Offseason in the FCS

s--k · Apr 15, 2025

I'm going over some roster data this spring to be in a better position this summer for the season. But I wanted to post about 2025 FCS football! Probably will be active here for the next couple weeks posting some stuff.

Coaching Changes: (copy and pasted from Hero Sports)

Last offseason, there were 30 FCS head coaching changes. That was up from 28 in 2023 and 22 in 2022.

As of March 10, there are 23 head coaching changes.

Northern Iowa
Departing coach: Mark Farley
Date: 11/10
Reason: Retired at the conclusion of the season
New hire: Todd Stepsis (Drake HC)

Prairie View A&M
Departing coach: Bubba McDowell
Date: 11/24
Reason: Contract will not be renewed
New hire: Tremaine Jackson (Valdosta State HC)

Valparaiso
Departing coach: Landon Fox
Date: 11/24
Reason: Contract will not be renewed
New hire: Andy Waddle (Marietta College HC)

McNeese
Departing coach: Gary Goff
Date: 11/25
Reason: “After evaluating our football program, I felt a change in leadership was necessary.” – McNeese AD Heath Schroyer
New hire: Matt Viator (former McNeese HC)

Davidson
Departing coach: Scott Abell
Date: 11/26
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at Rice
New hire: Saj Thakkar (Bentley University HC)

Norfolk State
Departing coach: Dawson Odums
Date: 11/26
Reason: “Change in leadership”
New hire: Michael Vick (former NFL QB)

North Dakota
Departing coach: Bubba Schweigert
Date: 11/30
Reason: Stepped down and moved into a senior administrative role at UND
New hire: Eric Schmidt (San Diego State DC)

Nicholls
Departing coach: Tim Rebowe
Date: 12/1
Reason: Retired
New hire: Tommy Rybacki (Nicholls DC)

Colgate
Departing coach: Stan Dakosty
Date: 12/2
Reason: “Change in leadership”
New hire: Curt Fitzpatrick (Cortland State HC)

Alabama A&M
Departing coach: Connell Maynor
Date: 12/2
Reason: “Relieved from his duties”
New hire: Sam Shade (Miles College HC)

Drake
Departing coach: Todd Stepsis
Date: 12/3
Reason: Stepped down to accept the UNI head coach opening
New hire: Joe Woodley (Grand View University HC)

Stetson
Departing coach: Brian Young
Date: 12/3
Reason: Resigned to pursue other opportunities
New hire: Mike Jasper (Bethel HC)

Delaware State
Departing coach: Lee Hull
Date: 12/3
Reason: Fired
New hire: DeSean Jackson (former NFL WR)

Butler
Departing coach: Mike Uremovich
Date: 12/4
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at Ball State
New hire: Kevin Lynch (Ball State OC)

North Carolina A&T
Departing coach: Vincent Brown
Date: 12/4
Reason: “Relieving him of his duties”
New hire: Shawn Gibbs (Fort Valley State HC)

Mississippi Valley State
Departing coach: Kendrick Wade
Date: 12/4
Reason: Fired
New hire: Terrell Buckley (Orlando Guardians HC)

Sacramento State
Departing coach: Andy Thompson
Date: 12/6
Reason: Resigned to join the Stanford coaching staff
New hire: Brennan Marion (UNLV OC)

ETSU
Departing coach: Tre Lamb
Date: 12/8
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at Tulsa
New hire: Will Healy (Georgia State assistant HC)

Idaho
Departing coach: Jason Eck
Date: 12/14
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at New Mexico
New hire: Thomas Ford (Oregon State RBs coach)

South Dakota State
Departing coach: Jimmy Rogers
Date: 12/28
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at Washington State
New hire: Dan Jackson (Idaho DC)

South Dakota
Departing coach: Bob Nielson
Date: 1/16
Reason: Retired
New hire: Travis Johansen (South Dakota DC)

UAlbany
Departing coach: Greg Gattuso
Date: 2/5
Reason: Stepped down to join the Penn State staff
New hire: 2025 Interim: Jared Ambrose (UAlbany OC)

Tennessee State
Departing coach: Eddie George
Date: 3/9
Reason: Resigned to accept the head coaching position at Bowling Green
New hire: Reggie Barlow (D.C. Defenders HC)

Conference Alignment Changes, moving up, moving down, gone to FBS and playoffs

Alignment Changes:
Richmond goes from the CAA to the Patriot League

Moving up:
2025 is University Texas Rio Grande's inaugural football season and will be a Southland Conference member

Moving down:
Next year, 2026, St Francis will move to Dlll

Gone to FBS:
Delaware and Missouri State

Playoff changes:
Ivy League will participate in the 24 team playoff field for 2025. St Thomas is playoff eligible for the first time this year.

FCS vs FBS (selectively copied from Fear the FCS)

The 121 FCS-FBS matchups in 2024 were a record. There were six FCS over FBS wins in 2024, which is two higher than in 2023 but below the 8 recorded in 2022 and half of 2021’s 12 FCS wins.

The average margin of defeat for the FCS in 2024 was 31.09 points per game, which is the second worst behind 2018’s average margin of 31.13. The other stat was the number of games in which FCS teams were shut out by their FBS opponents. In 2024, it happened 17 times, which is one less than the record of 18 set in 2022. Those two are worth keeping an eye on to see if things improve following roster limit implementations under the House settlement.

2024 FCS Versus FBS Matchups in Review

The 2024 FCS season is entering the playoffs so let’s provide a recap of all 121 FCS versus FBS matchups this year. The 121 FCS-FBS matchups in 2024 were a record and the 2025 season already has over…

fearthefcs.com

Chart on the link above is sortable for FBS pt totals vs FCS teams, FBS teams scored 40+ pts vs their FCS opponents 62% of the time (75 out of 121 games), in 32 of those games or 26% overall the FBS team scored 50+ pts.

I don't know the exact numbers, but I do know many times the FBS team gets the full game Over themselves when they play FCS. I may look into that for last year's numbers.

By my count the FCS ATS vs FBS 2024 59-60-2 on closing offshore lines that I recorded from maddux sports. That record includes two FCS teams that were favored over the FBS (Montana State -13 at NewMex (no cover) and UT Martin -1.5 at Kennesaw (cover)). I may dig into these numbers further detail. I didn't keep track of 1H and 2H lines last year, not sure if any of the online ATS tracking sites did?

s--k · Apr 17, 2025

ESPN first reported Wednesday that Sac State was planning on filing a waiver to transition from the FCS to the FBS, which was later confirmed by university president Luke Wood to the Sacramento Bee.

The plan is to play football in the FCS' Big Sky in 2025 before jumping to the FBS in 2026 as an independent. It would then be eligible for the FBS postseason in 2027. Life as an independent in the FBS isn't easy, so the end goal would be to join a conference, potentially the MW. In recent months, Sac State has laid out an ambitious plan to invest heavily into athletic, including a potential $200 million to $250 million new football stadium. Making the transition to the FBS comes with a $5 million fee plus spending a minimum of $6 million annually on scholarships.

Sac State’s Path To FBS Independent Approval
Last week, Sacramento State filed an application with the NCAA to transition from the FCS to be an FBS independent member. The school had already filed a waiver to make this transition, which is required because a team needs a conference invite to move from the FCS to the FBS.

It’s important to note that this is not necessarily an NCAA office decision on whether or not to grant Sac State a waiver. These sorts of decisions go through a voting/approval process from different committees, boards, and/or councils with representatives from schools and conferences.

Sac State’s approval process will start with the FBS Oversight Committee, which is made up of mostly FBS conference/school admins. It would then go to the Division I Council, which is made up of conference/school admins from 32 D1 conferences.

The FBS Oversight Committee’s next meeting is on April 10.

It’s no secret that FBS leaders, especially those in the Power 4, do not want to see the FBS grow by adding more FCS teams. Some within the Mountain West Conference wanted to add North Dakota State, but MWC presidents instead voted to invite Northern Illinois as a football-only member, and a big reason for that was wanting to add an already-established FBS program.

Sac State has a strong pitch to join the FBS as an independent due to its location, facility upgrades, and reported community financial support.

However, its fate is essentially up to other FBS schools and conference representatives. Will these FBS leaders deny Sac State’s request to join their subdivision as an independent? Will a “no” answer result in a lawsuit from Sac State, so they’ll say “yes” to avoid that headache? Is there a concern of opening the floodgates and a precedent if they say yes and we see other FCS programs try to take this same FBS independent route? How does the future pathway from FCS to FBS look as NCAA governance sees some changes?

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how it unfolds. Liberty was able to make a similar jump in the 2010s. Sac State hopes to follow that same path. FCS Daily Dose: Sac State's Path To FBS Independent Approval + USD Loses 2 Standouts + SDSU Adds Key OL Transfer

s--k · Apr 18, 2025

Of the 128 FCS programs for the 2025 season, 94 schools will play at least one FBS team in 2025. 63 will play one FBS opponent, 30 will play two FBS foes, and one team (UT Martin courtesy of Missouri State moving to Conference USA) will play three FBS teams. A full breakdown of matchups by FCS and FBS conferences can be found at the bottom of the page. There are currently no week zero FCS-FBS matchups scheduled while week one has “only” 47 games, noticeably lower than the record of 59 opening week games in 2024.

The Ivy League and Pioneer Football League are not scheduled to play any FBS opponents in 2025. In addition to the 19 combined teams from the Ivy League and PFL without an FBS opponent, 15 other FCS programs do not have an FBS team lined up for 2025: Georgetown (Patriot) Hampton (MEAC), Lehigh (Patriot), Mercyhurst (NEC), Mississippi Valley State (SWAC), Montana (Big Sky), North Dakota State (MVFC), Sacred Heart (Independent), South Dakota State (MVFC), Southern Utah (UAC), Stonehill (NEC), Tennessee State (OVC-Big South), Utah Tech (UAC), UTRGV (Southland), and West Georgia (UAC). The list could change as schedules are finalized.

Every FBS conference is slated to face at least one FCS program and 10 FBS teams are not scheduled to play against an FCS opponent in 2025: Colorado (Big 12), Michigan (Big Ten), Notre Dame (Independent), Sam Houston State (C-USA), Stanford (ACC), Texas (SEC), Tulane (American), UCLA (Big Ten), USC (Big Ten), and Wisconsin (Big Ten). That number could change as schedules are finalized for the 2025 season.

Above is from Fear the FCS - 2025 FCS Versus FBS Matchups

I'm in no position yet to formulate any opinions as I haven't looked in-depth at the transfer portal moves. The spring portal movements are significant and I'm just letting the dust settle on all the moves until I see who is gone or who is new.

Last year was disappointing in that only 6 FCS teams pulled upsets. I had thought there could be as many as 10-12 last summer I believe. There were some very close calls:

ACU failed on a 2pt play in OT to lose to Texas Tech by 1

UCA lost with :03 on a Central Arkansas TD catch that was actually incomplete, but the TD was upheld

UTC only lost by 3 at Georgia State although it didn't really feel like they were capable of winning it

Gardner Webb was up 20-3 3Q on Charlotte, but then trailed 20-27. GW scored TD in the final minute, but went for 2 and failed to lose by 1. (GW +41 ttl yards). Previously GW only lost to JMU 6-13 (GW only -16 ttl yards).

NDSU led CU 20-17 at HT and only lost by 5 (NDSU -55 ttl yards)

Tennessee Tech was down 0-21, but led 25-24 with 1:06 left, before MTSU scored TD with :16 for the win

That is 6 more that the FCS could've got. Although in fairness, Southern Utah's win at UTEP was possible because UTEP missed two FGs at the end of regulation and in OT. And FIU fumbled just before crossing the goal line going into the EZ trailing by 3 with just :32 left in the game. So a couple lucky wins there perhaps.

s--k · Apr 18, 2025

I haven't watched the NFL draft in many years. I do have interest now in seeing what FCS guys get picked. This article was pretty good documenting the decline in FCS draft picks the last several years with the transfer portal being the primary factor. OL is still an area that FCS prospects are still getting drafted at the same rate.

“I am not saying this because I coached the O-line for a lot of years,” Ferrante said, “but I believe the reason the offensive line position has stayed is because the guys that play O-line are probably the most loyal guys that play the game. They don’t care as much about the ‘headlines’ and don’t have the same level of ‘ego’ that other positional players have.”

Said Polasek: “Most FCS offensive linemen are lacking something when they are high school sophomores, and that is who the P4’s (FBS Power Four conferences) are recruiting. They lack either strength, height and/or weight. Their confidence grows with success, and that takes time for process and potential to come together.”

FCS OL prospects will be the first off the board from the subdivision next week, 4 of the top 5 likely FCS draft picks are expected to be OL.

How Can FCS College Football Stop Its Steep Decline in NFL Draft Picks? | Opta Analyst

The drop in FCS NFL Draft selections is 34 percent this decade. Here’s why it’s happening and whether the decline can be changed.

theanalyst.com

s--k · Apr 26, 2025

Only 8 strictly FCS players drafted. There were 15 total if you count those that transferred up and spent just 1 year at FBS, which a lot of people in FCS media count as an FCS draft pick if they spent 2023 at FCS and 2024 at FBS. They do not however count players who spent multiple years at FBS after transferring up (like Cam Ward or Travis Hunter).

I don't like counting guys who played their final year at FBS after transferring up, personally I think only pure FCS non-transfer picks should count.

The 8 strictly FCS players:

Rd 1 - Zabel OL NDSU
Rd 3 - Grant OL W&M
Rd 4 - Walker DE UCA
Rd 5 - Vinson OL Ala AM
Rd 5 - Slater OL SacSt
Rd 6 - Mellot QB MSU
Rd 6 - Miller QB NDSU
Rd 7 - Bergen WR-AP Mont

Now everyone else gets their shots at camp invites and free agent deals. Makes preseason a little more interesting to see how some guys do and who makes the cuts. And interesting that the Raiders selected both Mellot and Miller (the two legendary QBs at their respective programs who faced off vs eachother in the Championship game this past January).

s--k · Apr 26, 2025

s--k said:
By my count the FCS ATS vs FBS 2024 59-60-2 on closing offshore lines that I recorded from maddux sports. That record includes two FCS teams that were favored over the FBS (Montana State -13 at NewMex (no cover) and UT Martin -1.5 at Kennesaw (cover)). I may dig into these numbers further detail.

