Our FCS coverage is the home for the Top 25 media poll, FCS National Awards, predictive TRACR model and much more. Here’s a review of Week 10 of the 2024 college football regular season, featuring a number of key conference matchups to open the home stretch.
There’s an extra week in the FCS regular season this year and, quite frankly, it’s needed to sort everything out.
The top of the standings are crowded everywhere across the 13 conferences.
Yup, the final three weeks are suggesting this will be a November to remember.
FCS Football Week 10 Review
CAA Football: Tight All-Around
Not only is there a lack of elbow room in the CAA Football standings, but it also was close for the top teams in Week 10 games.
Co-leader Rhode Island (8-1, 5-0) had trailed Monmouth for nearly 42 minutes before going ahead on Devin Farrell’s late touchdown pass to Marquis Buchanan, then tacked on a game-ending fumble return score for a 37-28 win. The No. 14 Rams next travel to Delaware (7-1, 4-1), which had a bye.
Richmond (7-2, 5-0) maintained a share of first place, with Sean O’Haire kicking a pair of field goals in the final 3:04 to beat Towson going away 35-24. O’Haire finished with five field goals for the No. 16 Spiders.
Additionally, No. 13 Villanova (7-2, 4-1) and No. 20 Stony Brook (7-2, 4-1) earned road wins. ‘Nova held off Hampton 20-14, while the Seawolves won 31-30 in overtime at Bryant after the host Bulldogs failed on a 2-point attempt after pulling within one.
(Here’s the full Week 10 FCS Top 25 Scoreboard)
Surprisingly, Missouri State Rolls a Seven
Delaware is eligible for the CAA title as it plays its final FCS season before a move to the FBS, although the Blue Hens are not postseason-eligible.
The Missouri Valley Football Conference has yet to announce if Missouri State (7-2, 5-0) is eligible for the title before the Bears’ FBS move next season. Quite frankly, few saw the possibility coming after the Bears went 4-7 last season and 3-5 in the MVFC.
But they’ve riding their first seven-game winning streak since 1990 following a 38-17 win over Southern Illinois. Jayden Becks rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns, while Jacob Clark threw for two scores and surpassed 200 yards for the ninth time this season.
Missouri State, which isn’t playoff-eligible, figures to beat Murray State next Saturday and set up a meeting of 6-0 MVFC teams at No. 1 North Dakota State on Nov. 16. The Bison (9-1) will rest up with a bye.
UC Davis Schedule Will Toughen
Fourth-ranked UC Davis rolled past Northern Colorado 59-7 to remain as a Big Sky co-leader. Lan Larison rushed for three touchdowns and Miles Hastings passed for three in the rout.
The schedule looks much different for first-year coach Tim Plough’s team the rest of the month. The Aggies (8-1, 5-0) are set for a trip to No. 8 Montana next week followed by a home game against No. 2 Montana State and a visit to rival Sacramento State.
The Aggies have one previous Big Sky title as they were part of a three-way share in 2018. They’re tied for first place with Montana State (9-0, 5-0), the only remaining unbeaten FCS team.
The Bobcats received a solid test from Eastern Washington, but quarterback Tommy Mellott accounted for 306 yards of total offense and three touchdowns in a 42-28 victory.
Upsets in the UAC
The wackiness of FCS football was summed up in the United Athletic Conference in Week 10.
Utah Tech won for the first time with one of the more-impressive upsets of the season, beating No. 11 Central Arkansas 34-21. Coach Lance Anderson gained his first victory following an 0-9 start.
Quarterback Reggie Graff accounted for 303 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, becoming the first FCS player this season to have a TD pass, rush and reception in the same game. UCA played without All-America running back ShunDerrick Powell and committed six turnovers, with Trailblazers defensive back Brady Sorenson intercepting two passes.
Seventh-ranked Tarleton State (7-2, 4-1) then surrendered first place with a 17-13 home loss to Eastern Kentucky. Joshua Carter’s 23-yard TD run with 2:26 left provided the game-winner for the Colonels (5-4, 3-2).
Abilene Christian (6-3, 5-1) edged Southern Utah 28-25 to grab first place.
