALCORN STATE at ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF\r\n1900 ET: GRAMBLING STATE at Louisiana-Monroe (0-1; FBS)\r\n1900 ET: Tennessee State (1-0) at JACKSON STATE\r\n2000 ET: PRAIRIE VIEW A&M at TEXAS SOUTHERN<\/pre>\n
All the teams that didn’t play conference games last weekend do so this weekend, and Texas Southern takes the field for the first time. PVA&M and Texas Southern will be a key game that sets up the rest of the West Division race.<\/p>\n
INDEPENDENT<\/strong><\/span>:
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
South Alabama is still undefeated. That may end as they travel to Lamar (1-0) at 1700 ET Saturday; if not, it’s almost certainly going to end the following week against North Carolina State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple of teams forged upsets, several more came up just short, and one team laid a very embarrassing egg. Scores and notes beyond the jump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-division-news-and-notes","category-fcs","tag-fcs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p185sV-4v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jonfmorse.com\/tog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}