2009 NCAA FCS Season Thread

[wade moore]

Ok, Been meaning to start this thread for awhile. As the local FCS/CAA/W&M Homer it is my duty.

First off - big announcement... I'm finally calling it FCS instead of I-AA. Sheep, I am.

I know there's a few other fans of CAA and other FCS teams here. So far this season the CAA has proven to be the dominant force with 3 wins over FBS teams (W&M over UVA, Richmond over Duke, and Villanova over Temple) and only 2 FCS OOC losses for the entire conference so far. As a result, the polls look like this:

<table width="100%" border="1"><tbody><tr><td>AGS Poll (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/05/25/2009-fcs-ags-polls?blog=5) </td><td> Sports Network (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/08/26/2009-fcs-media-polls?blog=5) </td><td> Coaches (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/index.php/2009/08/24/2009-fcs-coaches-polls?blog=5) </td></tr> <tr><td> 9/21/2009 </td><td> 9/21/2009 </td><td> 9/21/2009 </td></tr> <tr><td> 1. Richmond (95) </td><td> Richmond (132) </td><td> Richmond (25) </td></tr> <tr><td> 2. Villanova (11) </td><td> Villanova (9) </td><td> Villanova (1) </td></tr> <tr><td> 3. Northern Iowa (8) </td><td> Northern Iowa (6) </td><td> Montana </td></tr> <tr><td> 4. Montana (1) </td><td> Montana </td><td> Northern Iowa </td></tr> <tr><td> 5. William & Mary </td><td> William & Mary (2) </td><td> William & Mary </td></tr> <tr><td> 6. New Hampshire </td><td> New Hampshire (1) </td><td> James Madison </td></tr> <tr><td> 7. James Madison </td><td> James Madison </td><td> New Hampshire </td></tr> <tr><td> 8. Southern Illinois </td><td> McNeese St. </td><td> Southern Illinois </td></tr> <tr><td> 9. McNeese St. </td><td> Southern Illinois </td><td> McNeese St. (1) </td></tr> <tr><td> 10. Appalachian St. </td><td> Appalachian St. </td><td> Appalachian St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 11. Central Arkansas </td><td> Weber St. </td><td> Weber St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 12. Elon </td><td> Central Arkansas </td><td> Central Arkansas </td></tr> <tr><td> 13. Weber St. </td><td> Elon </td><td> Elon </td></tr> <tr><td> 14. Cal Poly </td><td> South Carolina St. </td><td> Cal Poly </td></tr> <tr><td> 15. South Dakota St. </td><td> Massachusetts </td><td> Massachusetts </td></tr> <tr><td> 16. Massachusetts </td><td> Cal Poly </td><td> South Carolina St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 17. South Carolina St. </td><td> South Dakota St. </td><td> Wofford </td></tr> <tr><td> 18. Wofford </td><td> Wofford </td><td> South Dakota St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 19. Delaware </td><td> Eastern Washington </td><td> Texas St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 20. Eastern Washington </td><td> Eastern Kentucky </td><td> Eastern Washington </td></tr> <tr><td> 21. Eastern Kentucky </td><td> Holy Cross </td><td> Jacksonville St. </td></tr> <tr><td> 22. Liberty </td><td> Jacksonville St. </td><td> Eastern Kentucky </td></tr> <tr><td> 23. Holy Cross </td><td> Texas St. </td><td> Holy Cross </td></tr> <tr><td> 24. Texas St. </td><td> Eastern Illinois </td><td> Liberty </td></tr> <tr><td> 25. Furman </td><td> Liberty </td><td> Florida A&M </td></tr></tbody></table>

3 teams in the top 5, 5 in the top 10, and 7 in the top 25.

[wade moore]

The thing that prompted me to post this thread. My W&M Tribe have been having a great season. As long as a recent mild knee injury to our QB doesn't hurt us too bad, we are looking at hopefully having a playoff spot. With the other teams in our conference, we have some high-profile games. As a result, we'll be on national TV in two weeks!

WILLIAM AND MARY AT VILLANOVA TO MARK FIRST-EVER CAA FOOTBALL NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST - CAASports.com—Official Web Site of the Colonial Athletic Association (http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8500&ATCLID=204799008)

<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="arttitle">WILLIAM AND MARY AT VILLANOVA TO MARK FIRST-EVER CAA FOOTBALL NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="arttitle"> <table class="artReleaseIcons" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" align="left"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tbody><tr> <td class="articlecopy" valign="top" align="left"> Courtesy: CAA
</td> <td class="articlecopy" valign="top" align="left"> </td> <td class="articlecopy" valign="top" align="center"> Release: 09/21/2009
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No. 5 William and Mary will take on No. 2 Villanova Saturday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m., on VERSUS marking CAA Football's first-ever nationally broadcast conference game.
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RICHMOND, Va. (September 21, 2009) -- CAA Football and The Comcast Sports Group announced the October 3 matchup of No. 5 William and Mary at No. 2 Villanova will be broadcast nationally on VERSUS at 3:30 p.m.

The contest will be the league’s first-ever conference game to be nationally televised. VERSUS, which reaches 73 million homes nationally, is available on cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.

