2024 - Around the FCS (Week 13)

[ST_Lawson]

All games on Saturday, 11/23 and on ESPN+ unless otherwise stated. FCS Rankings are from the STATS FCS Poll. For the fun of it, I'll also include what Massey predicts the result will be for the games.

Big South/OVC Games
12 PM - Eastern Illinois (3-8) at Tennessee Tech (6-5), TTU by 9
12:30 PM - Charleston Southern (1-10) at FBS Florida State (1-9), FSU by 38
2 PM - Lindenwood (5-6) at UT Martin (7-4), UTM by 18
3:30 PM - Southeast Missouri State (9-2) at Tennessee State (8-3), SEMO by 7

MVFC Games
12 PM - North Dakota (5-6) at Illinois State (8-3), UND by 3
12 PM - Murray State (1-10) at Southern Illinois (3-8), SIU by 18
1 PM - Indiana State (4-7) at Northern Iowa (2-9), also on Marquee, UNI by 11
1 PM - North Dakota State (10-1) at South Dakota (8-2), NDSU by 6
2 PM - South Dakota State (9-2) at Missouri State (8-3), SDSU by 15

Playoff Picture
In the OVC, SEMO is a nearly lock for the conference auto-bid and will get a seed if they beat Tennessee State. Tennessee State is in if they win, but even if it's a close loss to SEMO, there's still a chance they might get in. UT Martin needs a win over Lindenwood to have a halfway decent chance at getting in with some help from other teams, but their loss against TTU last week really hurt their chances. Technically if SEMO loses to Tennessee State, the auto-bid goes to some pretty in-depth tiebreaker scenarios depending on the other games going on and anyone in the group of SEMO, TSU, or actually TTU could potentially get in.
Likely there will be 2 BS/OVC teams in the playoffs, although if TSU beats SEMO, TTU beats EIU, and Lindenwood beats UT Martin, TTU would actually get the automatic qualifier spot, SEMO would still get in, and it's quite likely TSU would be in as well.

Over at the MVFC, NDSU, SDSU, and USD are all solidly in the playoffs and are jockeying for seeding. Illinois State stands a decent chance at getting in. They are somehow not favored against North Dakota, even though UND has a much worse record and the game is at ISU. If ISU wins, they're in the playoffs, possibly with seed in the teens. Lose and they're still probably in, but unseeded and hit the road in the first round.

DII & DIII
Playoffs are starting this weekend for DII and DIII, so here's any teams in our region of the country that are in those brackets

12 PM - DII #2 Grand Valley State vs UIndy
12 PM - DII #4 Augustana (SD) vs Minnesota State
12 PM - DIII Wisconsin La Crosse vs Northwestern-St. Paul
12 PM - DIII Bethel (MN) vs Coe (IA)

In the second round of DIII:
11/30 at 12 PM - Wartburg (IA) vs Wisconsin Platteville
11/30 at 12 PM - Lake Forest (IL) vs winner of Bethel and Coe
11/30 at 11 AM - Hope College (MI) vs Aurora University (IL)
11/30 at 12 PM - North Central (IL) vs winner of Whitworth (WA) and Pomona-Pitzer (CA)

[wiu712]

Monmouth College will be playing Saint Norbert College in the Cousins Subs Lakefront Bowl on November 23.  Game time is 11:00 AM.

The game will be played at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. 
 

[ST_Lawson]

Games finished so far (I'll update as others finish up)

Big South/OVC Games
Tennessee Tech beat Eastern Illinois, 23-6
FBS Florida State beat Charleston Southern, 41-7
UT Martin beat Lindenwood, 33-26 in OT
Tennessee State beat Southeast Missouri, 28-21

SEMO, TTU, TSU, and UTM all finish at 6-2 for a 4-way tie for the conference championship
SEMO wins the OVC Autobid, but I think it's likely we'll end up with three OVC teams in the playoffs, with Tennessee State and UT Martin making it in as well.

MVFC Games
Illinois State beat North Dakota, 35-13
South Dakota State beat Missouri State, 45-9
Southern Illinois beat Murray State, 62-0
Northern Iowa beat Indiana State, 41-34 in coach Farley's final game at the head of the Panther football program
South Dakota beat North Dakota State, 29-28 on a TD with 12 seconds left in the game

SDSU wins the MVFC autobid.
SDSU, NDSU, and USD all finish at 7-1 in the MVFC for a 3-way tie for the conference championship. All three will likely end up with top 8 seeds (some are predicting those will be #2, #3, and #4) in the playoffs.
Illinois State is also quite likely to get a top 16 seed, finishing 9-3 overall. Missouri State ended up 8-4 overall, but is ineligible for the FCS postseason due to being in the process of moving up to FBS (they'll be in CUSA next year).

Outside the FCS
St. Norbert beat Monmouth College in the Cousins Subs Lakefront Bowl, 20-14

DII #2 Grand Valley State beat UIndy, 24-7
DII #4 Augustana (SD) lost to Minnesota State, 20-19
DIII Wisconsin La Crosse beats Northwestern-St. Paul, 59-14
DIII Bethel (MN) beats Coe (IA), 31-26
DIII Wheaton (IL) beats Wisconsin Stout, 35-32
 

[leatherneckcountry]

Great to see 3 teams from the OVC making the playoffs 

[wiu712]

FCS Tournament Bracket:
https://bigsouthovcfootball.com/documen ... .pdf?id=60