The 2020 college football season is going to happen. How's that for optimism from a guy who considers himself a realist?
How and when is still a big question mark. But most athletic departments simply won't be able to function without the revenue of a college football season. So they'll find a way to play.
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With that, there's no sense in waiting when previewing the upcoming season. The FCS is always good for a few surprises. But right now, here are the favorites to win their respective conference titles.
[divider]MORE FCS:
- Top Returning Passers
- Returning Rushing Production
- Returning Receiving Production
- Most Returning Points
- Most Returning Tackles
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Big Sky
Sacramento State
The Hornets had one of the best turnarounds in recent FCS memory, going from 2-8 in 2018 to finishing 2019 with a 9-4 overall record and a 7-1 mark in the Big Sky. They were ranked as high as No. 3 in the STATS poll and Sac State earned the No. 4 playoff seed, but then got beaten soundly in the second round by unseeded Austin Peay, 42-28.
That leaves the Hornets as an interesting team entering 2020. Were they lightning in a bottle? Or was 2019 a sign of things to come?
The more I look at Sac State, the more I like. The Hornets have nine returning All-Conference players, including quarterback Kevin Thomson, who finished tied for third in the Walter Payton Award voting. Returning for Sac State is 93.3 percent of its rushing yards, 97.1 percent of its receiving yards, 76.4 percent of its points scored and 58.4 percent of its tackling production.
Looking at the conference schedule, Sac State avoids Montana State, Weber State and Eastern Washington. The toughest game is a road trip to Montana. Expect to see the Hornets at the top of the standings once again.
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Big South
Kennesaw State
Monmouth has a conference-high eight All-Big South players coming back. But a ton of offensive production needs to be replaced with QB Kenji Bahar and RB Pete Guerriero gone.
Kennesaw State was playing its best football in the playoffs, led by dynamic QB Jonathan Murphy, and that should carry over to 2020. The Owls have 60.2 percent of its rushing production returning behind an intact offensive line. Sixty-nine percent of the points are coming back along with 74.2 percent of the tackling production.
Three of the five conference games are on the road, including at Charleston Southern and Monmouth. The Big South is growing stronger, which will continue as new teams officially join the conference in upcoming seasons. But the Owls look to return to their dominant ways in 2020.
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CAA
James Madison
The Dukes lose an extremely talented senior class. Villanova essentially returns its entire team and gets JMU at home on Oct. 24. But I still have to lean JMU here. While I don't think the Dukes will be as strong as they were in 2019, I do believe they'll reload better than some expect.
JMU had the No. 1 recruiting class in 2020, No. 8 in 2019, No. 5 in 2018 and No. 2 in 2017. The talent is there. It's just unproven talent that needs to step up at the quarterback and pass-catching positions along with several holes on defense left behind by All-American players.
The Dukes should have one of the best rushing attacks in the FCS with 84.3 percent of its rushing yards and three starting offensive linemen returning. They averaged 242.9 rushing yards per game in 2019, ranking No. 10 in the subdivision. A strong running game and tough defense should keep JMU as the team to beat in the CAA.
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Ivy League
Princeton
Dartmouth and Yale finished 6-1 in conference play last year. They both have four returning All-Conference players. Princeton went 5-2 in the standings and has nine All-Ivy League players coming back.
The Tigers have to replace QB Kevin Davidson. But they have a pretty decent history of elite QB play.
Losing back-to-back weeks to Dartmouth (27-10) and Yale (51-14) in November no doubt has the Tigers feeling like they have something to prove after going undefeated in the conference in 2018. Princeton gets Dartmouth at home this season before traveling to Yale.
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MEAC
North Carolina A&T
NC A&T has won at least a share of the MEAC title from 2014 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. This is the final season the Aggies will be a part of the conference as they join the Big South in 2021.
Expect them to stay at the top of the standings with a conference-high 12 All-MEAC players returning, led by one of the best running backs in the FCS Jah-Maine Martin.
The Aggies have key games at home (where they went 5-0 in 2019) versus Florida A&M and South Carolina State. NC A&T has been the class of the HBCUs and will want to leave its mark on the MEAC one last time.
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MVFC
North Dakota State
The Bison went 16-0 last year, winning yet another national championship. It's scary to think about what's coming back in 2020: 71 percent of the rushing and receiving production, 79 percent of the points scored, 68 percent of the tackling production, four starting offensive linemen and the reigning Walter Payton Award winner at quarterback, Trey Lance.
NDSU will have its challenges within the conference. Northern Iowa and Illinois State have a ton of production coming back after reaching the quarterfinals. And I think South Dakota State can be the top challenger nationally. Two of those games are in the Fargodome with the away game being at UNI.
NDSU hasn't lost a game since Nov. 4, 2017 (at SDSU). Can anyone not named Oregon take down the Bison in 2020?
