Week 5 FCS Slate Has 56 Games - All On Saturday

September 27, 2024 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

(UPDATE: Samford at Furman, Davidson at Presbyterian join Alabama A&M at Florida A&M on football postponement list).

Consensus No. 1 South Dakota State gets a bye week with a home game against Northern Iowa, ranked 19th in the Coaches' Poll, next on the agenda on October 5.  A whopping 23 schools are idle, but the only other Top 25 teams in the Coaches' Poll that are taking a break this week are the aforementioned Panthers, No. 18 UIW, and No. 20 New Hampshire.

Ranked vs. ranked battles this week have North Dakota State (2) at Illinois State (15), Idaho (4) at UC Davis (11), South Dakota (5) hosting Southern Illinois (17), and Central Arkansas (7) hosting Lamar (25).

Going into this week, 91 of the 129 FCS teams have yet to play conference game, and only five teams have played two conference opponents. Of those five, Campbell, Prairie View and West Georgia lost both, while Mercer and Robert Morris won both.

There are 33 conference games on Saturday while three FCS teams take on D2 programs, and three more tackle FBS schools.

See Weekly Picks for every matchup with odds and computer projection.

In all, 56 games are schedule to be played after Alabama A&M and Florida A&M agreed earlier in the week to postpone their game in Tallahassee until November 29, due to the possible effects of Hurricane Helene. A number of reasons were taken into consideration, including the hindrance the impending storm would have on Alabama A&M travel logistics, and potential widespread power outages. Tallahassee is also know for its considerable number of trees throughout the city that could wind up in roadways.

At the time of this writing, Tallahassee escaped a direct hit as the eye jogged east of the capital city. It made landfall 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. E.T., according to the hurricane center, with winds of 140 mph as a category 4 hurricane. By 2 a.m., the center of the storm had moved into southern Georgia and the sustained winds had diminished to 90 mph. The heaviest flooding, other than the Florida coastal regions, were on the eastern and northeastern side of the storm. But earlier Thursday, the storm was so wide that Florida's Atlantic seaboard was getting hit with tropical storm, and low hurricane force, gusts.

Flooding, damage to infrastructure, and roadways impeded by debris, could cause lingering effects that could impact the college football schedule.

FBS vs. FCS

10 more FBS-FCS games were played last weekend with the FBS schools going 9-1. The FBS schools to raise their record to 106-5 in such games this season, and a collective 1,906-157 (.924) since we began tracking this in 2003.

Only 3 such games take place this week with Wagner at Florida Atlantic, UT-Martin at Kennesaw, and Holy Cross at Syracuse.

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
September 7: St. Francis (PA) 23, Kent State 17
September 7: Idaho 17, Wyoming 13
September 7: Southern Utah 27, UTEP 24 (OT)
September 21: Monmouth 45, FIU 42

In 2023, FBS schools were 114-4. These were the FCS wins last year:
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

Streaks - Current FCS Longest

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - Won 31 straight vs FCS teams, 23 straight at home, 17 straight conference games, and 9 straight FCS road games.
Last: Won 41-0 at SE Louisiana on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Visits Northern Iowa (after a bye week) on Saturday, October 5.

FLORIDA A&M - 13 straight FCS wins, 21 home wins, and 16 conference wins (2nd longest)
Last: Lost 34-12 FBS member Troy on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Game vs. Alabama A&M on Saturday, September 28 was moved to November 29, so the Rattlers' next game is Saturday, October 5 at Alabama State.

WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 27 straight over-all, 18 straight conference games, 11 straight home games, 18 road games.
Last: Lost 51-34 at 13th-ranked Illinois State on Saturday, September 14.
Next: Hosts D2 McKendree on Saturday, September 28.

CAL POLY - Lost 18 straight true road games.
Last: Won 31-14 at home over D2 Western Oregon on Saturday, September 14.
Next: Visits Northern Colorado on Saturday, September 28