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The top four seeds will duke it out this Saturday on ABC to determine who will play for the FCS National Championship on Monday, January 6 in Frisco, Texas.
No. 1 seed Montana State will host No. 4 seed South Dakota, while No. 3 seed South Dakota State must travel to No. 2 seed North Dakota State.
Three of the final four four teams are from the Missouri Valley Football Conference while Montana State is member of the Big Sky Conference.
The FCS Semis and the opening round of the FBS Playoffs make this a huge weekend for college football fans. Indiana and Notre Dame begin the fun in South Bend on Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
South Dakota State opened as a 2.5-point favorite while the FCS Congrove Computer Rankings have the Jackrabbits by just 0.87.
Last week, South Dakota State was a 55-14 winner at home over 6-seed Incarnate Word, while North Dakota State downed 7-seed Mercer 31-7 in the Fargodome.
North Dakota State captured 9 titles between 2011 and 2021, while South Dakota State is looking to 3-peat.
The two teams played for the championship in 2022 when the Jacks won their first title by handing the Bisons a 45-21 loss in John Stiegelmeier's 26th and final season as head coach of SDSU. Jimmy Rogers took over and led the team to a second straight title by throttling Montana 23-3 last year. SDSU also lost the 2020-21 championship game to Sam Houston, 23-21, that took place in May as the country was beginning to emerge from Covid.
Anyone whom follows the FCS, even remotely, knows that South Dakota State and North Dakota State are bitter rivals who now play annually for the Dakota Marker. This year's installment of that rivalry also took place in Fargo with the Bison notching a 13-9 win on October 19 to end a 5-game losing streak in the series. A 20-yard touchdown pass from Cam Miller to RaJa Nelson with 1 minute and 49 seconds remaining provided the winning score for the Bison. Over-all, NDSU is 64-47-5.
Jackrabbits' QB Mark Gronowski (49-5) will be looking to set a new FCS record for QB wins. It is only fitting that he is now tied former North Dakota State QB Easton Stick who was 49-3 from 2015-2018 including two national titles as the starter. Whose record did he top? Why, that would be North Dakota State's Brock Jensen (47-5) who QB'd the Bison to three straight national titles from 2011-2013.
Montana State opened as 6.5-point favorite while the computer has the Bobcats by 2.83.
This is South Dakota's deepest run in the playoffs. Montana State is looking to capture its first title since 1984 when the Bobcats defeated Louisiana Tech in Charleston South Carolina in just the 7th title game since D1 split into two divisions. Montana State fell to North Dakota State in the 2021 championship game. It's the fourth time since 2019 that the Bobcats have advanced to the semifinal round.
Just last week, South Dakota faced another Big Sky team as they eliminated UC Davis with a 35-21 win in the DakotaDome in Vermillion.
Meanwhile, Montana State thumped Idaho 52-19 in Bozeman.
This is only the third meeting between the schools and the first in the playoffs. The prior two games were also played in Bozeman with the Bobcats winning 37-18 in 2008, and 31-24 in overtime in 2009.
Friday. December 13
(8) Idaho at (1) Montana State. Montana State won 52-19
Saturday, December 14
(6) UIW at (3) SDSU. South Dakota State won 55-14
(5) UC Davis at (4) South Dakota. South Dakota won 35-21.
(7) Mercer at (2) NDSU. North Dakota State won 31-7.
SEE: Odds, Computer picks, Scores
Home team on bottom
| 12/7 | 12/14 | 12/21 | C'ship (Frisco) (1/6, 7 PM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT-Martin 17 1 Montana St. 49 |
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| 8 Idaho 19 1 Montana St. 52 |
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| Lehigh 13 8 Idaho 34 |
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| 4 So. Dakota 1 Montana St. |
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| 12 Illinois St. 10 5 UC Davis 42 |
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| 5 UC Davis 21 4 So. Dakota 35 |
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| 13 Tarleton 31 4 So. Dakota 42 |
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| ? ? |
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| 14 Montana 18 3 SDSU 35 |
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| 6 UIW 14 3 SDSU 55 |
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| 11 Villanova 6 6 UIW 13 |
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| 3 SDSU 2 NDSU |
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| 10 URI 10 7 Mercer 17 |
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| 7 Mercer 7 2 NDSU 31 |
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| 15 ACU 31 2 NDSU 51 |
All games December 7
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
(14) Montana (9-5) 18, (3) SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 35
(11) Villanova (10-4) 6, (6) UIW (11-2) 13
(10) Rhode Island (11-3) 10, (7) MERCER (11-2) 17
UT Martin (9-5) 17, (1) MONTANA STATE (13-0) 49
(13) Tarleton (10-4) 31, (4) SOUTH DAKOTA (10-2) 42
(15) Abilene Christian (9-5) 31, (2) NORTH DAKOTA STATE (11-2) 51
(12) Illinois State (10-3), (5) UC DAVIS (11-2) 42
Lehigh (9-4) 13, (8) IDAHO (10-3) 34
All games November 30
Home Team in CAPS
Winner in BOLD
UT Martin (9-4) 41, (16) NEW HAMPSHIRE (8-5) 10
Lehigh (9-3) 20, (9) RICHMOND (10-3) 16
(12) Illinois State (10-3) 35, SEMO (9-4), 27
Drake (8-3) 29, (13) TARLETON (10-3) 43
Tennessee State (9-4) 27, (14) MONTANA (9-4) 41
Eastern Kentucky (8-5) 17, (11) VILLANOVA (10-3) 22
CCSU (7-6) 17, (10) RHODE ISLAND (11-2) 21
Northern Arizona (8-5) 0, (15) ABILENE CHRISTIAN (9-4) 24
MONTANA STATE - Won 14 straight overall. Won 6 straight road games. Won 8 straight conference games (tied with UIW, Richmond, and Jackson State).
Last: No.1 seed won 52-19 at home over Idaho on Friday, December 13
Next: The #1 seed Bobcats host #4 seed South Dakota in an FCS Semifinal game on Saturday, December 21.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 28-game home winning streak.
Last: No. 3 seed won 55-14 at home over 6-seed Incarnate Word on Saturday, December 14.
Next: The #3 seed Jackrabbits visit No. 2 seed North Dakota State on Saturday, December 21.
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.
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