Welcome back, college football fans, to episode 676, aka our second day of the season. Yesterday, our first 21 games ran the gamut. The Lafayette/Georgetown game was cancelled due to persistent lightning, of the 8 FCS games versus non-division I (non-D1) games only 5 won, and we had our first overtime game. A few superlatives:
— Most points scored: 65 – W Illinois against non-D1 NW Iowa
— Most points scored against a D1 opponent: 44 – Nicholls against MS Valley
— Most points scored in a loss: 40 – Morehead St against non-D1 Ohio Dominican
— First Overtime Game: Morehead St (40)/ non-D1 Ohio Dominican (42) in 3 OTs
— Most total points scored: 84 – non-D1 VA Wise (37)/Presbyterian (47)
— Fewest total points scored: 24 – non-D1 Winona St (9)/St Thomas (15)
— Fewest points scored in a win: 15 – St Thomas against non-D1 Winona St
— Largest point differential: 51 – W Illinois (65) over non-D1 NW Iowa (14)
— Largest point differential against a D1 opponent: 34 – Nicholls (44) over MS Valley (10)
…..
FCS teams play non-D1 teams for the same reason that FBS teams play FCS teams: to get a win against a “cupcake.” Sometimes the cupcake bites back. Last night Davidson lost to Concord, Drake lost to South Dakota Mines, and Morehead St lost to Ohio Dominican. All three of those losing teams are in the Pioneer League.
…..
We have 7 more games today, all FCS vs FCS including not only our first game on “regular” TV, but 5 conference games to start the season. All times are assumed to be p.m. and Eastern time zone unless otherwise stated. The Date column shows the matchups. All teams will be playing their first games, so they all have 0-0 records. Every team that has not played a game is ranked 26 right now because of the impact of last night’s games. In the conference column, one name indicates a conference matchup while two names are in the same order as the teams listed in the Date column. The Vegas column has the favorite and the spread (e.g. Rhode Island is favored to win by 20 points). The GCR and Cover are calculations the program will do once we have games in which both teams have played. The TV column lets you know where you can find the game to watch. Here are the games of August 28:
| Time (ET) | Aug 28 | Conference | Vegas | GCR | Cover | TV |
| 6:00 | Rhode Island (0-0/26) at Merrimack (0-0/26) | CAA/FCSIND | RISL -20.0 | NPre | NL | ESPN+ |
| 6:00 | Marist (0-0/26) at New Haven (0-0/26) | PFL/NEC | NHAV -0.5 | NPre | NL | NEC Front Row |
| 6:00 | Colgate (0-0/26) at Fordham (0-0/26) | PAT | COLG -10.0 | NPre | NL | ESPN+ |
| 6:00 | William & Mary (0-0/26) at Villanova (0-0/26) | PAT | VILL -12.0 | NPre | NL | ESPN+ |
| 7:00 | New Hampshire (0-0/26) at Albany (0-0/26) | CAA | NHAM -11.5 | NPre | NL | FloFootball |
| 9:00 | Weber St (0-0/26) at N Colorado (0-0/26) | SKY | NCOL -3.0 | NPre | NL | ESPN+ |
| 10:00 | Idaho (0-0/26) at Cal Poly (0-0/26) | SKY | IDA -3.5 | NPre | NL | ESPN |
…..
That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the first Saturday which will include a full slate of FCS teams and our first FBS games as well. Thank you for reading (it’s why we post), commenting and suggesting (it’s how we improve), and sharing with others (it’s how we grow). Until tomorrow, JoJo and G.
