Better late... the FCS stuff

Games are already underway this week, and here I am just now talking about last week! So let's look at what happened. Two teams in the whole FCS won a big boy game last week- unranked (by me) Sacramento State, who tipped Oregon State (currently getting whupped by Wisconsin) 29-28 OT; and Richmond beat Duke 23-21- the third straight such win by the Spiders.  Two others came close- Eastern Washington, who outgained Washington 2 to 1 but lost 30-27; and Northern Iowa, who gave up a TD with 40 seconds left to lose to Iowa State 20-19.  Everyone else either beat FCS or lower opposition or got killed by a big boy, exception being #19 Southern Illinois smacking #18 SE Missouri State 38-10.  That said, let's look at this week's rankings and schedule.

Sacramento State gets part of a tie for 25 with The Citadel, who dealt Jacksonville (last week's 25) a devastating 31-9 loss.  SacSt plays KC's old friends from Southern Utah, while the Citadel goes against Furman.  Chattanooga holds at 24 after their 40-7 loss to Nebraska, and they have a big game against this week's #5, Jacksonville State.  Bethune-Cookman blew out an obviously incompetent Prairie View A&M team 62-14 on national TV Labor day and stay at 23, and face another big matchup with #19 South Carolina State, who'll be toasting IU in two weeks. Western Carolina slips a spot to 22 after a 63-21 loss to Georgia Tech, and get cupcake Mars Hill this week.I moved SE MO St to 21, down 3, and they get a week off.

20 and holding is North Dakota St., who whipped Lafayette 42-6 last week and face another probably easy game against St. Francis PA this week. 18 (I already mentioned #19 twice! Pay attention!) is Stony Brook, who also did good against their big boy, losing in OT to UTEP 31-24.  Delaware slides 2 to 17 after a disappointing 40-17 loss to Navy, but get a cupcake this week with West Chester. Southern Illinois moves up  to 16, and they've got their big boy game at Ole Miss today.

15 is Stephen F. Austin, who won a cupcake against McMurray 82-6 and will be going up against #13 Northern Iowa today. UNI moved up one after their close call.  14 is James Madison, who slips to a spot I'm more comfortable with after a 42-10 loss to North Carolina, and draw Central Connecticut St. today . 12 remains in the hands of Liberty, who did alright in a 43-21 loss to NC State and face Robert Morris today.  11 belongs to New Hampshire, who slip out of the top ten after a lackluster 58-22 loss to a Toledo team that might just be a little better than they seem, only 6 down to Ohio State at the half today.  They get Lehigh today, who the coaches rank but I have not thus far; as I type, UNH leads 24-20 at the half.

Top ten starts off with those Richmond Spiders, who won their big boy game and now face Wagner.  #9 goes to Villanova, who I was somewhat surprised to see lose to Temple that bad (42-7). They get a CAA matchup against Towson today.  Montana holds at 8 with a 42-16 loss to Tennessee and Cal Poly (who waits just outside the countdown) awaiting. In state rival Montana State leapfrogs them to 7 after a better than expected 27-10 loss to PAC-12 rookie Utah. they get UC Davis tonight in what is a de facto conference game.  My William AND Mary Tribe let me down against Virginia  40-3 and sag to 6th.  They try to do better against VMI this week.

#5 Jacksonville State got a big 24-23 scare from Tennessee-Martin last week, and as I said get #24 Chattanooga this week.  I dropped Appalachian State to 4 from #1 after a humiliating 66-13 performance against big boy VA Tech; they get North Carolina A&T today. 3 is Eastern Washington; the defending champs play South Dakota today.  Wofford moves into the #2 spot after a surprisingly tough 35-28 comeback win over Presbyterian, and get their big boy game tonight against Clemson.  And this week's #1 is Georgia Southern, who won their opener 31-17 over Samford and get a cupcake against Tusculum.

One more thing I noticed as I was getting my scores around for today was that traditional FCS doormat Campbell was playing someone called The Apprentice School.  TAS is a shipbuilders school without a degree program (degrees conferred through another local university) run by the Norfolk VA shipyards, and they play in NCAA DIII despite not being an NCAA member.  Nor much competition against an FCS level team; Campbell leads 48-0 with 3 minutes and change to go in the first half.