All year long FCS conferences and institutions will join the rest of the nation in celebrating the 150th anniversary of college football. Schools will be wearing a CFB150 patch or helmet decal this year. Schools and conferences should use the hashtag #FCS_CFB150 for all FCS social media posts.

 #FCSonGameDay -- got a suggestion for an FCS matchup or content for College GameDay -- tweet it.

* #FearTheFCS -- Following a 27-24 overtime win by The Citadel at Georgia Tech on Sept. 14, there are now three FCS wins over FBS schools this year (Central Arkansas over Western Kentucky, 35-28; and Southern Illinois over UMass, 45-20). In 2018, FCS teams recorded seven wins against FBS schools. Since 1978, FCS schools have recorded double-digit win totals against the FBS six times, most recently in 2016 (10 that year). The FCS set a record in 2013 with 16 wins against FBS schools.

* This year, a whopping 167 players from current FCS schools were part of the 32 opening-day rosters for the NFL's 100th season. Add in 43 players that were signed to practice squads (which go through frequent changes) and the FCS haul in the NFL is 210 (data courtesy Craig Haley of STATS). Notably, there are 39 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who represent current FCS institutions.

* This week, 21 of 25 ranked teams (STATS FCS poll) are in action, and there are four games on the schedule that feature two ranked FCS teams. (Rankings below are STATS FCS rankings.)

 #1 North Dakota State (4-0) at #10 Illinois State (3-1) | Normal, Ill. • 12 p.m. CT [NBCSCH/ESPN+/NBC ND]
 #11 Central Arkansas (3-1) at #16 Nicholls (2-2) | Thibodaux, La. • 3 p.m. CT
 #18 Youngstown State (4-0) at #13 UNI (2-2) | Cedar Falls, Iowa • 4 p.m. CT [Panther Sports Network/ESPN3]
 #2 James Madison (4-1) at #24 Stony Brook (4-1) | Stony Brook, N.Y. • 5 p.m. CT [SNY/FloFootball.com]

* Houston Baptist's Bailey Zappe, North Carolina Central's Bryan Mills, Montana's Adam Wilson and Drake's Ian Corwin were named Monday as the STATS FCS National Players of the Week

* Montana was named the STATS FCS Team of the Week after the Griz defeated previously No. 4-ranked UC Davis, 45-20. HONORABLE MENTION: Austin Peay (52-33 win over No. 11 Jacksonville State); Campbell (34-27 win over Mercer); Delaware (17-14 loss to Pittsburgh); No. 2 James Madison (45-10 win over No. 24 Elon); No. 5 Weber State (29-17 win over No. 9 Northern Iowa)

FCS CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION (42nd Season -- first year was in 1978)
* TEAM COMPOSITION -- (24 TOTAL TEAMS) There are 10 conferences with automatic bids and the selection committee makes 14 at-large selections.
* DATES -- Selection Sunday is on Sunday, Nov. 24. First-round games take place Saturday, Nov. 30. The top eight seeds receive a first-round bye. The title game will take place Saturday, Jan. 11, in Frisco, Texas.
* SITE -- In January 2019, the NCAA announced it agreed to a five-year extension with Frisco, Texas, and Toyota Stadium will host the championship through 2025 (for the 2024 season) with an option for the 2026 championship.
* ESPN provides coverage for all 23 games, and the championship game has aired on ESPN2 since 2002.
* North Dakota State is the two-time defending champion. NDSU has won 7 of the past 8 titles (James Madison is the other.) Last year, NDSU beat Eastern Washington in the title game.
* Conferences with the most titles: Missouri Valley (9), Southern (8), Big Sky (6), CAA Football (6).

INDEPENDENTS -- RV/RV North Dakota returns home for another battle against a ranked opponent. This time, the Fighting Hawks will host No. 12/12 UC Davis on Saturday afternoon from the Alerus Center on MidcoSN and Pluto TV. Saturday will mark the first time since the 2004 DII playoffs that the green and white have played a ranked team in four consecutive weeks. UND is in the middle of an eight-game stretch against teams that are currently ranked or receiving votes in either the STATS or Coaches poll.

