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Three games over the weekend saw Top 25 battles, based on the AFCA Coaches' Poll, and the lower-ranked team took two of the three.
10th-ranked Montana ventured into the Kibbie Dome and opened a 20-0 lead over No. 3 Idaho, then held on for a 23-21 win that boiled down to the Vandals being unable to succeed on a two-point conversion 1:47 to go in the game. Montana regained possession of the Little Brown Stein which it lost last season for the first time since 1999. Idaho maintains the series advantage at 56-31-2.
No. 7 North Dakota State journeyed to 15th-ranked North Dakota and was routed 49-24. The onslaught began with Luke Skokna's 100-yard return for a touchdown on the opening kickoff, but the Bison actually rallied to with 21-17 with 4:32 left before halftime after falling behind 21-7. Over the next 31:50, the Fighting Hawks went on a 28-0 blitz to put the game away. North Dakota ended a 5-game losing strike in the series with their first win since 2003 which was also in Grand Rapids. The win also extended North Dakota's lead in the series to 63-50-3.
The third Top 25 matchup saw No. 17 South Dakota get the 34-31 home win over No. 20 Youngstown State. The home team has won the last seven meetings and the victory for the Coyotes cut the Penguin's lad in the series to 8-3. South Dakota has not lost a game since dropping the season-opener at FBS Missouri, 35-10.
Six teams in the Coaches' Poll had the week off - No. 9 NC Central, 11 Holy Cross, No. 12 William & Mary, No. 14 Western Carolina, No. 16 Florida A&M, and No. 18 UT-Martin.
The 55-game slate was cut to 54 by the cancelation of Northwestern State's game at Nicholls after Ronnie Caldwell was found dead earlier in the week from multiple gunshot wounds. Caldwell was discovered between two buildings of a University Parkway apartment complex late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning, and his roommate has since been arrested in connection with the case.
Caldwell played safety for the Demons after transferring from Tyler Junior College following the 2021 football season. In 2022, he appeared in all 11 games, starting 10, and finished seventh on the team in tackles. He had yet to play in a game this fall because of a preseason injury. The investigation is ongoing while University President Marcus Jones praised Caldwell's dedication to the community, noting how he spent the summer coaching a local youth baseball team.
Northwestern State is scheduled to host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday at 2 p.m. local time, while Nicholls State travels to Texas A&M-Commerce.
Top-ranked South Dakota State continues to roll along, picking up a 20th straight win in easy fashion as the Jackrabbits dismissed then-No. 26 Northern Iowa by a 41-6 count.
23rd ranked Weber State fell to 3-4 with a 4th loss in the last five games, succumbing 17-16 at home to No. 27 UC Davis. The Wildcats pulled to with that final margin on a 30-yard field goal with 7:37 to play, but couldn't do anything with the ball on their final two possessions.
No. 20 Chattanooga scored a 22-10 victory at No. 31 Mercer to stay a game behind Furman and Western Carolina in the SoCon. The Paladins and Catamounts meet in Cullowhee this Saturday. The Mocs lost at home to Western Carolina two weeks ago, 52-50, on a walk-off field goal. Chattanooga hosts Furman on November 4. WCU, ranked 7th, was idle. Furman, ranked 4th, was a 27-21 winner at Samford.
No. 24 New Hampshire was a 38-31 home winner over Albany, knocking the Great Danes out of a tie for first in the CAA.
No. 2 Montana State was an easy 59-19 winner at home over Cal Poly No. 9 Delaware now has sole possession of the CAA as the only team with an unblemished league record (3-0) after a 21-6 home win versus North Carolina A&T. The Blue Hens travel to face a Hampton team that was just manhandled 61-10 at Monmouth.
No. 6 Sacramento State survived a trip to winless Northern Colorado. The Hornets never trailed, but also never led by more than 11 and eventually left with a 21-13 win. Sacramento State, which has won at FBS Stanford and lost at Big Sky foe Idaho, is still trying to stay in a conference race that is log-jammed with six teams at 2-1 or better in league play. The Hornets will get a shot at the only team with a perfect conference record this Saturday when they host Montana State.
After just two conference games for every team, Harvard is the only Ivy League school that has not lost a conference game. The No. 21 Crimson are also perfect over-all at 5-0 after trashing non-conference foe Howard 48-7.
There were four overtime games on Saturday, with two of those involving Ivy League schools. Brown was a 28-27 home winner over conference foe Princeton while Dartmouth dropped a 27-24 decision in OT at non-conference foe Colgate.
Eastern Kentucky was taken to double-overtime at home by Tarleton State before the Colonels prevailed, 41-35
Presbyterian ended an 18-game conference losing streak, and improved to 3-3 over-all, with a 20-17 overtime win at Dayton.
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).
There are no such matchups this week.
The FBS programs are 106-4 this year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,792-152 (.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
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 20 straight over-all
Last: 41-6 home win over Northern Iowa on Saturday, November 14.
Next: at Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 21.
MONTANA STATE - Won 24 straight home games.
Last: 59-19 home win over Cal Poly on Saturday, October 14.
Next: at Sacramento State on Saturday, November 21 on ESPN-2 at 7:30 pacific time/10:30 eastern time.
HOLY CROSS - Won 19 straight conference games.
Last: 55-27 win at Bucknell on Saturday, October 7.
Next: Hosts Lafayette on Saturday, November 21.
HARVARD - Won 8 straight road games.
Last: 48-7 home win over Howard on Saturday, November 14.
Next: at Princeton on Saturday, November 21.
WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 19 straight over-all, 13 straight conference games, and 9 straight home games.
Last: 48-7 home loss to Missouri State on Saturday, November 14.
Next: Visits North Dakota State on Saturday, November 21.
NORFOLK STATE - Lost 8 straight home games (1 behind Western Illinois).
Last: 24-17 loss at Tennessee State on Saturday, October 14.
Next: at Howard on Saturday, November 21.
ROBERT MORRIS - Lost 19 straight road games.
Last: 43-24 loss at Bryant on Saturday, November 14.
Next: After idle week, hosts Tennessee Tech on Saturday, November 28.
PRESBYTERIAN - Had lost 18 straight conference games, but won on Saturday..
Last: 20-17 overtime win at Dayton on Saturday, November 14.
Next: Hosts Marist on Saturday, November 21.