I did dig in further to 2024:

FCS vs ACC -- 9-6-1 ATS, 9-7 Over on closing line
FCS vs Big 10 -- 6-7 ATS, 10-3 Under
FCS vs Big Xll -- 9-5 ATS, 7-7 Totals
FCS vs Pac-2 -- 1-1 ATS, 1-1 Totals
FCS vs SEC -- 3-11-1 ATS, 11-3-1 Over

FCS vs P4 competition 28-30-2 ATS
Overs FCS vs P4 31-28-1 (13 shutouts)

FCS vs AAC -- 5-8 ATS, 8-5 Under
FCS vs CUSA -- 6-2 ATS (3 outright FCS wins), 5-3 Under
FCS vs MAC -- 4-7 ATS (1 outright FCS win), 6-5 Under
FCS vs MWC -- 8-5 ATS (2 outright FCS wins), 8-5 Over
FCS vs Sun Belt -- 7-6 ATS, 9-3-1 Under
FCS vs Independent -- 1-2 ATS, 2-1 Over

FCS vs G5 + Ind competition 31-30 ATS
Overs FCS vs G5 + Ind 26-34-1 (4 shutouts)

7 of the FCS 9 covers vs ACC came by 3 pts or less. The 9 covers the FCS had vs the Big Xll came by an average of 11.27. 3 of the 6 FCS covers vs the Big 10 were by 2.5 pts or less.

SEC not only dominated their FCS opponents last year to the 11-3-1 record, but when they covered they did so by an average of 13.86 ppg, it would be higher but dominent wins by Bama vs Mercer, UK vs Murray, Mizzou vs Murray and SC vs Wofford skew the overall spread margin of victory down due to the high spreads in those games (avg margin of victory 45.5 in those 4, but avg cover in those by just 1.25). 7 of the 11 covered by more than a TD and 6 of 11 covered by 19.5 or more. The 3 FCS teams that covered vs SEC did so by 13ppg, which is aided by Nicholls 23.5 pt cover vs LSU. The other two FCS covers vs SEC in McNeese and Tenn Tech were by 5.5 and 10 respectively in which they did so despite being shutout in the first halfs of both those games.

There were also 11 Overs in the SEC vs FCS games and of those 11 Overs, 7 SEC teams got the game Over themselves. 4 of the 15 games were shutouts.

All told of the 31 Overs in FCS v P4 games, 14 P4 teams got the Over themselves (and 7 of those 14 were SEC). In the G5 games there were 26 Overs, but only 6 of those teams got the game total themselves.

Further on totals, the Big 10 was opposite the SEC in that 10 of their 13 games went Under with 5 shutouts. Counting 1H and 2Hs seperately, Big 10 teams shutout their FCS opponents in 17 of the 26 total halves. 5 of these 13 games were shutouts.

s--k · Apr 26, 2025

William & Mary to join the Patriot League for football in 2026. This is on the heels of Richmond also leaving the CAA for the Patriot League (this year). CAA lost Delaware to the FBS this year. Only 5 of the original CAA teams remain. Adding MEAC teams and the likes of Bryant to bolster the conference hasn't sat well with the powers that be. Will be interesting to see who else is moving somewhere. Hampton and NC A&T should move back the MEAC where they belong with their other HBCU rivals which would make the MEAC better as well.

steponaduck · Apr 27, 2025

6 FBS + FCS games did not complete 55 minutes so therefore the ATS and o/u were not paid out by most places, and should be omitted from record keeping for that reason. The action would have been voided.

Wonderful work this offseason brother.

s--k · Apr 27, 2025

steponaduck said:
6 FBS + FCS games did not complete 55 minutes so therefore the ATS and o/u were not paid out by most places, and should be omitted from record keeping for that reason. The action would have been voided.

Wonderful work this offseason brother.

Thank you, I'm not aware which ones those are

steponaduck · Apr 27, 2025

Just off hand without researching

Northwestern state vs south ala
Ark pB vs Arkansas

We’re two of the 6

s--k · May 2, 2025

7 FCS players taken in CFL draft

Rd 1 - White WR Montana
Rd 2 - Harris DL Montana
Rd 2 - Vaughn TE North Dakota
Rd 3 - Vibert OL SDSU
Rd 5 - Corcoran WR UNH
Rd 6 - Choquette RB LIU
Rd 8 - King DB TxAM Com (now East Tx AM)

Post-draft FCS player CFL UDFA and camp invites:

Artopoeus QB UTC (Winnepeg)
Collins OL EKU (Saskatchewan)
Haney DB San Diego (Hamilton)
Hastings QB UC Davis (Ottawa)
CJ Hutton WR UC Davis (Edmonton)
Jones DB NCCU (BC)
Marotta OL Albany (Edmonton)
Munlin OL EKU (Montreal)
Poncius OL NDSU (Montreal)
Smith DB Nicholls (Hamilton)

Post-draft FCS player NFL UDFA and camp invites (via FCS Central SI.com)

UDFA Contracts: 62
Minicamp Invites: 92
UPDATED: 5:00 p.m. CT (May 1)

Undrafted Free Agent Signings:

Player	NFL Team
Abilene Christian WR Blayne Taylor	Indianapolis Colts
Alabama State/Western Kentucky Kisean Johnson	Baltimore Ravens
Cal Poly EDGE Elijah Ponder	New England Patriots
Campbell/UNLV Hajj-Malik Williams	Las Vegas Raiders
Central Arkansas RB ShunDerrick Powell	Philadelphia Eagles
Central Arkansas DB Tamuarion Wilson	Buffalo Bills
Chattanooga/Cincinnati WR Jamoi Mayes	Cincinnati Bengals
Chattanooga DB Reuben Lowery	Baltimore Ravens
Delaware RB Marcus Yarns	New Orleans Saints
Delaware DB Tyron Herring	Green Bay Packers
Delaware State RB Jaden Sutton	Washington Commanders
East Texas A&M/Texas State CB Jordan Polk	New England Patriots
Eastern Kentucky DB Mike Smith Jr.	Dallas Cowboys
Eastern Washington WR Efton Chism III	New England Patriots
Elon WR Chandler Brayboy	Jacksonville Jaguars
Elon RB Rushawn Baker	New York Giants
Florida A&M DB Kendall Bohler	Denver Broncos
Gardner-Webb WR Jordan Bly	New York Giants
Harvard/Virginia TE Tyler Neville	Dallas Cowboys
Idaho DB Tommy McCormick	New York Giants
Illinois State DE Jalan Gaines	Seattle Seahawks
Illinois State DB Keondre Jackson	Baltimore Ravens
Jackson State/FAU DL Devonta Davis	Indianapolis Colts
Jackson State DB Robert McDaniel	Washington Commanders
Maine/FAU DB Kahzir Brown	Green Bay Packers
Merrimack OL Cole Birdow	New England Patriots
Merrimack/Old Dominion TE Pat Conroy	Las Vegas Raiders
Missouri State RB Jacardia Wright	Seattle Seahawks
Monmouth/Rutgers WR Dymere Miller	New York Jets
Monmouth RB Sone Ntoh	Baltimore Ravens
Montana DE Hayden Harris	Buffalo Bills
Montana State/California OL Rush Reimer	Buffalo Bills
Montana State/Washington DT Sebastian Valdez	Washington Commanders
New Hampshire/Minnesota QB Max Brosmer	Minnesota Vikings
New Hampshire DB Wande Owens	Buffalo Bills
North Carolina A&T OL Jason Ivey	Cleveland Browns
North Carolina Central WR Joaquin Davis	Denver Broncos
North Carolina Central/South Carolina OL Torricelli Simpkins	New Orleans Saints
North Dakota/Kansas State OL Easton Kilty	New Orleans Saints
North Dakota State DL Eli Mostaert	Jacksonville Jaguars
North Dakota State OL Mason Miller	Detroit Lions
North Dakota State LB Nick Kubitz	Atlanta Falcons
Northern Iowa OL Jared Penning	Baltimore Ravens
Northern Iowa DB Robbie Peterson Jr.	Chicago Bears
San Diego WR Ja'seem Reed	Cleveland Browns
South Carolina State LB Aaron Smith	Philadelphia Eagles
South Dakota TE JJ Galbreath	Pittsburgh Steelers
South Dakota DB Mike Reid	Carolina Panthers
South Dakota State RB Amar Johnson	Green Bay Packers
South Dakota State DB Dalys Beanum	New Orleans Saints
Southeastern Louisiana OLB Warren Peeples	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Southern Illinois/Wake Forest LB Branson Combs	Jacksonville Jaguars
Stephen F. Austin DB Bruce Harmon	Dallas Cowboys
Stephen F. Austin RB Qualon Jones	Kansas City Chiefs
Tarleton State WR Darius Cooper	Philadelphia Eagles
Tarleton State/Nevada WR Jaden Smith	Green Bay Packers
Towson TE Carter Runyon	Las Vegas Raiders
UAlbany OL Ozzie Hutchinson	Baltimore Ravens
UC Davis RB Lan Larison	New England Patriots
UT Martin DL Christian Dowell	Denver Broncos
Villanova CB Isas Waxter	Seattle Seahawks
Youngstown State OL Jaison Williams	New York Giants

Rookie Minicamp Invites:

Player	NFL Teams
Brown QB Jake Willcox	New England Patriots
Brown TE Mark Mahoney	Miami Dolphins/Kansas City Chiefs
Bryant WR Landon Ruggieri	New York Giants
Campbell DB Isaiah Greene	Philadelphia Eagles/Chicago Bears
Central Arkansas RB Darius Hale	Kansas City Chiefs
Chattanooga DL Marlon Taylor	Atlanta Falcons
Colgate OL Bardhyl Gashi	Indianapolis Colts
Colgate/Notre Dame RB Max Hurleman	Pittsburgh Steelers
Cornell/Akron DB Paul Lewis III	Minnesota Vikings
Dartmouth/UMass LB Macklin Ayers	Cleveland Browns
Delaware OL Blaise Sparks	Kansas City Chiefs
Delaware WR Phil Lutz	New England Patriots
Duquesne P Kyle Romenick	Buffalo Bills
East Texas A&M DB Kendall Paul	Las Vegas Raiders
Eastern Illinois OL Sebastian Pares	Chicago Bears
Eastern Kentucky RB Joshua Carter	Buffalo Bills
Elon QB Matthew Downing	Chicago Bears
Elon OL Kevin Burkett	New York Jets
ETSU/UCF DB Sheldon Arnold II	Kansas City Chiefs
Fordham EDGE Matt Jaworski	Seattle Seahawks/Buffalo Bills/Los Angeles Chargers
Gardner-Webb/West Virginia LB Ty French	San Franciso 49ers
Grambling State QB Myles Crawley	New York Giants
Harvard/Memphis LB Matt Hudson	Cleveland Browns
Harvard/Louisville DT Thor Griffith	Seattle Seahawks
Holy Cross/James Madison LB Jacob Dobbs	Baltimore Ravens
Holy Cross/James Madison DB Terrence Spence	New York Giants
Howard DB Robert Jones	Kansas City Chiefs/Minnesota Vikings/Indianapolis Colts
Howard DB Xavier Robiou	Washington Commanders
Jackson State RB Irv Mulligan	New York Giants
Jackson State EDGE Phillip Webb	Miami Dolphins
Lafayette DB Saiku White	Denver Broncos
Lamar RB Khalan Griffin	Las Vegas Raiders
Lamar WR Sevonne Rhea	Carolina Panthers
Lindenwood OL Cameron Cooper	Denver Broncos
Lindenwood OL Gareth Warren	Pittsburgh Steelers
Long Island WR Michael Love	Indianapolis Colts/Seattle Seahawks
Maine WR Montigo Moss	Minnesota Vikings
Mercer DB Myles Redding	Baltimore Ravens
Mercer DB TJ Moore	New York Giants
Monmouth DB Irekefe Oweh	Carolina Panthers
Montana OL Brandon Casey	Seattle Seahawks
Montana RB Nick Ostmo	San Francisco 49ers
Montana State DE Brody Grebe	Minnesota Vikings
Montana State OL Marcus Wehr	Seattle Seahawks
Montana State P Brendan Hall	Green Bay Packers
Morgan State DL Elijah Williams	Minnesota Vikings
New Hampshire OL Dylan Poirier	New York Giants
New Hampshire WR Logan Tomlinson	Baltimore Ravens
New Hampshire QB Seth Morgan	Pittsburgh Steelers
North Alabama WR Logan Collier	Buffalo Bills
North Carolina Central WR Joaquin Davis	Denver Broncos
North Carolina Central DL Quantez Mansfield	Minnesota Vikings
North Dakota WR Bo Belquist	San Francisco 49ers
North Dakota DB Devin Hembry	Kansas City Chiefs
Northern Arizona TE Bryzai White	Denver Broncos/Seattle Seahawks
Penn DB Shiloh Means	Indianapolis Colts
Portland State RB Christian Grubb	Chicago Bears
Portland State DB Tyreese Shakir	Seattle Seahawks
Princeton QB Blake Stenstrom	Denver Broncos
Rhode Island DB Braden Price	Miami Dolphins
Rhode Island LS Donato Crisanti	New York Jets
Rhode Island WR Tommy Smith	Pittsburgh Steelers
Robert Morris DB Robert Carter	Baltimore Ravens
Samford LB Noah Martin	Buffalo Bills
SEMO QB Paxton DeLaurent	Kansas City Chiefs
South Carolina State TE Keshawn Toney	Cleveland Browns
South Dakota OL Joey Lombard	Kansas City Chiefs
South Dakota RB Travis Theis	Denver Broncos
South Dakota DL Nick Gaes	New York Giants
South Dakota State LB Adam Bock	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Southeastern Louisiana DB Keydrain Calligan	Indianapolis Colts
Southern Illinois DB Iverson Brown	Cleveland Browns
Southern Utah OL Lyle Santos	Las Vegas Raiders
Stephen F. Austin DB Jeremiah Walker	Chicago Bears
Stephen F. Austin DB Trashawn Adams	Minnesota Vikings
Tarleton State RB Kayvon Britten	Las Vegas Raiders
Tarleton State OL Tuli Teuhema	New England Patriots
Towson LB Nchabanu Fortaboh	Baltimore Ravens
UAlbany/Arkansas EDGE Anton Juncaj	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
UAlbany WR Seven McGee	Atlanta Falcons
UC Davis DL Evan Bearden	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
UC Davis DL Zach Kennedy	Denver Broncos
UT Martin LB Tevin Shipp	Indianapolis Colts/Seattle Seahawks
Villanova LB Brendan Bell	New Orleans Saints
Villanova DL Chuck Smith	Kansas City Chiefs
Villanova QB Connor Watkins	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Villanova WR Jaaron Hayek	Kansas City Chiefs
William & Mary WR Hollis Mathis	Pittsburgh Steelers
William & Mary/Wisconsin LB John Pius	Cleveland Browns
William & Mary WR Matthew Akuchie	Indianapolis Colts
William & Mary DB Marcus Barnes	Cincinnati Bengals
Wofford DL Anthonie Lattany	Indianapolis Colts

2025 FCS Football Undrafted Rookies Tracker

Where are all the undrafted FCS stars headed?

www.si.com

Sam Herder Hero Sports also has a list which I assume is the same

2025 FCS Undrafted Rookies Tracker

Thirteen FCS players were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. And many, many more will get an NFL opportunity after the draft ends.

herosports.com

steponaduck · May 10, 2025

The gap between these two levels is certainly widening, but there are still a few teams capable of pulling off an FCS upset in 2025. WIll really have to dive into the rosters of these teams and make sure you know what these teams are going to look like. This is predominantly important at the G5 and FCS levels, and waiting for the phil steele magazine will be too late.

