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Six teams in the Coaches' Poll have the week off and the slate presents a trio of Top 25 matchups.
Over-all, 19 teams are on their bye week, including 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.
109 FCS schools will take part in 55 games. No FCS school is playing a FBS team this week, but the Southern Jaguars from the SWAC are hosting D2 member Lincoln, CA.
One of the Top 25 battles sends No. 7 North Dakota State (4-1, 1-1) to face fellow MVFC member and state rival North Dakota (3-2, 1-1) in the Alerus Center. The 15th-ranked Fighting Hawks are getting a microscopic 0.24-point edge from the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com, against a line that opened at 7.5 in favor of the visiting Bison. North Dakota State has taken the last 5 over-all from 2015-2022 after the Fighting Hawks took 3 straight from 2001-2003. North Dakota holds a 62-50-3 lead in a series that dates to 1894. This is only the second meeting in Grand Forks since 2003 as the once-annual rivalry has only been played ten times in the 2000's.
No. 3 Idaho is the highest-ranked team that will be facing another Top 25 program when the Vandals (5-1, 3-0) host Big Sky foe and 10th-ranked Montana (5-1, 2-1 in the Kibbie Dome). Idaho is joined by the Griz' main rival, Montana State, as the only teams remaining in the Big Sky with an unblemished conference record. The Vandals opened as an 8.5-point home favorite while the computer drops the margin to 5.25.
We go back to the MVFC for the third and final game between Top 25 programs and find the Computer's Weekly Picks indicate No. 17 South Dakota (4-1, 2-0) is a home underdog to No. 20 (tie) Youngstown State (3-2, 1-1) by 2.77 points. That would break a string of 6 straight wins by the home team in this series which the Penguins lead 8-2 over-all. The opening line favored by the Coyotes, but by just a single point. The Penguins are coming off a 31-3 beatdown of then-No. 5 Southern Illinois. South Dakota claimed the Dakota Marker for the fourth straight time on September 30 with a 24-19 win at North Dakota State, and crushed Murray State this past Saturday by a 38-7 count. The Coyotes have not lost since dropping the season-opener at FBS Missouri, 35-10.
Four ranked teams play a school that is also receiving votes in the Coaches' Poll.
(1) South Dakota State host (26) Northern Iowa -
UNI has won the last two meetings in Brookings, and almost won last year in Cedar Falls, so this game certainly has the attention of the coaches and players on the top-ranked Jackrabbits. Last year, SDSU escaped with a 31-28 win on a 26-yard walk-off field goal. Given those results, it seems a little silly that the line opened in favor of the 'Rabbits by 21 while the computer stretches that number to 22.37.
(23) Weber State hosts (27) UC Davis - The Wildcats have dropped three of their last four and barely dented the scoreboard in those defeats. They lost 31-7 at Utah, 40-0 at home to Montana State, and 27-10 at home to Northern Arizona this past Saturday. UC Davis opened as a 1.5-point favorite, and gets a slightly lower 1.17-point advantage form the computer.
(20-tie) Chattanooga at (31) Mercer - The game opened as a pick' em and the computer has the home team Bears by 1.88.
(24) New Hampshire hosts (32) Albany - The opening line was just 3 in favor of the Wildcats while the computer widened the edge to 7.26.
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).
FBS schools were 2-0 this past weekend as Virginia beat William & Mary 27-13, and Northwestern hung on for a 23-20 win over Howard.
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 19 straight over-all
Last: 40-21 win at Illinois State on Saturday, October 7.
Next: Hosts Northern Iowa on Saturday, November 14.
MONTANA STATE - Won 23 straight home games.
Last: 38-22 home win over Portland State on Saturday, September 30.
Next: Hosts Cal Poly on Saturday, October 14.
HOLY CROSS - Won 19 straight conference games.
Last: 55-27 win at Bucknell on Saturday, October 7.
Next: After a bye week, hosts Lafayette on Saturday, November 21.
HARVARD - Won 8 straight road games.
Last: 41-23 home win over Cornell on Friday, October 6.
Next: Hosts Howard on Saturday, November 14.
WESTERN ILLINOIS - Lost 18 straight over-all, and 8 straight home games (tied with Norfolk State).
Last: 49-10 loss at North Dakota on Saturday, October 7.
Next: Hosts Missouri State on Saturday, November 14.
NORFOLK STATE - Lost 8 straight home games (tied with Western Illinois).
Last: 28-26 home to North Carolina A&T on Saturday, September 30.
Next: Visits Tennessee State on Saturday, October 14.
ROBERT MORRIS - Lost 18 straight road games (tied with Idaho State).
Last: 31-16 loss at Gardner-Webb on Saturday, October 7.
Next: Visits Bryant on Saturday, November 14.
IDAHO STATE - Lost 17 straight road games (1 behind Robert Morris).
Last: 28-20 loss at Montana.
Next: After bye week, hosts Eastern Washington on Saturday, October 14.
PRESBYTERIAN - Lost 18 straight conference games.
Last: 28-24 loss at home to Stetson on Saturday, October 7.
Next: Visits Dayton on Saturday, November 14.