News/Commentary

FCS Playoffs - Quarterfinals Recap

December 10, 2023 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

#1 seed South Dakota State, #2 seed Montana, #5 seed Albany and unseeded North Dakota State move on to the semifinals.

All but Albany were preseason picks to make the playoffs by the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com. Albany was projected to finish 5-7.

#8 Villanova 12 at #1 South Dakota State 23

South Dakota State seized the momentum with a return of a blocked punt for a touchdown late in the first half and secured a 4th straight trip to the FCS semifinals with the 23-12 win over Villanova. Bitter cold conditions and winds of 30 mph and higher wreaked havoc on the passing and kicking games. Villanova's punt attempt on the opening drive of the game deflected off a member of the protection unit.

#7 Furman 28, at #2 Montana 35 (Overtime)

Junior Bergen returned the opening kickoff 99 yards for a TD for Montana, and cemented his legend in the fourth quarter with a 59-yard punt return for another score. It was school-record fourth punt return touchdown and gave Montana a 28-21 lead. Furman rallied late and forced overtime on Tyler Huff's 13-yard TD pass to Mason Pline while being sacked on 4th down with just 13 seconds left. The Paladins were going to go for two and the win, but illegal procedure forced t5hem to kick the PAT and settle for an extra frame. Montana struck first and Furman was unable to answer.

North Dakota State 45, at #3 South Dakota 17

South Dakota's first FCS quarterfinals appearance didn't go so well as North Dakota State avenged a regular season 24-19 loss to the Coyotes who finish 10-3 and reached 10 wins for the first time since 1986. South Dakota also saw a reversal of fortunes from 2022 when the team finished 3-8, the same as Albany which also made the playoffs and advanced with an upset win at Idaho. Meanwhile, North Dakota State is looking to capture its 10th FCS championship, all since 2011.

#5 Albany 30, at #4 Idaho 22

Albany won a game outside the eastern time zone for the first time ever (1-8) and pulled off the 30-22 upset at Idaho to earn its first semifinal appearance in the FCS playoff. The Great Danes, who were 3-8 a year ago, improved to 11-3 and will visit South Dakota State.on Friday night. The Jackrabbits are looking to claim their second-ever FCS title, and do so in consecutive years. Idaho, which was also looking for its first FCS title, finishes the season at 9-4. The Vandals were hoping to make their first semifinal appearance since 1993.

FCS Semifinal Matchups, Times, TV

Friday, 7pm on ESPN2
#5 Albany at #1 South Dakota State
Computer Pick: South Dakota State by 19.95

Saturday, 4:30pm on ESPN2
North Dakota State at #2 Montana
Computer Pick: Montana by 1.02

Bracket (2nd Round through Final)

Home team in BOLD

12/2 12/8-9 12/15-16 C'ship (Frisco)
(1/7, 2 PM)
Mercer 0
1 SDSU 41		      
  1 SDSU 23
8 Villanova 12		    
Youngstown 28
8 Villanova 45		      
    1 SDSU
5 Albany
(Friday)		  
Richmond 13
5 Albany 41		      
  5 Albany 30
4 Idaho 22		    
Southern Ill. 17
4 Idaho 20 (OT)
      
      ?
?
Sacramento St. 24
3 South Dakota 34		      
  3 South Dakota 17
NDSU 45		    
NDSU 35 (OT)
6 Montana State 34		      
    NDSU
2 Montana
(Saturday)		  
Chattanooga 7
7 Furman 26		      
  7 Furman 28
2 Montana 35 (OT)		    
Delaware 19
2 Montana 49
      

Celebration Bowl, December 16 at Noon at Atlanta

Howard vs. Florida A&M
Computer Pick: Florida A&M by 4.33

FBS vs. FCS

This season had 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army played two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.

Of the 16 FBS schools that did NOT play a FCS program, 7 were 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 were Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).

The FBS programs were 114-4 this year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,800-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.

Here are the FCS wins in 2023, so far:
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

Streaks - Current FCS Longest

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 27 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, 8 straight road games.
Last: The #1 seed won 23-12 at home over the #8 seed Villanova on Saturday 12/9.
Next: Will host #2 Montana in a semifinal game on Friday, December 15.

MONTANA STATE - Had won 26 straight home games.
Last: The # 6 seed lost 35-34 in OT at home to North Dakota State
Next: 2024 season opener

FLORIDA A&M - Won 20 straight home games
Last: 35-14 home win over Prairie View A&M in the SWAC Championship game on Saturday, December 2.
Next: Faces Howard in Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Saturday, December 16.

WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 24 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, and 11 straight home games.
Last: 48-6 home loss vs. South Dakota in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: 2024 season opener

CAL POLY - Lost 16 straight true road games.
Last: 48-21 home loss to Weber State in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: 2024 season opener