FCS Weekend Preview - Ivy League Opens

September 12, 2022 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

This is the opening week of the Ivy League whose 8 schools will play 3 non-conference games in addition to the 7-game round-robin league slate. The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballlPoll.com has predicted a 3-way tie at the top between defending champ Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard.

Overall, there are 74 games this week involving a FCS program with 22 schools facing a FBS team, 5 playing a D2 school, and 3 taking on a NAIA program. That leaves us with 44 head-to-head FCS matchups.

There are 22 FBS-FCS games this Saturday, and at least five of those are very interesting matchups with Villanova visiting Army, North Dakota State traveling to Arizona, Jacksonville State at Tulsa, and Montana State playing Oregon State in the Major League Soccer home of the Portland Timbers. Also, Bobby Petrino takes his current Missouri State team to visit one of his former teams, Arkansas.

The computer favors the Black Knights by 18.03 which is a surprisingly large margin given that Army is 0-2 and ranked 93rd in the FBS by the computer while Villanova is 2-0 and ranked 7th in the FCS. Conversely, Arizona is a slim 4.42-point computer choice as the No. 83 FBS program with a 1-1 record hosts the FCS No. 1 Bison with a 2-0 record. Jacksonville State is 3-0 and ranked 13th in the FCS, and has recent wins over FBS programs Florida State last year and FIU in 2020. Montana State is ranked 2nd in the FCS while Oregon State has surged to No. 17 in the FBS rankings. Missouri State is 9th in the FCS while Arkansas is 15th in the FBS.

A sixth FBS-FCS matchup actually saw the line open in favor of the FCS team, Stony Brook. The Seawolves were installed as 2.5-point favorites at UMass while the computer has the Minutemen by 8.77.

Other games this week among the higher-ranked teams include No. 3 Montana hitting the road to face Indiana State, while No. 4 South Dakota State hosts Butler and 5th-ranked Jackson State entertains Grambling State.

Weber State jumped from 13th to 6th after a 35-7 romp over FBS member Utah State. This week, the Wildcats will be a huge favorite at home over Utah Tech, formerly known as Dixie State.

8th-ranked Incarnate Word goes to Prairie View while No. 10 Holy Cross hosts Yale.

SEE: Complete Schedule/Picks of every game involving a FCS program.

FCS vs. FBS

There will be 118 FBS vs. FCS matchups this season with App State, Army and Marshall each playing two such games, and 115 other FBS schools playing one apiece.

The FBS is 70-6 vs the FCS this season and 1,644-146 (.920) since we began tracking this in 2003.

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)

Streaks

SAN DIEGO - Winning streak ended at 8 (was FCS longest)
Last: Lost 28-27 at Cal Poly on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Visits UC Davis on Saturday, September 17.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 8 straight over-all (new FCS longest).
Last: Won 43-3 at home over North Carolina A&T on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Visits FBS Arizona on Saturday, September 17.

MONTANA STATE - Won 14 straight home games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 63-13 at home over Morehead State on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Visits FBS Oregon State on Saturday, September 17.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - Won 12 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 33-9 at Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Visits North Carolina A&T on Saturday, September 24 as first four games are on the road (first home game Sept. 8 vs Florida A&M).

DARTMOUTH - Won 11 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 52-31 at Brown on Saturday, Nov.. 20.
Next: Hosts Valparaiso on Saturday, September 17.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Lost 20 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 59-27 at FBS member North Texas on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Plays Southern at Arlington, Texas on Saturday, September 17 in the Arlington Football Showdown.

WAGNER -  Lost 22 straight overall, 14 straight conference games, and 11 straight at home (all are FCS longest).
LAST: Lost 66-7 at FBS member Rutgers on Saturday, September 10.
Next: Hosts St. Francis (PA) on Saturday, September 17.