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Comebacks and overtime were the theme of the weekend. Baylor at Colorado was among the craziest finishes ever, while Monmouth at FIU gave it a run for its money.
It all started with a pair of Friday overtime contests with Illinois disappointing Nebraska's 400th sellout crowd, while Washington State rallied at home and defeated San Jose State in double-overtime.
The weekend also featured multiple conference debuts.
Shedeur Sanders' Hail Mary 43-yard touchdown pass to LaJohntay Wester and PAT tied the score at 31 as time expired in regulation. In overtime, Micah welch scored from a yard out. Before that, Colorado had only led for 2 minutes and 30 seconds - from the 1:56 mark of the first quarter to the 14:26 mark of the second quarter. Baylor's turn in overtime ended when Travis Hunter forced a fumble just before Dominic Richardson crossed the goal line and the ball continued out of the back of the endzone for a touchback. Fans stormed the field, but were ushered off to await the result replay, and then stormed the field en masse when the ruling was upheld.
This was Colorado's 'welcome back to the Big 12" debut conference game. What a way to start.
The fifth upset by a FCS school over a FBS program in 2024 wasn't a major shocker, but the ending was off the charts. The Hawks trailed 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter and still trailed by 14 until a Monmouth TD with 1:49 left in the half made the score 28-21, FIU, at the break. The second half was a back-and-forth game and Monmouth took a 42-35 lead with 13:24 left. FIU answered on the next series to make it 42-all. It wasn't until there was 1:52 left that the next points would go on the board, courtesy of a 43-yard field goal by the Hawks.
The Panthers were driving for the winning score, going from their own 25 to the Monmouth 21. That's when Keyone Jenkins threw to Eric Rivers across the middle who broke a tackle at the 13-yard line,cut to the sideline and was heading to the endzone when he was met with force at the 1-yard line and fumbled. Deuce Lee was credited with the recovery and the Hawks had their first-ever win over a FBS school. Monmouth started football in 1993, FIU in 2002.
Recovered fumbled stops FIU comeback drive as #FCS member Monmouth (@MUHawksFB) wins 45-42 in Miami. #NCAAF #CollegeFootball https://t.co/KMWPZwdzty
— CollegeFootballPoll.com (@cfpoll) September 22, 2024
Both schools were 3-0 when the game began and both schools were ranked with the Illini at No. 24 and the 'Huskers at No. 22 in the AP Poll. Illinois had not led since being up 7-0 for 8-1/2 minutes of the first quarter.
The score was tied by Illinois at 24-all with 10:56 left in the game. Nebraska had to punt on its next possession, and Illinois fumbled after two plays but kept Nebraska to a field goal try that missed from 39 with roughly 2:50 to play. Illinois held the ball until inside 30 seconds and the punt bottled-up Nebraska inside its 10-yard line so the 'Huskers took a knee on first down and the game wen to OT.
Illinois needed only 2 plays to go up 38-31. Nebraska's attempt to answer started with a 5-yard penalty, followed by a 4-yard sack, followed by two more sacks that ended the game with Nebraska having moved backwards from the Illini 25 to its own 45.
Washington State transfer QB Emmett Brown worked magic for San Jose State all night, and the Spartans went through about an 18-minute period from late in the 2nd quarter to early in the 4th where they outscored the home team 28-3 to turn a 21-10 deficit into a 38-24 advantage. Washington State then embarked on a 19-0 run go to up 43-38 with 4:56 to play. SJSU answered with Brown's third TD pass with just 26 seconds left, but Wazzu moved 40 yards in 4 plays to give Dean Janikowski (no relation to former FSU/NFL kicker Sebastian) a 52-yard attempt which he nailed.
The teams exchanged INT's in the first overtime period with the Cougars returning the favor after the Spartans were picked on the first OT possession. In the second extra period, Dylan Paine scored from 7 yards out and SJSU answered with Brown's 4th-TD pass with this one going to Nick Nash for a 4-yard score. The difference was Washington State made it's required 2-point conversion attempt when Quinn Roff sacked Brown.
