Alright folks. The 2017 FCS Playoffs are here, and we're heading to the semifinals round — the Final Four. We've shown you the top FCS highlights, broken down the matchups, and previewed every game. It is time to get into the meat and potatoes of this weekend's results and next week's FCS semifinal matchups. Read on:
[divider]COMPARE: Any Two FCS Players | Any Two FCS Teams[divider]
RANKING: Every Special Teams Unit In The Playoffs
FCS TO NFL: The Most Recent Look at Trending FCS Pro Prospects[divider]
This was a head-scratching FCS weekend. We had two blowouts, and two crazy endings. The James Madison-Weber State game was a slobber-knocker. The Sam Houston State-Kennesaw State game looked like a guaranteed SHSU blowout midway through the second quarter, but it was an intense ending. Sam Houston State endured. And the Dakota duo? They must be glowing right about now.
James Madison looked in the mirror on Friday night and saw the Big Sky version of the Dukes in Weber State. The Wildcats scrapped (literally, several times), they went back and forth when it came to momentum, and overall it was as good a quarterfinal matchup as you could have imagined.
JMU survived a dangerous opponent that takes defense and special teams more seriously than most Big Sky teams. The Dukes beat a good team Friday night, and a lot of the FCS Nation tuned in to watch the best FCS game of the year, period.[divider]
The Triple Option is never easy to prepare for in a scant few days, especially when it's a conference championship team like Wofford. But North Dakota State was so "quick strike" in this game that the Triple O ran out of steam so early that this one became a blowout.
And that's the thing about the Triple O: It's a train-track offense. If you're on track, you could tick off Ohio State. But if you get derailed even a little bit, the philosophy doesn't quite work. It's not a "come from behind" offense, so it runs out of steam. That's what happened today, plus the Bison looked like a national championship team. Again.[divider]
South Dakota State had, by far, the best matchup of the quarterfinals when it found out it would face New Hampshire, a team that many (including me) didn't think should be in the playoffs at all. But after more than a decade of making the playoffs, UNH showed in the first two rounds that it knows how to do this and advanced to the final eight.
But SDSU punished the Wildcats. Folks, 56-14 shouldn't happen in the FCS quarterfinals. That shows the wrong teams are getting into the wrong places. Weber State or Western Illinois and many other programs would have pushed SDSU to the limit, but were paired against each other too early. Just an opinion. But the bottom line? The Jacks continue to threaten the top two seeds.[divider]
I loved the first half, Sam Houston State. The BearKats defense ate Kennesaw State alive. What the Owls do well? It didn't matter. Two of the most destructive FCS defenders in P.J. Hall and Chris Stewart gave KSU fits and seemed ready to put this program in its place as a 3-year old program. One would expect this, yes?
But then once again in the FCS Playoffs … in the second half … the BearKats allowed an opponent seeded lower to storm back and make it scary. Now Sam Houston State faces better seeded teams from here on out. Where is this heading? Nobody in the FCS has a better QB than Jeremiah Briscoe, you can quote us on that. He will be in the NFL at this time next year. But both playoff games looked like halftime blowouts, but didn't end up that way.[divider]
NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE
(all games ET to be released ASAP on ESPN2/ESPN3)
1. James Madison (13-0) vs. 5. South Dakota St. (11-2), Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
2. North Dakota St. (12-1) vs. 6. Sam Houston (12-1), Friday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)[divider]
EARLY SEMI PREVIEWS
South Dakota State at James Madison
Sam Houston State at North Dakota State[divider]
QUARTERS RECAPS
No. 1. James Madison 31, Weber St. 28 (RECAP)
No. 2. North Dakota St. 42, No. 7. Wofford 10 (RECAP)
No. 5. South Dakota St. 56, UNH 14(RECAP)
No. 6. Sam Houston St. 34, Kenn St. 27 (RECAP)[divider]
