Happy Friday, college football fans, as we continue to experience the last month of the year without college football. Today, we finish up our analysis of the FCS conferences by preseason SOS (PS SOS) based on last year’s results for this year’s opponents. We started with Kennesaw St as the lone FCS independent, who also plays a near high-school level slate as they “prepare” for next year’s jump to the Group of 5, through 11 other conferences to reach the top 2 (in PS SOS).
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First, in the penultimate FCS position, aka 13th spot overall, is the Missouri Valley Football Conference, or MVFC, whose 12 members average 3.0731 PS SOS compared to an FCS average of 2.729. In fact, all but the bottom three teams exceed the league average, and over half the teams opponents had collective winning records last season. Last season, 3 teams in the MVFC won 10+ games and it should be exciting to follow again this year. As a reminder, (N) indicates a neutral site game, (P) indicates a Power 5 opponent, (G) indicates a Group of 5 team, and (D) indicates a non-D1 foe. Here they are from most-challenged to “looks like a big season for:”
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| Idaho St (1) | 3.742/141 | 1-10/ 169 | 72-60 (.545) | (22-24) N Colorado, E Washington, Weber St, UC Davis | (31-18) Montana, Portland St, Sacramento St, Idaho | (6-5) N Iowa | (13-13) (G) San Diego St, (G) Utah St |
| Portland St (2) | 3.700/142 | 4-7/133 | 58-70 (.453) | (14-30) Cal Poly, Idaho St, E Washington, Montana | (24-23) Montana St, N Arizona, UC Davis, N Colorado | (3-8) (D) North American | (17-9) (P) Oregon, (G) Wyoming |
| E Washington (3) | 3.529/145 | 3-8/141 | 76-60 (.559) | (22-25) Idaho, Cal Poly, Weber St, N Arizona | (23-24) UC Davis, Portland St, Idaho St, Montana St | — | (31-11) (N) North Dakota St, (G) Fresno St, SELA |
| N Arizona (4) | 3.412/152 | 3-8/257 | 73-60 (.564) | (21-25) Montana, Portland St, UC Davis, N Colorado | (37-14) Sacramento St, Weber St, Montana St, E Washington | (5-7) Utah Tech | (12-12) (P) Arizona, North Dakota |
| N Colorado (5) | 3.250/162 | 3-8/215 | 73-60 (.549) | (33-16) Weber St, Sacramento St, Idaho, Portland St | (14-32) Idaho St, Cal Poly, Montana, N Arizona | (12-2) Incarnate Word | (14-10) Abilene Christian, (P) Washington St |
| UC Davis (6) | 3.194/166 | 6-5/163 | 63-67 (.485) | (27-21) E Washington, Montana, Portland St, Sacramento St | (16-31) Cal Poly, Weber St, N Arizona, Idaho St | (10-12) Commerce, S Utah | (10-3) (P) Oregon St |
| Cal Poly (7) | 3.161/167 | 2-9/188 | 71-58 (.550) | (26-23) UC Davis, Idaho, N Colorado, Weber | (31-18) Portland St, Montana St, E Washington, Sacramento St | (7-12) San Diego, (D) Lincoln | (7-5) (G) San Jose St |
| Weber St (8) | 2.904/180 | 10-3/ 165 | 59-68 (.465) | (28-20) Montana St, N Arizona, UC Davis, Idaho | (9-35) N Colorado, E Washington, Idaho St, Cal Poly | (6-4) (D) C Washington | (16-9) N Iowa, (P) Utah |
| Montana St (9) | 2.895/182 | 12-2/ 148 | 63-47 (.573) | (12-32) Portland St, Cal Poly, N Arizona, E Washington | (37-14) Weber St, Sacramento St, Idaho, Montana | (9-13) Utah Tech, Stetson | (14-1) South Dakota St |
| Idaho (10) | 2.662/205 | 7-5/169 | 58-74 (.439) | (33-18) Sacramento St, Montana, Montana St, Idaho St | (18-28) E Washington, Cal Poly, N Colorado, Weber St | — | (7-28) Lamar, (P) California, (G) Nevada |
| Sacramento St (11) | 2.314/222 | 12-1/ 196 | 53-75 (.414) | (18-29) N Arizona, Montana St, Idaho St, Cal Poly | (24-23) Idaho, N Colorado, Montana, UC Davis | (5-6) Commerce | (6-17) Nicholls, (P) Stanford |
