There are three games in the FCS this weekend -- two in the NCAA Division I Football Championship, and the other is the Celebration Bowl.

SEMIFINALS -- Saturday, Dec. 21
#5 Montana State at #1 NDSU (ESPN) 1 pm CT
#3 Weber State at #2 JMU (ESPNU) 5:30 pm CT

The SWAC and MEAC champions square off in the Celebration Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 21
North Carolina A&T vs. Alcorn State (ABC) 11 am CT
For more information -- https://www.thecelebrationbowl.com/

All-America Teams:
 HERO SPORTS (Monday, Dec. 16) -- Click Here
 HERO SPORTS Freshman (Tuesday, Dec. 17) -- Click Here
 HERO SPORTS Sophomore (Tuesday, Dec. 17) -- Click Here
 AP (Tuesday, Dec. 17) -- Click Here
 FCS ADA (Wednesday, Dec. 18) -- Click Here
 STATS FCS (Thursday, Dec. 19) -- Click Here
 AFCA (Friday, Dec. 20) -- Click Here


FCS HEADLINES

WALTER PAYTON FINALISTS – Northern Arizona QB Case Cookus (Sr.), Monmouth RB Pete Guerriero (Jr.), North Dakota State QB Trey Lance (r-Fr.) and Sacramento State QB Kevin Thomson (Jr.) Winner will be announced Friday, Jan. 10, at STATS FCS Awards Banquet.
BUCK BUCHANAN AWARD FINALISTS – DE Ron'Dell Carter of James Madison (Sr.), DE Sully Laiche of Nicholls (Sr.) and LB Dante Olson of Montana (Sr.) Winner will be announced Friday, Jan. 10, at STATS FCS Awards Banquet.
JERRY RICE AWARD WINNER (announced Dec. 11) – QB Trey Lance, North Dakota State
EDDIE ROBINSON AWARD WINNER (announced Dec. 12) – Troy Taylor, Sacramento State

FCS 101 – FCS and FBS are both Division I. The key differences are scholarship limits (85 for FBS and 63 for FCS), the number of allowable assistant coaches, and resources. FCS stands for Football Championship Subdivision. There are currently 130 FBS programs and 126 FCS programs.

THE FCS CHAMPIONSHIP – It started in 1978, as a four-team field. Now in its 42nd year, the FCS Championship has 24 teams, and the title game is played each January in Frisco, Texas. ESPN provides television coverage of all rounds. The title game this year will be on ABC. The Big Sky (4), Missouri Valley Football (4), CAA Football (3) and Southland (3) conferences have the most representatives of any league. With four top-8 seeds, the Big Sky set an FCS playoff record. The previous record was 3 (also by the Big Sky, in 2018). The MVFC, meanwhile, has had two Top 8 seeds for an FCS-record six-straight seasons.
 At 10-straight appearances, North Dakota State's playoff appearance streak is best in the FCS. South Dakota State, meanwhile, has a streak of eight-straight trips, which is second-best among active FCS schools. UNI, making its 21st appearance, trails only Montana (24) for overall FCS championship appearances.

GREAT PLAYERS – The FCS has developed some of the finest athletes in the game. Arguably two of the greatest players of all-time (RB Walter Payton at Jackson State and WR Jerry Rice at Mississippi Valley State) played at an FCS school. The NFL's all-time leading scorer – Adam Vinatieri of South Dakota State -- did, too. This year, a whopping 167 players from current FCS schools were on opening-day NFL rosters (that's the equivalent of more than 3 full teams). Notably, there are 39 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who represent current FCS institutions. Former JMU LB/DE Charles Haley was the first player to be a member of five teams that won Super Bowls (2 with the 49ers, 3 with the Cowboys). He's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2015).

GREAT COACHES – Eddie Robinson (Grambling) retired in 1997 with a record of 408–165–15. Robinson coached every single game from the field and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Current NFL head coaches and their alma maters include Buffalo's Sean McDermott (William & Mary), Chicago's Matt Nagy (Delaware), Dallas' Jason Garrett (Princeton), Houston's Bill O'Brien (Penn), Minnesota's Mike Zimmer (Illinois State), New Orleans' Sean Payton (Eastern Illinois), Oakland's Jon Gruden (Dayton), and Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin (William & Mary). Notably, Dennis Erickson played at Montana State, coached at Idaho and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this month. Joe Taylor played at Western Illinois, coached at Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, and Florida A&M and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this month. He is the all-time winningest coach in Hampton football history.

GREAT HISTORY – Two of the nation's oldest Division I conferences compete at the FCS level. The Southwestern Athletic Conference was founded in 1920 and the Southern Conference was founded in 1921. Ivy League member Princeton played in the first-ever college football game in 1869. 12 of the 13 FCS conferences have been established for more than 30 years.