Washington State QB John Mateer finished 26-of-46 for 390 yards with 4 TD's and 2 picks, and led all rushers with 111 yards and another score.
Brown had similar passing stats, completing 35-of-54 for 375 yards with 4 TD's and 2 INT's, and added a 1-yard TD run.
Stanford flew 2,800 miles for its opener as a member of the ACC to take on Syracuse as a 9.5-point underdog on Friday night. Jet lag wasn't an issue as the Cardinal popped out to a 10-0 second quarter lead and entered the fourth up 20-17, buoyed by a 71-yard interception return by Mitch Leigberg. After adding to the lead with 35-yard Emmet Kenny field goal (his third of four), the 'Cuse responded and grabbed its first lead with 3:13 to go in the game on a 13-yard pass connection from Ohio State transfer QB Kyle McCord to Georgia transfer Jackson Meeks. But the 24-23 advantage would not hold up as Ashton Daniels completed 5 passes in an 8-play drive that ended with Kenny's 39-yard walk-off game winner. Daniels had earlier thrown 2 picks that the Orange could only convert into one field goal, and the pick-6.
Boston College led for all of 2:10 of the first half, but stayed within 7 points before retaking the lead at 16-13 by quickly tallying the first 10 points of the second half. First came a 39-yard field goal, followed by a Michigan State interception on the next play, and a 36-yard Treshaun Ward touchdown run on BC's first play after the pick. Michigan State tied it back up at 16 on the ensuing series with 9:16 to go in the third. It stayed that way until Michigan State used an 18-play, 89-yard drive to take 9:24 off the clock, but only got a field goal from 27 yards out after the drive stalled at the BC 9. Thomas Castellanos calmly guided the Eagles from their own 25 to the Spartans' 42 in five plays, and then hit Lewis Bond at the 13 who continued to the endzone for the touchdown and a 23-19 advantage with 1:28 to play. It looked like Aiden Chiles was going to lead MSU to the win before he was picked off in the back of the endzone with 31 seconds left.
The Eagles took three victory formation kneel downs and celebrated the win to honor "the man in the Red Bandanna" who was credited with saving multiple lives (as many as 18) in the 9/11 plane attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11/01 before the South Tower collapsed and took has life. He had spent nearly an hour helping others.
That man was former BC lacrosse player Welles Crowther who was just 24-years old when he was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor.
Northern Illinois won 16-14 at Notre Dame two weeks ago as a 27.5-point underdog, and was propelled into the AP Top 25 . The newly anointed 23rd-ranked Huskies took the next week off and were excited to be hosting Buffalo this past Saturday in each teams' MAC opener. NIU was a 13.5-point favorite. Kanon Woodill, who kicked the 35-yard game-winner at Notre Dame, hit the 27-yarder that tied the game at 20 with 26 seconds left. But Woodill had his 42-yard attempt blocked in OT and Upton Bellenfant connected from 37 to give the Bulls their first win over a Top 25 team since upending No. 14 Ball State (12-0) in the 2008 MAC Championship game.
The Weekly Picks, based on the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com, correctly called Toledo's upset win at Mississippi State two weeks ago. It also correctly called Toledo's loss this week at Western Kentucky.
Memphis, a 20-12 winner at Florida State a week ago, was a 56-44 loser at Navy.
SMU rolled to a 66--42 win over TCU in a game that saw current Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes get ejected after arguing calls too aggressively at the start of the second half. Dykes left his HC position with SMU after the 2021 season to take the job at TCU and immediately led the Horned Frogs to the National Championship where they, unfortunately, were smoked 65-7 by Georgia..
Teams in the upper echelon of the rankings saw their week go according to plan while Georgia, Alabama and Oregon had a bye week.
Texas thumped UL-Monroe 51-3, Ole Miss beat Georgia Southern 52-13, and Ohio State handled Marshall 49-14.
