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A huge upset and several comebacks highlighted the sparse 7-game schedule that served as Week Zero.
So much for college football preseason predictions. Georgia Tech said to take that 10.5-point favorite garbage and stuff it, and put Florida State in a position of likely needing to win every game for the rest of the season to make all of Mike Norvell's offseason moves pay off.
FSU got ten 4-star transfer recruits out of the portal, including former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei whom he brought back to the ACC after a year at Oregon State. The 'Noles took all of that newfound offensive talent and moved rapidly to a 6-0 lead in less than four minutes to start the game at Dublin, Ireland. FSU's offense looked totally prepared and Georgia Tech's defense looked clueless. FSU even cockily came out with a swinging gate two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Then the rains came, but that didn't stop the Yellow Jackets and neither did the FSU defense. as Georgia Tech quickly answered FSU's score to make it 8-7. Was this going be a track meet?
Well, actually it became a slugfest. The defenses more or less took over, and were it not for field goals of 52 and 59 yards by Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald in the first half, his team could have been in even more trouble. In the end, it was Georgia Tech who had the last crack to win the game and head coach Brent Key's team marched to what prove to be the game winning field goal from 44 yards out off the toe of Aidan Birr.
There are a lot of Florida State fans who traveled to Ireland and packed the stadium, easily outnumbering the Georgia Tech faithful. You can't help but wonder how many woke up this morning and regretted spending the money. Hopefully, the rest of their trip went better.
Other games on the day saw some excellent FCS action.
First, Tarleton State staked out a big lead, but then had to fend-off a McNeese State rally for a 26-23 win in Stephenville. Later, Montana State found itself trailing 31-14 at FBS member New Mexico, but rallied with the final 21 points to score the 35-31 victory. It became the first win by a FCS school over a FBS program this season, but it was actually expected as the Bobcats closed as 13.5-point favorites. Early turnovers helped the Lobos stake out the lead.
Florida A&M prevailed in the MEAC-SWAC challenge as the defending HBCU national champions survived Norfolk State 24-23.
In the FBS, SMU also needed to rally at Nevada as the 27.5-point favorites got out of Reno with a 29-24 win behind a 16-0 fourth quarter. The go-ahead, and ultimately winning, points came on a 34-yard pass from Preston Stone to R.J. Maryland with 1:18 to play.
See all the scores, picks and odds of the FBS and the FCS.
Last season had 117 of the 133 FBS schools facing one FCS opponent, and Army played two such games for a total of 118 FBS-FCS matchups.
Of the 16 FBS schools that did NOT play a FCS program, 7 were 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 were Liberty (CUSA) , UTSA (American), and Virginia Tech (ACC).
The FBS programs were 114-4 last year against the FCS schools. Over-all, the FBS is a collective 1,800-152 (.922) since we began tracking this in 2003.
These were the FCS wins in 2023:
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
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
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 29 straight over-all, 21 straight home, 18 straight conference games, 8 straight road games.
Last: The #1 seed Jackrabbits posted a 23-3 win over the #2 seed Montana for the national championship in Frisco, Texas on Sunday, January 7.
Next: Visits Oklahoma State (FBS) on Thursday, August 31
MONTANA STATE - Had won 26 straight home games.
Last: The # 6 seed lost 35-34 in OT at home to North Dakota State on the FCS Playoffs.
Next: Won 35-31 at New Mexico (FBS) on Saturday, August 24.
FLORIDA A&M - Won 20 straight home games
Last: 30-26 win over Howard in Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Saturday, December 16.
Next: Won 24-23 over Norfolk State in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge on Saturday, August 24 in Atlanta
WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 24 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, 11 straight home games, 15 road games.
Last: 48-6 home loss vs. South Dakota in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: Visits Northern Illinois (FBS) on Thursday, August 31
CAL POLY - Lost 16 straight true road games.
Last: 48-21 home loss to Weber State in season finale on Saturday, November 18.
Next: Visits San Diego on Thursday, August 31.