Shore up the rosters now, find reliable two-deep rosters, read everything you can pertaining to fall camp position battles, and be ready to fire away when lines get released. The first three weeks of 2025 will be as telling as I can ever recall for assessing FCS and G5 talent compared to the Power 4 ranks...could be a blood bath for these lower leagues early...

s--k · May 11, 2025

I’ve gone through the FCS to FBS transfers to date coupled with all the UDFA and FCS guys competing in pro leagues now. But that’s only 1/2 of it. Now I need to account for FBS to FCS transfers and FCS within FCS transfers. I’m pleased with how I’m doing this and the timetable I’m on. I learned last year that relying on Phil Steele was not good enough due to errors and the late release of his publication. I have my own 3-ring binder going, might not even buy the PS FCS product this year I was so displeased with it last year.

The biggest issue for me is I’m so far removed from FBS football that I think I will know the quality or lack thereof for the FCS programs while I will have essentially no knowledge or desire to learn the FBS programs.

So I’ll be playing admittedly with one hand behind my back in that sense.

s--k · May 11, 2025

Here’s my workbook. Highlight 1st, 2nd and Fr All Conference performers also noting AAs when they exist and mark up last years two-deep and stat charts with departures. Then combine with additions.

s--k · May 12, 2025

University of New Haven Joining The NEC
The FCS is getting a new member.

The University of New Haven, located in West Haven, Connecticut, has accepted a full membership invitation to join the Northeast Conference.

New Haven will be integrated into NEC athletic schedules beginning in the 2025-26 academic year with the exception of football. The timing of New Haven football’s addition to the conference schedule is still to be determined. The Chargers will attain full Division I membership in 2028-29 following the NCAA-mandated reclassification period.

The Chargers football team has gone 8-3 in the last three years and 10-2 in 2021, reaching the D2 playoffs four straight years.

If or when MB puts up Dll numbers early this season, message board chatter is that tons of New Haven players are in the portal and coaches have departed. Their QB cites "scheduling uncertainties" for entering the portal:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1921669279579078966

s--k · May 12, 2025

Tracking the impact Dll and Dll transfers to FCS is a big challenge. See some occasional "lists" or groupings online, but also see they are missing a lot of players who announced transfers. Players like Mercer adding 1000y WR Adonis McDaniel from Lenoir-Rhyne or Tarleton adding some good Dll guys in WR Mekhi Gibson Kutztown and LB Yasir Homes from Frostberg St and DB Mike Hookfin from SE Okla St. Wish there was a go-to list for lower division guys moving to FCS, proven guys at a lower level where you know what they capable of with numbers and highlights vs some FBS guys who have never played. Almost just have to go team-by-team and look at their signees and note the potential impact guys to watch.

s--k · May 20, 2025

The go-to lists for tracking transfers within FCS, from FCS into FBS and from FBS into FCS from two leading sources for FCS coverage, Sam Herder's Hero Sports and Zach McKinnell's FCS Football Central. They are duplicating some of eachother's work. Although they are not competing personalities and instead make appearances on eachother's media platforms.

Sam Herder's transfer trackers:

FCS within FCS

2025 FCS-to-FCS Transfers

The transfer portal is off and running with plenty of players looking to find a new home in 2025. Here are the FCS-to-FCS transfers.

herosports.com

FCS to FBS

2025 FCS-to-FBS Transfers

The transfer portal is off and running with plenty of players looking to find a new home. Here are the 2025 FCS-to-FBS transfers.

herosports.com

FBS to FCS

2025 FBS-to-FCS Transfers

The transfer portal is off and running with plenty of players looking to find a new home in 2025. Here are the 2025 FBS-to-FCS transfers.

herosports.com

Zach McKinnell's transfer trackers:
FCS within FCS

2025 FCS-To-FCS Football Transfer Tracker

An updated tracker of all the FCS-to-FCS transfers this offseason

www.si.com

FCS to FBS

2025 FCS-To-FBS Football Transfer Tracker

Which former FCS stars are headed to the FBS level?

www.si.com

FBS to FCS

2025 FBS-To-FCS Football Transfer Tracker

An updated tracker of all the FBS-to-FCS transfers this offseason

www.si.com

These were updated once a week or so, but it looks like Zach may've fallen behind a bit. I've been using Herder's list

s--k · May 20, 2025

Ranking the top 20 portal classes (Timothy Rosario is McKinnell's partner at FCS Football Central and he brings a lot of substance to the topics). We are still missing a good way to document and track Dll transfers to FCS schools though

FCS Football: Top 20 Post-Spring Transfer Portal Classes

Which FCS teams dominated the transfer portal this offseason?

www.si.com

survive&advance · May 20, 2025

Any thoughts on Delaware and their first season in fbs? I’m tempted by u5.5 -160 rsw

s--k · May 20, 2025

survive&advance said:
Any thoughts on Delaware and their first season in fbs? I’m tempted by u5.5 -160 rsw

First things I wanted to check was their OL because they had FIVE Grad OL who returned last year! It was discussed that Brose was taking a RS after just 1 start last year, he was available to backup, but they were keeping him for this year was the talk. So he is back and has 40 career games played with 27 starts. And it appears they somehow only lost 3 of the 5 Grad Sr OL. Shupp is also on the 2025 online roster and he has over 40 games played and mid-30s starts. Assuming that is right they'd have those two along with O'Neal who got honorable mention All-CAA in his first year starting for 3 starters back on OL. Then they lose 2nd Tm AA Gringrich (39 starts), 2nd Tm CAA Anyanwu (31 starts in 50 games played) and Sparks who in 35 career starts was good enough to get a Chiefs camp invite. So while they do lose 3 big time OL, it appears they were able to manage the roster to also retain 3 key experienced starters for their first FBS year. To the naked eye just knowing they had 5 Grad Sr last year, the assumption would've been they were be wiped out. Then they look like they bring back all the top second team depth guys, so by the numbers they are better than expected on the OL.

Looks like they did a similar trick with other Sr and Grad WRs and TEs who are still on the 2025 spring roster, but they aren't impact players and the group was down last year from 2023. Their #1 WR was at rookie camp of the Patriots and they lose a disappointing Bermudez to Temple. I would have to assume they signed some transfers here because it is not a great looking group.

They have started three QBs for 3+ games the last two years. O'Connor was #1 the last two years...when healthy. He didn't make it past September last year. He's gone. Marker and Minicucci are back. Marker the better passer, Minicucci the runner. I wouldn't think either of those guys are good enough vs FBS teams.

And we know Yarns is in the NFL now, he was a really good RB. RB being somewhat easy to replace, he was a key player for them.

So on offense I would say the unexpected experience on OL might help them, but overall I don't think this offense would compete well vs CUSA teams.

They were basically just a good bully vs lesser FCS and CAA teams, vs better teams their games were close or they lost.

I'm not going to look into the defense much. They ran a 3-3-5 before, not sure if that is still their plan. The DL might be good enough to hold up, they lost their best, an honorable mention DE to UNC, but the rest of the starters and 2-deep are back and they are all vets. They return two good white LBs, but their best LB Davis transfered out to Temple. Their pass D wasn't anything special.

I don't know how good any of those CUSA teams are, but I would assume Under 5.5 would be good. Offense I would assume is going to be a problem. VS their 3 FCS playoff teams in 2024 they only averaged 20.3 ppg (just 9 at Richmond and 24 on URI and 28 on Nova). You could say that they were without their best QB in O'Connor in those games, but they are without him this year too. The two guys who filled in for O'Connor and played in those games are likely going to be the guys this year. Marker was just 21-of-43 vs Richmond and Richmond D is good, but figure he will struggle vs FBS teams.

survive&advance · May 21, 2025

s--k said:
First things I wanted to check was their OL because they had FIVE Grad OL who returned last year! It was discussed that Brose was taking a RS after just 1 start last year, he was available to backup, but they were keeping him for this year was the talk. So he is back and has 40 career games played with 27 starts. And it appears they somehow only lost 3 of the 5 Grad Sr OL. Shupp is also on the 2025 online roster and he has over 40 games played and mid-30s starts. Assuming that is right they'd have those two along with O'Neal who got honorable mention All-CAA in his first year starting for 3 starters back on OL. Then they lose 2nd Tm AA Gringrich (39 starts), 2nd Tm CAA Anyanwu (31 starts in 50 games played) and Sparks who in 35 career starts was good enough to get a Chiefs camp invite. So while they do lose 3 big time OL, it appears they were able to manage the roster to also retain 3 key experienced starters for their first FBS year. To the naked eye just knowing they had 5 Grad Sr last year, the assumption would've been they were be wiped out. Then they look like they bring back all the top second team depth guys, so by the numbers they are better than expected on the OL.

Looks like they did a similar trick with other Sr and Grad WRs and TEs who are still on the 2025 spring roster, but they aren't impact players and the group was down last year from 2023. Their #1 WR was at rookie camp of the Patriots and they lose a disappointing Bermudez to Temple. I would have to assume they signed some transfers here because it is not a great looking group.

They have started three QBs for 3+ games the last two years. O'Connor was #1 the last two years...when healthy. He didn't make it past September last year. He's gone. Marker and Minicucci are back. Marker the better passer, Minicucci the runner. I wouldn't think either of those guys are good enough vs FBS teams.

And we know Yarns is in the NFL now, he was a really good RB. RB being somewhat easy to replace, he was a key player for them.

So on offense I would say the unexpected experience on OL might help them, but overall I don't think this offense would compete well vs CUSA teams.

They were basically just a good bully vs lesser FCS and CAA teams, vs better teams their games were close or they lost.

I'm not going to look into the defense much. They ran a 3-3-5 before, not sure if that is still their plan. The DL might be good enough to hold up, they lost their best, an honorable mention DE to UNC, but the rest of the starters and 2-deep are back and they are all vets. They return two good white LBs, but their best LB Davis transfered out to Temple. Their pass D wasn't anything special.

I don't know how good any of those CUSA teams are, but I would assume Under 5.5 would be good. Offense I would assume is going to be a problem. VS their 3 FCS playoff teams in 2024 they only averaged 20.3 ppg (just 9 at Richmond and 24 on URI and 28 on Nova). You could say that they were without their best QB in O'Connor in those games, but they are without him this year too. The two guys who filled in for O'Connor and played in those games are likely going to be the guys this year. Marker was just 21-of-43 vs Richmond and Richmond D is good, but figure he will struggle vs FBS teams.

Thanks for the great writeup. Pretty much aligns with my thinking!

B.A.R. · May 22, 2025

survive&advance said:
Thanks for the great writeup. Pretty much aligns with my thinking!

You can't beat the content from s--k

I had forgotten about their move to fbs.

Good stuff guys!

s--k · May 22, 2025

I did not keep any notes on Missouri State so can't offer any insight on them.

s--k · Jun 14, 2025

Had a few weeks of regular life interrupt college football preparation. I look forward to resuming educating myself and sharing FCS football info again soon.

s--k · Jun 15, 2025

Was just a matter of time for Villanova to announce their departure from the CAA for membership in the Patriot League for 2026 following William & Mary and Richmond who have also moved to the Patriot (W&M in 2026, Richmond this 2025 season). CAA has now lost these three FCS power programs in addition to Delaware obviously who begins FBS play this season. Next year CAA will play without it's top 4 teams the league has had in recent years. From my perspective I am happy the CAA football membership has shrunk from it's bloated 16 teams because the gross unbalanced schedule within the league's 8 game conference schedule. Unless they make additions or suffer further defections, this brings the CAA to a still large, but more managable 12 team league next season. The Patriot has been bolstered in strength and growing from 7 to 10 teams in 2026.

s--k · Jun 15, 2025

Norfolk State, Michael Vick to face DeSean Jackson’s Delaware State in Philadelphia Eagles’ stadium

Norfolk State football will be heading to Philadelphia — and an NFL stadium — this fall.

The Spartans will face Delaware State on Oct. 30 at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, in what’s being billed as a “paradigm shift” for HBCU football.

“Today’s announcement represents a significant and historic milestone for our university and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference,” Norfolk State athletic director Melody Webb said. “A game of this magnitude deserves a national platform, and I would like to commend the Philadelphia Eagles for providing us with an amazing venue for this highly anticipated event. This matchup will highlight the talent and legacy of HBCU football.”

The nationally televised matchup, on a Thursday at 8 p.m., will mark the first meeting between two NFL legends-turned-head coaches — Norfolk State’s Michael Vick and Delaware State’s DeSean Jackson — in their debut seasons leading MEAC programs.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this historic moment and want to thank the Philadelphia Eagles, Norfolk State and Delaware State for their collaboration to make this happen,” Vick said in a statement. “This is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to play in a world-class venue on a world-class stage. Coach Jackson and I made so many unforgettable memories together at Lincoln Financial Field — this stadium holds special meaning in my NFL career.”

The game marks the first time either school has played at an NFL stadium. It’s also the first time the Eagles will host HBCU teams at Lincoln Financial Field in a regular-season setting. Tickets go on sale June 17 via Ticketmaster.

“We are thrilled to host two of the most prestigious HBCUs in the country,” said Frank Gumienny, the Eagles’ chief operating officer. “Led by first-year head coaches and all-time Eagles greats, DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick are blazing new trails in their respective careers that we are all so incredibly proud of. Lincoln Financial Field is excited to serve as the host venue for this highly anticipated HBCU matchup. We look forward to shining a much-deserved spotlight on the Delaware State and Norfolk State football programs.”

s--k · Jun 23, 2025

I have started to condense and apply all the offseason information for some previews on teams/conferences. Looks like it takes me a week to get to a point of sharing thoughts on a league with balancing everything else going on. So after this, I hope to have another by July 4th and so on. This is what I will be doing the rest of the summer which will be mostly alphabetical.

Big South / OVC (they are now officially going by OVC - Big South)

Charleston Southern - 1-11 (0-8) / 6-5-1 ATS
CSO was favored twice last year and lost both straight up (week 1 Citadel and week 6 W ILL). That means they were 6-3-1 ATS as a dog somewhat surprisingly. At the time they had what seemed like a big upset at Furman week 2, but we didn't know just how bad Furman would end up being. That upset was delivered by way of a +4 TO ratio when CSO had a -79 ttl yard deficit. On the flip side, CSO had +103 and +102 ttl yard edges in losses vs Tenn State and W ILL in back-to-back weeks. A majority of their games were close, 6 of the 11 vs FCS were decided by 5pts or less.