BIG SKY -- The ROOT SPORTS Game of the Week features Idaho State at No. 8/9 Montana, while No. 22/21 Eastern Washington plays at Sacramento State in the Eleven Sports Game of the Week.

Montana was named the STATS FCS Team of the Week, after its 45-20 win over UC Davis. Weber State closed out Big Sky-Missouri Valley Challenge Series play with a 29-17 victory over a ranked Northern Iowa program. With three teams in the top 10, the Big Sky is set for its second week of league play.

Montana's Adam Wilson punted and kicked his way to STATS FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week honors. It's the third STATS national honor for a Big Sky player this season.

There continues to be a bit of a shakeup for the Big Sky in the STATS FCS and AFCA FCS Coaches' Top 25 as the top 10 looks different this week for the Big Sky with Weber State, Montana State and Montana in the top 10, and Eastern Washington at No. 22/21. The league has three additional teams receiving votes between both polls.

BIG SOUTH -- Big South play officially begins this Saturday with Campbell hosting Presbyterian. Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Hampton, Kennesaw State and Monmouth all open their league slates next week. Campbell is 0-1 in Big South openers and 3-8 all-time in conference lidlifters in its modern era (since 2008). Presbyterian College is 1-9 in its Big South openers, and is looking to snap a five-game skid in such contests. The Blue Hose's lone conference-opening win was in 2013 over former member VMI.

North Alabama's TERENCE HUMPHREY rushed 88 yards for a touchdown this past Saturday against Presbyterian, the second-longest rush from scrimmage in Big South history. It came one week after Kennesaw State's BRONSON RECHSTEINER's 85-yard TD run at Missouri State, which was the fourth-longest rush in league annals but now drops to the fifth spot.

In his last two games, Kennesaw State RB ISAAC FOSTER has rushed for 310 yards and four touchdowns on just 14 carries (22.14 yards per carry average). Those four TD runs have covered 189 yards -- a 47.3 average. He is second overall in the Big South with 436 rushing yards.

CAA FOOTBALL -- Four of the five games on the Week 6 schedule are conference matchups. Highlighting the slate is a Top 25 clash as No. 2 James Madison takes its four-game winning streak to No. 24 Stony Brook, which has won 12 straight at home. No. 5 Villanova, which is the only 5-0 team in FCS football, visits William & Mary, New Hampshire entertains Elon, and Richmond hosts UAlbany. The lone non-conference contest is a battle for the Governors Cup as Rhode Island faces Brown.

Five of the nine CAA games played this season have gone down to the wire. Last week, Stony Brook edged Rhode Island, 31-27, on Tyquell Fields' 50-yard TD run with 11 seconds to play, and UAlbany intercepted a pass on the final play of the game to hold off William & Mary, 39-31. On Sept. 21, Villanova outlasted Towson, 52-45 in overtime, and New Hampshire got past Rhode Island, 27-24, on a field goal as time expired. Delaware pulled out a 36-33 triple OT win at Rhode Island on Sept. 7. Road teams have had success thus far in CAA play with a 6-3 record.

CAA Football teams have combined to return eight kickoffs for touchdowns in the first five weeks of the season. W&M freshman Bronson Yoder, who leads FCS in kick return average (36.8 ypr), and Maine senior Earnest Edwards, who ranks 3rd in FCS (34.9 ypg), share the national lead with two KOR's for touchdowns. Also returning kickoffs for TD's have been URI's Ahmere Dorsey, UAlbany's Donovan McDonald, Elon's Shamari Wingard and JMU's Devin Ravenel. Seven of the eight returns have been longer than 90 yards.

IVY LEAGUE -- The Ivy League owns a 9-3 (.750) record against non-conference opposition. The League is coming off back-to-back seasons with an FCS-leading .750 non-conference winning percentage and owns a 71-49 (.592) opening weekend record over the past 15 campaigns.

