The Horizon and the Dust: 2021 FCS Victories Over FBS Teams

There were two more 2021 FCS victories over FBS teams last weekend.  There may be more on the horizon.  And there are some in the dust.

A brief perusal of the schedule this weekend reveals a number of very interesting FCS v. FBS games.  It is a fool’s errand to try to predict these.  However, the Evil Eye says, “Why not?”

The Evil Eye sees a few “interesting” games in the misty dawn.  Certainly, at least, ones that promise to be good games.  Potentially.

One of the preseason magazines, Lindy’s Sports College Football, projected the regional match-up of Delaware at Rutgers as a potential earth-shaker.  However, that went to print before Rutgers demolished Temple 61-14 and took care of business at Syracuse 17-7.  Lindy’s might not be so bold with the benefit of that information.  It appears Rutgers has gone full Schiano thus far.  However, week to week has proven especially dicey in recent years.

The Evil Eye bears down and calls the Northern Arizona at Arizona game into question.  Not because Northern Arizona is that good.  They are average and have been blown out in both games this year.  It is more a matter of Arizona being on a long losing streak.  No doubt they will look to end the streak here.  Arizona played pretty good against BYU, but seemed to regress against San Diego State last week.  Starting over with a new coach this year makes them vulnerable.  The regional factor means the Wildcats will get Northern Arizona’s best.  This could be a good game.  It should be a Power Five blowout, if Arizona had its act together, but stranger things have happened in the desert.  Have you ever tried to sit on the spot?

A couple of HBCU games look interesting:  Jackson State at Louisiana-Monroe and South Carolina State at New Mexico State.  These are dangerous games for the home team FBS squads.

Jackson State has received much attention since the hire of Head Coach Deion Sanders and then snaring some premium recruits.  Monroe, on the other hand, boasts old war horse coaching in Head Coach Terry Bowden and Offensive Coordinator Rich Rodriguez.  Sure, Monroe has the advantage, the Sun Belt is tough, and Rich Rod’s son (Rhett Rod) as quarterback looks pretty good.  But, this could be a signature game in the young tenure of Coach Sanders. This game has some regional appeal.

South Carolina State had a one point loss at Alabama A&M.  Then they were blown out at Clemson. New Mexico State has lost badly at home to UTEP, but played better at New Mexico.  Both of these are huge rivalry games.  They led 10-0 at the half at San Diego State and looked in command, but collapsed in the second half as the Aztecs won going away.

There are all kinds of games this weekend that could result in a win for an inspired FCS team facing a struggling or off-game FBS squad.  The above three look a bit ripe to the Evil Eye.  But, in fact, they could be a rotten splat in the eye.  It usually takes very good FCS teams to pull off these kinds of wins.  Maybe Lindy’s was right after all.  We don’t have those types of FCS teams above, otherwise.  By all rights, these should be solid wins for the FBS home teams.  But the football rarely bounces true.  The Evil Eye has been seduced by the mediocre to bad to horrid football being played by a team or two listed above.  But that was then and this is now.  Last year is history and this years’ games are, well, Shakespeare had it right.

Sometimes the Evil Eye likes to engage in rank speculation.  This is one of those occasions.  And the Evil Eye does so boldly, with all the confidence of Hedgy the Hedgehog.

Last weekend there were two more FCS victories over FBS squads.

Duquesne 28 at Ohio 26

A regional match-up, the city outfit from Pittsburgh preserved their victory by denying Ohio a last few seconds two-point conversion.  Duquesne pretty much dominated the team stats.  Time of possession may or may not mean much, but here the Dukes had the ball over 41 minutes which makes for a long day for the opposing defense.  In addition to two touchdowns, Duquesne piled on the field goals plus a safety for good measure.

Jacksonville State 20 at Florida State 17

Just when Florida State thought they might get away with a too-close-for-comfort win, the Gamecocks scored on a long touchdown pass with zeros left on the clock.  Jacksonville State put together 97 and 83 yard touchdown drives in the fourth quarter while holding the Seminoles scoreless in that final stanza.  The team stats were about as even as they could be.  The hard luck crew from Tallahassee lost by three in overtime to Notre Dame previously.  This was yet another stinging regional loss for an FBS team.  The Evil Eye is not going to pile on the FSU coach, for the simple reason that it can’t climb that high.  Jacksonville State claimed a FBS win last year against Florida International.  Now they claim a Power Five scalp.