| Montana (12) | 2.155/236 | 8-5/176 | 74-58 (.561) | (28-21) Idaho St, N Colorado, Sacramento St, Montana St | (20-25) N Arizona, UC Davis, Idaho, Portland St | (21-5) Butler, (D) Ferris St | (5-7) Utah Tech |
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And now, in the 12th position and the most-challenged FCS conference is the newly founded United Athletic Conference or UAC, comprised of combining the WAC and the ASUN remaining teams. These two conferences shared a single automatic bid for the playoffs last year, but this year, they are making the marriage a reality. Only 9 teams remain, but their PS SOS averages 3.2513, a full 19% above the FCS mean. Only 1 team is below that mean and was very close. Here are the 9 from E Kentucky through Utah Tech:
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| E Kentucky (1) | 3.783/139 | 7-5/145 | 67-61 (.523) | (19-14) Tarleton, Austin Peay, Steph F Austin | (10-23) N Alabama, Utah Tech, C Arkansas | (15-8) W Carolina, SEMO | (23-16) (P) Cincinnati, (P) Kentucky, Gardner Webb |
| N Alabama (2) | 3.580/143 | 1-10/ 225 | 71-53 (.573) | (16-18) E Kentucky, Utah Tech, C Arkansas | (20-13) Tarleton, Abilene Christian, Austin Peay | (14-8) Chattanooga, Tennessee Martin | (21-14) (N) Mercer, Tennessee Tech, (P) Florida St |
| Austin Peay (3) | 3.450/148 | 7-4/136 | 61-64 (.488) | (10-23) N Alabama, Utah Tech, C Arkansas | (18-16) Steph F Austin, S Utah, E Kentucky | (10-14) E Tennessee St, Gardner Webb | (23-11) S Illinois, (P) Tennessee, Lindenwood |
| Steph F Austin (4) | 3.431/150 | 6-5/253 | 62-52 (.544) | (19-14) Austin Peay, Abilene Christian | (17-17) Utah Tech, Tarleton, E Kentucky | (10-12) Alcorn St, Commerce | (16-9) (G) Troy, Northwestern St |
| Abilene Christian (5) | 3.263/161 | 7-4/197 | 60-68 (.469) | (11-22) N Alabama, Utah Tech, Tarleton | (16-17) C Arkansas, Steph F Austin, S Utah | (15-10) N Colorado, Incarnate Word | (18-19) Prairie View, (G) North Texas, (P) Texas A&M |
| C Arkansas (6) | 3.155/168 | 5-6/154 | 68-60 (.531) | (26-19) Abilene Christian, Steph F Austin, Tarleton, E Kentucky | (13-20) S Utah, N Alabama, Austin Peay | (10-12) (D) Texas College, SEMO | (19-9) (P) Oklahoma St, North Dakota St |
| Tarleton (7) | 2.976/177 | 6-5/137 | 55-66 (.455) | (12-21) N Alabama, Steph F Austin, S Utah | (19-15) E Kentucky, C Arkansas, Abilene Christian | (3-14) (D) Southwestern Baptist, Morehead St | (21-16) McNeese, (P) Texas Tech, SELA |
| S Utah (8) | 2.921/179 | 5-6/154 | 54-68 (.443) | (19-14) C Arkansas, Austin Peay, Abilene Christian | (16-17) Tarleton, Steph F Austin, Utah Tech | (2-18) W Illinois, (D) Lincoln | (17-19) (P) Arizona St, (P) BYU, UC Davis |
| Utah Tech (9) | 2.703/197 | 4-7/157 | 64-64 (.500) | (18-16) Steph F Austin, E Kentucky, S Utah | (15-18) N Alabama, Abilene Christian, Austin Peay | (8-5) Montana | (23-25) Montana St, N Arizona, Missouri St, (G) Colorado St |
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That’s it for the FCS and it for today. Tune in next time as we start the 11 conferences (counting the independents) of the FBS from the easiest conference schedules to the most difficult. By the time we finish, we’ll be ready to start talking about week 0 of the long-awaited season and get to some real college football.
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Thank you, as always, for reading, commenting, and sharing. See you in a few days, G
