Is this a new state of Illinois FCS record?

Western Illinois (FCS) beats Northern Illinois 28-23 in DeKalb's (N. Illinois hometown) Huskie Stadium to become the 3rd Illinois FCS team to beat a Division 1-A team (Illinois St beat Northwestern 9-7 & Eastern Illinois beat Miami (Ohio) 21-17). Unfortunately, Southern Illinois lost at Florida Atlantic week one 38-30, in what would've completed the state of Illinois collect-em-all FCS upset pack.

Northern Illinois was favored to win by 31 points and gave 15,496 fans a reason to go home sad. Western Illnois was ranked no 13 (STATS FCS Poll) coming into the game.

Central Arkansas beats Arkansas St 28-23

Arkansas St was favored to win by at least 18 loses to the Bears, which is almost as weird/bad as the visual of the Bears home astroturf. 28012 at Centennial Bank Stadium came to watch their Red Wolves lose to a lowly FCS program. Looking at the team stats, it is clear that UCA controlled the game.  

Of course though, the game was in Jonesboro, home of the Red Wolves. The Red Wolves came in 0-3, while the Bears were 2-1. 

Down 23-16 after 3 quarters of play, the Bears scored twice in the 4th to win 28-23. Although the Red Wolves passed for 424 yards, UCA's defense, ranked No. 4 in FCS against the run, allowed the Red Wolves just 45 rushing yards on 34 attempts, intercepted two passes and recovered a pair of fumbles. UCA is now in first place and Ark St has an embarrassing loss.

IT'S OFFICIAL. NORTH DAKOTA STATE BEATS IOWA

FIELD GOAL BEATS IOWA 23-21 AS TIME EXPIRES.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE WAS PAID $500,000 TO BEAT IOWA.

You also have to remember, it isn't like North Dakota State has some 5th year senior quarterback who has played all of his years starting for the team. Several FCS teams that have beaten FBS teams before come to mind with a very experienced, senior-laden team with accompanying quarterback. NDSU's QB was just drafted 2nd in April. He did not play in this game, a new quarterback did.

Looking at the stats, NDSU really controlled the game (1st downs, over 200 more yards rushing, total yards, and possession). NDSU came to Iowa and played Big 10 football, beating Iowa at their own game.

A little background about NDSU:
http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/136461/bison-pride-north-dakota-state-puts-fbs-winning-streak-on-the-line-vs-iowa

Why do teams still schedule NDSU?

6th FBS win in a row for NSDU. (Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado St., Kansas St., Iowa St., Iowa)

Oregon (plays NDSU 9/5/20) GET OUT NOW. DO NOT PLAY NDSU!!!

NDSU plays FCS powerhouse Illinois St. on 9/24.

State of Illinois Gets 2 Victories over FBS Teams

The Illinois FCS teams went 2-0 vs FBS teams this week, while both Illinois FBS teams went 0-2 vs FBS teams (Illinois losing to North Carolina and USF beating Northern Illinois).

Illinois St - 9
Northwestern - 7

Illinois St. were underdogs by over 46 points by the computer and picked up a big win over Big 10 opponent and perennial bowl team, Northwestern. What a great win for Illinois State and terrible loss for Northwestern. The Wildcats went 10-2 in the regular season, so it is entirely possible the 2016 Wildcats are not the 2015 Wildcats. Northwestern already was upset at home 22-21 by Western Michigan on opening weekend.

Eastern Illinois beats Miami (Ohio) 21-17. Miami was supposed to win by over 24 points. Miami Ohio only had a measly 3 wins last year and probably wishes they schedule Presbyterian (who they beat last year) instead of FCS powerhouse Eastern Illinois.

Both Illinois teams will actually play each other on 9/17.
Another interesting fact: Northwestern beat Eastern Illinois in 2015 41-0.


And finally, in a 4 OT thriller, North Carolina AT&T upset Kent State 39-36. The computer model predicted Kent State favorites by over 26 points. The Golden Flash are playing the Monmouth Hawks on 9/17, in an unusual schedule that features 2 FCS teams in 1 season. I'm sure Kent State is hoping they don't lose again to a lesser opponent. Kent State hasn't won since 10/17/15 and is now a shadow of the program that was a rising star only a couple years ago.











North Carolina AT&T plays Tulsa on 9/17 and hopes to repeat last week's success against another FBS opponent.

Deja Vu

Eastern Washington 45
Washington State 42

Northern Iowa 25
Iowa State 20

These 4 teams have all been here before. The FCS teams have beaten the big boys in the past and the big boys have lost to lowly FCS competition before. Today is more surprising because of Washington State's excellent record last year. Mike Leach is still looking for an opening weekend win.

Maybe Washington State should stop scheduling FCS teams. Last year, they lost to Portland State, which had a 2.4 percent chance to win, according to FPI, this year EW was given a 2.8 percent chance to win. The Cougars have been the victims in two of the five biggest FPI-based upsets in the last five years. Against FBS competition last season, the Cougars were 9-3, with two of the losses coming by a combined eight points. Washington State was supposed to win by over 44 points.

Washington State may have needed a third quarter interception to save its chances against FCS foe Eastern Washington. Marcellus Pippens picked off an end zone fade to give the Cougars new energy, but they still trail 38-28 entering the fourth and are in danger of dropping their home opener to an FCS foe for the second straight season.

Eastern Washington beats Washington State 45-42, and the Cougars lose their opener at home to an FCS team for the second straight year. The story here was the play of Eagles' QB Gage Gubrud, who threw for 475 yards and rushed for 79 more. He accounted for six total touchdowns. Washington State won nine games last year after dropping a similar opener, but Mike Leach cannot be happy with his team's porous defensive play today.

Eastern Washington QB Gage Gubrud, who just torched Washington State to the tune of over 500 total yards and six touchdowns, was the Eagles' back-up QB and field goal holder last year. He even punted 5 times in a game against Weber State.

FCS-level Northern Iowa has beaten Iowa State six times in 28 meetings. Iowa State now has three losses to Northern Iowa since 2007. Iowa State was supposed to win by 19 points.

Virginia Cavaliers Lose to Richmond Spiders 37-20

It looks like it could be a long season for Virginia, as Bronco Mendenhall works to rebuild the program in his first season. The Cavs were totally dominated and lost to Richmond 37-20, their first loss to an FCS team since 2009. It also was the second-largest loss by a Power 5 team to an FCS opponent in the last 10 years. Richmond scored more points than it ever has against UVa, picking up its first win in the series since 1946.

For Virginia fans, does it get any worse? You played second fiddle to Virginia Tech, now today's loss makes you 3rd best, possibly 4th if you consider William & Mary (good thing UVa doesn't play them or we would really find out the truth).

Virginia paid Richmond $375,000 to give them the second-largest loss to an FCS school by a Power 5 opponent in the last 10 seasons behind Iowa St's 20-point loss to North Dakota State in 2014.





A couple other teams still in action tonight are locked in close games with FCS teams, and a couple especially with prior histories (Towson, South Florida, etc).

First Upset of 2016 season (Buffalo 16, Albany 22)

The Buffalo Bulls, 21 point favorites, lose to The Albany Great Danes 22-16. The win gives Albany their first ever win over a FBS school. This was surprising because Buffalo was only 5-7 last year and Albany was 3-8. Albany avenges last year's 51-14 loss to Buffalo.



Here's a herd of buffalo that crossed over a highway in Albany and were shot and killed. Very symbolical of Buffalo's season this year.