Happy Sunday, college football fans, and I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing 4th of July weekend. This episode will finish up the FCS conferences. Now, I know many of you are not exactly into the FCS, but I posit to you that this conference is one of the best in football. The weakest team last year, winless W Illinois, left to join the Big South/Ohio Valley conference. The remaining 11 face 11 Core 4 (used to be Power 5 before the fire sale of the Pac 12) and 2 Group of 5 teams. Their best team, South Dakota St, was FCS champions last year at 15-0 and open at Oklahoma St to try to keep their steak alive – the GCR ranked them 94th (only FCS school in the top 100) which is better than 31% of FBS teams. 3 different schools won at least 10 games (North Dakota St and South Dakota), and 6 teams made the 24-team playoff. All but one team faces opponents with combined winning percentages above .500 (as a reference, the FCS won at a .476 clip last year). Murray St has the most difficult FCS schedule in the country. As an aside, if we are going to see a continuation of FCS teams promoting to FBS, I would love to see the 4 Dakota teams join the MAC. I think they compete immediately and enhance a steadily improving conference. Of course, that would kill the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
…..
In the table below, (D) indicates a non-Division I opponent (there are only 2), (F) indicates a non-conference FCS foe, (G) indicates a game against a Group of 5 team, and (4) indicates a fight against a Core 4 squad. There are no neutral site games scheduled. With great pleasure, I present the 12th overall most difficult conference, the 2024 Missouri Valley Football Conference:
| Team | 2023 Record (Rank) | 2024 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Opp 2023 Rec |
| Murray St Racers (1) | 2-9 (208) | 4.60 (135) | (39-33/.542) Butler (F), Mississippi Valley (F), South Dakota, Illinois St, North Dakota St, Missouri St | (49-28/.636) Missouri (4), Kentucky (4), North Dakota, Indiana St, South Dakota St, S Illinois | 88-61 (.591) |
| N Iowa Panthers (2) | 6-5 (177) | 3.77 (142) | (29-30/.492) Valparaiso (F), South Dakota St, Missouri St, Illinois St, Indiana St | (54-35/.607) Nebraska (4), Hawaii (G), St Thomas (F), South Dakota, North Dakota, North Dakota St, Youngstown St | 83-65 (.561) |
| South Dakota St Jackrabbits (3) | 15-0 (94) | 3.56 (146) | (47-26/.614) Augustana (D), Incarnate Word (F), Youngstown St, South Dakota, Murray St, S Illinois | (41-33/.554) Oklahoma St (4), Southeastern (F), N Iowa, North Dakota St, North Dakota, Missouri St | 88-59 (.599) |
| North Dakota Fighting Hawks (4) | 7-5 (183) | 3.41 (150) | (53-31/.631) Montana (F), Idaho St (F), San Diego (F), Murray St, N Iowa, South Dakota St, South Dakota | (33-30/.524) Iowa St (4), North Dakota St, Youngstown St, Indiana St, Illinois St | 86-61 (.585) |
| South Dakota Coyotes (5) | 10-3 (139) | 3.36 (151) | (39-34/.534) Northern St (D), Drake (F), S Illinois, N Iowa, Indiana St, North Dakota St | (44-31/.567) Wisconsin (4), Portland St (F), Murray St, Youngstown St, South Dakota St, North Dakota | 83-65 (.561) |
| S Illinois Salukis (6) | 8-5 (160) | 3.31 (152) | (39-32/.549) Incarnate Word (F), SEMO (F), Illinois St, North Dakota St, Youngstown St, Murray St | (44-30/.595) BYU (4), Austin Peay (F), South Dakota, Indiana St, Missouri St, South Dakota St | 83-62 (.572) |
| Missouri St Bears (7) | 4-7 (200) | 3.29 (155) | (35-27/.565) Lindenwood (F), Youngstown St, Indiana St, S Illinois, South Dakota St | (50-36/.581) Ball St (G), Montana (F), Tennessee Martin (F), Illinois St, N Iowa, Murray St, North Dakota St | 85-63 (.574) |
| Illinois St Redbirds (8) | 6-5 (181) | 3.12 (165) | (38-35/.521) W Illinois (F), E Illinois (F), North Dakota St, South Dakota, North Dakota, N Iowa | (30-41/.423) Iowa (4), N Alabama (F), S Illinois, Murray St, N Iowa, Indiana St | 68-76 (.472) |
| Youngstown St Penguins (9) | 8-5 (167) | 3.08 (169) | (39-31/.557) Valparaiso (F), Duquesne (F), Indiana St, South Dakota, North Dakota, N Iowa | (46-29/.613) Pittsburgh (4), Villanova (F), Missouri St, South Dakota St, Illinois St, S Illinois | 85-60 (.586) |
| North Dakota St Bison (10) | 11-4 (138) | 2.88 (184) | (43-28/.606) Tennessee St (F), Towson (F), North Dakota, South Dakota St, N Iowa, Missouri St | (33-38/.465) Colorado (4), E Tennessee St (F), Illinois St, S Illinois, Murray St, South Dakota | 76-66 (.535) |
| Indiana St Sycamores (11) | 1-10 (243) | 2.87 (189) | (32-36/.471) Dayton (F), Houston Christian (F), Murray St, S Illinois, North Dakota, Illinois St | (40-31/.563) Purdue (4), E Illinois (F), Youngstown St, Missouri St, South Dakota, N Iowa | 72-67 (.518) |
…..
That’s it for today’s episode. Tune in next time for our first FBS conference. Thank you, as always, for reading and especially for sharing with others, G