Offense was the primary problem for the Buccaneers. They ranked last in O ppg and ypg in both 2023 and 2024. They only topped 300 ttl yards in 4 games. 3rd down O was a huge issue, half their games they converted under 30%. The D saw some improvement going from the bottom of the pack '23 to mid pack '24 and they actually had some pretty good RZ D numbers keeping teams out of the EZ (only 25 TDs allowed on 52 opponent RZ trips.

For 2025 there could be some hopefulness on offense. Most of the staff enters year 4, but they bring in Seth Strickland a new OC from Dlll Anderson, but of note, he was on the South Carolina Gamecock staff in some capacity under Steve Spurrier and he reportedly will be bringing a high tempo O. Couple that with Dll Shepherd College transfer QB Powell. Shepherd typically has good QBs (Bagent with the Bears currently). Last year saw a Shepherd transfer land as the New Hampshire starting QB (which started well but ended poorly). Powell threw for 2088 69.6% with a 15-10 ratio last year. Both of the primary QBs used last year are gone. They do return Osbourne who played in just 1 game last year, but saw 6 games of action in '23 where he was a limited player (49.6% completions). For what it is worth rFr Echols was named most improved QB post-spring ball.

At RB they lose a 2nd Tm player, but bring back #2 Greenwade and he was most improved through spring. 2 of the top 3 WRs and 3 of top 4 are back plus their #1 TE. The OL has plenty of experience with all 5 who started 7+ games back (66 career starts).

As much as it looks like this offense could be in for some improvement, the defense might be in for the opposite. All the multi-game starters to the 3 man DL depart. LB has their #1 tkl'r back in Zayachowsky, but their 1st Tm LB is gone. The secondary has a lot of holes now with just 1 starter back and 4 other multi-game starters gone including a 2nd Tm CB.

When you are a bad offense like CSO, hopefully you have a good punter, they do. 2nd Tm AA Gilbert Brown is back. He's wearing the #1 jersey this year, so pretty much their best player!

Schedule is tough with 2 being vs Vandy and Coastal Car then week 3 is home opener vs Lindenwood.

Take away - could have improved O with new starting QB and system, the D is a conern and might slip some on that side.

Eastern Illinois 3-9 (2-6) / 3-8-1 ATS

Surprising dropoff for EIU who was a playoff bubble team following their 8-3 2023 season. Georgetown transfer Holley played well for them the last two years (5866y, 61% 36-20 ratio) and now he is gone leaving a huge hole to fill. They may be hanging their hopes on a former 3* and Wisconsin transfer LaCrue who saw no action in 2 years in Madison. There will be some capable receivers to throw to with 1st Tm Williams back and '23s best ypc guy in Smith who missed all of last year. The top 3 from 2024 in terms of receiving yards are back plus their top 2 TEs. The biggest lose in the receiving department is also a very significant loss at RB, 2x 1st Tm MJ Flowers has transferred and his impact was felt all over the field (caught 45 balls last year).

The OL returns 3 primary starters losing a 2nd Tm C and a RG. 6 of the top 10 from the final 2-deep does return.

Outside of QB and who replaces Flowers at RB - the D is going to be a huge question mark. In 2023 EIU actually had the #1 scoring D in the league (19.73 ppg). Last year they fell to 8 out of 9 allowing 32.58! The scoring O did drop by nearly a TD per game, but what happened on this D was surprising. No surprise that they have a new DC, promoting their Safeties coach. The work to improve this D looks challenging.

The DL loses all 4 primary starters including a 1st Tm NT - overall they are down 7 of their top 8 DL from the finale last year. They do return Van Hyfte who was hurt most of '24, he was their leading TFL man in '23. Two other DL who missed '24 after seeing PT in '23 will be relied upon immediately I assume (Jefferson and Silzer). Otherwise they turned to the JUCO and smaller college ranks to add numbers.

2023 1st Tm LB Tolbert only played the first 4 games last year and he now transferred out to Montana. Last year's top LB and 2nd Teamer is gone, but they do return their #2 guy. They do bring in a couple good looking LBs in the portal, Foster All SLC '23 from UIW and JUCO Nickson who was pretty productive in '23 as well. 4 of the final 5 starters at DB are gone. Anderson was a starter at CB earlier until injury, so they will have two CBs with starting expierence coupled with Houi who was thrown in the fire as a tFr to start the final 3 games. They have a former Morehead St CB who was 1st Tm Pioneer '23 in Lyons, he RS last year so he likely plays this year. The safety spots are pretty big questions. They bring in two starting Safeties from Pioneer League teams and a contributor from Miss Valley State. Not your go-to spots for quality players generally.

Overall only 4 of 2024's top 18 tacklers are back. They lose a good QB, really good RB and throw in that FG kicking was poor and they lose a 2nd Tm punter. It would look fairly rough on the surface for 2025.

The schedule is helpful. They get some equal-ish teams to open with and maybe try and get traction. Dayton, at Indiana State, Illinois State, bye, Western ILL and Tenn State. The MVFC games would seem to be sure losses, but the other 3, maybe they get 1 or 2 of those.

Take away - huge void at QB with no experience to turn to and the D could be poor again.

Gardner Webb 4-8 (3-5) / 5-7 ATS

This was a 2023 conference champion and playoff team, the coaching staff left as did much of the roster. They brought in Dll Tiffin HC Reisert who went 40-11 there and was named 3x COY. Started the year not all that bad. Lost the season opener at home to Wofford, which Wofford first half of last year was ok. Then GW followed that up with shocking close losses to James Madison (+36.5 lost by 7 only outgained by 16y) and Charlotte (+13.5 lost by 1 due to failed 2pt conv at end of game had 41y edge). They rolled Presbyterian and then lost themselves the next two weeks losing badly to eventual league co-champs (they were actually home fav vs Tenn Tech). Overall they were 4-1 ATS as dogs, but 1-6 as favs...only winning 2 of the 7 straight up in the fav role.

They lose their starting QB and backup, but they bring in Marshall QB Cole Pennington who started 3 in 2023). Yes he is the son of Chad Pennington. Otherwise is claim to fame would be a 15-20-201 perferomance vs Ga So and his 258 yards in the Liberty Bowl of '23. But he also had a 0-6 ratio that year. Played sparringly last year. So here he is. A little used Liberty transfer Hampton is also on the roster.

The rest of the pieces on O look pretty decent. Gone is the #1 RB but #2 Holmes is back who was nearly as good. They also have Gresock back who had 10 TDs last year. They lose a 1st Tm TE, but 3 of the top 4 WRs are back including #1 Lowe. 4 starting OL are back and they have 5 back overall who started atleast 4 games. They were a 24.5 ppg and a 360.75 ypg O last year.

The DL appears to be in good shape. 3 of 4 starters back and 6 of what I will call the top 8 based on a mid season depth chart (some of these teams do not produce depth charts each week, some do not evey produce game notes each week). They look down at LB with loss of 3 starters, however Jackson was injured after 8 games and he finished #7 tkl'r plus the 3 top reserves are back assuming they can step into bigger roles. As far as I can tell they only signed two transfer LBs from FBS/FCS so they may feel comfortable with what they have. Secondary looks the weakest in terms of returning players. 3 of top 4 CBs gone along with a starting and backup FS. They do return both SS guys with Rose who started 8 and McClain started the last 4. They bring in Laney from NC A&T who has 15 career starts and 27 games under his belt.

While their top 5 tacklers are gone, 7 of the next 8 are back.

The schedule is tough to start. Western Carolina especially with some questionable DBs will be tough and that is on the road then they travel to Georgia Tech. Home opener is The Citadel who was improved last year then they travel to the Ohio Bobcats before a late Sept bye. You'd hope they can win The Citadel game, stay health and prime for a conference run following the bye week.

Take away - Coach has strong Dll pedigree, O might click with improved QB play, D needs to fill a few key spots

Lindenwood - 5-7 (4-4) / 8-4 ATS

Lindenwood's first year of Dl football was 2022. Last year they improved from 3-7 and 1-5 in league play to 5-7 and 4-4. The O continued to improve the D was mostly still weak but also saw some occational improvement (like holding SEMO to just 12 pts and 2 of 13 on 3rd down!). They were good vs the 4 league co-champs going ATS beating SEMO and losing a narrow season finale in OT to UT Martin (a game that Martin needed to win).

They rushed for 180+ yards in 6 games including vs SEMO and Tenn State. The D performance vs SEMO was certainly noteworthy, but they still allowed over 400y 8x and allowed over 475y 6x. I must cite one misleading final they had vs Western Illinois where they were outgained by 141y, but W ILL ended the game with 3 straight fumbles from the L32, L14 and L11 and Lindenwood capped the scoring with a 93y run in the final minute for the cover.

QB Glanz and his 2333y, 59% and 17-11 ratio is back as is 1st Tm RB and league Fr O POY Hall who had 808y 7.3ypc and he really didn't get a ton of carriers in a few games as they figured out exactly who they had. The big hit is at WR with Jeff Caldwell transfering to Cincinnati. Caldwell had 53r-1032y and 11 of the 18 overall receiving TDs. The next 3 WRs combined caught for just 54r-996y. Caldwell was a stud for two years and replacing him will be tough, #2 WR gone too. #3, 4 and 5 WRs are back (combined for 36 receptions). They added a little used SEMO WR. Lose their top TE, but the next TE had similar production. How that receiving unit steps up will be big for this offense.

The OL is also a question now. 4 starters are gone including a 1st and 2nd Tm guy both of which had NFL undrafted free agent interest. Only 4 of 10 from the final depth chart returns to this OL.

When a D is weak you wonder if returning players matters as much. They do lose their top DE to SIU in the portal, 5 of top 8 from final depth chart are back. They also lose their top LB King who was 1st Tm. This unit appears in good shape though with the #2 and #3 LBs back and Edwards was injured after 5 but was still #7 tackler. In terms of quantity, most of the hole to fill exist in the secondary with 2 starters back, but the depth is really questionable. They added 4 former FBS DBS to address this.

As bad as Lindenwood typically is and has been on D, it is noteworthy that they saw 3 guys transfer to FBS and 3 other defenders transfer to 3 historically good FCS programs. And it suggests this D was bad and now their best players got plucked away, what now?

The schedule opens with 3 straight on the road with trips to Saint Thomas, App state and Charleston Southern before hosting Stony Brook and then a trip to Miami (Oh).

Take away - QB and RB back on O and that's about it - D almost alwasy bad and best players gone.

SEMO 9-4 (6-2) / 6-7 ATS

They opened the season 6-1 ATS and finished on an 0-6 ATS slide! They were 8-2 SU as fav, but only covered at 4-6 rate. For a playoff team one might not expect them to fail to cover vs weak teams like NW State, CSO, GW, Lindenwood and Western Illinois. They were -105 ttl yards week 3 hosting UT Martin, but rallied from 14 down in the 4th qrt and won in OT. But then in the playoffs they hosted Illinois State and the league O POY, the great Paxton DeLaurent threw 5 INTs and SEMO finished with 8 total turnovers so despite a +280 yard edge, they lost and DeLaurent's career went out with a dud.

DeLaurent was 3rd Tm AA and last year's backup is also gone. The '23 backup who filled in for an injured DeLaurent over the final 4 game does return after not playing last year. Heitert. His production outside of one game in '23 doesn't exactly instill confidence however.

The #1 WR in terms of catches, 2nd Tm Pedo is back, but they lose 3 of top 4 including a transfer to Clemson and an AA WR who is in the CFL currently.

OL looks down as they lose both their All Conf OL plus a starting LT. They have a total of 18 career starts returning and they do have 3 experienced backups who have combined for 32 games of action but 0 starts.

SEMO's offense has been such that the running game became nothing more than an afterthought. Brown rushed for 242y in the first 4 games last year with a couple strong outings (97y vs UNA and 124 vs SUI), he finished with just 310y. It was all on DeLaurent's arm. There is a new OC this year and given what they lost at QB and receiver and with Brown proving to be a capable runner when given the chance, I would assume they turn more to the ground. New OC is Holt who was coaching HS last year, but has been an OL coach at Georgia STate for two years and spent time as Western Carolina's OC '19-20.

The front 7 on D looks to be ok with 5 of top 6 back on DL, losing one to transfer to Vandy. The LB takes a big hit in losing #1 tlk'r and AA and D POY Norman and their #2 tkl'r gone too, but they do have 5 of the top 8 back including a 2nd Tm LB Casey. Concern in the secondary with 4 of top 5 gone including a 1st Tm SS who transferred to UC Davis. A 2nd Tm CB is back along with 3 top reserves. They added a couple transfers who have experience and likely will impact right away in VMI Summey (only 2 games '24, key contributor '22-23) and Grambling CB and #3 tkl'r Jones.

Sadly outstanding AA K Pippin has transferred to Ball State. In some games, as many as 6, SEMO was really bad in the RZ. It was not uncommon for them to be well below 50% TD scoring in the RZ. Pippin's leg will surely be missed.

Schedule is pretty tough at first glace. At Ark State, host North Alabama, at NDSU, host Southern Illinois (rivalry game), at UT Martin (won a share of 4 straight league titles). Week 6 bye. No idea on Ark State or UNA yet. NDSU is almost certainly a loss. SIU will be good I think. UTM should be down.

Take away - Heitert will need to be better than '23 assuming he's the guy, expect a different looking O this year...overall a hard team to estimate.

Tennessee State 9-4 (6-2) / 8-4-1 ATS

TSU's 2025 online roster is not properly updated so I did not do much of an analysis on them yet.

We do know that Eddie George left for Bowling Green in March. Not a great time to lose a coach. No shock, lots of players transfered out. The school appears to have made a solid hire in Reggie Barlow who was coaching the UFL's DC Defenders. He left and the remaining staff there went on to win the UFL championship. Some of that staff, like the OC, was supposed to follow to TSU after the season but now, that may be in doubt if he chooses to stay with the DC Defenders? One coach we know is here is DC Greg Williams, ah yes, you remember him? Yes the NFL DC Greg Williams.

Tennessee State's run to share the league title and playoff birth was rather improbable. This is a team that was held to just 246, 206 and 285 ttl yards vs Tenn Tech, CSO and Lindenwood! TTU is a great D, the other two...but then in their final 5 regulare season games the O found themselves and had 350+ in 4 of those 5 and the one they didn't was 347y.

They started 0-4-1 ATS, but finished on an 8-0 ATS run with 5 outright upset wins.

With extensive roster turnover not fully evaluated, I'll just jump to the schedule. Not bad really. Open with NC A&T at home, winnable. Host NDSU. Host Alabama A&M, winnable maybe. Week 3 bye.