GREAT TEAMS – This decade the FCS has averaged 9 wins each year against FBS programs. North Dakota State, which has won 7 of the past 8 FCS championships, has six-straight wins against FBS schools, which includes wins at Power 5 schools Minnesota, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and 11th-ranked Iowa.

GREAT STORIES – One of the greatest stories in NFL history has its roots in the FCS. Northern Iowa's Kurt Warner was stocking shelves at a grocery store before his rise to NFL stardom, earning a Super Bowl title, an NFL MVP honor and a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame.

BIG SKY -- Four teams. Two from the Big Sky Conference. All playing for a chance to compete at the NCAA Division I Football Championship game on January 10. This Saturday, No. 3 seed Weber State will play at No. 2 seed James Madison and No. 5 seed Montana State will face No. 1 seed North Dakota State. Win and book your trip to Frisco.

The Wildcats defeated No. 6 seed Montana in a quarterfinal match-up where the teams had to battle through all kinds of weather conditions last Friday night. Both defenses came to play, keeping the game close throughout. It ultimately came down to Weber State's defense and their ability to grab five interceptions and maintain control of the game. Weber State will play at James Madison for the second time in three years. In 2017, the Wildcats fell to JMU 31-28 in the quarterfinals.

The Bobcats earned their first trip to the FCS playoff semifinals since 1984 after a pair of home wins. Montana State had the highest point total in quarterfinal play across the FCS with a 24-10 victory over Austin Peay at home. MSU has outscored its opponents this postseason, 71 to 31. The Bobcats will take on North Dakota State in the postseason for the second straight year. The Bison won last year's meeting 52-10.

This weekend will mark only the second time in league history that the Big Sky will have a pair of teams competing in the semifinals. Montana and Boise State both competed in the semis in 1994 on different sides of the bracket with Boise State advancing to the championship game.

CAA FOOTBALL -- James Madison advanced to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the third time in four years after beating Northern Iowa, 17-0, last Friday in the quarterfinals. The Dukes limited UNI to 114 total yards, including 0 yards rushing, and posted a shutout in a playoff game for the first time ever. It was their 13th consecutive win. JMU set playoff program records for points (66) and yards (623) in a 66-21 victory over Big South champ Monmouth in the second round of the FCS playoffs. Quarterback Ben DiNucci accounted for 339 yards of offense and 4 TD's in the victory.

James Madison and Weber State met in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs at Bridgeforth Stadium in 2017. JMU trailed 28-20 with 3:14 to play, but got a 40-yard TD pass from Bryan Schor to Riley Stapleton with 2:08 to go and a game-tying 2-point conversion. The Dukes' defense forced a 3-and-out and JMU was able to drive the ball into position for Ethan Ratke to kick a career-best 46-yard field goal as time expired for a 31-28 JMU win. Stapleton finished with 8 catches for 189 yards.

CAA Football has had a team advance to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs in each of the past seven years - Towson (2013), New Hampshire (2014), Richmond (2015), JMU (2016, 2017, 2019) and Maine (2018) - and 26 semifinalists overall. CAA teams are 11-14 all-time in semifinal contests.

MISSOURI VALLEY -- North Dakota State is in the postseason for the 10th straight season dating back to 2010 when the Bison advanced to the FCS quarterfinals in their first appearance. NDSU has a 34-2 record in the FCS playoffs, including a 26-1 record in the Fargodome. This is North Dakota State's 33rd postseason appearance since 1964. The Bison are 69-15 all-time in the postseason including a 64-14 record in the NCAA playoff format since 1973.

North Dakota State's current 35-game winning streak the longest in FCS history and tied for sixth in Division I history, surpassing the FCS record 33-game Bison winning streak from 2012-14.

Since the playoff bracket expanded to 20 teams in 2010 (3 years) and 24 in 2013 (7 years), an MVFC team has reached the semifinals 13 times. Only six leagues have had a semifinal team in the past 10 tournaments. An MVFC member has reached the FCS playoff semifinals 24 times in the past 24 tournaments (including this year), and 27 times overall. The conference is 13-13 in previous FCS semifinal games (8-5 at home).

The MVFC is 65-28 (.699) since 2010 in the playoffs -- which includes 11 intra-conference games (meaning the league is 54-17 against teams from other leagues.) Only two other leagues have a winning record in the playoffs since 2010 (CAA Football is 43-38 and the Big Sky is 30-29.)

The 2018 season marked the 13th title appearance for a league team. The league is 9-4 in title games, although Youngstown State (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) and Southern Illinois (1983) both played in the championship prior to joining the league. All 13 of the league's title-game appearances have occurred since 1997. Last year, NDSU extended the MVFC's record for having a title-game participant to eight-straight seasons.