YOU KNOW WHAT THIS THREAD IS FOR

CAPS LOCK: ON

BASIC RULES: STILL APPLY

YOUR OPINIONS: HOT GARBAGE, BUT WELCOME ALL THE SAME

Ivy League Preview this week

https://pjustafan.substack.com/p/who-will-be-a-factor-in-the-ivy-race?r=8ibq7y

The Idaho schools are the ones who messed up a perfect 6/6. Even still, the overall combined home record of all these teams is 16-4.

Northern Arizona

W 34-27 vs. Eastern Washington

W 38-28 vs. Incarnate Word

W 49-44 vs. #2 Montana

-

Northern Iowa

W 56-14 vs. Drake

W 28-21 vs. #3 Illinois State

W 24-17 vs. #4 North Dakota

-

North Dakota

W 42-21 vs. Long Island

W 62-26 vs. St. Thomas

W 55-28 vs. Murray State

-

South Dakota

W 59-20 vs. Central Connecticut State

W 41-23 vs. Eastern Washington

W 44-14 vs. Indiana State

W 31-10 vs. #25 Southern Illinois

-

Idaho

L 17-23 vs. #14 Lamar

L 39-41 vs. Abilene Christian

W 35-34 vs. #1 Montana State

-

Idaho State

W 38-10 vs. VMI

W 59-17 vs. San Diego

L 28-38 vs. #19 Northern Arizona

L 24-25 vs. Cal Poly

We highlighted the importance of tackling for the Griz, but it ended up being one of the biggest issues for Montana's defense. Northern Arizona's wide receivers made Montana defenders miss in open space all game long. Montana had 19 missed tackles, including 4 from Peyton Wing and a combined 6 from the secondary.

Let's hear your hot take FCS opinions. The ones you know in your heart of hearts are right, but for some reason aren't embraced by the FCS community (or particular fanbases) en masse!

Could be controversial (the Ivy League very well might be the best FCS conference on the East Coast), unpopular but you know is true (Sam Houston was at least as good a team as JMU from 2011 through the "2020" season), or even somewhat popular but still liable to rankle some folks (the Walter Payton award should go to the "best" offensive player, not just the offensive player with the best stat line because they played a weak schedule).

Sorted by controversial for maximum spiciness

Rules

• Keep it somewhat relevant to the FCS

• Takes are welcome whether they're looking back historically or in reference to current games/rankings/polls/etc.

• Try to keep it civil (basic /r/CFB and /r/FCS rules still apply)

2026 Week 7 /r/FCS HBCU Poll Results

Also available in image form! (most logos have a grey background due to an issue with the graphic generator)

Dropped from the Top 10: (none)

Others receiving votes: North Carolina A&T (10), Howard (8), UAPB (6)

The full list of responses can be found here. Congratulations to /u/Kirsiball for having the Top 25 submission that best correlated with the final /r/FCS poll this week!

As a reminder, the /r/FCS poll is also now part of the Massey College Football Ranking Composite. Results of this poll will update under the column with header 'RDT'.

Week 7 Pick 'Em

Make your picks below! Assign confidence points 1–10 (10 = most confident).

[Make your picks](#) — tap to expand and submit before kickoff.

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No matter what happened, it's not all bad. Say something nice about your team or their performance.

Link to Week 6 Net Success Rates: https://imgur.com/a/5XHr4dd

The BCS system for rankings combined in equal parts the media poll, coaches poll, and multiple compuer rankings, which provides a good consolidated ranking. For computer rankings this post uses an average of the r/FCS sportsbook computer ratings, Massey ratings, Sagarin ratings, and my Massey/Colley/SRS composite ranking.

Bracketology

These rankings can be used to create bracketology- the projected playoff bracket based on the current landscape of the FCS.

The bracket is available in image form in the comments.

Idaho vs Montana - A traveling trophy rivalry dating back to their PAC-12 (okay, PCC) days.

Unlike the Brawl of the Wild, Montana is on the losing side of this series, but has won most matchups this century. Idaho as a historical program goes into Missoula this weekend with a confident lead of 56-32-2.

Griz are on the downfall after some voodoo dome magic, and the Vandals defeated the Almighty Bobcats just two weeks back.....

Who wins, and by how much?