“We are thrilled with the Comcast Sports Groups efforts in turning the William and Mary and Villanova contest into a national broadcast,” CAA Football Commissioner Tom Yeager said. “The game will mark the league’s first-ever nationally televised conference game. We couldn’t be more pleased to have two of the Top-5 teams in the country and our conference showcase CAA Football to a national audience.”

Originally the William and Mary/Villanova matchup was scheduled for a 7 p.m., kickoff but was recently moved to accommodate television scheduling.

Heading into the Sept. 26 weekend, CAA Football holds five of the Top-10 spots in each of the two FCS National Top-25 polls including consensus No. 1 Richmond and No. 2 Villanova. Already this season CAA Football squads have knocked off a record four BCS/FBS squads, including New Hampshire’s 23-16 win over Ball State, Richmond’s 24-16 win at Duke, Villanova’s 27-24 victory over Temple and William and Mary’s 26-14 triumph over Virginia. CAA Football, arguably the toughest FCS league in the country, has sent a record five teams to the NCAA Division I National Championships each of the last two seasons and is the home of reigning National Champion Richmond.

Fans and members of the media can now follow CAA Football on Twitter: twitter.com/The_CAAFootball (http://twitter.com/The_CAAFootball?DB_OEM_ID=8500). Logon now and “follow” the league to get the latest news and notes from one of the top College Football Conferences in the country. Fans and members of the media can also now see CAA Football’s new media efforts on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CAAFootball (http://www.youtube.com/user/CAAFootball?DB_OEM_ID=8500). Logon now and subscribe to see the latest video productions from CAA Football. Checkout The CAA Football Pressbox located as a button on CAASports.com as well as in the menus down the left-hand side of the football page, The CAA Football Pressbox (http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=8500&ATCLID=1546583) is the official source for all CAA Football information.
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[RomaGoth]

We need a Division II thread. I grew up down the road from Grand Valley State University, and my parents still go to some of their football games. According to Wikipedia, they are 3rd, behind Michigan and Notre Dame, in winning percentage (.720) since their program began in the 1970's. I have seen a few of their games, and while it is not the same level of play as the big dog programs, it is very entertaining and they put up a ton of points most games.

As for FCS, my alma mater is NAU (Northern Arizona University), and they are usually about average. It is good to see that people pay attention to these teams though.

[wade moore]

We need a Division II thread. I grew up down the road from Grand Valley State University, and my parents still go to some of their football games. According to Wikipedia, they are 3rd, behind Michigan and Notre Dame, in winning percentage (.720) since their program began in the 1970's. I have seen a few of their games, and while it is not the same level of play as the big dog programs, it is very entertaining and they put up a ton of points most games.

As for FCS, my alma mater is NAU (Northern Arizona University), and they are usually about average. It is good to see that people pay attention to these teams though.

I really enjoy the FCS. I have season tickets to William and Mary, I go to as many away games as possible (will be 3 this year), and watch whenever the CAA is on TV - and the rare times other conferences are on in the area as well. It really is a high-quality brand of football and you get a more intimate atmosphere at games. W&M, for instance, either sells out or close to it every game, but our capacity is something like 13,000.

We also get a pretty good access to the program. My wife and I are members of the QB Club which has around 100 or so members at MOST and we get to ask questions of players, coaches, etc on the Monday after games.


Anyway. I'm a bit of a superfan ;).

I know that we have some others here - I'll miss some but Bishop is a UMass fan, RKG is a Villanova fan, there's someone that is a fan of the conference formerly known as the Gateway Conference, Dark Cloud likes anything not mainstream... I know there are others, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

[MacroGuru]

I keep up on some of the teams...right now Weber St. is my choice because I love what Ron McBride is doing there, he is a great recruiter.

[RainMaker]

We need a Division II thread. I grew up down the road from Grand Valley State University, and my parents still go to some of their football games. According to Wikipedia, they are 3rd, behind Michigan and Notre Dame, in winning percentage (.720) since their program began in the 1970's. I have seen a few of their games, and while it is not the same level of play as the big dog programs, it is very entertaining and they put up a ton of points most games.

As for FCS, my alma mater is NAU (Northern Arizona University), and they are usually about average. It is good to see that people pay attention to these teams though.
I'm a big D2 fan as I went to Winona State (basketball is more our sport these days). D2football.com has a forum with a lot of knowledgeable and passionate fans if you're interested. Not sure if we have enough D2 fans here to get a good threat going though.

[BishopMVP]

3 teams in the top 5, 5 in the top 10, and 7 in the top 25.You could just say 5 of the top 7 teams are CAA - I think that sums it up best. I do refuse to believe that 270 people really have an idea on how to judge South Dakota St. vs. Holy Cross at this point though, which is why playoffs are great.

UMass is hanging around. Almost pulled off the win at (a horrible) Kansas St., but again a bad turnover and lots of penalties killed us. I'm not sure how much their poor hire of a head coach is to blame, and how much is the schedule (Albany and URI so far) but unfortunately I've kind of fallen into the trap I always was mad at alumnae for - now that I'm off campus and don't know anyone personally on the team I don't pay nearly as much attention. I'll be back for homecoming and might be flying down with friends to visit our friend at U Delaware when UMass plays them, so hopefully that and playing the good CAA teams again kickstarts my interest.