Take away - too much unknown yet

I will resume this later tonight or tomorrow in the next post

s--k · Jun 23, 2025

Big South / OVC continued

Tennessee Tech 7-5 (6-2) / 8-4 ATS

Of the conference's 4 co-champs, TTU was the odd team out of the playoffs by virtue of tie-breakers. They were a pretty good team last year, but also one who lost to Western Illinois in a game in which TTU never led! A couple games got away out of conference too, like the season opener at MTSU when they rallied from down 0-21 to lead 25-24 with about a minute left, but MTSU went right down the field and scored TD with :16 left to win. TTU missed a would-be game winning FG as time expired vs SC State. Those close losses, they also had some close wins like trailing Charleston Southern 19-21 before prevailing 28-23 and then a 10-9 win at UTM where the Golden Eagles O only drove beyond the UTM 40 once all game.

Looking at the ATS record shows how streaky they were, opening 4-0, then 0-4 before closing on a 4-0 run.

Last year was Bobby Wilder's first year and year two looks very optimistic. Their starting QB Laible was injured week 1 and with Potts under center the offense didn't do much in several games. When Laible came back he didn't exactly light it up either. Potts is gone, Laible was supposed to be back, but I do not see him on the 2025 roster online. If Laible transfered out it is because TTU brought in Eastern Washington QB Kekoa Visperas who is a huge upgrade. EWU might've been a mess most of the time, but it is not because of Visperas' lack of talent or ability. 2171y passing 74% 17-3 ratio with 375y rushing and 9 TDs on the ground. This is a great addition. TTU was also supposed to have added former Weber State QB Richie Munoz who was also pretty good at times, but he is also not listed on the roster and he may've slipped out of town after seeing how the pecking order would be after spring concluded. [Edit Laible is not listed, Munoz is upon second look but they do not have him with the QBs just blank for position]

Visperas might not have the quality of WRs he is used to at EWU, but he will have the top two WRs from last year back plus they added a very good Robert Morris WR in Robinson and Tenn State's #3 WR. Also Dll's Tre Holloway should have an impact everywhere (53r-785-12 TD + has good special teams return skills) and they added 3rd Tm All Conf WR out of Washburn. So the group should have some good potential given the guy throwing the ball now.

They are down their #1 RB, but the reserves from last year could be just as good, plus they added Texas Southern's top RB and Murray State's #2. On OL the 1st Tm LT is gone along with the starting C, but they add a 2nd Tm C from EIU and a starting OT from Grambling.

This has been a defensive team for a couple years now and that should continue to be a good unit. They were #1 in the league in D ypg the last two years and last year they had the best scoring D (21.92 ppg). On the DL they are down 2 starters and 2 of their 3 All Conf players. 6 of the top 8 are back though and Gaines only started 2 despite being 2nd Tm. They added 3 rotational DL players from Alabama State who has a very good SWAC D. Lapierre is of note because he is credited with blocking 4 kicks!

The 1st Tm LB transfered to GT, but the #1 tackler Swafford is back as is part-time starter Crummie. They lose their 2nd Tm CB, but 9 of the top 10 are back in the secondary including their leader 1st Tm S Coutras. In the portal they added a Charleston Southern CB (17 career starts). TTU actually has a lot of portal additions building upon an already strong foundation. Overall 5 of their top 6 tacklers are back, 8 of the top 12 return although they do lose 4 of their 7 All Conf players who transferred to FBS.

Schedule is great. 3 straight home games vs Cumberland, Chattanooga and Davidson. 3-0 is possible if not likely (UTC could be down a notch) giving them some momentum and confidence heading into league play.

Take away - All this team needs is a good QB and they got one - D should remain among tops in the league. This is the favorite to win the conference.

UT Martin 9-5 (6-2) / 9-5 ATS

UT Martin has won a share of the league title 4 straight years although 2023 they weren't selected for the playoffs. Last year's team was +358 ttl yards in a dominating 1st round win at UHN, but then had to travel to Bozeman where they were -237 ttl yards in a blowout loss. Just showing where this team fit vs the field last year. They took care of business as a favorite, 8-3 ATS and was only upset once (the TTU game when they only had 185y and their only TD was a punt return score).

This season is going to be tough, they lose a TON and I'm not sure this veteran staff is as comfortable completely rebuilding the team literally at every position through the portal.

They lose a good starting QB and backup. Looks like they will be turning to Jace Bower this year who was at Sam Houston, but saw most of his action in 18 games at Central Michigan where he earned 10 starts. Last year at SHU he played in 7 as a reserve throwing for just 310y and 2 TDs.

Unfortunately the receiving unit will be entirely new, the top 8 receivers are gone (WRs, TEs, RBs). They added 3 FBS transfers from Akron, Northern ILL and Memphis). UTM always has good RBs, who that will be this year is unknown. Their #3 is back, but it could be Gentry from SHU who's played a bunch with a lot of all-purpose ability but he's never been 'the guy' or a JUCO could emerge.

9 of the top 10 OL from the final depth chart are gone including an AA and a 1st Teamer. The same 5 started every game. Tingley who earned 2nd Tm does return and the transfers come from WKU, MVSU, West Ga and JUCO. We will see what comes of this group.

Same story on the DL, top 7 are gone, losing an AA and another 1st Teamer. 5 of the top 7 LBs are gone. K Johnson (#13 tkl'r) and J Moore (#19 tkl'r) are back and they add starters from Hampton and Lamar.

The secondary is the best in terms of returning experience. 4 of 5 starters back including their 1st Tm CB McGoy. #4, 5, 8, 9 tacklers return here. The former DB coach Partridge has been promoted to DC to replace their former DC who left for UTEP. Partridge has DC experience at NAU and has also been a Dll HC.

The D only has 6 of their top 21tacklers back and 6 of their 7 All Conf guys are gone. The K and P are back, but a 3rd Tm AA returner is gone.

This opening schedule is brutal out the gate! At Oklahoma State, At UTEP, home vs Southern ILL, At Missouri State, home vs SEMO is the Sept slate. It lightens up in league play for sure, but just getting to that point could have an ugly W/L record and those are some tough opponents to have a new roster have to figure things out against.

Take away - Lost a TON of players and production, will be completely new at every position group except DB.

Western Illinois 4-8 (3-5) / 5-6 ATS

2024 was Western Illinois' first after coming over from the MVFC. An interesting stat ranking, they were 12th MVFC in D ppg (46.27 allowed) and D ypg (477.91 allowed) in 2023 playing in the MVFC and last year in the Big South / OVC they were also last in 9th allowing 43.42ppg and 492.75ypg. But they go from 0-11 in '23 to 4-8 '24. The reason is huge jump in the O. They went from only scoring 12.55 ppg in '23 (12th among MVFC teams) to 31st in '24 which was 2nd best among the Big South / OVC members. A nearly 200 ypg improvement equals the #1 overall ypg O in the league last year. Level of competition matters, or was it the coach (likely both).

W ILL had 3 upset wins (+13 beat CSO, +10 beat TTU and +7 beat GW). The offense was quite good led by QB Lamb and his 3332y passing, 65% and 21-8 ratio good enough to earn 2nd Tm honors - nothing short of one of the best seasons for a QB ever at W ILL. But he departs. It appears that former Dll Walsh QB Molk is next in line which I might be skeptical about, but we will see. He passed for 1962y with a 15-2 ratio there last year. Their AA #1 WR transfered to FBS, the top 2 are gone, but they do return everyone else and added Stetson's #2 WR (Stetson is a pass heavy team and occasionally put up some decent passing stats) so he might be a quality addition. No RB returns who had double digit carries last year. They add Saint Francis' #2 rusher who was #1 in attempts so he should be a good add.

The OL is down 4 full time starters including two 2nd Tm OL. They do return all 5 reserves. Banks-Wall was a starter before injury in week 2, so technically I could say that they return 2 who started the season as starters are back plus the reserves who will be expected to step up. They added a Wisconsin transfer who was a 4* out of HS but I don't think he every played for the Badgers.

They started 8 different DL, 5 return. They started 7 different LBs and they are all gone. The best experienced addition is a starting LB from Bethune-Cookman. 5 DBs who started are gone, they added 5 FBS/FCS DBs to compete with the 2 starters they do return. 6 of the top 7 tacklers are gone and 8 of the top 10 gone, but when you're this bad infusing some different players can't get much worse.

Maybe HC Joe Davis knows what he is doing, in year 1 the offense was terrific and his resume is pretty solid for offensive production and QB play. I'm sure the Walsh kid is excited to be working with him. Lamb went from JUCO to a record setting W ILL QB. It could be some other QB on the roster from last year, but they didn't appear to have much going for them and I don't see any other transfers at QB.

Schedule-wise they need to get past opening trips to Illinois and Northwestern. Last year they lost their opening season FBS games by a combined 18-138 score and then the D allowed 45+ pts in 6 of 9 FCS games. The home opener is Valpo which should be a good spot for them to feel good about themselves for a minute. Travel to Eastern Washington will be tough before returning home to face Eastern ILL which should be winnable. Coach Davis was on the Eastern ILL staff when they had their good 2023 season. EIU scored on 7 straight possessions vs them last year, it was far and away EIU's best game of the season vs W ILL last year. Clearly the D is a liability for the Leathernecks.

Take away - Can the O be close to as good as last year, the D appears it will be the worst again.

twinkie13 · Jun 29, 2025

The Hebrew Hammer Eli Friend from heralded Newman HS Uptown N.O. produces another QB.
This time headed Ivy League and coming to Princeton. His time comes soon I would think, but there is experience in front of him I believe

s--k · Jun 29, 2025

twinkie13 said:
The Hebrew Hammer Eli Friend from heralded Newman HS Uptown N.O. produces another QB.
This time headed Ivy League and coming to Princeton. His time comes soon I would think, but there is experience in front of him I believe

That is an awesome nickname!

I haven't got to look into the depth on Ivy teams yet regarding who is in front of who. Princeton really suffered from a big drop off in QB play last year. The two guys who played were basically horrible after having years of managed QB departures well, they finally failed resulting in the Ivy's worst 2024 offense. Any kind of new talent there should be welcomed and given a chance to play.

s--k · Jul 3, 2025

Big Sky

Cal Poly 3-8 (2-6) / 6-4 ATS

CP was 1-1 ATS in a fav role with a season opening loss at San Diego thanks to throwing 2 pick-sixes (SD did outgain them by 43y). CP 5-3 ATS as dogs with one upset vs Sac State when the Hornets were flushing their season (Sac St lost 5 games as a favorite over a 7 game span and CP was one of them). CP appears to have played a competitive game at Idaho, but Vandals led that one 34-16 with 3min left, but CP scored and then scored again on D to make the final 34-29. Beat Western Oregon by 17, but that game was tied 14-14 in the 3Q.

This year CP does return 3 of the 4 guys who started at QB with Kelly being the leader and Akins having some moments in his 2 starts. Jaden Jones was #4 rusher but he left program. They bring in a 6'6" QB Dieffenbach who transfers from Pitt where he didn't play. Was ranked #95 in state of California out of HS. Also add a smaller QB from Nevada who also didn't play last year, but put up good numbers at JUCO '23.

They lose their #1 HM Big Sky WR Woods, but have 4 of the top 6 receivers back plus their #2 and #3 TEs. Two FBS transfers who didn't play last year come in from Fresno and ODU and two small college transfers, including Okoro who is 6'4", he and Puga combined for 3000+y and 25 TDs combined in their previous lower level stops.

Timm Rosenbach was promoted from Co-OC/WR coach last year to OC/QB coach this year. This is the Timm Rosenbach that played at Washington State and was in the NFL for a bit. New pass game coordinator and WR coach this year too.

The running game was last in the Big Sky last year and 111th overall. Top RB is gone but is hardly worth mentioning. All 5 primary starters are gone from the OL including a FR AA Norton who transferred out to Michigan. A 3rd year Soph and part-time starter Delgatty is the top guy back. 4 of the top 5 reserves from last year are back and they add some JUCOs and a grad transfrer from Pratt ODU who I think started 1 career game. The experienced group couldn't open holes, not sure how this group will be better.

The O was bad in '23 and remained bad in '24. 11th of 12 teams in ppg and ypg. I might think the QB play and passing game could be improved this year with the experience and new coaching, but that OL is looking shaky and the running game isn't likely to produce much.

News on D is 1st Tm DE Ponder signed UDFA deal with New England. His 12.5 TFLs, 7 sacks and 14 QBH will be missed. 4 of the top 7 on the DL do return. 2 starting LBs are gone, but 5 of the top 7 are back. CB was extremely young last year, all rFr and their top CB transferred to Wazzou. The starting Safeties are back who were #1 and #3 tacklers, but depth is questionable.

The D ypg got slightly worse last year, but they moved up from ranked 9th ypg allowed 2023 to 6th even though teams gained 423 on avg vs them. Bigger change was going from 39.5 ppg allowed in '23 to 31.3 last year. CP did not play Montana State or Eastern Washington who were the top two scoring offenses in the Big Sky last year. Normally a TD+ improvement in ppg is good, here I don't think it is any kind of improvement really, just a matter of missing the two best offenses on the schedule.

Schedule - UNC drops off the schedule who was one of the 3 wins last year. CP normally sees San Diego week 1 or 2 and normally they win that game, just not last year. One might assume they win that game this year, they do have to travel there for the second straight year, and probably win vs Western Oregon in week 3 with a trip to Utah sandwiched in between. They likely will lose the next 5 games. Maybe they pick up a win in the last month of the season, but maybe not. 3 wins feels like the ceiling again and Paul Wulff might not be back for year 4. Wulff has not won more than 3 games here before and they rarely win at all on the road...Wulff is 1-10 away and CP has a 2-21 record away from home the last 4 years.

Take away - Weak team, 3 wins max again, significant departures on both sides of LOS

Eastern Washington - 4-8 (3-5) / 6-6 ATS

EW was 3-4 ATS as a dog only managing 1 upset win (Sac State who everyone beat). 3-2 ATS as a fav (and 3-2 SU in that role). EW mostly ran it up on bad teams, vs the FCS playoff teams they faced, Eagles went just 2-4 ATS and were outgained by atleast 75y in each (that includes the home loss to Drake).

The Montana game looked close, the Griz led by 17 in the 3Q and often by 10 in the 2H. EW recovered a surprise onside kick to steal a possession in which they scored on and they capped the scoring with a TD just :52 left to loes by only 3 (-150 ttl yards). EW played a respectable game vs Montana State, MSU scored late to stretch to 14 on a closing 17.5 number.

Aaron Best enters year 29 in Cheney as a player and coach, this will be his 9th as head coach. Other than affording the buyout and perhaps some blind loyalty, I really do not know what is keeping him employed here. A once perrenial power has now gone 3-8, 4-7 and 4-8 the last 3 seasons. There is a new OC who was TE coach the last 3 years and he's been on staff in some capacity for a dozen years. New OL, WR and LB coaches. The new TE coach is York who was a player just last year.

