We all know 2020 was a wild year. That’s rote at this point. It’s cliche. It’s something literally everyone has taken to heart.
But in the world of major college football it… wasn’t. Sure, we had upheaval in locker rooms, limited fans in the stands, crazy schedules that changed by the minute -- it was weird. But in terms of who won, who lost, who came out on top, it wasn’t. Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State were the only schools with a shot at a championship. Alabama won after going undefeated. Ho-hum. Only a midseason Clemson loss to Notre Dame caused much drama at the top.
Well, the FCS spring season is still very young and it is entirely not like that.
Four top 10 teams lost this weekend, including North Dakota State, who hadn’t lost, seemingly, since Dakota was admitted to the union as two states in order to rig the United States Senate in favor of one political party. South Dakota State, the No. 3 team, lost to the other North Dakota, which is playing with its Dakota cousins in a round-robin for all of our attention. Illinois State, the No. 7 team, lost to South Dakota. You’re sensing a pattern?
Oh, and Furman lost to a VMI team because they got sacked nine times.
Oh, and the No. 5 team lost the previous week to North Dakota State.
With this much chaos, it’s a good thing the FCS champion won’t be picked by a random group of folks choosing four finalists.
Games That Happened
Friday
Southern 24, Alabama State 21
Good defense led to a quick turnaround for the Jaguars in the fourth quarter. After a long Ladarius Skelton touchdown pass tied it up early in the quarter, we had a couple of wild special teams plays. To wit: A penalty on the kickoff meant Alabama State got the ball at their own 8 yard line. A run for no gain and two incomplete passes later, they’re punting from their own 8. That punt goes for all of 17 yards. That sets Southern up in good field position. They go three and out but manage a field goal to take the lead. That’ll do.
Saturday
Southern Illinois 38, North Dakota State 14
Winning 39 consecutive games is hard. Winning 40 is even harder. The Bison were scarcely even competitive against the Salukis. SIU outgained NDSU 443 to 268, outrushed them 170 to 109, outpassed them 273 to 159, won the turnover battle 2-0, held the ball for more than 41 minutes, just absolutely controlled the game. Did NDSU mount a comeback in the fourth? Hardly. SIU outscored them 21-7 when the game mattered most. The Salukis got out in front and never let the Bison get an opening. Just brutal. Credit to SIU. They came to beat the No. 1 team in the country, and they did it by the book.
North Dakota 28, South Dakota State 17
There’s a new North Dakota in town. Down 14-7 at halftime, the Fighting Hawks rebounded with a strong second half to knock off the No. 3 team in the country. They won the ground game and forced three turnovers by the Jackrabbits’ Mark Gronowski. It doesn’t matter if you have 309 yards and two touchdown passes if you give the ball to your opponent.
South Dakota 27, Illinois State 20
We conclude our roundup of the Dakotas with South Dakota beating Illinois State thanks to a strong defensive performance in which the Coyotes took the ball away seven times. That’ll help you win even if you get outgained 447 to 300.
Northern Arizona 34, Southern Utah 33
If this game were any closer they’d still be playing it. NAU got a touchdown as time expired to take a one-point lead. It spoiled a hell of a night for Justin Miller of SUU: 288 yards passing, five touchdowns and a pick.
Sam Houston State 43, Southeast Louisiana 38
Eric Schmid threw for 428 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 88 yards to outduel Coley Kelley, who had 462 and four through the air. It helps that SHSU managed 244 rushing yards to SELA’s 74, thanks to 139 and a touchdown from Ramon Jefferson.
Idaho 28, Eastern Washington 21
A Mike Beaudry-to-Hayden Hatten touchdown pass with under a minute to go sealed this one for the home team in Moscow. Beaudry had 296 passing yards and two scores with a pick while EWU’s Eric Barriere had 339 with two scores and a pick.
