FBS Weekly Preview For 10/7-10/9

October 3, 2021 by Staff

Eight games have flipped on which team is now the computer's predicted winner since the preseason data was compiled. Alabama is now the predicted winner at Texas A&M, as is Georgia at Auburn, Michigan at Nebraska, Texas vs. Oklahoma at Dallas, Oregon State at Washington State, Bowling Green at home vs. Akron, UConn at UMass, Memphis at Tulsa, and Central Michigan is now favored at Ohio.

A couple of Big Ten games maintain surprising computer margins with Iowa favored by 8.58 at home over Penn State, and Rutgers picked to win by 2.45 at home over Michigan State.

There are only 51 games on the docket and no FBS teams are playing FCS schools. A total of 28 teams are idle this week, including Clemson, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Oregon.

Two games to watch this week involve Arizona schools at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Arizona State had zoomed up the rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com to No. 15 after a 42-23 win at UCLA on Saturday. The Sun Devils, 4-1 over-all and 2-0 in the PAC-12, will host Stanford (3-2, 2-1) as a 10.5-point favorite in the sportsbooks. It has taken many years, but now, you can find a popular bookmaker in Arizona. The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have the margin for this game well under the spread at just 3.85 points in favor of Arizona State.

Meanwhile, Arizona (0-1, 0-4) is still in search of its first win under head coach Jedd Fisch. So far, the Wildcats have been outscored 124-68 while facing the nation's 22nd-toughest schedule out of 130 teams. It's Arizona's turn to face UCLA this week with the 'Cats listed as a 16-point underdog and the computer favoring the visiting Bruins by 18.02 points.

SEE: Weekly Picks

FCS vs. FBS

2 teams will play 2 FCS teams this fall (UConn and UMass), and 115 teams will play 1 FCS school for a total of 117 such matchups. 105 of those 117 games have already been played.

No FCS-FBS games took place this week. The FBS is 95-10 this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,564-138 (.919).

Last year, 30 FBS teams played a total of just 34 games against FCS schools and the FCS won just 1 game (1-33). That honor also went to Jacksonville State with its 19-10 victory over FIU.

Here are the FCS wins in 2021:
September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
September 2: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 (2 OT)
September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23
September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28
September 4: Montana 13, Washington 7
September 4: ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3
September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26
September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17.
September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34.
September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19

This was the only FCS win vs. the FBS in 2020:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

In 2019, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games. These were the only FCS wins that season:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

Streaks

ALABAMA - Won 19 straight games overall (FBS longest).
Last: Won 42-21 at home vs. Ole Miss on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Visits Texas A&M on Saturday, Oct. 9.

OHIO STATE - Won 23 straight conference games (FBS longest), and 11 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 52-13 at Rutgers on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Hosts Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 9.

CLEMSON - Won 31 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 19-13 at home over Boston College on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Visits Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 15.

NEW MEXICO - Lost 15 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 38-10 at home to Air Force on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Visits San Diego State on Saturday, Oct. 9.

KANSAS - Lost 17 straight to FBS schools, Lost 14 straight conference games (tied FBS longest with Vanderbilt).
Last: Lost 59-7 at Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Hosts Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 16.

ARIZONA - Lost 16 straight over-all (tied with UMass for FBS longest), and 15 straight to FBS schools (two behind Kansas for FBS longest).
Last: Lost 41-19 at Oregon Saturday, Sept. 25.
Next: Hosts UCLA on Saturday, Oct. 9.

MASSACHUSETTS - Lost 16 straight over-all (tied with Arizona for FBS longest).
Last: Lost 45-7 at home to Toledo on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Next: Hosts UConn on Saturday, Oct. 9.