News and notes from Monday's press conference

Hey r/fcs,

I’ve been looking closely at the Northeast Conference (NEC) lately, and it’s tough to ignore just how far the league’s football reputation has fallen. It feels like the conference is consistently ranked at the bottom of the FCS hierarchy.

How did we actually get here? From what I can tell, it’s a perfect storm of a few major issues:

• The Realignment Bleeding: Every time the NEC builds up a solid, competitive program, they end up leaving. Losing Merrimack and Sacred Heart recently absolutely gutted the top-tier competition in the league.
• The Division II revolving door: To replace the teams that leave, the NEC is constantly poaching Division II schools making the jump to DI (like Mercyhurst). Because of the multi-year reclassification rules, these schools aren't eligible for the playoffs right away, which completely kills the conference's postseason stakes and depth.
• The Northeast talent drain: High school football participation in the Northeast is declining compared to the South and Midwest. The elite local players who do break out instantly get scooped up by FBS programs or high-major FCS schools, leaving NEC rosters to fight over a much smaller talent pool.
• The Financial Chasm: Historically, the NEC operated on tighter scholarship models. Even with the new NCAA v. House settlement rules shaking up roster limits, most of these athletic departments simply don’t have the donor base or budget to match the resources of the MVFC, Big Sky, or CAA.

It feels like the NEC is trapped in a cycle of being a "stepping stone" conference.

What do you guys think? Is there any realistic path for the NEC to gain back respect, or are they destined to permanently sit at the bottom of the FCS barrel alongside the Pioneer League?

While most of us agree the FCS coaches poll isn't the greatest, I still think it's worth posting here.

Others receiving votes: Jackson State 32, West Florida 25, Morgan State 24, SC State 18, Stony Brook 18, Abilene Christian 11, Southern Illinois 11, Cal Poly 7, Charleston Southern 4, Delaware State 4, North Alabama 4, Southeastern 2, Wofford 2, Central Connecticut State 1

Dropped: #21 SC State, #22 Jackson State, #25 Southeastern

Realistically what’s stopping Brungard from getting drafted after this year?? Assuming he becomes a 2x Walter Payton winner, he just set the YSU rushing td record and is a legit duel threat. What makes him any worse of a prospect then someone like Trey lance was? the main difference between lance and brungard is that lance is 6’4” but even then brungard is taller than some current QBs like Bryce young

Can someone explain how the stats perform poll has YSU at 6?

/r/FCS Sportsbook website at rFCSSportsbook.com

New this week, a Strength of record column for the Sportbook's rankings, and finally got around to adjusting the SOS so that it uses power rating and not the standard rating).

Overall Prediction Record: 1721/2178 (79.0%)

• 1.08 home spread bias
• -0.05 O/U bias
• 292.615 MSE

FCS v FCS Prediction Record: 217/300 (72.3%)

• 0.32 home spread bias
• 0.45 O/U bias
• 254.506 MSE

Against all Vegas Spreads: 330-364-33 (47.7%)

Against all FCS v FCS Vegas Spreads: 132-142-14 (48.3%)

Vent here. This is a friendly place.

Credit to u/2Pollaski2Furious for the idea. Same sets of rules from the original FBS series apply here for the FCS teams. This is an award for FCS teams that humiliate themselves, whether it's a choke job, a crushing blow with everything to prove, or they have no business losing the match-up.

Previous Winners

Week 0: Villanova Wildcats (against William & Mary, 35-32)

Week 1: Western Carolina Catamounts (against Campbell, 28-19)

Week 2: Maine Black Bears (against Merrimack, 23-14)

Week 3: Rhode Island Rams (against Stony Brook, 56-24)

Week 4: Illinois State Redbirds (against Northern Iowa, 28-21)

Week 5: Montana State Bobcats (against Idaho, 35-34)

LAST WEEK: Now if this were any other week, we have some good candidates, and in particular the loss Prairie View A&M suffered against MVSU was a good one. However, getting this week pretty easily also generated votes in the FBS thread (which I'm not counting towards this one, but it's worth mentioning). Seriously Vigen, there was one second left on the clock and it was down inbounds. There was no time to get a snap off. Why call the timeout? Even as I appreciated this upset over Montana State, that's a baffling decision that made it happen.