Missouri State 30, Western Illinois 24
A wild fourth quarter was the story of this one. Missouri State broke a tie early in the quarter with a field goal, WIU took the lead on a Tony Tate touchdown run midway through, then Missouri State retook it a minute or so later on a Jaden Johnson touchdown pass. A field goal a few minutes later extended the lead. Two turnovers late in the game by WIU probably doomed their chances.
VMI 14, Furman 13
Oh hell yeah, a 14-13 game that featured 64 pass attempts. How do you get an upset like that? It helps that VMI racked up nine sacks for 70 yards lost. That’ll stop an offense. Reece Udinski led VMI’s offense with 248 passing yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Furman made some plays: Hamp Sisson threw for 232 and two scores, Devin Wynn rushed for 93, Ryan DeLuca caught seven passes for 149 yards. Only the points count, though.
Delaware State 17, Howard 10
There are a lot of ways to get to 17 points. By far the most common is to score two touchdowns with two PATs and kick a field goal. Or you can do what DSU did: A safety in the first quarter and 15 points in the fourth. The safety came when a Howard punt snap went out of the end zone, and the first touchdown came on a touchdown by backup quarterback Jared Lewis after a short punt in the fourth. A pick six by Esaias Guthrie sealed the deal for DSU.
Incarnate Word 48, McNeese 20
Cameron Ward threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns and Kevin Brown added 117 on the ground for Incarnate Word. That’ll do.
Weber State 49, Idaho State 21
Bronson Barron is a hell of a name. Had a hell of a game: 312 yards and four touchdowns through the air, 42 yards on the ground.
Gardner-Webb 42, Elon 20
Looks like an easy blowout, right? Elon had a 20-7 lead at the half. Gardner-Webb’s Carlton Aiken threw three interceptions. I don’t know what kind of halftime speech they got, but put it on every channel.
Samford 55, Western Carolina 27
Looks like an easy blowout, right? This was a one-point game at halftime. Then Samford turned on the jets, scoring 20 in the third and 14 in the fourth. Liam Welch passed for 311 yards and two scores and rushed for 83 and three scores. Jay Stanton had 135 and a touchdown on the ground. The Catamounts fall to 0-5.
Dixie State 26, Tarleton 14
DSU’s Kody Wilstead had 350 yards and a touchdown, with another touchdown rushing. Tarleton’s standout was Ryheem Skinner, who had 197 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries.
Mercer 42, The Citadel 28
Carter Peevy threw for three touchdowns and Mercer had touchdowns off a fumble return and a kickoff to dominate all phases of the game. Unless “scoring points once you’re down 28” is a phase of the game. The Citadel ran well, with 338 and three touchdowns rushing, but that kind of offense doesn’t have coming back from down four touchdowns at the half written all over it.
Tennessee-Chattanooga 24, Wofford 13
This was a close one until the Mocs pulled away with 10 points early in the fourth quarter.
James Madison 36, Robert Morris 16
This was tied at halftime but Jimmy dominated the second half. Jimmy rushed for 196 yards on 44 carries, which helped overcome three picks thrown by Cole Johnson.
Northern Iowa 21, Youngstown State 0
There are a lot of ways to get to 21 in football. The usual way is to score three touchdowns with three PATs. or you could do what UNI did and kick field goals in the first and second quarter and score 15 in the fourth on Dom Williams touchdown runs. There’s only one real way to score 0, YSU.
Nicholls 55, Lamar 0
Lindsey Scott Jr. had 232 yards and three touchdowns passing, 108 and three touchdowns rushing. Lamar had less than 100 yards doing everything.
Kennesaw State 35, Shorter 3
The old saying goes: There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad. Kennesaw State threw the ball three times. Once for a completion for 27 yards. Once for an interception. Once for an incompletion. They also rushed 60 times for 311 yards and five touchdowns.
Sunday
Austin Peay 27, Tennessee State 20
LET’S GO PEAY. Be careful where you yell that. These governors had a good week, unlike certain other governors. They did it on the ground, building a big lead early and holding on late. Brain Snead racked up touchdown runs of 75, 67 and 44 yards in the first quarter. That’s an FCS record for yards in a quarter. He finished with 227 yards.
