Weekly Preview For 10/20-10/23

October 20, 2021 by Staff

A 54-game slate kicks off tonight when Coastal Carolina visits Appalachian State as a 3.5-point favorite in the sportsbooks, but a 2.36-point computer underdog.

Another Sun Belt contest - Louisiana at Arkansas State - is among a trio of Thursday night games that5 also features FAU at Charlotte in a Conference USA matchup and Tulane at SMU in an American Conference battle.

Friday delivers four contests, highlighted by Memphis at UCF and Washington at Arizona.

23 teams are idle this week, including No. 1 Georgia. Three other schools ranked among the computer's Top 25 are also getting a chance to heal during their bye week -  No. 8 Iowa, No. 11 Michigan State, and No. 20 Baylor.

2nd-ranked Oklahoma visits Kansas as a huge 37.38-point computer choice, and No. 3 Michigan is a huge 24.53-point pick over visiting Northwestern.

No. 4 Cincinnati enjoys a 24.38-point edge at Navy, and No. 5 Alabama is a 23.18-point pick at Tennessee.

In one of the more interesting games this week, Pittsburgh is a 3.5-point favorite in the Sportsbooks for its home date with Clemson, while the computer favors the Panthers by a mere 1.97 points.

Other games to watch have USC at Notre Dame, Oregon at UCLA, Oklahoma State at Iowa State, Ohio State at Indiana, San Diego State at Air Force.

There's also BYU at Washington State as the Pullman Cougars hit the field without head coach Nick Rolovich and four assistants after they were let go when they failed to get vaccinated before the date mandated for state employees.

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.

There is one such game this week as Arkansas and Arkansas-Pine Bluff meet in Little Rock with the computer favoring the Razorbacks by 36.75 points..

The FBS is 96-10 vs. the FCS this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,565-138 (.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

OKLAHOMA: Won 15 straight over-all (FBS longest).
LAST: Won 52-31 at home over TCU on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Visits Kansas on Saturday, Oct. 23.

OHIO STATE - Won 24 straight conference games (FBS longest), and 11 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 66-17 over Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Next: Visits Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 23.

CLEMSON - Won 31 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 17-14 at Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 15.
Next: Visits Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 23.

NEW MEXICO - Lost 16 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 36-7 at home vs. Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Visits Wyoming on Saturday, Oct. 23.

KANSAS - Lost 18 straight to FBS schools (FBS Longest), and 15 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 41-14 at home to Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 23.

ARIZONA - Lost 18 straight over-all (FBS Longest), and 17 straight to FBS schools.
Last: Lost 34-0 at Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Washington on Friday, Oct. 22.

VANDERBILT - Lost 16 straight conference games.
Last: Lost 21-20 at South Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 16.
Next: Hosts Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 23.