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Week seven in the Football Championship Subdivision saw just 19 games be decided by 7 points or less, and only 12 of those were decided by 6 points or fewer.
Using the AFCA Coaches' Poll as our reference for rankings, the most stunning blowout was No. 3 Montana State's absolute domination of No. 8 Idaho. The Bobcats, who were 8.5-point favorites, opened a 24-0 halftime lead and never looked back in securing a 38-7 victory to move to 7-0. They have a trip to Portland State this Saturday before enjoying a bye week, and then they enter a stretch run that takes them to Eastern Washington and No. 6 UC Davis, and brings No. 20 Sacramento State to Bozeman before closing out with rival, and 14h-ranked, Montana at home. All are Big Sky conference games.
Montana State is one of just four undefeated teams in the FCS and two of those teams, Delaware (6-0) and Dartmouth (4-0), are ineligible for the playoffs. The Blue Hens, who have been in-and-out of first place in the Congrove Computer Rankings, are a team in transition to the FBS where they will join Conference USA next season. The Big Green play in the Ivy League which does not participate in any postseason play.
The other remaining unbeaten team is No. 7 Mercer (6-0) which currently leads the SoCon with a 3-0 mark, just ahead of Western Carolina (3-3, 2-0).
Mercer was 34-7 home winner over Princeton, and Delaware was a 44-21 home winner over Maine.
Dartmouth provided an exception to the weekend's rout standard as the Big Green rallied from 21 down in the fourth quarter to edge Yale, 44-43 in overtime, in New Haven,
Elsewhere, No. 1 South Dakota State destroyed a reeling Youngstown State program, 63-13. The Penguins have slumped to 2-5 and only have wins over a pair of likewise struggling teams, Indiana State and Valparaiso, both of which are 2-4. Youngstown State was ranked No. 23 in the preseason coaches' poll, but was only projected by the computer to finish 5-7 and ranked 69.
No. 2 North Dakota State had surprisingly little trouble in methodically dispatching Southern Illinois 24-3 in Carbondale. The Salukis are another slumping team which now sits at just 2-5 (0-3) after being preseason-ranked 11th by the coaches. The computer had them projected to finish 7-5 at Number 41
What's up next for North Dakota State and South Dakota State? How about a game against each other. They will square off on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN-2.
No. 4 South Dakota was a 42-17 home winner over a Northern Iowa team that is now just 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the MVFC.
No. 5 Villanova had a bye week along with No. 10 North Dakota, No. 17 Richmond, No. 18 William & Mary, and No. 19 Florida A&M.
Dayton blocked not one, not two, but three field goals in a 16-14 home win over Davidson in a Pioneer League game. Ultimately, the game was decided on a missed 51-yard field goal attempt in the final minute.
The Dayton Daily News provides a full recap of the game, and reports that DE Jerell Lewis blocked a 41-yard attempt in the first quarter. Gideon Lampron blocked the second and third field goal attempts by Davidson: a 42-yard attempt in the final minutes of the first half; and a 46-yard attempt with 3:06 left in the fourth quarter.
In addition to the three FG's, Mac Grant III blocked a punt in the second quarter and returned it 21 yards to the Davidson 10 to set up Drew VanVleet's 3-yard TD pass to Jake Coleman.
On Friday night, Prairie View A&M lost 21-17 at UAPB as a 7.5-point favorite.
Abilene Christian was ranked 12th and riding high after a 41-34 upset of Central Arkansas as a 3.5-point underdog. The tables were turned on Saturday when the Wildcats went to Florence as a 7.5-point favorite over North Alabama, but lost 47-34. ACU led 34-26 after scoring a TD with 12:23 to go in the game, but the Lions ended the game on a 21-0 run. It is the first-ever win over a ranked FCS opponent for North Alabama since moving up from D2 in 2018.