Murray State 14, UT Martin 10
The Racers come away with a win in a game delayed for about two hours in the third quarter because of lightning. They traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Maybe the delay helped the offenses. Preston Rice threw for a touchdown and ran for another for the Racers, who won in Dean Hood’s debut as head coach.
Jacksonville State 27, Tennessee Tech 10
The Gamecocks picked off three Willie Miller passes and rushed for 274 yards and two touchdowns to make quick work of the Golden Eagles.
SEMO 47, Eastern Illinois 7
Zion Custis and Geno Hess each had two touchdown runs for the Redhawks. They also got a pick-six from Al Young with like a minute left. Oh, and Andrew Bunch passed for 302 and a touchdown. EIU’s offensive output was, essentially, one play: A 72-yard touchdown run by Kendi Young.
Games That Might Happen
Thursday
South Dakota at North Dakota, 6 p.m. ET
The Battle for the Dakotas continues with this matchup between the two undefeated Dakotas. Note: Not the two Dakotas that were in the top 3 nationwide last week. North Dakota is coming off of a big win over SDSU. Let’s see if they can keep that momentum going.
Friday
Albany at New Hampshire, 7 p.m. ET
These are two very good teams playing their first game since the 2019 season. As we’ve seen so far, that can go a lot of different ways.
Saturday
Maine at Delaware, noon ET
Villanova at Stony Brook, noon ET
East Tennessee State at Wofford, noon ET
Southern Illinois at Youngstown State, noon ET
Will the Salukis follow up that huge upset against North Dakota State with a win at Youngstown? The Penguins haven’t looked great yet, but it’s impossible to say what can happen the week after a big emotional game.
Presbyterian at Gardner-Webb, 1 p.m. ET
South Carolina State at Howard, 1 p.m. ET
Samford at Furman, 1 p.m. ET
VMI at Western Carolina, 1 p.m. ET
Will the Catamounts finally get a win? Well, now they have to play a VMI team coming off of a huge upset of its own. That offensive line for WCU better work overtime.
Jackson State at Grambling, 1 p.m. ET
William & Mary at Richmond, 1 p.m. ET
Chattanooga at The Citadel, 1 p.m. ET
James Madison at Elon, 1:30 p.m. ET
Idaho State at Southern Utah, 2 p.m. ET
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Southern, 2:30 p.m. ET
North Dakota State at Missouri State, 3 p.m. ET
This will be a big response game for the Bison. Missouri State is either in for it this week or has a real opportunity. NDSU literally does not know how to play after a loss.
Western Illinois at South Dakota State, 3 p.m. ET
Ditto SDSU for most of that.
Mississippi College at Tarleton, 3 p.m. ET
UC Davis at Idaho, 3 p.m. ET
Weber State at Cal Poly, 3:05 p.m. ET
Incarnate Word at Lamar, 4 p.m. ET
Dixie State at New Mexico State 4 p.m. ET
Northern Arizona at Eastern Washington, 4:05 p.m. ET
It’s March. Look at that beautiful red turf.
Illinois State at Northern Iowa, 5 p.m. ET
McNeese at SE Louisiana, 7 p.m. ET
Nicholls at Northwestern State, 7 p.m. ET
Alabama A&M at Mississippi Valley State, 7 p.m. ET
Texas Southern at Prairie View A&M, 8 p.m. ET
Sunday
Wagner at Merrimack, TBD
Sacred Heart at Duquesne, noon ET
Bryant at Long Island University, 1 p.m. ET
Eastern Illinois at UT Martin, 2 p.m. ET
Jacksonville State at Tennessee State, 3 p.m. ET
JSU’s one loss was to Florida State in the fall. This is a team to watch as the top of the rankings suddenly become a little more chaotic.
Murray State at SEMO, 3 p.m. ET