2024 - Around FCS College Football - Week 4

[ST_Lawson]

All games listed are on Saturday, 9/21, FCS rankings are from STATS Perform Top 25.

Big South-OVC Games
1 PM - St. Thomas (1-2) at Lindenwood (0-3)
1:30 PM - Tennessee State (2-1) at Tennessee Tech (0-2)
6 PM - ORV Eastern Illinois (1-2) at #17 Illinois State (2-1)
6 PM - Missouri State (1-2) at UT Martin (1-2)
6 PM - #21 Southeast Missouri State (2-1) at #7 Southern Illinois (2-1)
6 PM - Gardner-Webb (0-3) at Presbyterian (2-1)

MVFC Games (other than the ones listed above)
1 PM - ORV Towson (1-2) at #2 North Dakota State (2-1)
1 PM - San Diego (2-0) at #10 North Dakota (2-1)
1 PM - Drake (1-2) at #6 South Dakota (1-1)
2:30 PM - ORV Youngstown State (1-2) at FBS Pittsburgh (3-0)
6 PM - #1 South Dakota State (2-1) at Southeast Louisiana (1-2)
10:59 PM - #25 Northern Iowa (2-1) at FBS Hawai'i (1-2)

All games will be on ESPN+ with the exception of UNI at Hawai'i (not televised).

Also, just FYI, our next opponent, DII McKendree University, is currently 1-1 with a loss to West Florida and win over Lincoln University of Missouri. They host Minnesota State - Moorehead at 12 PM on Saturday.

[rocki]

Is (or has) anyone been watching OVC football to get an idea of where we are in regards to other members?

[ST_Lawson]

Is (or has) anyone been watching OVC football to get an idea of where we are in regards to other members?

 

The only conference game that has been played so far is UT Martin at SEMO, where SEMO win 45-42 in 2 OT. I would expect those two plus probably EIU to compete for the conference title this year, and obviously SEMO already has the advantage on that front. Gardner Webb won the conference last year, but then their HC Tre Lamb was hired to East Tennessee State and he took a handful of coaches and something like 25 of his best players with him, so it looks like they're unlikely to be at the top this year.

I see three "tiers" in the conference right now: SEMO, UT Martin, and EIU at the top; Gardner Webb, TN Tech, and Charleston Southern in the middle; TN State, Lindenwood, and ourselves in the bottom. If we play through the conference like we played at ISU and are able to avoid a few of the more aggregious mistakes/bad luck, then I see us beating TN State and Lindenwood, then maybe pulling a game from either Charleston Southern or TN Tech.

For a full breakdown of what teams have done so far:

• SEMO - Beat North Alabama by 22 (UNA lost to Illinois State by only 7), lost to FBS New Mexico State by 7, beat UT Martin in 2 OTs
• UT Martin - Steamrolled by Top 25-ranked FBS K-State by 35, lost to SEMO in 2 OT, beat North Alabama by 15.
• EIU - Lost by 45 to FBS Illinois, beat Indiana State by 7, lost to FBS Northwestern by 24. We'll learn a lot more about them when they play at Illinois State this weekend.
• Gardner Webb - Lost to Wofford by 1, lost at FBS James Madison by 7, lost at FBS Charlotte by 1. Yes, they lost to two FBS by a combined total of 8 points, but they are currently two not great FBS teams. JMU isn't horrible, but is somewhere around 70th in the FBS...Charlotte is in the bottom 10 and there's a good chance that win over Gardner Webb will be their only win this year.
• TN Tech - Lost by 7 to FBS Middle Tennessee State, lost by 45 to FBS #1 Georgia
• Charleston Southern - Lost to The Citadel by 1, lost to FCS #15 Furman by 4, lost to Richmond by 38.
• TN State - Beat Misssissippi Valley State by 20, lost to FCS #2 NDSU by 49, beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 13. Massey currently has MVSU and AR-PB as the 4th and 6th worst teams in the FCS and the worst of the full-scholarship schools (excludes Pioneer League and NEC)
• Lindenwood - Lost to FBS #22 Kansas by 45, lost to FCS #9 Central Arkansas by 21, lost to Missouri State by 14
• And of course, WIU - lost at FBS Northern Illinois by 39, lost at FBS Indiana by 74, lost at FCS #18 Illinois State by 17

[rocki]

Is (or has) anyone been watching OVC football to get an idea of where we are in regards to other members?


