Spring 2021 FCS: Scouting for the next Donald Parham

[Tank55]

UNH takes two procedural penalties in between throwing incompletions. On 4th and goal from the 17, the quarterback hits his receiver in the hands on a corner route in the back of the end zone, but he can't hang out. UAlbany picks up a HUGE road win to start the season.

[MGB01]

JMU rallies from 17-3 down at Elon for a 20-17 win or else we would have had #1 go down for the second straight week, uneasy is the head I guess...........

[MGB01]

Big bounceback for Eastern as they hammer Northern Arizona 45-13, Eags turned it over three times (and arguably a fourth) in the first half too or this could have been even worse

Idaho with the letdown against UC Davis 27-17, which wasn't unforeseeable. It was Davis' opener (Cal Poly, who they were supposed to play last week, hasn't even played yet).

Head-scratching scheduling by the BSC: Eags and Idaho State kick off at 4:05(MT) next Sat, while the Big Sky championship game tips off in Boise two hours later, so football and basketball could overlap (Eags are probably headed towards a semifinal tilt with Dame U, so they'd just need to win that). Wouldn't be surprised to see a time change.

[MGB01]

In the midst of all the maybe-news, a jam-packed week four (or five if you don't count FCS kickoff 2.0 as week zero):

EWU at Idaho State: No time change, so this will kick off at 4:05 in Pocatello with the Big Sky basketball championship two hours later in Boise with Eastern and surprise entrant Montana State, who beat conf champ Southern Utah in OT in the semis. Exactly what I'd talked about with the Big 10 and P12 potentially sabotaging their own tournaments had they played spring ball.

Long delayed Cal Poly opener vs Southern Utah. They've already used both open weeks and will play UC Davis next week and Weber State 4/17. Idaho and NAU were postponed, still haven't decided whether they'll play next week or 4/17.

North Dakota, easily the surprise of FCS so far with three top 25 wins, now goes on the road for the first time this spring at Western Illinois--and looking ahead NDSU next week, speaking of which NDSU is at home against Illinois State for the first time since their long winning streak was snapped, they still carry an equally lengthy home winning streak that began with a 72-7 rout of Mississippi Valley State in the 2017 opener.

Pioneer League gets underway, still featuring the lone non-Big Sky western school (San Diego), which will stay intact until Southern Utah joins the WAC next summer.

Matchup of the day: top ten showdown between Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois.

And also the Grambling/Prairie View matchup at Globe Life, they just played last night in the SWAC tournament with Prairie View winning.

[MGB01]

Finish of the day: EWU 46 Idaho State 42--and as a bonus get the double with a ten-point win over Montana State in the Big Sky championship game, good thing the conference protected it.

[Tank55]

Championship contender James Madison has 28(!) players in COVID protocol.

https://twitter.com/Madia_DNRSports/sta ... 4461831176

JMU has already canceled two conference games with only one open week to play with; if a team in the North division goes undefeated, JMU won't be able to capture the CAA AQ bid. But they played two non-conference games, and I think teams only need to win at least four games to be eligible for the playoffs, so I'd think a 6-0 or whatever JMU would still get in as an at large.

[MGB01]

NDSU beat UND in their first meeting as MVFC rivals; Cal Davis, who pushed Weber State to the limit, smashed Cal Poly (EWU's next opponent, coached by former Eags HC Beau Baldwin) 73-24 in the lone Big Sky game of the day

Southern Illinois, who ended NDSU's streak, got trampled by South Dakota State in the other MVFC top ten showdown. I still expect those four teams to be in the top ten on Monday with NDSU possibly bumping JMU off and reclaiming #1.

[MGB01]

Illinois State out of their final four games

https://fbschedules.com/illinois-state- ... ll-season/

They were also 1-3, wonder how many more we see from teams that are effectively eliminated from playoff contention (South Dakota State, Southern Illinois, and North Dakota were their next three oponents--a tough haul to win out)

[Tank55]

Patriot League championship to be broadcast on everyone's favorite channel, CBSSN:

https://patriotleague.org/news/2021/3/2 ... twork.aspx

[MGB01]

The weekend slate has JMU back in action and Beau Baldwin returning to the red turf with Cal Poly. And we got another streak, San Diego guns for their 40th straight Pioneer League win at Presbyterian.

NDSU's game at South Dakota was called off so both them and SDSU have a bye ahead of their game next week.