FCS over FBS Scalp Watch 2024

[bonarae]

One hundred and twenty-one games. Some FCS are playing 2 FBS this season.

About time to discuss this... do you there will be less than 10 scalps again this season?

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-vs-fbs-games-2024-bzbz/

No games in Weeks 6-8, and Week 11.

Week 0 Montana State at New Mexico

Delaware State at Hawaii


Week 1 SEMO at New Mexico State
Fordham at Bowling Green
Southern Utah at Utah
Lafayette at Buffalo
Alabama State at UAB
North Carolina A&T at Wake Forest
New Hampshire at UCF
Elon at Duke
Abilene Christian at Texas Tech
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Arkansas
Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State
ETSU at Appalachian State
Furman at Ole Miss
Illinois State at Iowa
Murray State at Missouri
North Dakota at Iowa State
North Dakota State at Colorado
Portland State at Washington State
Richmond at Virginia
Southeastern Louisiana at Tulane
UC Davis at Cal
Weber State at Washington
Western Carolina at NC State
Sacramento State at San Jose State
Lamar at Texas State
Idaho State at Oregon State
UT Martin at Kansas State
Western Illinois at NIU
Duquesne at Toledo
Tarleton State at Baylor
Jackson State at ULM
Idaho at Oregon
Bucknell at Navy
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State
North Alabama at Memphis
Nicholls at Louisiana Tech
Northwestern State at Tulsa
South Dakota State at Oklahoma State
Stony Brook at Marshall
Grambling State at Louisiana
Houston Christian at SMU
Southern Illinois at BYU
Lindenwood at Kansas
Norfolk State at East Carolina
Towson at Cincinnati
Campbell at Liberty
Bethune-Cookman at USF
Austin Peay at Louisville
Chattanooga at Tennessee
Robert Morris at Utah State
Tennessee Tech at Middle Tennessee
Merrimack at Air Force
CCSU at Central Michigan
Howard at Rutgers
Lehigh at Army
Texas A&M-Commerce at San Diego State
Alabama A&M at Auburn
Eastern Illinois at Illinois
Indiana State at Purdue
Week 2 Duquesne at Boston College
Florida A&M at Miami
UAlbany at West Virginia
Northern Colorado at Colorado State
Eastern Kentucky at WKU
Tennessee Tech at Georgia
South Dakota at Wisconsin
McNeese at Texas A&M
Samford at Florida
Rhode Island at Minnesota
Chattanooga at Georgia State
Idaho at Wyoming
Cal Poly at Stanford
Southeastern Louisiana at Southern Miss
Northern Arizona at Arizona
Missouri State at Ball State
William & Mary at Coastal Carolina
Southern Utah at UTEP
Utah Tech at UNLV
Sacramento State at Fresno State
Gardner-Webb at James Madison
Saint Francis at Kent State
Nicholls at LSU
Stephen F. Austin at North Texas
Western Illinois at Indiana
Alcorn State at Vanderbilt
Texas Southern at Rice
Merrimack at UConn
LIU at TCU
Week 3 Prairie View A&M at Michigan State
Morgan State at Ohio
Eastern Illinois at Northwestern
Northwestern State at South Alabama
Gardner-Webb at Charlotte
SC State at Georgia Southern
NC Central at North Carolina
Northern Iowa at Nebraska
Colgate at Akron
VMI at Georgia Tech
Bethune-Cookman at Western Michigan
Week 4 Saint Francis at Eastern Michigan
Northern Iowa at Hawaii
Eastern Washington at Nevada
Youngstown State at Pitt
Houston Christian at UTSA
Villanova at Maryland
Portland State at Boise State
Florida A&M at Troy
Monmouth at FIU
CCSU at UMass
Week 5 UT Martin at Kennesaw State
Holy Cross at Syracuse
Wagner at FAU
Week 9 Wagner at UMass
Week 10 Maine at Oklahoma
Week 12 Murray State at Kentucky
Mercer at Alabama
Week 13 The Citadel at Clemson
Charleston Southern at Florida State
Wofford at South Carolina

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

A quick glance...the Patriot League has 3 very winnable FBS games imo...

- Lafayette at Buffalo...this has to be one FCS's best opportunities to get a scalp. The PL has a winning record against the Buffalo since the Bulls moved to FBS in the early 2000s.
- Fordham at Bowling Green...the Rams nearly beat a good Ohio team in Athens two years ago then knocked off Buffalo last year. This figures to be a 4 quarter battle...
- Elon at Duke....the Blue Devils lost A LOT! I give the Phoenix a legit chance...
- North Dakota State at Colorado...this will be fun!
- Illinois State at Iowa...I favor the Hawkeyes but given their inept offense the Redbirds figure to have a punchers chance if they can get to 20 points...
- SELA at Tulane....Green Wave suffered massive losses...
- Sacramento State at San Jose State...Hornets should give the Spartans a 60 minute fight...
- South Dakota State at Oklahoma State...Like NDSU vs CU, I'll be locked into this one!
- W&M at Coastal Carolina...CCU is a program in transition, not sold on the Tribe, even so this should be one worth keeping an eye on...
- Colgate at Akron...Raiders have Top 25 potential, Akron has been a dumpster fire for a decade...