Dent Powers UT Martin
UT Martin quarterback Kinkead Martin accounted for 295 yards of total offense and all four of the Skyhawks’ touchdowns as they won 28-21 at No. 25 Tennessee State in the Stats Perform FCS Game of the Week.
UTM (6-3, 4-1 Big South-OVC) extended its winning streak to five games while ending TSU’s run at four in a row. The Skyhawks are one game behind No. 6 Southeast Missouri in the standings, but lost the head-to-head meeting on Sept. 7.
Stock Up, Stock Down
Stock Up: Harvard’s Charles Deprima rushed for two of his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter – the final one with 27 seconds remaining – and the Crimson handed No. 22 Dartmouth its first loss of the season. Harvard (6-1), under first-year coach Andrew Aurich, moved into a share of first place in the Ivy League alongside Dartmouth (6-1) and Columbia (5-2).
Stock Down: North Dakota has been nationally ranked all season, but back-to-back losses at Youngstown State and Indiana State have severely damaged the Fighting Hawks’ chance to earn a third straight FCS playoff appearance (and fifth in six years). They were 4-1 with a win over national power Montana, but are now 5-4, and their final three regular-season games are against No. 3 South Dakota State, No. 5 South Dakota and No. 21 Illinois State.
Around FCS Nation
Mercer is in position to claim its first Southern Conference title and an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. After a 37-31 win over No. 23 ETSU, the Bears (8-1, 5-1) have beaten the three closest teams in the standings – also Chattanooga and Western Carolina. The latter two teams met at WCU, and the Catamounts beat No. 18 Chattanooga 38-34. With quarterback Cole Gonzales out, redshirt freshman Taron Dickens made his first start, and completed 34 of 48 passes for 431 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. … SWAC division leaders Jackson State (East) and Southern (West) posted wins. JSU (7-2, 5-0) overpowered Arkansas-Pine Bluff 41-3 as quarterback Jacobian Morgan accounted for four touchdowns and running back Irv Mulligan (141 yards, TD) continued his hot stretch. Southern (5-4, 4-1) slipped past Alabama A&M 25-20 on Dupree Fuller’s 14-yard touchdown catch from Czavian Teasett with 1:12 left.
Drake shut out Marist 19-0 to take sole possession of first place in the Pioneer Football League. The win was the Bulldogs’ 16th straight against a league opponent, marking the second-longest streak in PFL history. … Patriot League leader Holy Cross had a bye in Week 10, but watched as its next two opponents moved within one game in the standings. The Crusaders (4-5, 3-0), who have won at least a share of five straight titles, will host Lehigh (5-3, 2-1), which hammered Georgetown 43-6 to reach five wins for the first time since its 2017 PL championship season. Then it’s off to Bucknell (4-5, 2-1), which dropped 2023 co-champ Lafayette 21-14 behind quarterback Ralph Rucker IV’s three total touchdowns. … Stephen F. Austin quarterback Sam Vidlak passed for four touchdowns in an eight-minute stretch of the second and third quarters of the Lumberjacks’ 28-12 win at Nicholls. The Montana transfer has 27 TD passes to lead the FCS.
Shawn Charles’ 82-yard touchdown reception from Anthony Chiccitt were the only points in Robert Morris’ 6-0 win over Merrimack. The Colonials (6-3), who have posted three shutouts during a four-game winning streak, will travel to defending Northeast Conference champion Duquesne for a first-place showdown next Saturday. … UIW quarterback Zach Calzada accounted for five touchdowns in the No. 9 Cardinals’ 45-20 win over HBU in the Southland. They led 45-6 at three quarters. … South Carolina State (6-2, 2-0) grabbed first place in the MEAC with a 24-21 victory over No. 19 North Carolina Central Halloween night. Quarterback Eric Phoenix accounted for 381 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. … The Ivy League’s student-athlete advisory committee has submitted a proposal to the league office requesting the champion be allowed to advance to the FCS playoffs, according to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper. The eight league presidents, not anybody immediately involved in athletics, would have to approve a reversal of the league’s postseason ban since 1945.
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