FCS Playoffs ‘Til I Die: CSJ Picks The FCS Playoff Field, 11/04/2021
If you weren’t following the key FCS Playoff matchups last week involving the playoffs, boy did you miss out!
Covering All College Sports Since 2012
If you weren’t following the key FCS Playoff matchups last week involving the playoffs, boy did you miss out!
On February 1st, Northeast Conference Commissioner Noreen Morris announced revised regular season competition and NEC Championship formats for fall-to-spring, winter and spring sports, which included football.
I have five burning questions on the issue that might help to give clarity on what a spring season for the Patriot League might look like.
This week’s games feature a couple of challenges vs. the Ivy League, LIU still trying to win their first game in the NEC, and a good old-fashioned western Pennsylvania rivalry game.
A brand-new rivalry is spawned in the NEC and a league tilt between St. Francis (PA) and Bryant feature this week.
Another interesting week awaits us in the NEC, featuring a battle between a NEC title contender and a Pioneer Football League contender.
Things pretty much played out as expected when the teams of the NEC stepped up in class, losing some games against tough competition. It was the losses to D-II squads that were an issue, with Wagner and Robert Morris losing some bad games against sub-D-I competition. This week, the NEC has another mixed back of play-up and play-down competition.
Wagner, who came within a blown defensive penalty from having a chance to beat FBS UConn, isn’t the only NEC team chomping at the bit to start Week 2 of the football season. Duquesne, Central Connecticut State, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart also have their home openers this week.
The NEC starts their 2019 football season as road warriors with the exception of Merrimack, who is not a full NEC member but is competing against mostly NEC squads. All of the games should be a challenge – with the exception of Merrimack, once again.
The Northeast Conference welcomes two new members in 2019 in LIU and Merrimack, two teams that should bring some juice to the league in future years. That newness extends to many of the existing teams of the NEC, many of whom are headed by first or second year head coaches. In such an environment, Duquesne’s returning talent and longtime head football coach really stand out.
CCSU scored 48 straight points in a 34 point loss, and the Bulldogs never seemed to fully recover, dropping three of their last five games and squeaking by both Fordham (42-41) and Howard (56-55) by a single point each.