The Ivy League's seven-game national television package, featuring all eight Ivy League programs, continues on Friday, Oct. 4, when Dartmouth visits Penn at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

22 Ivies earned National Football League (NFL) roster spots entering the 2019 season, with 15 on 53-man active rosters, two on 10-man practice squads and four on reserve lists during Week 4. Eleven Ivies saw game action in Week 4 of the 2019 National Football League (NFL) season, including five that started for their respective teams. An FCS-leading 24 Ivies appeared on NFL rosters during the 2018 season, with Harvard alumnus Kyle Juszczyk earning his third-straight Pro Bowl nod with the San Francisco 49ers and Brown alum James Develin becoming the first Ivy to win three Super Bowls as a player with the New England Patriots.

Offensive Player of the Week Kevin Davidson of Princeton threw a Princeton and Ivy League record seven touchdown passes in
a 56-23 win over Bucknell as he totaled 381 yards on 29-for-37 passing. He added six rushing yards to his record-setting performance through the air. He ranks among the top two in the FCS in completion percentage (1st, .810), passing efficiency (1st, 236.80), points responsible for per game (1st, 27.0), passing yards per game (2nd, 361.00) and total offense (2nd, 363.00)

MEAC -- This weekend marks the second full slate of conference games in the 2019 season, as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) race begins to take shape. The two-time defending MEAC champion Aggies will be on the road, and Bethune-Cookman will be at home for the first time this season in a contest that will be shown via rebroadcast on ESPNU.

Coming off a 37-29 loss to Bethune-Cookman, Howard will hit the road for its first-ever meeting with Harvard out of the Ivy League. This will be the first time Harvard has faced an HBCU on the football field. In his first college start, freshman quarterback Quinton Williams threw for 179 yards and three scores and added 25 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown en route to earning MEAC Rookie of the Week honors. Receiver Kyle Anthony had seven catches for 117 yards this past Saturday and running back Dedrick Parson had 14 carries for 101 yards, while also catching five passes for 15 yards.

North Carolina A&T State pitched its second shutout in the last six games, blowing out Delaware State 37-0 in front of a national ESPNU audience on Thursday, Sept. 26. Aggies running back Jah-Maine Martin's four-touchdown performance is the second-highest single-game total in school history, tying Maurice Hicks' four-touchdown outing against South Carolina State in 2000 – and for his efforts, Martin was named MEAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

MISSOURI VALLEY -- The MVFC wrapped up its regular-season non-conference portion of the schedule as UNI (at Weber State) and Youngstown State (vs. Robert Morris) played their final regular-season non-league tilts on Sept. 28. The league went 20-10 against its FCS peers this year and was 1-8 against FBS foes. That included seven games against ranked FCS teams (2-5 record) and two games against ranked FBS teams (0-2 record).

All 10 league teams will open MVFC action on Saturday, Oct. 5, in what is the 35th season of the Conference's existence. North Dakota State (8) has the longest active win streak in MVFC season-opening games. Southern Illinois and Missouri State played in the league's first conference game on Sept. 7, 1985.

North Dakota State was tabbed as the 2019 MVFC preseason favorite. North Dakota State has a league-record eight-straight Conference titles (shared or outright), and the total of eight league titles is second-only to UNI's 16. The Panthers had a streak of seven-straight titles from 1990-96.

NDSU picked up its second win against a top-25 team in as many games as the Bison knocked off No. 4 UC Davis on Sept. 21, 2019. The Bison closed the 2018 season with four-straight wins against ranked foes (#23 Montana State, #7 Colgate, #5 South Dakota State and #3 Eastern Washington.) Notably, during its current 25-game winning streak, the Bison have beat 13 teams ranked in the Top 25 at the time of the game. NDSU's next game (at No. 6 Illinois State on Oct. 5) will also be against a ranked team.