 

The only conference game that has been played so far is UT Martin at SEMO, where SEMO win 45-42 in 2 OT. I would expect those two plus probably EIU to compete for the conference title this year, and obviously SEMO already has the advantage on that front. Gardner Webb won the conference last year, but then their HC Tre Lamb was hired to East Tennessee State and he took a handful of coaches and something like 25 of his best players with him, so it looks like they're unlikely to be at the top this year.

I see three "tiers" in the conference right now: SEMO, UT Martin, and EIU at the top; Gardner Webb, TN Tech, and Charleston Southern in the middle; TN State, Lindenwood, and ourselves in the bottom. If we play through the conference like we played at ISU and are able to avoid a few of the more aggregious mistakes/bad luck, then I see us beating TN State and Lindenwood, then maybe pulling a game from either Charleston Southern or TN Tech.

For a full breakdown of what teams have done so far:

• SEMO - Beat North Alabama by 22 (UNA lost to Illinois State by only 7), lost to FBS New Mexico State by 7, beat UT Martin in 2 OTs
• UT Martin - Steamrolled by Top 25-ranked FBS K-State by 35, lost to SEMO in 2 OT, beat North Alabama by 15.
• EIU - Lost by 45 to FBS Illinois, beat Indiana State by 7, lost to FBS Northwestern by 24. We'll learn a lot more about them when they play at Illinois State this weekend.
• Gardner Webb - Lost to Wofford by 1, lost at FBS James Madison by 7, lost at FBS Charlotte by 1. Yes, they lost to two FBS by a combined total of 8 points, but they are currently two not great FBS teams. JMU isn't horrible, but is somewhere around 70th in the FBS...Charlotte is in the bottom 10 and there's a good chance that win over Gardner Webb will be their only win this year.
• TN Tech - Lost by 7 to FBS Middle Tennessee State, lost by 45 to FBS #1 Georgia
• Charleston Southern - Lost to The Citadel by 1, lost to FCS #15 Furman by 4, lost to Richmond by 38.
• TN State - Beat Misssissippi Valley State by 20, lost to FCS #2 NDSU by 49, beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 13. Massey currently has MVSU and AR-PB as the 4th and 6th worst teams in the FCS and the worst of the full-scholarship schools (excludes Pioneer League and NEC)
• Lindenwood - Lost to FBS #22 Kansas by 45, lost to FCS #9 Central Arkansas by 21, lost to Missouri State by 14
• And of course, WIU - lost at FBS Northern Illinois by 39, lost at FBS Indiana by 74, lost at FCS #18 Illinois State by 17

Thanks for the perspective!!!! I hadn't seen the other teams play, and I didn't know if we actually were in the lower tier or were knocking on being in the middle.

[ST_Lawson]

Thanks for the perspective!!!! I hadn't seen the other teams play, and I didn't know if we actually were in the lower tier or were knocking on being in the middle.

 

I'm hopeful for the latter (knocking on being in the "middle tier"), but until we actually start playing games in the OVC and...you know...actually win a game...we can't really claim to be anything but the bottom tier. My hope is that this year, we pick up 3-4 wins (McKendree, Lindenwood, TN State, plus maybe one of the middle tier), then next year, once Coach Davis has had a full recruiting season and things are starting to look up, we might actually hit .500.

[ST_Lawson]

Big South-OVC Games
St. Thomas at Lindenwood - Lindenwood won 64-0
Tennessee State at Tennessee Tech - TN Tech won 24-14
ORV Eastern Illinois at #17 Illinois State - ISU won 31-7
Missouri State at UT Martin - Missouri State won 31-24
#21 Southeast Missouri State at #7 Southern Illinois - SEMO won 38-21
Gardner-Webb at Presbyterian - Gardner-Webb won 42-21

MVFC Games (other than the ones listed above)
ORV Towson at #2 North Dakota State - NDSU won 41-24
San Diego at #10 North Dakota - UND won 41-24
Drake at #6 South Dakota - USD won 42-3
ORV Youngstown State at FBS Pittsburgh - Pitt won 73-17
#1 South Dakota State at Southeast Louisiana - SDSU won 41-0
#25 Northern Iowa at FBS Hawai'i - As I'm typing this, Hawai'i is up 15-0 at the end of the 1st quarter
 

[wiu712]

Hawai'i beat Northern Iowa 36-7

Attendance at Hawai'i = 11,402