Brian McLaughlin’s Week 3 Five-Minute Read

When we hit Week 3, it’s a mixture of the final FBS matchups (for the most part), some key FCS-vs-FCS non-conference matchups, and a token few in-conference games. It’s sort of a mishmash of games.

Yes, that pretty much summed up Saturday, though I doubt there will be massive movement in the upper echelon of the FCS national poll among media voters.

There weren’t a whole lot of results that would positively stun anybody. North Dakota State fans were probably stunned to find themselves wondering if the Bison would escape the eastern hills of Tennessee with a win over the Southern Conference’s East Tennessee State. 

The Bucs made it a nail-biter, to their credit. Starting next week, we have the Ivy League cranking up its 10-game schedule. Most of those payoff games with FBS teams are over – and yes, most of them ended up as losses.

Let’s give credit to Gardner-Webb, which had a coaching transition and a mass exodus of transfers but still took FBS Charlotte to the wire before falling by a point on Saturday. If it had held up, it would have been GWU’s first (and only) FBS win since its 2010 win in overtime against Akron.

Here are some of the FCS highlights of the weekend.

THE HEADLINE:

Again, it’s hard to ignore the NDSU-ETSU game. The Bucs were at home in Johnson City, Tennessee, and were winning by a comfortable margin coming into the later stages of the game. ETSU running back Bryson Irby rushed for nearly 150 yards and scored 3 TDs on the ground to get to the point where this was a contentious matchup. 

But true to form, NDSU doesn’t freak out when it is behind. Playing like a composed program with good leadership, the Bison what would have been a stunning upset by chiseling away at the deficit in the final eight minutes. Experienced QB Cam Miller had a ton to do with it.

BIGGEST SURPRISES:

Three jump off the page to me. If you had told me that Weber State would take on Lamar anywhere and lose, I would have thought you were crazy. That’s as big a Lamar win as I’ve seen over the past decade. The Cardinals played hard-nosed, old-school football to get the 17-16 home win in Beaumont, Texas. They played timely defense and ran the ball effectively, owning the time of possession with nearly five more minutes than Weber State did.

Next up: I don’t know about you all, but Idaho’s 41-13 manhandling of UAlbany was a bit surprising considering the Great Danes had such a great postseason run last year. The game was effectively over by halftime, with the lead standing at 27-3. UAlbany did lose some talent after last season, but was well-regarded coming in. This solidifies Idaho’s perch high atop the national polls, in my eyes.

Finally, kudos to Duquesne on its big win over Missouri Valley Football Conference foe Youngstown State. There are three Northeast Conference programs in the greater Pittsburgh area – Duquesne, Robert Morris, and St. Francis (PA). One of their closest fellow FCS teams is Youngstown State, and you know these three programs salivate at the idea of beating the Penguins.

It was especially sweet for the Dukes on Saturday when they avenged their playoff loss from a year ago, traveling the short span to Ohio to knock off YSU. That’s one of the bigger upsets in the FCS this year.

POLL EFFECT: 

The top part of the poll shouldn’t move too much – at least it won’t be moving much on my ballot, which I’ll submit by late Sunday and will write about in my next piece with HERO Sports. The middle of the pack will shuffle a bit on my poll, as UAlbany, Weber State, Elon, and Youngstown State all dropped games. Sacramento State’s big win over Nicholls will also have an effect. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

There weren’t too many results this weekend that will have a vast effect on the playoff picture when November rolls around. We’ve had results in the first two weeks that will, but few from this weekend will matter.

But make no mistake, those all-important conference matchups are almost here (and some of the larger conferences have already begun playing time). Most of the warmup games and payout games are out of the way, and the real fun begins soon.