Losing Visperas at QB is pretty big loss on the surface. Jared Taylor should be good however. He's a dual threat, in fact rushed for 708y and 10 TDs last year while passing for 74.5% and a 6-1 ratio. He also started just 1 game in 2023 and '24 but has extensive playing time prior to EW when he was at JUCO. So I'm not sure it is a huge step down without Visperas, but it will certainly be different.

Different for one because of who is going to be catching balls. Gone is 1st Tm AA WR Chism who caught 120-1311-13TDs, his 120 catches were more than the next TEN receivers combined! He will be catching passes in the NFL now. There is limited production back at WR and especially TE. They added two FBS transfers who haven't played much or at all and do add a small college transfer at TE in Roberts.

Best has transitioning this team away from a pass-heavy one to a more physical running game. They lose #1 RB Altahir to Stanford, but #2 Dotson is plenty good and was the leading pass catcher out of the backfield. An ETSU transfer who played in '23 Dendy is added.

Biggest concern, huge concern is the OL. All 5 starters are gone this year and all 5 were 4th/5th year guys. 155 career starts across 6 players gone. 8 of the top 10 are gone. Hansen was an AA last year and two others were HM Big Sky. And not much in the way of transfers coming in to strength this unit. An NAU OL Berry, but he is just a Fr and a Snow College transfer was supposed to be here, but he isn't on the roster. Overall 13 of the 20 OL on the roster Fr or rFr and there are only two upperclassmen among them with a whopping 3 career starts of experience. Sounds like OL struggled in the spring which makes sense.

Another issue on O is the loss of AA All Purpose Wortham who is now at Montana. #5 rusher, #3 receiver, occasional QB thrower and 2nd Tm KR guy. As much as anyone might like Jared Taylor at QB, the supporting cast looks like it is going to limit what he can accomplish.

On D they do lose their two most productive DL, but 6 of the top 9 return. All 3 LB starters are gone (#3, 7 and 8 tacklers), but three top reserves return in Mayovsky and Anderson plus Misa who played as a rFr and was formerly at Boise. A Wyoming and Temple LB were added in the portal, Sunn has played in 42 career games, but only started once for Wyoming and the Temple guy Lepolo had 4 tkl's in '24.

Fr AA S Ganter transfered out to Boise and 3 of the top 5 S players are gone. Broussard is back and Jenkins started 3 last year. A little better at CB where they bring back HM Big Sky Wells and 3 of the top 5 are back overall. Two small college transfers here could impact, Lucas out of Western Colorado was 1st Tm RMAC '23 and HM '24 and O'Leary who was a JUCO AA.

On the schedule, they open on the road the first 3 weeks likely going 0-2 at UIW and Boise. At UNI is a maybe and hosting W ILL should be winnable, but W ILL got frisky at times last year. They do miss 2 of the 3 '24 playoff teams in NAU and UCD along with ISU. If they can open 2-2 maybe they can get to 5 or 6 wins. I have to think it really all comes down to how that OL plays.

Take away - QB in better hands than one would think, but the rest of the team is worse.

Idaho - 10-4 (6-2) / 6-8 ATS

Eck took this team to the playoffs 3 straight years. Great job. Always kind of felt that their offenses in big games should've been better and really it was the defense that often led them in those games. Eck is gone. They bring back Thomas Ford who was Oregon State RB coach the last 2 years, but he was on the Idaho offensive staff 2022/23 seasons. Matt Linehan was a record setting QB here and is now the OC (was also recently here during '22/23 as WR coach). DC has FBS coodinating experience.

Idaho was only 4-6 ATS as a favorite although they won all but one of those outright as they should have, the game they lost straight up was Davis were Idaho was +147 ttl yards, but lost. Were 2-2 ATS as dogs with the two FBS ones being the covers (and straight up in Laramie). Six of their games were decided by 7 pts or less. Vs Montana State in two games last year Vandals were outscored 90-26 and I forget exactly, I think the team heard the news that Eck was leaving at halftime Friday night of the second round playoff game...they were already trailing by 3 TDs in Bozeman anyway.

The offense really struggled last year and that was because the QBs dealt with so many injuries. The clear #1 QB Layne was injured late in the season opener at Oregon and that set back the entire O. Wagner and Josifek are more limited. Layne did return from injury, but now he has followed Eck to New Mexico. New HC has done something Eck never did, land a big transfer QB, Woods from Fresno was in although he did not participate in the spring he is expected to be the starter. He was used in packages for Fresno last year with the bowl game being his only spotlight game. He's a dual threat.

WRs Dwyer was 2nd Tm and Hamper was a Fr AA and both those guys are gone, the second year in a row Idaho loses some great receivers. #3 and #4 are back, but they have had limited impact so far. Top 3 TEs are gone including a 2nd Tm guy and a guy who trans to Cal. Two FBS TEs transfer in Fisher from Boise and Hoffman from Eastern Mich and at WR Montana State's #4 guy Alexander comes in, he was formerly an ASU/UW transfer.

The RB position is in good hands, #1 guy is gone, but #2-4 all return and they have all produced. The OL has benefitted from playing a lot of guys the last 2 years due to injuries. They lose starting LT and RT this year, 3 interior starters are back and 4 OL who started atleast 2 games are back. Their depth does take a hit with transfer losses though.

The biggest losses are on D. The top 6 tacklers are gone, 16 of the top 18 gone - only 3 of the top 21 tacklers return. Only 1 of Idaho's 8 All Conference awarded defenders returns.

6 of top 8 DL gone including an AA and HM Big Sky players. Krotzer and Sam Brown have been part-time starters who are back. 4 of the top 6 LBs are gone including a 1st Tm Big Sky and a Fr AA - King is back who was recognized as HM. 7 of 8 DBs are gone including AA S and 1st Tm CB - all 7 players who started last year in the secondary are gone. So total rebuild on D. 9 of the 15 incoming transfers I have seen are on D, so I'd assume a lot of those are going to contribute immediately out of necessity.

Schedule isn't too bad. Open at Washington State then host St Thomas and Utah State so they should be 2-1 before traveling to San Jose and Montana before their week 6 bye. Then they host Northern Colorado, at Eastern Wash and host Portland State the next 3. Pretty decent to be playing some of the weaker league teams as the Vandals figure out what they have and who they are. Maybe they are 5-3 at that point? The D is going to have to come together and the D is what led this team last year. But on the flip side if Woods is the real deal at QB that means an improved O should be in order. I might think Vandals aren't going to be as bad as it would seem given some of the staff and roster changes would normally suggest.

Take away - Manageable schedule, should be .500 or better through mid-season if QB hits, that D big ?

Idaho State 5-7 (3-5) / 5-6 ATS

Pretty decent improvement year 2 for Cody Hawkins going from 3-8 to 5-7 with O ppg jumping by 6.6 per game and yards about 50 per game. Even though there was slight statistical improvement, the D remained dreadful however...in week 12 Eastern Wash scored TDs on every possession of hte game scoring 77pts vs the Bengals! They gave up over 500y 4x vs FCS and allowed 37.8ppg and 467ypg (39.7 and 477 in 2023). 6 FCS teams ran for over 200y on them giving up over 5.5 ypc with some regularity.

After firing their DC, they made some exciting defensive staff hires. Grant Duff was Co-DC at Weber St the last 4 years and they hire Bobby Jay from rival Idaho to coach S and be the pass D coordinator. Jay was previously DC at San Diego when they were good (2018-22). Former Utah State and NFL DE Ricky Ali'ifua comes over from Snow to coach DL. Can these new coaches do anything with the players on hand to make the D better? Big questions.

I'll start with the D here. The DL loses 5 of the top 6, 15 of the teams 21 sacks are gone. George was very disruptive with 18.5 TFLs, not enough to garner any All Conference love, but Ohio State signed him out of the portal! 3 former Weber State transfers followed their coach here, the Childs brothers who were in rotation and Clyde was was on LDS mission. Two FBS DL, Berry from Tulsa (no action) and Hessler from UNLV who saw limited action there, but he was pretty good at JUCO '23 and '22. #1 tackler Reynolds is back at LB, but the units other two top tacklers are gone. Tuioti started in '23 finishing #4 tkl'r but was limited to just 3 games last year. The rest of the unit is rather unknown, they did add Davidson starting LB Willis who was their #6 tkl'r. They have played 5 DBs. #2 tkl'r Boone is back at one S spot and Boone was a part-time starter, but they lose 3 other starters at the S position. 2 primary CBs are gone, Richards started 4 and reserves Daniel and Brown are back. They added CB Gabe Tahir out of Boise who saw no action in 2 years there, but he is wearing the #1 jersey here if that is an indicator of potential. Hawkins said they have two other Big Sky DBs coming in but can't say their names until they officially enroll in school. Reynolds and Boone are good players and Tuioti should be good, everyone else...who knows.

ISU played two QBs often last year with Utah Tech transfer Kobe Tracy throwing for over 3000y and the running QB the last 2 years Hunter Hays coming in and doing his thing. Both are gone. They redshirted '23 starter Jordan Cooke who played good enough here 2 years ago to make ISU the #1 ncaa passing O (yards). Only problem was the 12-13 ratio. I'm assuming he reclaims his starting role, but another backup from last year Sharman is competing and they brought in a JUCO Gonzales who threw for 3157y '24. With Hawkins track record here, I will assume they get good QB play.

#1 WR is gone to FBS for the second straight year, this time 1st Tm Weimer goes to WVU and '23 and '24 #2 WR Fredrickson is gone now too. They do have #3-6 back who caught 130 balls and add Burton who started 3 at Baylor last year (9r-110y). UTEP transfer Gardere was hurt in the spring. Sounds like Hawkins feels good about this group though I'd assume it will be.

In Hawkins first year, they almost refused to run the ball. That changed some last year as they jumped from 221 total rush attempts to 334 last year. The running game is going to miss QB Hays doing his thing. The #1 RB is back and he is decent when given the chance. RBs don't catch much here and they do not list any TEs. A Fr transfer from San Jose Homan is in.

The OL could be the strength of this team actually. They only lose 1 full time starter and lose another part-time starter, but 9 are back who started last year. It is a veteran unit now with 10 OL being 3rd team Soph or upperclassmen. In fact 8 of the 11 letterwinners from the 2023 team are still here in 2025 and 4 OL will enter their 3rd year starting. They only allowed 10 sacks last year while attempting 43.5 passes per game. They went from last in the league allowing over 3 sacks per game 2023 to just .83 allowed last year, good enough for second best! Maybe that has something to do with who is at QB though...Cooke is back, so we'll see if he was part of the sack problem. But this OL should be a strength for them.

Don't normally mention the kickers, but ISU does lose a AA K to Ok State and their P was drafted by CFL.

ISU was 0-2 ATS as favs, upset once, but they were 5-4 ATS as dogs with 3 outright upsets of their own (vs SUU, Sac St and Weber). Sac St and Weber were a mess last year. SUU decided to go for it on 4th down 4x and they failed all 4 times, big reason why that game went the way it did. Montana State outgained them by 276y, but Cats actually needed a TD with :00 left to cover the 16.5 pt line and win by 20 (as MSU's first cover of the year in week 5). ISU played NAU very very tough and led in the 4Q.

Schedule isn't so good, they open at UNLV week 0 then at Southern Utah and at New Mexico before a week 3 bye. Lincoln (Ca) comes to town and a trip to Greely should be good to get things rolling. Then they play both Montana schools back-to-back before another bye week. Probably only winning 2-3 out of their first 7 games and 3 of their final 5 are pretty tough. Maybe they can get to 5 wins again this year? Will be a fun offense, have been since Hawkins came to town and the new defensive staff hires that come from the Big Sky with good resumes creates some optimism on that side of the ball, there is just a ton of improvement to be made there.

Take away - O should be good, D probably still won't be but this staff should get the most out of them. An unexpected upset or two very possible.

Montana 9-5 (5-3) / 3-11 ATS

Griz were upset 3x last year...at UND after UM led 24-7 HT then home vs Weber as 13.5 fav and home vs Davis as small HF. ATS record underscores what was a disappointing season vs expectations. They were 2-10 ATS as favs. 4 of their first 6 games were decided by one score and Griz went just 2-2 SU in those. Fortunate to play NAU without QB Pennington (NAU led 13-3 HT, UM won 31-20 scoring a late TD for final margin). Was a 3 game stretch of WCU, EW and Weber where Griz D allowed 477, 551 and 541 ttl yards. D did improve in second half of season, but schedule lightened up as well, but then oddly the O went MIA, like only scoring 24 total pts at UNC and being shutout in the 1H at PSU! But then MSU ran for 326 (6.3) on them and SDSU led 35-3 at one point in UM's exit from round 2 of the playoffs.

Both the O and the D left people stratching their heads at times. QB was a constant topic of conversation and controversy. Logan Fife was the best option, but seeing potential in the legacy Ah Yat, Fife was often taken out of the game or sometimes not given the start in favor of Ah Yat. Fife threw for 1890-63.5%-14-2 and rushed for 135y and transferred out to NM State. Ah Yat passed for 1121-59.2%-7-6 and rushed for 159y with 7 TDs on the ground. Jensen was brought in from USC where he played very little, but did play a lot in JUCO back in 2021. Fans fear a confusing rotation might happen again this season. Ah Yat has a couple of off seasons under his belt now, Jensen has 1 year left. The hope is that Ah Yat seizes the opportunity and Bobby doesn't screw it up. We will see.

There is a lot to replace at WR with the top FIVE departed (lose 196 receptions among those 5). Two rFr have a lot of hype in Bridges and Davis. Drew Deck is still around providing depth as he has the last few seaons. They also added the do-it-all Wortham from EW who is AA AP guy. Kennesaw's #1 receiver is in, Bohannon who has 21 starts there. ASU transfer Hendrix had no action '24, 3 games '23. At TE Shafer and Olsen only combined for 6 starts last year, but Shafer has 16 career starts and they added UCD TE Gale who had 16r-208-TD last year. If Bridges and Davis live up to the hype, then it should be a good group, but it is light on big time experience and proven production.

RB is full of big time experience and proven production thanks to 2023 Jerry Rice Award winner and 2024 2nd Tm Eli Gillman (1104y +15rush TDs last year, leading returning receiver). And RB is deep with Fonoti and Rocker being good reserves. They lose the #2 RB who had 769y, but those yards can easily be absorbed by the remaining guys.

OL does lose an AA RT and HM RG, but big offseason news was ncaa granted C Klimczak a 7th year which gives them 4 OL who started 3+ last year. They signed Matan (NC State) and Jemtegaad (Cal), but neither listed on the roster as of now. Added JUCO OL Bowen. Should be good starting unit, I'm not sure about the depth.

A lot of questions surround the D. Only 3 total starts return from the 2024 defense (LB Otlewski 2 and S Rausch 1). 7 of the top 8 DL are gone. Ramos is back with 19 tkl last year and Mata'afa had 3 TFLs. LBs lose 5 of top 6. Otlewski returns with 33 tkl last year. The top 2 CBs are gone as are the top 2 NBs. Top reserves Loud, Huff and Lawler are back. 3 of the top 4 gone at S too. Rausch had 29 tkl last year and returns.

