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The field of 24 teams has 16 of those seeded for the first time. Opening round action takes this place this Saturday.
FanDuel.com is one of the few sportsbooks that posts reliable info on the top college football games, and is usually the first to post FCS Championship Playoff odds.
The FCS weekly picks have already been updated at CollegeFootballPoll.com to provide the odds and the computer projections of every round 1 FCS playoff game.
| Conference | AQ Clinched |
|---|---|
| ASUN-WAC (UAC) | Abilene Christian |
| Big Sky | Montana State |
| Big South-OVC | SEMO |
| CAA | Richmond |
| MVFC | South Dakota State |
| NEC | CCSU |
| Patriot | Lehigh |
| Pioneer | Drake |
| SoCon | Mercer |
| Southland | UIW |
10 of our 14 picks were selected.
ASUN/WAC (UAC) (2): Tarleton, Eastern Kentucky
Big Sky (4): UC Davis, Idaho, Montana, Northern Arizona
Big South/OVC (2): UT-Martin, Tennessee State
CAA (3): Rhode Island, Villanova, New Hampshire
MVFC (3): North Dakota State, South Dakota, Illinois State
This is what we predicted on Sunday morning before the selections. We missed on just 2 picks as Duquesne and San Diego were omitted in favor Montana Northern Arizona of the Big Sky.
ASUN/WAC (UAC) - Tarleton (9-3), Eastern Ketucky (8-4)
Big Sky - UC Davis (10-2), Idaho (9-3)
BS/OVC - Tenn State (9-3), UT-Martin (8-4)
CAA - Rhode Island (10-2), Villanova (9-3), New Hampshire (8-4)
MVFC - NDSU (10-2), South Dakota (9-2), Illinois State (9-3)
NEC - Duquesne (8-3)
Patriot - San Diego (8-3)
Pioneer - None
SoCon - None
Southland - None
These are the teams we had predicted would make the playoffs, either by AQ or at-large bid. We correctly predicted 14 of the 24 teams, including 70% (7) of the AQ bids.
BOLD were correct.
*-Denotes projected AQ
ASUN/WAC (UAC): *Tarleton, Abilene
Big Sky: *Montana State, Montana, Idaho, Sac State
BS/OVC: *Tennessee-Martin
CAA: *Villanova, William & Mary, Elon, Richmond
MVFC: *South Dakota State, North Dakota State, South Dakota, Illinois State
NEC: *Duquesne, Robert Morris
Patriot: *Lehigh
Pioneer: *Drake
SoCon: *Western Carolina, Chattanooga
Southland: *Texas A&M-Commerce, Lamar, Nicholls
November 30 (all times eastern)
UT Martin (8-4) at (16) New Hampshire (8-4), 1 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Lehigh (8-3) at (9) Richmond (10-2), 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
(12) Illinois State (9-3) at Southeast Mo. State (9-3), Noon ET (ESPN+)
Drake (8-2) at (13) Tarleton State (9-3), 3 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Tennessee State (9-3) at (14) Montana (8-4), 10:15 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Eastern Kentucky (8-4) at (11) Villanova (9-3), 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Central Connecticut State (7-5) at (10) Rhode Island (10-2), Noon ET (ESPN+)
Northern Arizona (8-4) at (15) Abilene Christian (8-4), 3 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Home team in BOLD
| 12/7 | 12/14 | 12/21 | C'ship (Frisco) (1/6, 7 PM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT-Martin or UNH 1 Montana St. |
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| ? ? |
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| Lehigh or Richmond 8 Idaho |
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| ? ? |
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| Illinois St. or SEMO 5 UC Davis |
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| ? ? |
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| Drake or Tarleton 4 So. Dakota |
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| ? ? |
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| Tenn St. or Montana 3 SDSU |
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| ? ? |
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| EKU or Villanova 6 UIW |
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| ? ? |
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| CCSU or URI 7 Mercer |
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| ? ? |
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| Northern AZ or ACU 2 NDSU |
The final three games between FCS and FBS schools took place with Florida State, Clemson, and South Carolina easily defeating Charleston Southern, The Citadel and Wofford, respectively.
FBS schools were 115-6 in FBS-FCS games this season, and are a cumulative 1,915-158 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.
In 2024, there were 121 matchups scheduled between FBS and FCS schools with 119 playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
15 schools were not scheduled to play a FCS opponent. Of those fifteen schools, 5 are in the B1G (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, USC and UCLA). Texas is the only school in the SEC that will not play a FCS program. The same is true for Virginia Tech in the ACC. In fact, Texas and Virginia Tech, along with Michigan and Houston, were repeats from the list of schools in 2023 that played all FBS programs.
2024 FCS wins vs. FBS:
August 24: Montana State 35, New Mexico 31
September 7: St. Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
September 7: Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
September 7: Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24 (OT)
September 21: Monmouth 45, FIU 42
September 28: UT-Martin 24, Kennesaw 13
In 2023, FBS schools were 114-4. These were the FCS wins last year:
September 9: Idaho 33, Nevada 6
September 9: Southern Illinois 14, Northern Illinois 12
September 9: Fordham 40, Buffalo 37
September 16: Sacramento State 30, Stanford 23
MONTANA STATE - Won 12 straight overall. Won 6 straight road games. Won 8 straight conference games (tied with UIW, Richmond, and Jackson State).
Last: Won 34-11 at home over Montana on Saturday, November 23.
Next: No. 1 over-all seed in the FCS playoffs awaits winner of UT-Martin at (16) New Hampshire.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 27-game home winning streak.
Last: Won 45-9 at Missouri State on Saturday, November 23.
Next: No. 3 over-all seed in the FCS playoffs awaits winner of Tennessee State at (14) Montana
NW STATE - Lost 20 straight over-all. Lost 10 straight home games (tied with Northern Colorado)
Last: Lost 62-24 at Houston Christian on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTHERN COLORADO - Lost 10 straight at home (tied with NW State, LA).
Last: Lost 45-13 at Portland State on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 31-21 at home to Elon on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.
MURRAY STATE - Lost 18 straight road games. Lost 15 straight conference games (second to NC A&T).
Last: Lost 62-0 at Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 23.
Next: Season complete.