NORTHEAST -- FSacred Heart will host Central Connecticut in the featured #NECFB Game of the Week on ESPN3 October 5 at 2:00 pm ET. The Pioneers and Blue Devils, who are both coming off a bye, own the top-two ranked offenses in the league. CCSU's 7.11 yards per play average stands as the seventh highest in the FCS. SHU quarterback Logan Marchi ranks 11th amongst national leaders in pass yards per game (300.5).

NECFrontRow.com will carry three live games (free of charge) on October 5 – LIU at Duquesne (12:00 pm); Bryant at Merrimack (1:00 pm); Monmouth at Wagner (6:00 pm).

Three NEC teams rank amongst the top-10 FCS team leaders in pass defense – Robert Morris (fifth – 157.6 ypg), Bryant (sixth – 159.2) and Duquesne (ninth – 164.0).

Robert Morris sophomore RB Alijah Jackson heads into the Colonials' bye week with the ninth-most rush yards (501) in the FCS.

Former all-NEC receiver Tom Kennedy was signed onto the Detroit Lions' active roster (from the practice squad) last week and he became the first Bryant University alumnus to appear in a NFL game when he took the field against the Chiefs on Sept. 29 in Detroit.

OHIO VALLEY -- Austin Peay ended a 12-game losing streak to Jacksonville State, scoring its first win over the Gamecocks since 1979 with a 52-33 over the No. 11 ranked team in the FCS. It was only the second OVC loss for JSU in its last 40 Conference games.

APSU's Kordell Jackson had two interceptions in the win over JSU, marking the second time this season he has had multiple interceptions in a game. He is the only Division I player to accomplish that feat this season and the first OVC player to do it since 2016.

Tennessee Tech quarterback Bailey Fisher earned his third Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season after setting the school record with six touchdown passes in the team's win over Eastern Illinois. The six touchdowns are the second-most by a FCS quarterback nationally this season. TTU is now 4-1 on the season and sitting just outside both Top 25 polls after doubling its win total from the past two years combined.

More than half the OVC (5 teams) are either ranked or receiving votes in the national Top 25 polls this week.

Co-Offense: QB JaVaughn Craig, Austin Peay, QB Bailey Fisher, Tennessee Tech | Defense: DB Kordell Jackson, Austin Peay
Specialist: P Kaleb Mosely, Tennessee State | Newcomer: QB John Bachus III, UT Martin

PATRIOT -- The Patriot League portion of the schedule gets underway on Saturday when Colgate hosts Lehigh in a matchup between teams that have combined for the last four League titles. Bucknell will also welcome Holy Cross in the opening weekend of League play. Georgetown and Fordham square off next week on Oct. 12. Lafayette will be the last team to start League play when they travel to Georgetown for its Oct. 19 meeting.

The Patriot League boasts four of the top seven FCS active leaders in tackles for loss per game, led by Fordham sophomore LB Ryan Greenhagen, who has been the league's Defensive Player of the Week the last three weeks.

Colgate's Nick Wheeler is fourth in sacks per game with 0.73 and third in total sacks with 25.5 through his career. Simeon Page of Bucknell is fifth among active FCS players with 0.73 sacks per game. The Bison junior linebacker has recorded 14.5 sacks for a loss of 112 yards in 20 career games.

Bucknell's two-time All-American punter Alex Pechin opened the 2019 season by averaging 50.3 yards per punt through his first three games. The fifth-year punter has 15 punts of 50 yards or more, placing 11 inside the opposing 20-yard line. Pechin has been among the FCS's best at shifting field position, leading all active FCS punters with a 44.3 yards per punt average during his career in Lewisburg, Pa.

Lehigh senior linebacker Keith Woetzel and Fordham sophomore linebacker Ryan Greenhagen are tied for the Patriot League lead and sixth among FCS players in tackles, averaging 11.0 per game. Woetzel leads all active FCS players in career solo tackles per game (5.88) and fifth in career total tackles per game (8.54).

PIONEER -- All 10 PFL teams will be in action during Week 6 and all five contests are league outings. Preseason favorite San Diego puts its 29-game PFL win streak on the line when it hosts Marist in the nightcap. Preseason No. 2 pick Dayton also opens at home with Jacksonville trekking north. Also at home in Week 6 is PFL preseason No. 3 Drake, which plays its PFL home opener after winning its PFL opener at Marist last week.