Potential Stunner?
South Dakota over Wisconsin?

[Mike296]

Ones to keep an eye out for me:

Merrimack vs UCONN- UCONN is awful normally. Though they have improved over the last couple years to my understanding.
Colgate vs Akron - I know very little about Colgate but I know Akron was very bad last year.
Montana St vs UNM - This to me seems like prime picking but I’m holding my breath.

[wapiti]

SEMO @ New Mexico State has a chance to be a scalp
as does Idaho @ Wyoming

[ElCid]

Surprised nobody spotted Northern Iowa at Hawaii yet. Hawaii has escaped a few scalps recently. They are primed to be scalped by a decent team. Hawaii's twelfth man, the time change, is the biggest hurdle.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Surprised nobody spotted Northern Iowa at Hawaii yet. Hawaii has escaped a few scalps recently. They are primed to be scalped by a decent team. Hawaii's twelfth man, the time change, is the biggest hurdle.


....N. [email protected] WEEK B/4......HAWAII.............BRAWK!

[UAalum72]

Surprised nobody spotted Northern Iowa at Hawaii yet. Hawaii has escaped a few scalps recently. They are primed to be scalped by a decent team. Hawaii's twelfth man, the time change, is the biggest hurdle.
Last year Albany spent four nights at a resort before the game. Assuming that's included in the travel expenses that Hawai'i pays, the time zone change shouldn't be a problem.

[NY Crusader 2010]

Ones to keep an eye out for me:

Merrimack vs UCONN- UCONN is awful normally. Though they have improved over the last couple years to my understanding.
Colgate vs Akron - I know very little about Colgate but I know Akron was very bad last year.
Montana St vs UNM - This to me seems like prime picking but I’m holding my breath.

My understanding is that UConn is slowly getting a little bit better year over year. This matchup does remind me of Fall 2021 though. Holy Cross beats UConn 38-28 to to open the season in Storrs. A week later, Merrimack absolutely runs all over us to the tune of a 35-21 final score that honestly looks closer than the actual game was. We were absolutely dominated at the point of attack that day.

Also Merrimack loses their head coach this year....to Holy Cross.

[ElCid]

Last year Albany spent four nights at a resort before the game. Assuming that's included in the travel expenses that Hawai'i pays, the time zone change shouldn't be a problem.

Yeah but having traveled across too many times zones for years, you never really feel 100% even after 4 days. I got used to it, but most of these youngsters won't.

[ST_Lawson]

Surprised nobody spotted Northern Iowa at Hawaii yet. Hawaii has escaped a few scalps recently. They are primed to be scalped by a decent team. Hawaii's twelfth man, the time change, is the biggest hurdle.

Interesting connection between the two schools (that was probably mentioned the last time they played)...Stan Sheriff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Sheriff

He was the UNI head football coach from 1960-1982 and AD from 1970-1983, and was instrumental in the construction of the UNI-Dome (https://unipanthers.com/honors/hall-of-fame/stan-sheriff/16). The field in the UNI-Dome is named Stan Sheriff Field.

He then returned home (he was born in Honolulu before Hawaii was a state) to become the AD at Hawaii from 1983 until his death in 1993. Although he didn't live to see it open, he lobbied for the construction of a new basketball/volleyball arena at the school which broke ground in 1992 and opened in 1994. In 1998 it was named the "Stan Sheriff Center": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Sheriff_Center

[uni88]

Yeah but having traveled across too many times zones for years, you never really feel 100% even after 4 days. I got used to it, but most of these youngsters won't.

I usually acclimated pretty quickly. It was the return trip that kicked my butt. Fortunately UNI has a bye after Hawaii.

[ElCid]

I usually acclimated pretty quickly. It was the return trip that kicked my butt. Fortunately UNI has a bye after Hawaii.

Yeah it depends on how many time zones, time of travel, schedule once there, distractions, etc. But I always found "recovered to function" vs "recovered to excel" can be different. Going west is definitely better. They do have age on their side🤣

[Ivytalk]

An NDSU win over Neon Deion would be pure gold!

[Pards Rule]

History note: Lafayette last got a scalp (if you can denote it so) was a Sept 1981 win over Columbia (then 1A) in Russo's first year

[caribbeanhen]

An NDSU win over Neon Deion would be pure gold!