There are a lot of incoming transfers on D. They added DE Peevy from USC but he has since retired. Also from USC is DE/LB Tuliaupupu who has 22 career tackles in 21 games played. They added 3 small college DL. Big LB addition is Tolbert from Eastern Illinois who was 1st Tm '22 and '23. He was limited to 4 games last year. They also added Portland State's #1 tackler Wing. An Air Force and Army LB transfer are in too. At DB Harper formerly of BYU is the key signee. He has 15 career starts and 98 tkl's but has an injury history. Wilson was a reserve DB at Idaho and 2 small college transfer are in.

What returns and considering what they bring in, DL is the biggest issue and it wasn't great last year either as they struggled to replace the fantastic Alex Gubner inside. Gubner might be on staff this year in some capacity. There if hopefullness that DB is ok and LB looks pretty good, but DL is a question for sure.

Some new names will be sought to replace Bergen's terrific kick and punt return skills. K/P is back.

Hauck enters 14th season overall as Montana HC. There is a new OL coach. I think they would've benefitted from a new QB coach to help bring Ah Yat along, but it is still Pease at OC/QB cch. Pease was the OC when Keall'l Ah Yat's Dad was QB and played for a national championship in 1996.

Schedule is fairly good. They start play in week 2 meaning they 12 straight weeks with no bye. Other than that it is fairly good. They miss NAU and UCD along with UNC. 4 straight at home to open with 4-0 realisitic. North Dakota might be tough and Idaho won't be easy. They then play 3 games one would assume they win, at Idaho St, host CP and host Sacred Heart. If it goes perfect 7-0 is in the cards, but it probably won't go perfect. And then it is at Sac State, at Weber, vs EW, at PSU, host MSU. The 2025 team definitely needs to improve from last year, very inconsistent with some horrible games on O and D throughout the season.

Take away - O needs to click out the gate in case D needs time to gel, high ceiling, must be better than last year on both sides of ball.

s--k · Jul 3, 2025

Big Sky continued

Montana State 15-1 (8-0) / 10-6 ATS

QB –Tommy Mallot was a 4 year starter and could end up with a statue outside the stadium someday. Replacing him falls to what is expected to be a split between backup rSo Chance Wilson (10-23-141-0-0, 65y rushing 2 TDs ’24) and incoming 5th year Stanford transfer Justin Lamson (1 start ’24, 3 starts ’23…8 rushing TDs last year – 2 years at Syracuse prior with no action). Vigen recruited Lamson out of HS. Some think it could be similar to the Mellot/Chambers system that Vigen employed during the ’22 and ’23 seasons (Chambers is on staff as an analyst). Exactly what we get here is a bit of a guess. Wilson is very athletic, but hasn’t played when it counts and Lamson was a sub-50% passer in his time at Stanford. Lamson was not here for spring. rSo Patrick Duchien has been in the mix as well during spring.

WR/TE – #1 WR in yards (597) and TDs (11) Taco Dowler is back, the next 4 receivers are gone however. They called Jones an FB, but he was more of a pass catching H-Back and he transferred out to Arkansas, he will be missed and not sure who they have for that role this year. TE should be ok with top reserves Schlepp and Provience back as both played in every game but 1 or 2. King has started 3 and Trimble could have a bigger role. They did add Chris Long from Rutgers who has 8 starts in 32 career games 28r-391y-2TDs in 3 years. MSU’s bread and butter is going to be running, but when they do pass this looks like it should be a capable group.

RB – AA Humphrey is gone to New Mexico, but the RB position is incredibly deep with returnees Fr AA Adam Jones (1172y 14 TDs), Coon, White and Julius Davis who was limited to just 4 games last year (227y 3 TDs) but in ’23 he was 2nd Tm Big Sky with 718y 8 TDs. Coon and White were the only RBs to play in the spring and they combined for 231y. This is probably the best and deepest RB unit in the country.

OL – The OL appears to take some big hits losing two AA, a 2nd Tm C and another C in Perkins who only started 4 last year but he had started 41 straight prior to that and was a former AA as well. A lot of talent and experience gone there, 3 current or former AAs and 4 starters in total. The good news is a lot of OL have seen playing time as MSU is typically ahead and is able to play a lot of reserves coupled with the fact this OL has been banged up giving others opportunities to play. Jefferson started the first 3 at LT until Moore was healthy (Moore is one of the AAs that left). 6 OL are back who played in atleast 10 games with AA Fleischmann and Mastel having started 12+ each. I don’t think the OL is much of a concern.

DL – On the other side of the LOS, the DL is in great shape. They do lose Big Sky D POY and AA DE Brody Grebe, but literally everyone else is back, 7 of the top 8 with two All Big Sky recognized players in DE Eiden and NG Brott. Brott was the #4 tackler from his interior spot and should have a big year. Eiden actually had slightly more TFLs and sack numbers than Grebe on the other side. This is a very active DL that makes a bunch of plays with a lot of production that returns.

LB – #2 tkl’r and 1st Tm LB O’Reilly is gone, but the #3 and #5 tklrs are back to the 2-man unit. They do lose #8 tackler and 2nd Tm Uliulakepa who could only play in 7. The top 2 guys back here should lead the way and there appears to be experienced depth ready to fill in the reserve spots.

DB – If there is one area of concern on the D it is the secondary. I only see 6 transfers incoming and 3 are at DB, so the staff is trying to fill the need. Between CB, NB and S they lose 7 of their top 10, 3 of which transferred out to FBS. The 3 returners only accounted for 54 tkls and they were all just 2nd year rFr or So last year. MSU went mostly the small college route on transfers here with Merrideth out of Fullerton (8 pbus and 6 TFL ’24) and Ohalete from Blinn (70 tkl ’24). Also in was Parker from Nevada were he played in just 1 game last year, he’s a former community college guy. Fr CB Williams had 2 INTs in the spring game. It will be interesting to see how this group comes together.

ST – 2nd Tm P Sticks Hall who also handled kickoffs is gone, but they got some pretty good FG kicking from Sansted last year (made 9 of final 10 attempts) and he’s back. Dowler is an AA punt returner and they will probably have a couple of the talented RBs return kickoffs.

Coaches - For the second straight year MSU has new OC and DC. The OC/QB coach was the Colorado School of Mines HC and Mines has had a good Dll program recently. RB coach was the Robert Morris OC and they bring in a new OL coach from Fresno. The new DC is promoted from being Co-DC for one season last year and he’s been on staff coaching the DL. There is a new CB coach as well.

Schedule opens with a trip to Oregon and home vs South Dakota State. You’d assume after last year’s game Oregon had with Idaho the Ducks will have full focus this year so that makes it a tough spot to open with your new QBs, coaches and secondary. SDSU is likely going to be down a notch, so I’d guess they split the first two. The SDSU game starts a 4 game homestand and the successive weeks find them playing weaker teams from the Pioneer or NEC and Big Sky opponents that had losing records last year except for a potentially tricky trip to Flagstaff. They could be as good as 6-1 before the bye as long as NAU doesn’t get them. They do not play Sac State or Idaho so they miss two of the tougher league foes there (Sac State is expected to be tough, more on them later). PSU is the other team they avoid.

10-6 ATS. Montana State did not cover a game until week 5 last year. They had the huge rally week 0 to win at New Mexico then were fairly flat the next week at Utah Tech. MSU did lead 31-0 early 4Q when they pulled the starters and UT snuck in the back door. They led 38-7 HT in the gold rush game vs Maine, but the starters were out in the 2H and Maine outscored them 17-3 to finish. MSU’s line vs Mercyhurst was 48.5! They won 52-13 with one of Mercyhurst’s TDs being a fumble return. Then came the trip to Idaho State and ISU gave them a good game. Cats did lead 17-0, but it was 17-10 in the 3Q. MSU scored 3 straight to end the game including a TD with :00 left when they could’ve taken a knee from the 1 yard line (line 16.5 won by 20). That started a run of 5 of 6 covers up to the UC Davis game. MSU was in total control of that game leading 30-8 mid 4Q but some crazy events led to just a 30-28 win! Cats cover the next 4 burying the Griz and the first 3 playoff opponents. In the National Championship game, NDSU executed a great game plan and led 21-3 HT. Cats tried to rally in the 2H, but fell short by 3 pts with total yards ending about even.

Take away - Still an elite team, new QB play will be key, home vs Davis and road trips to NAU and Montana likely determine if they repeat or not

Northern Arizona 8-5 (6-2) / 9-3 ATS

QB –Pennington is the top returning QB in the Big Sky, which is mostly because of the departures around the league. He did pass for 2288y (6th league yards per game) and was #4 pass eff QB (13-2 ratio, 65%). He led the team in rushing a couple times and can rip off some big runs. Was injured and did not play 2H vs Idaho and missed the Montana game. They still have another Pittsburgh St QB to backup in Lathan Boone. London and Flores who served as the backups in ’24 are gone. Former St Thomas starting QB Tateoka was added in the portal (1286y-53%-10-5).

WR/TE – The top receiver was TE White who earned 1st Tm Big Sky with 42r-578y-4TDs and had free agent NFL interest. #2 TE Gerena is back and they added a young BYU TE Coleman who didn't play in Provo. Top WR Katsis is back 35r-498-2TDs, but #3, 4 and 6 are gone. Katsis was another Pittsburgh State guy. #5 Eastman caught 20r-238-TD, Taylor only played in 2 last year, but has 25 career catches. They add Raines from Stanford who only played on special teams last year and caught 3 passes in ’23 plus a JUCO Stout. Doesn’t appear to be an especially threatening group.

RB – Top 2 RBs are back in Cromwell (125att-681y-9TD) and Hubbard (99att-408y-4TD) and both caught 16 passes each.

OL – 2nd Tm C gone along with starting LG, but 3 fulltime starters return. Lose some depth players. 4 OL were brought in through the portal including Caldwell who was Weber’s starting Center and Eakins who was 2nd Tm UAC at Southern Utah. Plus two OL from New Mexico State with Sheehan being the more experienced (12 career games vs Rodriguez 2). They did allow the most sacks per game in the league last year (2.15).

DL – Lose 2 part-time starters from 3 man unit, but 5 of the top 6 tacklers are back including Carreon returns who was HM Big Sky and led the group in tackles.

LB – Lose #1 tkl’r 1st Tm Ellis and #7 tkl. But should be in good shape with Allen, Arena and Wong two of which earned HM Big Sky and those 3 combined for 149 tkl and 12.5 tfls. Allen was the #4 tackler despite only playing in 10 out of 13 games. Good shape here.

DB – Big loses in the secondary. 7 of the top 10 from the final depth chart are gone including AA S McLaughlin who transferred to Washington and they lose a 2nd Tm CB and 2nd Tm S. Greer is back at one CB spot and Moses started the last 4 of the season as a rFr at NB and he returns as well, but otherwise the cupboard is somewhat bare. In the portal they added Lindenwood’s starting CB/S Wesley, Portland State 2year starting S Michael Hurst, Moten a former JUCO who was at UNLV one year and was out of football ’24, CB LeDuc from Southern Utah had 5 tkl, CB Fort from SW Baptist had 45 tkls and 7 PBUs in ’24 and Wilson a starter from JUCO. Lots of new faces. Josh Hunter with 5 starts and 25 career games played was said to have transferred from San Diego State to here, but is not on the roster.

Coaches – every coach is back. HC Wright went 33-8 at Pittsburgh St and had a great year 1 here when frankly last summer I thought this team looked pretty weak.

9-3 ATS, 5-2 ATS as fav, 4-1 ATS as dogs (only one outright win and that was vs Sac St who won 3 games all year). Missed two of the other 3 Big Sky playoff teams last year in UC Davis and Montana State. O kind of average at times, but the D was big for them - #1 3rd down D in the league, Arizona was 0-10, UIW 1-9, Sac St 2-12, Id St 1-12 on 3rd down conversions!

Schedule – This year they play Davis and Montana State while avoiding Eastern Wash, Mont and Sac State. Assuming they will beat Utah Tech and Portland State, otherwise the first 7 games has some tough opponents, trips to Arizona State, Southern Utah, host Incarnate Word and Montana State and travel to Davis. Last year they started the year 3-3 and still made it to the playoffs at 7-5. It should be noted they did not beat a team that finished with a winning record last year.

Take away - Avearage offense might not be good enough this year, D was great last year will it be as good this year with that secondary?

Northern Coloardo 1-11 (1-7) / 5-7 ATS

QB – Costelli was injured week 2 and then tried to come back 11/9 and was not 100% and he didn’t play the rest of the season. And so went CSU’s passing offense. They started 5 different QBs. Costelli threw 4 TDs in 3 games, the other QBs threw just 3 all season! Costelli is back with assumption being this is his job and hopefully he stays healthy. Most of the other QBs are also back and they added Lueth from NILL where he did not play, but two years ago at JUCO he had a 30-2 ratio. Hank Gibbs has moved to TE.

WR/TE – Top 2 WRs are back after Carver Cheeks returned from the portal (Munroe+Cheeks combined 57r-802y-6TD). 2 of the top 3 TEs are back as well. Every TD reception, all 7 of them return! The type of depth behind the top line guys is rather unknown. There are 3 guys back who caught a combined 10 passes last year.

RB – All the top RBs are gone. However the trio of Price, Guin and Brandon Johnson an Arizona transfer are expected to be as good as anyone or any combination of RBs that were here last year. Think they might be moving DB Rocco to RB as well which he played in high school.

OL – Moe transferred out to Tarleton and they lose another key OL in Nanninga, but 4 primary guys return who are older veterans now plus a few younger reserves who have played. This shouldn’t be worse than last year and might expect it to get a little better with health. They only added one transfer, Soph AJ Burton a Colorado kid from Iowa State who did not play in Ames, but I’m sure he will here.

DL – The top 5 DL in terms of tackles are all gone with one transferring to Austin Peay and another to West Georgia. Next 4 in terms of production do return who combined for 54 tkls, led by Ekuban who had 5 TFLs and he led the team with 3 sacks. 5 of their 10 transfers I count are DL – 3 from small college ranks that have decent numbers at that level and 2 FBS guys who didn’t play yet at Dl.

LB – 7 of top 10 return including #1 tkl’r from the unit Guthrie.

DB – return 6 of top 8 DBs including Fr AA S Cam Chapa who led with 83 tkls and 4 INTs and fellow S Morales was right behind him at #2 with 73 tkl. Do lose their top PBU guy. They added a Drake reseve DB in Toms and Levi Little from JUCO where he had 9 PBUs last year.

ST – Punter Hunter Green was a 3rd Tm AA, but he transferred to South Dakota State. FG kicking was poor (4 of 9).

