Our FCS coverage is the home for the Top 25 media poll, FCS National Awards and much more. Here’s a breakdown of teams with a realistic chance in the FCS conference title races.
Mercer made it look all too easy on Saturday.
Post a shutout win here, get a ranked team in conference to lose there, and – voila! – the Bears clinched at least a share of their first-ever SoCon title and the first automatic qualfier into the 2024 FCS playoffs.
Oh, don’t be mistaken, the FCS conference title races are almost always difficult – Mercer is an exception.
With two full weeks of the regular season remaining, let’s take an assessment of all 13 FCS races. (The Week 11 FCS Top 25 Scoreboard reflects key results in many of the races.)
Big Sky Conference
Saturday’s action began a three-week sprint to the finish line for the top contenders. UC Davis (8-1, 5-0) played a late-night game at Montana (7-2, 4-1) in the Stats Perform FCS Game of the Week.
Second-ranked Montana State (10-0, 6-0), which off to the best start in program history, had at least a share of first place regardless of the result, but it still has to go through both of those teams, first traveling to UC Davis next Saturday, then hosting Montana on Nov. 23.
Big South-OVC Football Association
Southeast Missouri (8-2, 5-1) still controls its destiny for the playoff AQ, but UT Martin (7-3, 5-1) moved back into a tie for first place due to the Redhawks’ upset loss at Lindenwood. Tennessee State (7-3, 4-2) has to play SEMO and Tennessee Tech (5-5, 4-2) has a shot at UTM, so the race could tighten even more in the next two weeks.
CAA Football
This is the deepest of FCS conference title races.
Richmond (7-2, 6-0) took sole possession of first place with a last-second win at Campbell and Rhode Island (8-2, 5-1) falling at Delaware (8-1, 5-1). Villanova (8-2, 5-1) and Stony Brook (8-2, 5-1) also moved into a four-way tie for second place.
FBS-bound Delaware is above the FCS scholarship limit and ineligible for the CAA title, but while its games count in the standings, the conference members added a caveat in the preseason because not all teams will play the Blue Hens. If, say, Richmond finished 8-0 in the CAA and URI went 7-1 but with only a loss to Delaware, both teams would be recognized as conference champions. But the Spiders would earn the playoff AQ because of the better record.
Ivy League
The Ancient Eight doesn’t participate in a postseason, so the regular season means everything, and right now Dartmouth (7-1, 4-1) and Harvard (7-1, 4-1) are tied for first place over Columbia (5-3, 3-2). Dartmouth (at Cornell and home versus Brown) has an easier path to the title than Harvard (at Penn and home versus Yale)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
South Carolina State (7-2, 3-0) would clinch the conference title and its Celebration Bowl bid by defeating Morgan State (5-5, 2-1) next Saturday. North Carolina Central (6-3, 2-1) defeated MSU and lost to SCSU, and needs help each of the next two weeks to have a shot to play in Atlanta.
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Top-ranked North Dakota State (9-1, 6-0) was idle on Saturday while Missouri State (8-2, 6-0) matched the Bison in the standings, and they meet next Saturday inside the Fargodome. MSU, which s headed to the FBS next year, is ineligible for the playoff AQ.
Two-time defending FCS champion South Dakota State (8-2, 5-1) and South Dakota (7-2, 5-1) are one game back in the standings.
Northeast Conference
Duquesne (7-2, 4-0) took sole possession of first place with a win over Robert Morris (6-4, 3-1). Central Connecticut State (5-5, 3-1) also is tied for second place and concludes the regular season by hosting Robert Morris and Duquesne.
Patriot League
There’s a three-way tie for first place between Lehigh (6-3, 3-1), Bucknell (5-5, 3-1) and Holy Cross (4-6, 3-1). Bucknell travels to Holy Cross next Saturday, and it already owns a win over Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks are hoping for a Holy Cross win in that matchup because they own a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Crusaders.
Pioneer Football League
Among the 10 FCS conference title races that hand out a playoff AQ, this is the only one with a two-game gap from first to second place.
Drake (7-1, 6-0), riding a 17-game PFL winning streak that is the second-longest in league history, is up two on four teams in the standings, so it’s clinched at least a share of the title. If it beats Morehead State or Stetson, it will head back to the playoffs via the AQ.
Southern Conference
Mercer (9-1, 6-1) is riding the tide of momentum all the way to Alabama for an FBS matchup before it concludes conference play against Furman, seeking an outright title.
As for the pecking order of SoCon at-large bids, Chattanooga (6-4, 5-2) has a head-to-head win over ETSU (6-4, 4-2), but a slightly tougher finish schedule-wise.
Southland Conference
UIW (8-2, 5-0) only needs to win one of its next two games – at Stephen F. Austin or at East Texas A&M – to claim the automatic playoff bid because it owns a head-to-head win over second-place Southeastern Louisiana (6-5, 5-1).
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Jackson State (8-2, 6-0) leads the East Division and Southern (6-4, 5-1) is on top in the West Division. With just one win in their final two games, each will clinch a spot in the SWAC championship game.
United Athletic Conference
Abilene Christian (7-3, 6-1) would win the UAC title and earn its first-ever playoff bid with a win at Tarleton State (8-2, 5-1) next Saturday. A Tarleton win would put the Texans in position to claim an outright title and a first-ever playoff bid by defeating Central Arkansas on Nov. 23.
Eastern Kentucky (6-4, 4-2) and Southern Utah (5-5, 4-2) are still in the title picture.
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