Five Pioneer Football League student-athletes were named as semifinalists for the 2019 William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Mazada and The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. The five PFL student-athletes recognized as semifinalists were: Brad Sznajder, Butler; Ethan Steinbacher, Davidson; Tim Simon, Dayton; Andrew McElroy, Marist; and Gaven DeFilippo, Stetson. That quintet joins a group that now includes 82 PFL student-athletes who have been named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy, or its predecessor the Draddy Trophy, since 1998.

Drake freshman Ian Corwin put it all together in his best performance and Drake's first win of the season, 41-17 at Marist, Sept. 28. Corwin completed 20 of 29 passes (69 percent) for 255 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. The four touchdown passes went to four different receivers and were one more than he threw in the first three games combined.

SOUTHERN -- This week's Southern Conference slate features league leaders Furman and Samford squaring off with their 2-0 conference marks on the line, ETSU hosting Wofford in a battle of reigning SoCon tri-champions, and VMI visiting The Citadel in The Military Classic of the South.

The Keydets and the Bulldogs will battle for the Silver Shako in the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week. The Citadel, which dropped out of the national rankings from No. 25 after its 61-55, four-overtime loss at Samford on Sept. 28, has won 12 straight in the series against VMI, which dates back to 1920.

The Citadel's Brandon Rainey accounted for five TDs in the loss to Samford, running for 65 yards and three scores and throwing for 196 yards and two TDs on an efficient 6-for-7 effort. His 84-yard touchdown throw to Raleigh Webb tied for the second-longest in school history.

VMI quarterback Reece Udinski has yet to throw an interception this season. With a clean 25-for-38 effort against Wofford on Sept. 28, Udinski surpassed the SoCon record for consecutive passes without an INT in a single season, running his season totals to 130-for-217. He enters Saturday's contest at The Citadel just one pass attempt shy of former Elon QB Scott Riddle's SoCon career record of 218 consecutive passes without an interception, established from 2008-09.

SOUTHLAND -- Houston Baptist extended its win streak to a program-long four games and matched the school record for total wins (4-1) with six weeks left to play.

Huskies' quarterback Bailey Zappe is the STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Week after setting school records in completions (43), attempts (59) and passing touchdowns (7) in a 68-31 win over Texas Southern.

HBU kicker Gino Garcia and UIW cornerback Tre Richardson were Honorable Mention selections for STATS national weekly honors. Garcia was 2-for-3 on field goals, including a career-long 54-yarder, and nailed a program-record eight extra points. Richardson racked up seven total tackles with one tackle for loss and returned an interception 56 yards in a 31-24 win over Abilene Christian.

Southeastern Louisiana's 93.3 percent scoring rate in the red zone is tops in the Southland and 16th among FCS schools.

SWAC -- Alcorn State's Felix Harper and Corey McCullough, along with Southern's Calvin Lunkins, Prairie View A&M's Dewonya Tucker, and Texas Southern's Donnie Corley were all named the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Football Players of the Week in week five of the season for their outstanding play the league announced on Monday. Harper threw for a career-high 396 yards including six touchdown passes and no interceptions. He was 21-for-30 throwing in the 45-19 victory for Alcorn over Mississippi Valley State.

Alcorn faces Alabama State this weekend. The matchup (on ESPNU will be a meeting of the top two teams in the SWAC from Media Days in July. Alcorn State was picked to finish at the top of the conference entering the season, while Alabama State was picked to finish second overall.

Alcorn is 23-19 all-time against Alabama State, and 2-1 under head coach Fred McNair. However, despite outgaining the Hornets 530-240, Alabama State outlasted Alcorn 28-25 in five overtimes last year. The Braves are coming off a 45-19 over Mississippi Valley State for their seventh straight win in the series. Alcorn overcame five lost fumbles to score the final 21 points of the game and pull away from MVSU in the second half.