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Last year, Florida A&M suffered its worst-ever loss in a HBCU game when administrative staffing shortages caused the school to be late on clearing the status of its players. That 59-3 whipping by Jackson State was avenged on Sunday when the Rattlers scored a 28-10 upset of the Tigers in the Orange Blossom Classic at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Marcus Riley returned the game's opening kickoff 96 yards for a score and FAMU never looked back.
FAMU has now won 10 consecutive games since the early-season administrative issues in 2022, while Jackson State found itself on the short end against a fellow SWAC opponent for the first time in 20 games (includes conference title games).
The biggest upset of the weekend, however, goes to Morgan State after the 25.5-point road underdogs knocked off Richmond 17-10. The Spiders entered the game ranked 18th in the FCS Stats Perform Rankings, 16th in the Coaches Poll, and 10th in the FCS version of the Congrove Computer Rankings at ColleegeFootballPoll.com.
120 of the 128 FCS programs saw action over the Labor Day weekend, spread across an 89-game schedule.
A whopping 42 of those games pitted an FCS program against a FBS school, and the FCS lost every single one of them. Last season, 6 FCS teams knocked off FBS foes on the Labor Day holiday weekend.
FCS schools also lost in 3 of the 13 games that were played against D2 schools as Bowie State (MD) won 22-11 at Delaware State while Virginia State prevailed 33-24 at Norfolk State and Central State (OH) edged Mississippi Valley State 24-21 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
One more FCS school barely survived a matchup with a NAIA school as Stetson needed overtime to snag a 35-34 home win over the St. Thomas Bobcats, a fairly large private catholic school in Miami Gardens with an enrollment of around 6,000 students.
The other two games against lower-division programs saw Lindenwood host D3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point and cruise to a 77-9 win, while Houston Christian ripped NAIA member Arkansas Baptist 66-0.
In games involving the teams at the top of the rankings, defending national champion South Dakota State had a soft opening against hosts D2 Western Oregon and rolled 45-7 at home. It was the head coaching debut of former SDSU linebacker and longtime assistant Jimmy Rogers, and the first game without John Stiegelmeier as head coach in 27 years.
Montana State breezed to a 63-20 win at home over Utah Tech, and William Mary won 34-24 at Campbell.
Furman romped to a 45-10 home win over Tennessee Tech, while Sacramento State began the Andy Thompson head coaching era with a 38-24 road win over Nicholls State in the Louisiana bayou country of Thibodaux.
Some other notable games saw New Hampshire leave Stonehill with a 51-17 win, North Dakota State drop Eastern Washington 35-10 in Minneapolis,and Prairie View A&M survive 37-34 in overtime at Texas Southern.
Hampton edged Grambling 35-31 at Red Bull Arena in Newark, New Jersey on the NFL Network, and North Alabama scored a 41-27 upset of Chattanooga in Brent Dearmon's second game as head coach.
Delaware was a somewhat surprisingly easy 37-13 winner at Stony Brook.
VMI opened with a 12-7 win over Davidson to end a 9-game losing streak.
Georgetown ended an 11-game losing streak in home games by drubbing Marist 49-7.
Also See: FCS Picks/Schedule/Odds
This season has 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army playing two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that do NOT play a FCS program, 7 are in the B1G (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Wisconsin). 6 more are evenly split between the Big 12 (Houston, Oklahoma, Texas) and Pac-12 (Colorado, USC, Washington). The other three are Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
This past week, FBS teams were 42-0 vs. FCS schools and are now 1,728-148 (.921) since we began tracking this in 2003.
The FBS was 112-8 (.933) vs. the FCS last year when 116 of the 131 FBS schools played at least one such game while Appalachian State, Army, Marshall and New Mexico State each played two.
Here are the FCS wins in 2022:
September 2: William & Mary 41, Charlotte 24
September 3: Delaware14, Navy 7
September 10: Weber State 35, Utah State 7
September 10: Incarnate Word 55, Nevada 41
September 10: Holy Cross 37, Buffalo 31
September 10: Eastern Kentucky 59, Bowling Green 57 (7 OT's)
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 15 straight over-all
Last: 45-7 home win vs. Western Oregon on Thursday, August 31.
Next: Hosts Montana State on Saturday, September 9.
MONTANA STATE - Won 21 straight home games.
Last: 63-20 home win vs. Utah Tech on Saturday, September 2.
Next: at South Dakota State on Saturday, September 9.
JACKSON STATE - Had won 19 straight conference games, including conference title games, but lost to FAMU on Sunday.
Last: 28-10 loss to Florida A&M at Miami Gardens on Sunday, September 3.
Next: at Southern on Saturday, September 9.
SACRAMENTO STATE - Won 18 straight conference games, and 11 straight road games.
Last: 38-24 road win vs. Nicholls State on Thursday, August 31.
Next: Hosts Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, September 9.
WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 14 straight over-all.
Last: 58-21 road loss to FBS member New Mexico State on Saturday, September 2.
Next: Hosts Illinois State on Saturday, September 9.
WAGNER - Lost 21 straight road games.
Last: 46-16 loss at Fordham on Saturday, September 2.
Next: at Navy on Saturday, September 9.
PRESBYTERIAN - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: 41-10 loss at Murray State on Saturday, September 2.
Next: Hosts D2 member VUL (Virginia University of Lynchburg) on Saturday, September 9.
GEORGETOWN - Had lost 11 straight home games, but defeated Mercer on Saturday.
Last: 49-7 win vs. Marist on Saturday, September 2.
Next: Hosts Sacred Heart on Saturday, September 9.
HOUSTON CHRISTIAN - Had lost 10 straight home games, but defeated Arkansas Baptist on Saturday.
Last: 66-0 win vs. NAIA member Arkansas State on Saturday, September 2.
Next: at FBS member Western Kentucky on Saturday, September 9.
NORFOLK STATE - Lost 7 straight home games.
Last: 33-24 home loss to Virginia State on Saturday, September 2.
Next: at Hampton on Saturday, September 9.