FCS: State Of The FCS Nation 2019

Do you watch the "State of the Union" address each January? No matter what your political persuasion, hey … it's interesting right? Wiping aside all malice, it's a chance to have everybody sit down and talk about the year, right? What did we do last year? What are we going to do this year? What's next? What are the goals? What do we wish we could do "next?"

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That's why we're writing the "State of the FCS​​ Nation" address. So would the Sergeant at Arms … (um, Sam … paging Sam Herder? Can you play this part for just a second, man?) … please open the proverbial doors of the FCS Chambers? Sam? 

RECAPPING: My fellow FCSers, we open this 2019 season with a pledge to the FCS Nation that we are beginning the best season yet. What's that? We already had two games? Week Zero? I think I brought this up last week, but I never cared much for Coke Zero … you know, zero sugar, zero caffeine, zero taste? But I like Week Zero of college football, it had plenty of sweetness, especially if you're a Villanova or Youngstown State fan. Week Zero is like an appetizer. So, technically we already opened the 2019 FCS season. But don't forget that 122 of the 126 FCS schools haven't started their season yet … so we can kinda claim this to be the real kickoff week. Oh I give up.

To recap 2018, the FCS trophy makers are starting to wonder if they should just permanently affix North Dakota State's name to the national championship trophy. The city of Frisco, Texas collectively chimed in and said "yeah, let's do that" thanks to a Fargo/Frisco title game bromance that dates back to 2011. The Bison didn't just win the natty this past year, they steamrolled their way to 15-0 in what was the most impressive season they've had during the run, and they've had some great seasons. They'll be in the mix to do it again this year, but there may be more of a challenge in 2019.

Samford's Devlin Hodges won the Walter Payton Award (the FCS version of the Heisman) and is making a serious case in preseason play for the Pittsburgh Steelers to make room for him. SEMO's Zach Hall is back at it this season for the Redhawks after winning the Buck Buchanan Award (for Defensive POY) and we'll get another season's look at this potential draft pick who was born to tackle. The Jerry Rice Award (for top freshman) went to Weber State's do-everything all-purpose nightmare threat Josh Davis, who has three more years to terrorize the Big Sky Conference.

UPCOMING: So most of the FCS took advantage of the 12th game possibility. This anomaly in the calendar happens when Pluto and Mercury line up and schools and the NCAA want more $$$. This all happens, ahem, occasionally. The cool thing for us fans of the game is that we get some great bonus FCS matchups. I'm loving Towson and The Citadel, Eastern Kentucky and Indiana State, etc etc. The Big Sky-MVFC Challenge was already in place (thank you to these two conferences) but it was nice to see a lot of FCS schools schedule a 50/50 challenge game, not a guaranteed blowout win or a cash guarantee game at an FBS stadium. Granted, money doesn't grow on trees with the FCS Nation and we live in reality, so those kinds of games are necessary sometimes … but we get to see some intriguing matchups thanks to the 12-game dealio.

Parity seems to be the word this year, folks. NDSU is still going to be good, but it may get challenged within its own conference, along with in another sweet FCS matchup with UC Davis in the Fargodome, and obviously later in the playoffs. The bottom line is, there are no foregone conclusions, and that's the way the FCS Nation (and the media) ultimately likes it. Remember, I typed parity with "IT" not parody with a "OD". But if we were doing a FCS parody, I'd do one on Sam Herder, my partner in crime here at HERO Sports. Hmmmm … we'll have to check back on this idea/plot (creative gears in head start to turn … emoji, start now).

All-in-all we had 24 coaching transitions in the FCS and there is some impressive new blood coming into the level. That'll be another reason for that parity (not parody).

THINGS WE'D LIKE TO SEE: We would love to see the Ivy League enter the realm of the FCS Playoffs. The Ivys do March Madness and five of the eight programs have won NCAA tournament games at the Big Dance since 1994, and Cornell even went to the Sweet 16 recently in 2010. We all know why the Ivys don't do the football playoffs (academic/finals reasons), but privately? The players really want the playoffs, the coaches really want the playoffs and I'd be stunned if the majority of fans don't love the idea. Last year? Princeton would have been a Top 8 seed lock. That Tigers team could easily have found itself in the FCS semifinals and given many programs fits. Dartmouth would easily have been an at-large. And the 2017 Yale team? Same story. 

As my daughters sang 193 times (a day) from the movie Frozen … "Let it go!". Come on, let the Ivys go! 

APPRECIATION: We here at HERO Sports would like to thank Craig Haley at STATS (cue finger point, thumbs up, head nod and wink to Craig in the chambers) for allowing Sam and me to vote in the national poll and for the national individual honors beginning this year. He's being the consummate professional and wants his poll to be as strong as possible, and we appreciate him recognizing that we do our homework and can be two more strong voices in the poll. We just want it to be accurate. We appreciate it, Craig (cue bi-partisan standing ovation for 3 minutes).

We also want to recognize the deans of FCS coaching … the top five in the career wins Columbia's Al Bagnoli (253 wins), Sam Houston State's K.C. Keeler (226), Harvard's Tim Murphy (206), South Dakota's Bob Nielson (202) and Cal Poly's Tim Walsh (173). These five gentlemen combine for more than 1,000 college football head coaching victories. They'll deflect it all to their assistants, their players, and the program and fans, but they've made a tremendous impact on young men and deserve to take a bow. Would these five coaches please stand up in the chambers (sincere 5 minute ovation).

Lastly, a shout out to everybody Sam and I work with in Seattle for their patience in allowing us to try to grow our audience and make this work at HERO Sports. They think forward, not backward. Co-founders Gregg Bennett and Jordan Nilsen, CEO Brad Weitz and really every single person we deal with in Seattle … and we have to do it remotely … are wonderful. If they didn't have faith in this, it obviously wouldn't be happening. (Cue appreciative nod and thumbs up in their direction in the chambers … some random wooting too).

SUMMARY: In summary, last year was a great season. More than 200 FCS products found their way into NFL camps in the spring, many are still busting their tails as rookies as we speak to make a pro football roster … but even more importantly, so many of these young men are grounded, realistic, and have taken their degree work seriously and are ready to attack the real world … which can be just as scary sometimes as the opposition on the gridiron.

The State of the FCS is as strong as ever. Here we go!

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