Like Abilene, No. 23 Weber State was coming off a 55-48 overtime win at Montana where the Griz had won 15 straight. So on Saturday, these Wildcats were back home as a 26-point favorite over Northern Colorado. Instead of celebrating another win, Weber State below a 17-7 third quarter lead and fell, 21-17, giving the Bears their first win of the season.
16th-ranked Illinois State, a 2.5-point home favorite, was crushed 41-7 by No. 25 Missouri State.
No. 20 Sacramento State was an 11.5-point home favorite over Eastern Washington, but the Eagles soared back to Cheney with the 35-28 upset.
On Saturday, Lafayette was a 14.5-point home favorite against Georgetown, but lost 17-0.
Presbyterian was a 3.5-point road choice over Morehead State, but took a 14-7 loss.
2.5-point favorite Morgan State was a 32-24 home loser to Merrimack.
Grambling, a 4.5-point home pick over Alcorn State, lost 17-15 to the Braves.
Idaho State was a 6.5-point favorite in Pocatello, but lost 42-38 to Portland State.
Eastern Illinois was favored by 2.5 at Tennessee Tech, but was smothered 41-17.
Duquesne was just a 4.5-point favorite at St. Francis, but left with a 38-7 win.
No. 15 Incarnate Word was only favored by 3.5 at home against Nicholls, but blasted the Colonels 55-10. The Cardinals held Nicholls scoreless for the last 49:30 after the Colonels scored a TD to trail 14-10.
No. 13 Central Arkansas was a 23.5-point home favorite over FCS upstart West Georgia, but escaped with a 34-33 win after the Wolves rallied to within 1 point with 27 seconds left in the game after trailing by 24. West Georgia opted to go for two, but the pass attempt failed and the Bears recovered the onside kick to secure the win.
For the second week in-a-row, not a single game was played between FBS-FCS teams, and none are scheduled for next week.
FBS schools are 108-6 in such games this season, and a collective 1,908-158 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.
In 2024, there are 121 scheduled scheduled matchups between FBS and FCS schools with 119 schools playing one such game, while Hawaii and UMass each play two.
This year, 15 schools do not play a FCS opponent and 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, are repeats from last year's list of schools 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
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 33 straight vs FCS teams, 24 straight at home, 19 straight conference games, and 10 straight FCS road games.
Last: Won 63-13 at home over Youngstown State on Saturday, October 12.
Next: Visits North Dakota State on Saturday, October 19.
DARTMOUTH and MONTANA STATE have won 7 straight over-all. Next for Dartmouth is CCSU at home, while the Bobcats visit Portland State.
FLORIDA A&M - 14 straight FCS wins, 21 home wins, 17 conference wins (2nd longest)
Last: Won 45-38 over Alabama State in a neutral site game at Mobile on Saturday, October 5.
Next: After enjoying a bye week, the Rattlers visit Jackson State on Saturday, October 19.
WESTERN ILLINOIS -12 straight home losses to FCS schools.
NOTE: After ending a 27-game over-all losing streak by defeating D2 McKendree on 9/28, the Leathernecks a week ago halted their losing streaks of 27 straight to FCS teams, 18 conference games, and 18 road games with a 31-20 win at Charleston Southern on 10/5. They were looking to end a streak of 11 straight home losses to FCS schools this past Saturday, but lost.
Last: Lost 45-17 at home to UT-Martin on Saturday, October 12.
Next: Hosts Tennessee Tech on Saturday, October 19.
NORTHERN COLORADO - Had lost 18 straight games overall, but scored an upset at Weber State this past Saturday.
Lost 7 straight at home (trails Northwestern State, LA by 1).
Last: Won 21-17 at Weber State on Saturday, October 12.
Next: Idle this week. Hosts Montana on Saturday, October 26.
MVSU - 16 straight road losses.
Last: Lost 54-17 at Alabama State on Saturday, October 12.
Next: Hosts Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, October 19.
NW STATE - Lost 15 straight over-all. Lost 8 straight home games
Last: Lost 42-21 at home to Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, October 12. That's the same school NW State last defeated.
Next: Visits Nicholls on Saturday, October 19.