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South Dakota State (5-1, 5-1) took down North Dakota State (6-2, 5-2) by a 27-17 count in the Fargo Down, clinching the conference's automatic qualifier bid to the NCAA Playoff. The Jackrabbits were a 23.90-point computer underdog in what became a de facto conference championship game after the North Dakota-Youngstown State game was canceled. North Dakota would have been the conference's automatic qualifier if it played and won this Saturday, given that NDSU lost.
South Dakota State, which joined the conference in 2008, now has two co-championships to its credit with the first occurring in 2016. That year, the Jackrabbits tied with the Bison at 7-1. This year, they tie with North Dakota (4-1) and Missouri State (5-1).
This is the first year that North Dakota State finishes multiple losses in a season since 2016.
Southern Illinois made a late bid at getting another MFVC team into the tournament by outscoring the Southland Conference's SE Louisiana 55-48 in Carbondale. Both schools arranged the meeting a little over a week ago, in hopes that the winner would impress the ten-member FCS committee.
Villanova was picked off on 1st down on its final attempt at a game-tying drive as Delaware secured the 27-20 victory in Philadelphia to claim the CAA North division. Delaware had lost 13 of the last 14 meetings with the last previous win for the Blue Hens occurring in 2011 when the game was played at a neutral site in Chester, PA. Delaware's last previous win over Villanova in Philly was in 2005.
Just a little later in the day, James Madison was an easy 23-6 winner at home over Richmond to capture the CAA South division.
With the victories, Delaware finishes 5-0 overall and 4-0 in CAA play, while JMU concludes the spring season at 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the CAA,
The divisions weren't set up to allow for a conference championship game, but only to make scheduling more regional. The automatic bid was suppose to go to the team in the entire conference with the best over-all conference record based on winning percentage. But due to so many games being canceled, the athletic directors of the CAA schools, excluding Delaware and JMU, voted in favor of Delaware receiving the (not so) automatic qualifier did.
James Madison is a lock to land one of the six at-large bids. Villanova (2-2, 2-2) has no shot an at-large bid and Richmond (3-1, 3-1) likely saw its opportunity fall by the wayside.
Playoff teams will be announced this Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET on ESPNU, and the games begin April 24 with the championship scheduled for Sunday, May 16 at 2:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
VMI had already clinched the SoCon before its' game at home vs. The Citadel was completed as Samford eliminated Mercer with a 44-20 win at Samford. But that didn't stop the Keydets from winning 31-17 as they captured the 77th edition of "The Military Classic of the South". It's VMI's first outright Southern Conference title since 1974 (shared 1977 title with Chattanooga) and first-ever NCAA play-off berth. Mercer (5-6, 5-3) needed a win over Samford and a VMI loss to claim the AQ bid.
On Thursday, Davidson was named the automatic qualifier of the Pioneer League on Friday after the Wildcats' home game with Stetson was canceled due to Covid issues within the Hatters' program. The playoffs will be Davidson's first postseason appearance since the 1969 Tangerine Bowl. Davidson and San Diego each had 1 league loss and the Wildcats own the tie-breaker with the Toreros.
That left San Diego, the league's 4-time defending champion, playing for a chance to stay alive for an at-large bid at Valparaiso. But the team formerly known as the Crusaders recorded a huge 20-19 upset on a 9-yard TD pass from Ben Nimz to Braden Contreras with 25 seconds left and Valpo ended a 14-game losing streak to the Toreros. The victory also gave San Diego and Valparaiso the same final spring records of 4-2 overall and in conference.
Holy Cross scored a decisive 33-10 triumph at Bucknell to cinch a second straight Patriot League Championship while dominating in every phase of the game. The Crusaders finish 3-0 while the Bison fall to 2-2.
Last week saw Weber State clinch the Big Sky, Monmouth claim the Big South, Sacred Heart take the NEC, Jacksonville State capture the OVC and Sam Houston State seize the Southland.
The SWAC champion does not participate in NCAA Playoff.
Heading into the weekend, the likely teams to make it to this year's conference title game were Alabama A&M and Alabama State in the East, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Prairie View A&M or Southern in the West.
Alabama A&M (3-0, 2-0 SWAC) clinched the East division with a 38-14 romp over Alabama State in the Magic City Classic at Birmingham. The victory gave the Bulldogs a 2-game advantage over their nearest competitor with only one game left in the regular season.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-0, 4-0) took care of business at home by holding off Prairie View A&M 36-31 to clinch the West division.
It's Alabama A&M's first division title since 2011, and APBU's first since 2012.
Alcorn State, which had won 6 straight East division titles, opted out of the spring season.
What's left to be decided is which team will host the championship on May 1st. Alabama A&M is scheduled to visit Mississippi Valley State (0-3) next week, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff is slated to host winless Texas Southern (0-2).
Texas Southern was suppose to host MVSU today, but that game was canceled due to Covid issues. TSU hasn't paled a game since March 20.
Southern was a 49-7 cruiser over Grambling State in the Bayou Classic which was held in Shreveport for the first time since 1973 and just the second time in the 72-game history of the series.
Here's oour take on which teams will participate in the the NCAA Playoffs.
*-Clinched
*-Big Sky - Weber State
*-Big South - Monmouth
*-CAA - Delaware
*-MVFC - South Dakota State
*-NEC - Sacred Heart
*-OVC - Jacksonville State
*-Patriot - Holy Cross
*-Pioneer - Davidson
*-SoCon - VMI
*-Southland - Sam Houston State
Eastern Washington
Kennesaw State
North Dakota
Norh Dakota State
James Madison
Austin Peay
Our Season Preview nailed 5 of the 10 preseason picks for the AQ spots, hitting on Monmouth, Weber, Sacred Heart, Holy Cross and Sam Houston State. HeroSports.com correctly picked four - Weber, Sacred Heart, Jacksonville State and Holy Cross.
The computer had 4 upsets picks this weeks and finished 1-3 SU and 2-2 ATS. Last week, the computer's upset picks went 4-2 SU and 4-2 ATS. Over the past 5 weeks, they are a cumulative 15-13 straight up and 18-10 against the spread.
Here are this week's upset picks:
- Prairie View A&M by 0.12 over ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF (-1) - Arkansas-Pine Bluff won 36-31 - Computer lost SU, lost ATS.
- VILLANOVA by 10.59 over Delaware (-7.5) - Delaware won 27-20 - Computer lost SU, won ATS.
- Grambling State by 0.46 over Southern (-7.5) - Game at Shreveport - Southern won 49-7.Computer lost SU, lost ATS.
- NORTHERN ARIZONA by 1.45 over Idaho (-3) - Northern Arizona won 19-9. Computer won SU, won ATS.