The FCS picked up its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wins over FBS opponents in 2024.
Saint Francis went first Saturday and landed the school’s first-ever win over an FBS team, knocking off Kent State 23-17. To have an NEC program knock off an FBS team? It defies logic, to be honest. Now, Idaho knocking off Wyoming 17-13 on Saturday? Yeah, that’s not as shocking. The Vandals are an FCS powerhouse right now and gave Oregon all it wanted last week in a 24-14 loss. And Southern Utah nabbed its first FBS win since 2013 by knocking off UTEP on a missed Miners’ field goal in overtime.
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Last year, Idaho hammered FBS Nevada and gave then Pac-12 California fits. And in 2022, it gave Washington State and Indiana a tough time – so it’s not like this is any kind of surprise with the Vandals making life tough for FBS opponents. Idaho was probably the least surprising of Saturday’s upset trio.
Saint Francis on the other hand? I mean, the Red Flash were supposed to be rebuilding somewhat in the NEC for goodness’ sake. This was a massive win for the program, and Southern Utah’s win was also a surprise.
The other FCS over FBS win in 2024 came in Week Zero when Montana State traveled down to New Mexico and knocked off a team the Bobcats were actually favored to beat, so it wasn’t that big a shock. The ‘Cats are good.
Keep in mind with these games: The idea is that the host team, the FBS team, is buying a win. They pay the FCS team to come in and lose, and they pay good enough money to help the smaller schools fund their athletic programs.
When the FCS team comes home with a win too? It’s a double whammy. Three more double whammies took place on Saturday.
When it came to FCS vs. FCS, you had to be impressed with SEMO’s overtime win over UT Martin, Campbell’s victory over Western Carolina, and Charleston Southern’s victory over Furman – one of CSU’s biggest wins in years. Like CCSU, Wofford had its biggest win in a couple of years when it knocked off Richmond.
Perhaps the most pivotal win in terms of determining rankings and potentially mattering a ton in November when the brackets are announced would be Southern Illinois’ win over Austin Peay. Make no mistake, that could be a tiebreaker down the line for an at-large spot or lower seed.
BIGGEST SURPRISES
North Dakota knocking off Montana: I’m sorry, but I didn’t see this coming, folks. After the first week? I definitely felt the Griz were the weakest of the Power 4 (MSU, NDSU, SDSU, Griz), but overall I would not have predicted they’d fall to any FCS program outside of that tier. Well, maybe so. North Dakota’s program is no slouch.
Drake knocking off Eastern Washington in overtime? Did anyone see this happening either? Luke Bailey (380 yards passing, 2 TDs) was incredible in this one. EWU had disposed of a decent Monmouth team last week, but couldn’t handle a Pioneer League team? Truly surprising considering the Eagles are a legit program. This is a big win for Drake, but nobody expected it.
My last two shocking examples come from the NEC ranks. Central Connecticut State really pulled off the stunner against what is expected to be a fairly strong Patriot League team in Fordham. CCSU dominated. And on the flip side? Robert Morris is back in the league but dropped a game to a lower-division club (Edinboro) when it had been playing in a stronger league (Big South-OVC) previously. To me, this made no sense. I had RMU as the NEC’s winner this year. That obviously can still happen, but wow.
POLL EFFECT?
This week likely won’t affect things too much. Montana obviously will drop some lower in the poll. Richmond, Furman, and Western Carolina will bump down.
FINAL THOUGHTS?
Typically, week two doesn’t produce a whole lot of earth-shattering results, and really this past weekend didn’t break much from the norm. Most teams were playing one more FBS payout game or maybe a lower-division opponent and very few conference games were played. Things will begin ramping up in the next two weeks.