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NEC
Robert Morris
The Colonials were a massive success story in 2019. They went a combined 1-17 against NEC opponents from 2016-19. And then last season, RMU went 6-1 in the conference standings (second place behind 7-0 Central Connecticut State) and finished 7-5 overall.
Some of RMU's top offensive players were just sophomores, like QB George Martin and RB Alijah Jackson. While CCSU has a lot of production coming back, including most of its players on a tremendous defense, I think the Colonials will close that gap after a breakthrough season.
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OVC
Austin Peay
It was a historic 2019 season for the Governors. They earned their first FCS playoff berth and then advanced all the way to the quarterfinals, dominating Furman 42-6 in the first round and taking it to No. 4 seed Sacramento State 42-28 in the second round.
Austin Peay has a lot to replace in its rushing attack, but the passing game should be explosive. While JaVaughn Craig was fantastic at quarterback, taking over the starting role is a familiar name. Jeremiah Oatsvall was the 2017 OVC Freshman of the Year after playing in 12 games and starting the last five. He started eight games in 2018 and then last year, suffered a season-ending injury. He'll have 74.8 percent of the receiving production coming back.
The season-opener against Central Arkansas will be a great measuring stick for APSU. A key conference stretch for the Govs will be back-to-back road trips to Jacksonville State and SEMO with a bye week in between. The Govs are tied with Jacksonville State for the most returning All-OVC players with six.
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Patriot
Holy Cross
Holy Cross finished 5-1 in conference play last year and returns a ton of production off of that team.
While the rushing attack has a lot to replace, 77.5 percent of the receiving yards, 75.8 percent of the points scored and 72.7 percent of the tackling production returns. Connor Degenhardt is also back at quarterback after throwing for 2,372 yards and 14 TDs. Expect a much more explosive offense in 2020 while the defense should remain solid.
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Pioneer
San Diego
USD hasn't lost a conference game since Oct. 10, 2015. While the Toreros lose about half of their offensive production, they return 72 percent of their tackles and nine total All-Conference players, more than double of any other team.
The thought was the Pioneer would be competitive in 2019 with a few teams pushing USD. But the Toreros ended up winning every game by 20 or more points besides a 50-38 victory at Dayton. That dominance should continue in 2020.
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SoCon
Furman
Furman finished the 2019 regular season 7-2 against FCS opponents and caught many people's eyes with two near upsets over Georgia State and Virginia Tech in back-to-back September weeks. But the season finishing in sobering fashion, a 42-6 home loss to Austin Peay in the first round.
The Paladins rushed for 265.7 yards per game in 2019, which ranked No. 7 in the FCS. Roughly 99.7 percent of those rushing yards are coming back along with 11 All-Conference players. You couple that with the valuable experience quarterbacks Darren Grainger and Hamp Sisson got last year as redshirt freshmen and there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about the 2020 squad. Nearly 56 percent of the tackling production is back as well after Furman allowed 20.5 points per game (14th in the FCS).
The SoCon should be competitive top to bottom once again. A key game will kickstart the season on Sept. 5 when the Paladins host Wofford.
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Southland
Central Arkansas
Last year may prove to be a huge stepping stone for UCA. The Bears went 9-3 in the regular season, owned one of just three FCS vs. FBS wins (Western Kentucky) and earned the No. 8 playoff seed. But they lost right away in the postseason, 24-14 to Illinois State.
One should expect the Bears to be in the same position again entering the playoffs, but this time make a deeper run thanks to team experience. Eleven All-Southland players are back, including 83.7 percent of the receiving yards, 76.2 percent of the points scored, 77.7 percent of the tackling production and QB Breylin Smith, who threw for 3,704 yards, 32 TDs and 16 interceptions as a sophomore. UCA needs to find some production in the backfield with just 33.8 percent of the rushing yards back,
We'll get a great glimpse of the Bears when they play a Week 0 game (Aug. 29) against Austin Peay. They'll be tested in conference play as well with tough road games at McNeese, Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana. UCA gets Nicholls at home.
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SWAC
Alcorn State
Coming off of a loss in an entertaining Celebration Bowl game, the Braves have the pieces in place for another run to the HBCU championship. Offensively, Felix Harper stepped up in a big way last season, throwing for 2,954 yards and 33 touchdowns. RB Niko Duffey also arrived onto the scene and ran for a team-high 838 yards and six TDs as a freshman.
Three of the top five tacklers are back as well.
Alcorn State will be tested on the road. Alabama A&M has some serious potential with a conference-high seven returning All-SWAC players after finishing tied for second in the East division at 4-3. Southern U went 6-1 in the West division. Alcorn has away games versus both.
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NEXT: The Best Traditions in the FCS
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