- Copyright 2024 © CollegeFootballPoll.com
- About CFP / Contact
- Legal Statements
The opening week of football in the FBS came to a close on Monday night with a 55-3 romp by BYU at Navy. There were no spectators admitted and Navy was at distinct disadvantage after having no full contact practices prior to the game. The Midshipmen had been listed as a 3-point favorite leading up to the game.
Perhaps Navy should have done what Tulsa did. An announcement on Monday said the Golden Hurricane game at Oklahoma State scheduled for Saturday has been pushed back to September 19 and will still serve as the opener for both teams. The statement read, "In attempting to deal with COVID-19 protocols effectively, the Tulsa football team has been limited in practice sessions since the beginning of preseason camp on August 7. Tulsa had a nine-day pause due to multiple positive tests and was limited to seven practices in the 17 days of preseason camp."
The SMU-TCU game scheduled for Friday has also been affected. A statement from TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati said, "We are disappointed to announce that our upcoming football game against SMU will not be played as scheduled on September 11. We have agreed with SMU to monitor dates throughout the season to potentially make up the game."
The statement added, "“In the course of following CDC guidelines and our aggressive testing and contact tracing strategy, we discovered that some student-athletes and support staff in our football program have tested positive for COVID-19. Those individuals were notified immediately and are currently abiding by CDC protocols."
It went on to clarify that “No one is currently facing serious health issues, and we intend to continue our enforcement of strict standards to protect the program and our community. Everyone’s health and safety remains our top priority. We share in your disappointment, but firmly believe we will be ready to resume football activities soon. We will continue to follow prevention and testing protocols and look forward to our Big 12 Conference opener against Iowa State on September 26.”
The second day of the FBS season on Saturday saw a pair of shutouts get pitched by Marshall and Army in the afternoon, and a Memphis victory at night.
Marshall blanked FCS member Eastern Kentucky 59-0, and Army West Point surprisingly dominated visiting Middle Tennessee 45-0. Memphis held off Arkansas State 37-24
Marshall outgained EKU 627-166 and freshman Herd QB Chris Wells made his debut by throwing for 307 yards and 4 TD's with 280 of that in the first half. His first 13 passes were caught by 13 different receivers.
Army West Point was only a 5.5-point favorite at home over MTSU, and a 0.44-point underdog in the Congrove Computer Rankings, but rushed for 340 yards as 10 different players carried the football.
We couldn't find the attendance figures at Marshall, though a few thousand fans were at the game. The Army attendance was 5,249 at West Point.
On Saturday night, Memphis gave Ryan Silverfield his first win as head coach of the Tigers in front of 4,537 fans. The former Mike Norvell assistant took over for his former boss after Norvell left for Florida State. Silverfield's first game as head coach was the Tigers' 53-39 loss to Penn State in the Cotton Bowl. QB Brady White threw for 275 yards and 4 TD's with 1 INT. White was the No. 9 QB in pass efficiency a year ago when he threw for 4,014 yards with 33 TD passes and 11 INT's. He was on the Arizona State roster as a freshman way back in 2015 and transferred to Memphis prior to the 2018 season.
UTEP on Saturday snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 24-14 home victory over FCS member Stephen F. Austin on Saturday. The Miners still have a 14-game losing streak to FBS schools.
Also on Saturday, SMU fought off a challenge from Texas State, 31-24. The game was tied 21-apiece with midway through the 3rd quarter before the Mustangs scored the next 10 points. The Bobcats kicked a late FG but couldn't recover the attempted onside kick.
South Alabama, a two-touchdown Vegas underdog and a 16.5-point computer dog, snapped its FBS-worst 15-game road losing streak with a 32-21 win at Southern Miss on Thursday night.
We figured 2020 would be wild ride, and it didn't take long to begin.
The Jags scored on their third play of the game on a 73-yard touchdown pass and never trailed.
Nearly 10,000 fans were admitted to the game in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The only other game on Thursday night saw UAB win its 19th straight home game, 45-35 over FCS member Central Arkansas. The Blazers, which didn't field a team in 2015 and 2016, have not lost at home since falling 23-18 to Marshall on November 22, 2014.
The number of fans in attendance in Birmingham was 12,716.
Southern Miss and head coach Jay Hopson mutually agreed to part ways after the first game of the Covid pandemic-stricken 2020 football season. The move was announced on Labor Day Monday after the Golden Eagles fell 32-21 at home to South Alabama in the season opener on Thursday night. Walden was serving as the co-offensive coordinator and WR coach under Hopson. Hopson was 28-23 in 4+ seasons in Hattiesburg, but the loss on Thursday was the 4th straight for Southern Miss after closing the 2019 campaign on a 3-game skid. His teams were 20-12 in Conference USA games and 1-2 in bowl games..
The number of FBS vs. FCS games on the schedule increased by two when it was announced that Virginia had added a visit from Abilene Christian, and FIU set a home date with Jacksonville State. That brings the total number of FBS-FCS games 33 with 29 different FBS schools playing at least one such game. Army has 3 such games on its schedule.
There were 4 such games over the Labor Day weekend and FBS team went 4-0.
That makes the FBS teams 1,439-127 (.919) since we began tracking this in 2003..
Last year, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games.
These were the FCS wins vs. the FBS in the previous 2 seasons:
2019:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)
2018:
August 29: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 31
September 1: Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 (OT)
September 2: North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19
CLEMSON - Over-all winning streak ends at 29 (was FBS longest). Won 29 straight regular season games (FBS longest) games. Won 21 straight conference games (FBS longest). Won 22 straight home games (FBS longest). Won 12 straight true road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 42-25 to LSU in the national championship in New Orleans on January 13, 2020.
Next: Season opener at Wake Forest on September 12.
LSU - 16-game over-all winning streak (FBS longest).
Last: Won 42-25 over Clemson in the national championship game in New Orleans on January 13.
Next: Season opener at home vs. Mississippi State on September 26.
ARKANSAS - Lost 19 straight conference games, 9 straight road games, and 9 straight overall. All of those streaks are the current FBS longest among teams playing this Fall season.
Last: Lost 24-14 at home to Missouri on November 29, 2019.
Next: Season opener at home vs. Georgia on September 26.
UTEP - Ended 11-game overall losing streak with a 24-14 opening win over FCS member Stephen F. Austin. That had been the FBS longest overall losing skid among those teams playing this fall season. UTEP still has a 14-game losing streak to FBS schools. The Miners opened the 2019 season with a win over FCS member Houston Baptist, then lost every game after that to finished 1-11.
Last: Won 24-14 at home over FCS member Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, September 5..
Next: At Texas on Saturday, September 12.
SOUTH ALABAMA - Ended 15-game road losing streak (was FBS longest).
Last: Won 32-21 at Southern Miss on Thursday night, September 3.
Next: Home vs. Tulane on Saturday, September 12.
RUTGERS - Lost 21 straight conference games (FBS longest). Lost 13 straight road games (FBS longest)
Last: Lost 27-6 at Penn State on November 30, 2019.
Next: Rutgers, and all of the Big Ten, is sitting out the Fall season.
AKRON - Lost 17 straight overall (FBS longest). Lost 8 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 52-3 at home to Ohio on November 26, 2019.
Next: Akron, and all of the MAC, is sitting out the fall season.
UCONN - Lost 19 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 49-17 at Temple on November 30, 2019.
Next: UConn, which left the American Conference at the end of last season and became an Independent, is sitting out the Fall season.