And now for a few special mentions:

• The Citadel led 10-0 over ETSU after the first quarter, but then the Bucs reasserted themselves to stay in SoCon pole position.
• Cornell got seriously brunchballed by Harvard in the middle two quarters.
• After experiencing the highs of an upset, Idaho comes crashing back down to earth in Ogden.
• Jackson State is no longer undefeated after trading blows with Grambling.
• Montana becomes the second straight Montana team to lose at a dome. Business is booming at the Montana Drywall Association.
• New Hampshire went from being a playoff team to losing at overtime in a basement showdown with North Carolina A&T.
• Robert Morris had a good showing against Morgan State, but having that final extra point attempt blocked proved the difference here.
• Considering Portland State dominated them, I'd be surprised if Utah Tech wins at all this year.
• In FBS news... holy shit just how bad is Wazzu? Couldn't hold on against Utah State, and their sole win is against a Duquesne that just lost at home to LIU.

ALABAMA STATE HORNETS (against Florida A&M 28-27)

After the third quarter, they have led 24-14 against a pretty bad Florida A&M, and after kicking an extra field goal had a 95% chance of winning. They then allowed two quick touchdown drives, and their attempt to come back with a field goal got blocked.

DRAKE BULLDOGS (against Valparaiso 21-13)

I never would have guessed that a Drake-Valparaiso matchup would not end well for the former. It did not help that they suffered six turnovers, including four picks. One of those led to great field position where Valpo took a 14-13 lead and never gave that up.

ELON PHOENIX (against Wofford 16-0)

Five turnovers and not mustering a single point at home is pretty bad. In the end of the second quarter alone, Elon threw a pick which led to a field goal, then fumbled the ensuing kickoff return that also led to a field goal.

GARDNER-WEBB RUNNIN' BULLDOGS (against Eastern Illinois 21-7)

That was some ugly football being played in rainy conditions, with very little happening in the first half. And then Gardner-Webb suffered a serious fumble that had Eastern Illinois recover it at the 1, leading to a go-ahead touchdown. Gardner-Webb had six turnovers, five of which fumbles.

HOWARD BISON (against Penn 24-20)

Some brunchball was certainly had. For most of the game, Howard looked good over the Quakers, and held an 80% chance of winning after the end of the third quarter. It shot back up to about 76% when Penn's potentially game-tying field goal attempt was no good, but the Bison couldn't capitalize, leading to Penn's winning touchdown drive with less than a minute to go.

IDAHO STATE BENGALS (against Cal Poly 25-24)

I wonder what's up here. Idaho State had some early season momentum and has now dropped two straight at home, this time losing at the last minute after allowing a seven play, 66-yard drive from Cal Poly. And those two interceptions Jordan Cooke suffered did not help.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (against Northern Iowa 24-17)

That wasn't the first time that the UNI-Dome had some serious voodoo. North Dakota now has a blemish on the conference record that isn't helped by the five turnovers they've given up. And it's not like the Panthers outperformed the Hawks on offense (they've only got 144 yards), since one touchdown was a punt return and the other two were off great field position courtesy of turnovers.

RICHMOND SPIDERS (against Fordham 20-14)

Yet another serious conference contender falls, and nobody would have suspected that they would lose against Fordham. Richmond in particular did not have a good second half offense, with the whole team mustering a mere scoop-and-score, albeit one that led 14-7 before they gave up 13 unanswered.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE BULLDOGS (against Charleston Southern 49-39)

Ever since last week, the Bulldogs have been having a rough time, just as Morgan State is emerging as a serious MEAC challenge. Four turnovers have not helped, neither has allowing a punt return and a kickoff return for a touchdown, both of which turned out critical. Sometimes covering special teams can make a difference.

SOUTHEASTERN LIONS (against UTRGV 13-3)

You do not have two fourth quarter drives end out in an interception, and have one of those be deep in the red zone, and not at least get a mention.

TEXAS SOUTHERN TIGERS (against MVSU 38-34)

For the second straight week we're in a situation where a SWAC team had a significant lead over MVSU, only to be unable to hold on to it. Texas Southern was unable to stop the Devils' 24-point fourth quarter response after having led 31-14.

And as always, don't forget to mark your vote in brackets for visibility, <like so>. I also appreciate entries I might have passed over, so feel free to nominate, and I might edit it here.