The major exception was USC bowing 27-24 at Michigan on Kalen Mullings' 1-yard dive with Mullings got all eight carries and broke through a pair of tackles for a 63-yard run that put Michigan in the red zone. He finished off the drive with a 1-yard, 4th-and-goal dive with 37 seconds remaining. Mullings carried all 8 plays on the drive and set up the TD with his 63-yard run. Michigan was held to 32 passing yards, but amassed 290 on the ground with Mullings toting the rock for 159 yards on 17 carries for 2 scores. That offset a 283-yard, 3 TD performance by Miller Moss of USC.
Meanwhile, Tennessee went to Norman and turned the game-of-the-week into a ho-hummer with a 25-15 dominance of Oklahoma. The final score looked better than the game as the Sooners tallied a touchdown with 1:01 to play in the game.
Kansas State went west and got whipped in Provo, 38-9, by BYU.
Florida and Florida State finally put a mark in the left column of the standings. Each is now 1-3 after the Gators were 45-28 victors at Mississippi State, and the 'Noles took a 14-9 defensive battle at home against Cal in the Bears' first conference game as a new member of the ACC.
Iowa took back the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy with a 31-14 win at Minnesota. It was the ninth win for the Hawkeyes' in the last 10 meetings.
North Carolina and James Madison combined for 39 points in the first quarter as JMU went up 11-0, then down 14-11, and back up 25-14. The second quarter saw 35 points gets added, but the problem for North Carolina was they only had 7 of those points. The Dukes led 53-21 at the half and coasted to the 70-50 win.
West Virginia overcame a 28-17 deficit in the final 3:27 to beat Kansas 32-28.
10 more FBS-FCS games were played over the 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.
The lone FCS win was a wild one in Miami where Monmouth and FIU were battling. The Hawks hit the go-ahead field goal with 1:52 to play, then stopped the Panthers from scoring on a recovered fumbled just outside the goal line with 32 seconds left for the 45-42 Monmouth victory.
St. Francis (PA) was trying for a second win over a FBS program this year, having knocked off Kent State 23-17 two weeks ago, but the trip to Eastern Michigan resulted in a 36-0 loss.
Here are all 10 FBS-FCS scores from Saturday:
NEVADA 49, Eastern Washington 16
UMASS 35, CCSU 31
HAWAII 36, Northern Iowa 7
TROY 34, Florida A&M 12
PITTSBURGH 73, Youngstown State 17
Monmouth 45, Florida International 42
MARYLAND 38, Villanova 20
EASTERN MICHIGAN 36, St. Francis (PA) 0
UTSA 45, Houston Christian 7
BOISE STATE 56, Portland State 14
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
GEORGIA - Won 42 straight regular season games, 26 straight at home, and 16 straight true road wins.
Last: Won 13-12 at Kentucky on Saturday, September 14.
Next: at Alabama on Saturday, September 28.
MICHIGAN - 26 straight conference wins.
Last: Won 27-24 at home over USC on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Hosts Minnesota on Saturday, September 28.
MISSOURI - Won 8 straight overall. (Army and Ole Miss have 7 straight)
Last: Won 30-27 in OT at home over Vanderbilt on Saturday, September 21.
Next: at Texas A&M on Saturday, October 5 after a bye week.
KENT STATE - Lost 13 straight over-all.
Last: Lost 56-0 at Penn State on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Hosts Eastern Michigan on Saturday, September 28.
ULM - Lost 10 straight conference games (tied with Vanderbilt).
Last: Lost 51-3 at Texas on Saturday, September 21.
Next: at Troy on Saturday, September 28.
VANDERBILT - Lost 10 straight conference games (tied with ULM).
Last: Lost 30-27 in 2 OT at Missouri on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Hosts Alabama on Saturday, October 5 after a bye week.
STANFORD - Lost 9 straight home games to FBS foes.
Last: Won 26-24 at Syracuse on Friday, September 20.
Next: Another trip to the east coast, this time at Clemson on Saturday, September 28.
UTEP - Lost 6 straight home games.
Last: Lost 27-17 at Colorado State on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Hosts Sam Houston on Thursday, October 3 after a bye week.
TEMPLE - Lost 16 straight true road games.
Last: Won 45-29 at home over Utah State on Saturday, September 21.
Next: Hosts Army this Thursday, September 26.