Welcome back sports fans. After 9 consecutive days of posting, the GCR took last night off to celebrate G’s brother-in-law as he was inducted into the AlaBCA Hall of Fame with over 1000 wins as a high-school and college baseball coach. It was nice being at the ceremony to see him honored in front of his peers. Congratulations, Jon.
…..
Last week in the FCS playoffs, both South and North Dakota St’s lost. For the first time since January 2017 when, now FBS, James Madison beat Youngstown St 28-14, neither of the Dakotas St’s will be in the final. North Dakota, who had a great season, also lost last week, leaving just plain old South Dakota to try to get the overall Dakota run going. After JMU won the 2016 season championship, North Dakota St won the 2017, 2018, and 2019 versions (twice over James Madison) before South Dakota St was runner up in 2020 (to now FBS Sam Houston). NDST won again in 2021, before SDKS won back-to-back in 2022 (over NDST) and 2023. Last season, NDST edged Montana St 35-32 in Frisco TX to win their 10th championship overall.
…..
This week is the quarterfinal round, which is played on the higher seeded team’s home field. The first game is tonight (Friday) at 9:00 (all times Eastern) when the Steph F Austin Lumberjacks (11-2/136) try to chop down the Montana St Bobcats (11-2/134). SFA is the lone member of the Southland Conference remaining, earned a bye for Round 1 and took down UAC’s Abilene Chr 41-34 last week at home. Now the big road test at MTST, a member of the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats also had a first round bye before surviving a late push by Yale to win 21-13 in round 2. Will home field advantage help, especially in Montana vs a team from Texas? Vegas thinks so with MTST-15.5. The GCR agrees at 56% but we see the Lumberjacks covering the Vegas spread. See this game on ESPN.
…..
The noon game features the CAA’s lone remaining representative Villanova Wildcats (11-2/145) who will invade the Tarleton Texans (12-1/116), the sole UAC member left. The Wildcats beat Harvard at home 52-7 in round one before upsetting previously unbeaten Lehigh on the road 14-7 in round two. They will face a formidable foe in the Texans, whose only loss was to fellow playoff team Abilene Chr 31-28 on the road. After a week one bye, Tarleton took down North Dakota 31-13 at home. Who will continue the magical season? Vegas has TARL-11.5 and the GCR agrees 62% and the Texans will cover the Vegas spread. Watch this game on ESPN.
…..
Continuing with the FCS playoffs, we have a 3:30 game with the South Dakota Coyotes (10-4/170) heading west to take on the Big Sky’s Montana Grizzlies (12-1/128). The Missouri Valley’s Coyotes hosted Drake in the first round and got the victory 38-17. Then they invaded the SoCon champion Mercer in Macon, GA and walloped them 47-0. Now in a second road game, they face the GCR highest ranked FCS team remaining. The Grizzlies only lost to rival Montana St 31-28 during FCS Rivalry Week and received a round 1 bye, before demolishing South Dakota St 50-29 in Missoula. Can they take out another team from the same state? Vegas thinks so with MONT-7.0 and the GCR agrees strongly at 64%. The Grizzlies will cover the Vegas odds. Watch this game on ABC.
…..
Our final FCS quarterfinal game has the upstart Illinois St Redbirds (10-4/166), also of the Missouri Conference, heads to California to take on the Big Sky’s UC Davis Aggies (9-3/164). The Redbirds took out the Southlands Southeastern 21-3 on the road in round 1 before becoming the giant killer at North Dakota St 29-28 – a game in which ILST scored 15 points in the final 2:55, including a game-winning 2-pt conversion. Now they face their third consecutive road game against the Aggies. UCD had a bye for round one and took down CAA champion Rhode Island at home 47-26 in round two. Assuming a re-seeding for the round of 8, this game is the 5th seed at the 4th seed and expected to be the closest. Even over Army/Navy, we are calling this the game of the week expecting a close game and exciting finish. Vegas has UCD-2.5 and the GCR agrees at 53% and for the Aggies to cover the spread. See this game on ESPN+.
…..
That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for a special G’s Expectation on the Army/Navy game. Thank you for reading and, especially, for sharing with others. We can only grow with your help. We provide our service at no cost and no ads because the GCR (Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball) is a labor of love. We would love to increase our readership, our comments from readers, the questions and suggestions that make us better – and keep it free and ad-free, JoJo and G. The table below has the specifics talked about in the paragraphs above for easy reference.
| Time | Away | Conf | Home | Conf | Vegas | GCR Win | GCR Cover | TV |
| FRI 9:00 | Steph F Austin (11-2/136) | SLAN | Montana St (11-2/134) | SKY | MTST-15.5 | MTST 56% | SFA | ESPN |
| 12:00 | Villanova (11-2/145) | CAA | Tarleton (12-1/116) | UAC | TARL-11.5 | TARL 62% | TARL | ESPN |
| 3:30 | South Dakota (10-4/170) | MVC | Montana (12-1/128) | SKY | MONT-7.0 | MONT 64% | MONT | ABC |
| 5:00 | Illinois St (10-4/166) | MVC | UC Davis (9-3/164) | SKY | UCD-2.5 | UCD 53% | UCD | ESPN+ |
