FCS Weekend Recap, Rankings

September 25, 2022 by Staff

Nine teams lost for the first time this weekend, reducing the number of undefeated FCS programs to just 12.

These are the schools that suffered their first defeat, along with their top 25 ranking heading into the weekend:
No. 7 Incarnate Word at SE Louisiana, 41-35
No. 10 Dartmouth at Sacred Heart, 38-35 in OT
No. 13 William & Mary at home to Elon, 35-31
No. 18 Chattanooga at FBS member Illinois, 31-0
Fordham at FBS member Ohio, 59-52
Hampton at No. 17 Delaware 35-3
Cornell at home vs. Yale, 38-14
Brown at home vs. No. 16 Harvard, 35-28
Lindenwood at UT-Martin, 56-26

At the other end of the spectrum, these 11 teams picked up their first win:
Northern Iowa at Western Illinois, 52-17
Bryant at LIU, 31-29
North Carolina A&T at home over South Carolina State, 47-27
Albany home over Central Connecticut, 45-26
McNeese State at home over D2 Mississippi College, 32-17
Northwestern State (La.) at home over Lamar, 35-27
Eastern Illinois at Murray State, 35-21
Kennesaw State at home over Wofford, 24-22
Bethune-Cookman at home over Grambling State, 36019
Marist at Drake, 30-25
Yale at Cornell, 38-14

The last game to finish the FCS slate over the weekend was Weber State's 17-12 win at UC Davis which ended with a pickoff an Aggies' pass in the final seconds after they had driven to the Wildcats' 15-yard line.

Minutes after the conclusion of that game, the latest Congrove Computer Rankings were released with the top five remaining unchanged.

Montana holds the top spot for the second consecutive week, followed by Jackson State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Weber State.

The Griz snagged a 53-16 home win over Portland State, the Tigers romped to a 49-7 home win over MVSU, the Bison were 34-17 road winners at South Dakota, and the Jackrabbits were 28-14 victors at then-No. 14 Missouri State which fell to 24th with the loss.

Sacramento State rose from 9th to 6th after delivering a crushing 41-10 blow to FBS member Colorado State. The Hornets' move up the ladder forced Montana State and Holy Cross down a notch to 7th and 8th, respectively. Montana State was a 38-35 winner at then-No. 22 Eastern Washington, and Holy Cross won 35-10 at Colgate.

Austin Peay rose from 11th to 9th after a 31-10 home win over Eastern Kentucky, and Delaware closes out the top 10 as the Blue Hens rocket 7 spots upward following a 35-3 home win over Hampton.

With the aforementioned losses, Incarnate Word fell from 7th to 12th, Dartmouth dropped from 10th to 20th, William & Mary descended from 13th to 23rd, and Chattanooga plunged from 18th to 25th.

ALSO SEE: Complete Picks/Scores of every game involving a FCS program.
ALSO SEE: New Top 130

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.

There were just six FBS-FCS games this week, and now only 14 remain for the rest of the season. The only upset was one which the computer predicted and even the oddsmaker favored to occur, and that was Sacramento State's win at Colorado State. However, no one expected it to be the 41-10 beatdown that occurred.

The 5-1 record improved the FBS to 96-8 vs. the FCS on the season and 1,670-148 (.919) 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)
September 17: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
September 24: Sacramento State 41, Colorado State 10

Streaks

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL - Won 7 straight over-all (FCS longest)
Last: Won 59-14 vs. D2 Virginia-Lynchburg on Saturday, September 24.
Next: Visits Campbell on Saturday, October 1.

MONTANA STATE - Won 14 straight home games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 38-15 at Eastern Washington on Saturday, September 24.
Next: Hosts UC Davis on Saturday, October 1.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE - Won 12 straight conference games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 47-27 at North Carolina A&T on Saturday, September 24 as first four games are on the road (first home game Oct. 8 vs Florida A&M).
Next: Visits FBS member South Carolina on Saturday, October 1.

DARTMOUTH - Had 11-game road winning streak come to an end (was FCS longest).
Last: Lost 38-31 in overtime at Sacred Heart on Saturday, September 24.
Next: Hosts Penn on Friday, September 30.

WEBER STATE - Won 7 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Won 17-12 at UC Davis on Saturday, September 24.
Next: Hosts Eastern Washington on Saturday, October 1.

TEXAS SOUTHERN - Lost 21 straight road games (FCS longest).
Last: Lost 52-24 at FBS member UTSA on Saturday, September 24.
Next: Hosts Alabama State on Saturday, October 1.

WAGNER -  Lost 23 straight overall, 15 straight conference games, and 12 straight at home (all are FCS longest).
Last: Lost 27-7 at home to St. Francis (PA) on Saturday, September 17.
Next: Visits FBS member Syracuse on Saturday, October 1.