+ 1

[OhioHen]

+ 100
FIFY

[caribbeanhen]

FIFY

Yes you did

The Hens will be in Boulder in 2026? Or 25? but will Deon still be ?

[POD Knows]

+ 1Less than zero chance NDSU beats Colorado, the Bison O-line is decimated, still big questions on D, NDSU should be a 14 point dog in this game.

[bonarae]

Top 10 Scalp Chances:

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2024-most-likely-fbs-wins-bzbz/

[ElCid]

Top 10 Scalp Chances:

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2024-most-likely-fbs-wins-bzbz/

Throwing darts. There is always a head scratcher as well. I don't see #10, 9, or 4 as real good chances. The rest, maybe. And #6 doesn't really count does it? Lol. They are bragging in the article about their prognostications, but let's bookmark this to see how well they do. It is always about matchups (up and down years, schemes, schedules, injuries, etc). I think weeks one and two usually see quite a bit of scalps because the FBS obviously hasn't seen much or anything of the FCS team's latest version.

[Ridge1982]

Beating the kansas beakhawks in week 1 would do wonders for the Lindenwood program.

[POD Knows]

Throwing darts. There is always a head scratcher as well. I don't see #10, 9, or 4 as real good chances. The rest, maybe. And #6 doesn't really count does it? Lol. They are bragging in the article about their prognostications, but let's bookmark this to see how well they do. It is always about matchups (up and down years, schemes, schedules, injuries, etc). I think weeks one and two usually see quite a bit of scalps because the FBS obviously hasn't seen much or anything of the FCS team's latest version.SDSU could absolutely beat OSU.

[ElCid]

SDSU could absolutely beat OSU.

My estimation is not about how good SDSU is, but how good, and ready OSU is and will be. SDSU might catch lightning in a bottle, but probably not. OSU was a bit inconsistent last year, but one thing I have observed over the years, is that when a good FBS team faces a good FCS team, let alone maybe the best, they will be ready. "Most" scalps are due to underestimating the FCS teams. That ain't going to happen in this case. I'm sure SDSU could win, but for these reasons probably not.

[Milktruck74]

This may be from behind my rose colored glasses, but I have to think my Chattanooga Mocs have a puncher's chance against Georgia State in Week 2. The Mocs open up at Tennessee the week before, so they may be a little bruised up...but then again, they may be battle tested!!!

GaState did win 7 games last year, but they lost their last 5 regular season games...(won the potato bowl to close it out) and they are breaking in a new HC. It should be close and I think if the Mocs can get a break or two, they can come out on top.

[ElCid]

This may be from behind my rose colored glasses, but I have to think my Chattanooga Mocs have a puncher's chance against Georgia State in Week 2. The Mocs open up at Tennessee the week before, so they may be a little bruised up...but then again, they may be battle tested!!!

GaState did win 7 games last year, but they lost their last 5 regular season games...(won the potato bowl to close it out) and they are breaking in a new HC. It should be close and I think if the Mocs can get a break or two, they can come out on top.

I'll buy that. None of their wins were particularly impressive. I can see them doing a bit of overlooking of the Mocs.

[Sitting Bull]

ESPN just announced they will be nationally televising ND State @ Colorado, the featured game on college football kickoff, 8/31. Nice exposure for the Bison and FCS.

[The Yo Show]

I think Week 4, YSU at Pitt should be honorable mention as a decent possibility for a scalp. Pitt was 3-9 last year, Narduzzi has lost the lockerroom and they play WVU in the backyard brawl the week before this game...

[The Yo Show]

Plus, last three times YSU has played Pitt the games were competitive:
2017 Pitt Win 28-21 (OT)
2015 Pitt Win 45-37
2012 YSU Win 31-17

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Plus, last three times YSU has played Pitt the games were competitive:
2017 Pitt Win 28-21 (OT)
2015 Pitt Win 45-37
2012 YSU Win 31-17

Pitt has seen a significant depletion in talent the last 2 years. The Panthers simply lack the support/NIL funds to win the arms race. The 'Guins should have a good shot to make this a 4 quarter game IF their staff has them prepared.

[JacksFan40]

My estimation is not about how good SDSU is, but how good, and ready OSU is and will be. SDSU might catch lightning in a bottle, but probably not. OSU was a bit inconsistent last year, but one thing I have observed over the years, is that when a good FBS team faces a good FCS team, let alone maybe the best, they will be ready. "Most" scalps are due to underestimating the FCS teams. That ain't going to happen in this case. I'm sure SDSU could win, but for these reasons probably not.
Too many new pieces on the team for SDSU going into that game. Having Gronowski under center still will be huge but lots of guys needing to step up, specially on offense. I still think they can get the job done, but OSU definitely finished out 2023 on a strong note, and Gundy is still a great coach.