Coaches – Year 3 for Ed Lamb. Lamb is a very respected coach in the western part of the country with long tenures at BYU as assistant HC and Southern Utah as HC. Everyone just thinks he took the wrong job cleaning up the mess that the McCaffreys left. McCaffrey went 3-8 both seasons and Lamb has now gone 1-23 his two years here. Every assistant coach from last year returns for 2025.

5-7 ATS – UNC was actually not horrible the first 3 games of the season with some real progress ’23 to ’24 in terms of competitiveness. UNC was only outgained by 48y in a 21 pt loss at UIW (spread 21.5). They followed that with a 21 pt loss at Colorado State (spread 30.5) then came the heart breaker, losing to Abilene Christian in the home opener as ACU kicked a game winning 54y FG! ACU only outgained them by 59y. So vs two eventual FCS playoff teams, UNC was better than expected. Unfortunately that was the high water mark of the year. They would only cover 2 of their next 9 games. They scored 46 pts in the first 3 and just 90 pts the next 9 games! They held their first 3 opponents to 386 ypg, but the D gave up over 500y 6x over the course of those 9 games.

Schedule – let the good times roll week 1 as they open with Chadron State. The only other win that seems possible right now would be the season and home finale vs Portland State, which PSU beat them 45-13 with a 508-401 yard edge last year, but I think this PSU team will be down quite a bit. So it could be another 1 win year unless their O just grows by leaps and bounds. UNC’s only win last year came at Weber State, thanks to a +5 TO ratio and Weber scoring just 1 TD on 4 RZ trips (Munoz fumbled at NC01 and NC04!). UNC actually bused to that game, a 7 hour trip, by all accounts was a fun ride back to Greeley.

Take away - it's hard not to feel bad for this team and I get the feeling other fans around the league do as well. Coach Lamb is a good coach, just a bad situation.

Portland State 3-8 (3-5) / 7-4 ATS

QB – Chachere 32 starts, 42 games gone – 5511y passing 2096y rushing - 77 TDS, he was twice Big Sky O POW last year. 2024 backup Hskell returns (19 attempts). He was formerly at Washington where he did not play but was Scout Team MVP. Had some prior experience at San Diego State in 2021 and ’22. They add transfer John Keawe from Hawaii where he RS ’23, played in 5 games ’24 4-7-42-0-2. 6 QBs competed in the spring. Also in the mix is CJ Jordan who transferred from NIU in ’23 but DNP last year, he did play a few games at Idaho in 2021 and ’22. Chachere leaves some big shoes to fill with several trying to be the guy.

WR/TE – 4 of the top 5 WR/TE return incl 2nd tm TE Beaman, lose #2 WR and lose top pass catching RB. There is not any production beyond the those top 4 of 5 guys. They were said to be bringing in a Montana State WR Dodson-Greene who caught 2 passes last year, but he is not on the roster. A little used WR from San Jose Derek Loville was supposed to be a big contributor last year, but he was injured in the opener and DNP the rest of the year.

RB – Top two RBs pretty evenly split the carries and yards are fairly even. #1 FR AA Thompson is back after having 678y rushing and 7 TDs. #2 and #3 Craig and Grubb will be on preseason NFL rosters this year. There doesn’t appear to be much behind him. Badolato-Birdsell only had 8 carries, he’s back with 3 true freshman according to the online roster.

OL – A lot of different starting combinations were used last year with 3 different starters each at LT, RT and LG and 2 different starters each at C and RG. 4 of 9 OL who started return. 77 career starts are gone, 23 return. They went to the portal with 3 JUCOs, Housia was a JC AA, but is not currently on the roster. Latu and Minot each have played 2 years at that level and Minot was a 1st Tm player in his league.

DL – 4 man unit with boundary end being more of a OLB. Top 3 producing DTs gone, return 3 Jr who have played in 49 games plus Ladson who’s started 2 in 19 games. Better shape at DE with 3 of top 4 back, lose House to UTM (3 TFLs, 8 games), but return Elliott (DE/LB), Shufelt and Eason who have started a combined 24 games plus a couple other reserves. Two DTs were added in the portal, Tauili’ili from Idaho State who had 19 tkl and 3 TFL in ’23, but DNP last year. Matogai comes in from Central Washington were he was 2nd Tm All Conference (9 TFL, 5.5 sacks).

LB – MLB and WLB both gone, Wing was #1 tkl with 7.5 TFLs trans to Montana. #2 tkl Montgomery also gone. Returning is Helmstetler who has played in 21 career games but only started once (just 15 tkl last year) and Beason has played in 22 career games but never started (24 tkl last year). Only transfer I see is McDaniel from Lewis & Clark who has 33 tkl in 2 years there. They are hoping Jordan Allen returns to full strength after he had to RS after injuring knee in spring ’24, he was a lightly experienced former transfer from San Jose.

DB – Top 2 CBs gone plus 2 reserves. The only experience returning is Ross who started 4 as tFr along with Mamaril who has played in just 2 career games here. An HM NB Shakir was #3 tkl’r and had an NFL camp invite. His backup Fr Walker only played in 2 games. Green is back at S and finished #4 tkl’r last year, but he is the only contributor returning, 4 of the top 5 S are gone including #9 tkl’r Wusstig started 5 of the first 6 last year before injury and transferred out to Idaho. Dionte Thornton is in from Boise where he had 5 tkl in ’23.

ST – HM K Uribe is back, made 11 of 12 last year. P is back as well. Best KRs were backup RBs who are gone.

Coaches – Barnum entering year 11th. His only winning season was his first in 2015 when he guided them to 9-3 record. Only the DE coach is new.

7-4 ATS because PSU covered their final 4 games that included a 58-38 win at Sac State as 13pt dogs, only lost to Idaho by 9 (+11.5) in a game that ID never led by more than 7 until the final minute even though Vandals had a 148y edge. PSU also covered at Montana where they led 3-0 HT and ended the game with 3 straight turnovers to lose 17-28 (+16). They best game of the year was a 45-13 season finale vs UNC, although they allowed a previously horrible UNC O to gain 401y (5.9ypp). Naturally PSU was in the bottom ¼ of many Big Sky defensive categories and towards the very bottom of all FCS defenses, but the offense did occasionally do well with 3 games over 500y and 6 games over 400y. They pulled two outright upsets (ISU and Sac State) and would’ve beat UC Davis if not for one second being put back on the clock at the end which allowed UCD to score a TD as time expired!

Schedule – Very tough home opener week 0 vs ’24 playoff and ’25 playoff hopeful Tarleton State then 3 straight difficult road games. They do miss Montana State and Davis in Big Sky play so possible wins vs the bottom teams are possible, but PSU themselves are a bottom team. The end might be near for Coach Barnum. Who doesn’t like a coach that offers to buy his entire stadium a beer years ago (which he did and paid for 2064 beers costing him $14,448). Looks like a rough year coming up, 0-6 start is possible. The Montana home game 11/15 will be hosed by Providence Park downtown Portland for the first time since 2018.

Take away - Chachere was such a talented player on such a bad team, without him now are we looking at perhaps the worst team in the league?

Sacramento State 3-8 (1-7) / 5-7 ATS

QB – both starting QBs from ’23 and ’24 gone

WR/TE – top 6 receivers gone, 7 of top 8 gone (only RB Borders returns)

RB – only #2 RB Borders 361y returns

OL – Lose AA LG Slater and C Richardson and a 2 game starter Wright transferred to Nevada, but do return 3 who started 7+ last year (LT Hays, RT Meeks and RG Riley) plus return a few who started 1-2 games last year (Gretlein, Summers, Soto). Of all the positions groups on this team, OL isn’t in bad shape which might explain why they only brought in 3 OL transfers.

DL – 6 of top 8 gone. Returning is Cashiola with 4 sacks in 7 games ’24 and 3 forced fumbles plus Puloka was #10 tkl’r in 4 games

LB – 3 of top 4 LBs gone including 2nd Tm Leota, but the returnee is Soph Houston who was #2 tkl’r

DB – 5 of top 10 DBs gone including a CB and S that transferred out to FBS. S McKenzie is back who was #7 tkl’r. CB McMullican also returns, started 9 and had a couple INTs (was Big Sky D POW week 4)

5-7 ATS – Sac State didn’t look as bad as they ultimately would be after week 4. They led San Jose 17-14 HT, but lost 24-42. They were only outgained by 44y vs Fresno in the 16 pt loss but covered the +21 pt line. They whipped the floor with Nicholls in the home opener and shut out East Texas A&M. They were 3-1 ATS at this point. Their only 2 covers the rest of the way would be a 3 pt OT win vs Weber -2 and a commendable season finale effort vs rival UC Davis in a 3 pt loss as 13 pt dogs.

Brennan Marion and his “Go Go Offense” comes to Sactown. Marion was a good Tulsa WR not all that long ago and his coaching jobs at UNLV as OC/QB coach the last 2 years and Texas pass gm coordinator and FCS OC before that has all propelled him to this opportunity. 35 FBS incoming transfers including 4* QB Jaden Rashada and 8 FCS transfers most of which were starters at their prior school to go along with some highly ranked high school players make for a mostly new roster. Sac State will not be in the Big Sky in 2026, who knows where they will be as a lot is going on related to their attempt to move to FBS. At the moment, I don’t know the official status of their attempt to transition to FBS, an FBS committee recommended denying their independent request – so I don’t know if they are FCS post season eligible this year or not. If they are officially transitioning then they will not be eligible.

Schedule - I am not going to attempt to break this team down due to the large number of transfers. If it works for them, they play a South Dakota State team rebuilding with new coaches and there is a potentially winnable FBS game at Nevada week 2 and their 3 straight home games are all games they should win. That means they could open the season 4-1 maybe assuming a split the first two weeks?

Take away - This is a team that can finish anywhere from 10 wins if everything hits or maybe 6 wins if it doesn’t.

UC Davis 11-3 (7-1) / 8-6 ATS

QB – Lose 3+ year starting QB 11,168 career yards, 80-38 ratio AA QB Miles Hastings – rFr Caden Pinnick will be the starting QB this year jumping over long-time backup Sr Grant Harper. Pinnick is dual threat with big arm.

WR/TE – RB Larison was #1 receiver – the #2 receiver WR Gbatu returns (44-779-7TD), the next 3 WR are gone (combined 155 catches). Top TE 1st Tm Winston is back, 2 of top 3 TEs back

RB- Larison was AA and one of the best players in the country, he signed a free agent NFL contract. #2 and 3 RBs return in Perez (71att-299y-0TD) and Fisher (37att-186-1TD)

OL – 5 primary OL starters return and 8 of top 10, although OL was the weakest part of this team last year. Only meaningful loss being Mirabella who started 6 at RG/RT. Simonson earned 2nd Tm at LT and Nava was HM at RT. In the portal they added a Washington transfer Roice Cleeland who hasn’t played in 2 years at UW and Henry Fanua from JUCO where he was All Conference ’24.

DL – 3 starting DL from the 3 man unit earned All Big Sky and they all depart (1st Tm DE Kennedy, 2nd Tm DE Bearden and HM NT Toki). Just 3 of the top 9 return and those 3 only had 13 tackles among them last year. In the portal they added 2 starting Ivy League DL in NG Porter from Dartmouth (HM Ivy ’24 34 tkl, 6 TFL)m and DE Psyk from Harvard (1st Tm Ivy ’24 26 tkl, 11 TFL). Ike Ikegbu was added from JUCO also.

LB – #1 tkl’r and AA David Meyer is gone along with fellow starters #9 and #11 tkl’r Sarac and Cloyd plus another reserve . #3 tkl’r Porter Conners is back. Outside of him this is a questionable group of returnees. They signed Rutchena from Cal who has 63 career tkl in 4 years/25 games. It’s Conners and who knows who else here really.

DB – 7 of top 10 gone including 1st Tm NB Baines who goes to Pitt. Rex Conners was AA at S and he’s back after finishing with 115 tkl last year for #2 on the team. They added 5 DBs in the portal; Batson from BC who has played in 30 career games (69 tkl), Allen from UTEP (120 tkl 3yr, #6 tkl’r ’24), Riccick from SEMO (1st Tm Big South/OVC ’24 with 87 tkl and 5 PBU. #3 tkl’r) and two small college transfers, Carr who had 4 PBU and 2 INTs ’24, Richardson from Tufts Dlll AA 12 PBU and 6 INTs.

ST – Ridley was 2nd Tm Big Sky K and he is back, P gone.

The Conners brothers finished #2, #3 in tackles, they are the only 2 of the top 15 tacklers who return. And 5 of 7 All Big Sky defenders are gone.

8-6 ATS – UCD failed to cover their first 4 as favorites, but finished 4-1 in the favorite role and were 4-1 ATS as dogs winning 2 of those 5 outright and they were also 3-1 in 4 games decided by 3 pts or less. Idaho outgained them by 147y, but Davis came back from a 14 pt hole and a failed 2pt conv attempt when Idaho was playing their #3 QB in the final minute allowed Davis to escape 28-26. They upset Montana on the road and then had a misleading close loss at home the following week vs Montana State (trailed 8-30 through 3 quarters, but lost 28-30). Tough loss to end their season in the second round at South Dakota, Larison was knocked out of the game 1Q and USD had two short field TDs after INTs, UCD threw 5 INTs and finished with a -3 TO ratio losing despite having a 433-378 ttl yard edge. All told it was possibly the best season in UC Davis football history.

Coaching – Tim Plough was a QB here and he enters year 2 as the HC, his staff returns intact with several assistants having longer term ties to the program.

Schedule – A couple tough games in their first 3 with a trip to state of Alabama at a neutral site to face Mercer week 0 and then also traveling to Washington before a week 3 bye. And they close with a tough stretch away games at Idaho and Montana State before hosting Sac State. They miss EW, Montana and PSU.

Take away - most expect this program to be good enough, I might trust Plough and the offense, but there is a lot of high quality experience gone now.

Weber State 4-8 (3-5) / 4-8 ATS

QB – Richie Munoz transfers out to Tennessee Tech after taking over the starting spot in ’23 and last year threw for 2568-61%-24-6, no other QB threw more than 3 passes. They bring in transfers Cash McCollum from North Texas and Jackson Gilkey from UTSA. McCollum is a rFr with no action so far and Gilkey has been in college 2 years but has yet to play.

WR/TE – Lose 2nd Tm #1 WR Sharp (56r-850y-10TDs) who had been #2 receiver the two years prior ’23 and ’22. So he is a big loss. They return #2-5 WRs. Two of the top 3 RBs in the passing game are gone as are the top two TEs who they don’t throw to much. The passing game was much better ’24 vs ’23 so the receiving numbers were up across the board for everyone. The only addition appeared to be a Snow College transfer Frischknect, but he is not listed on the current roster.

RB – Damon Bankston was one of the best RBs in the Big Sky over his tenure at Weber, he transfers to New Mexico. Godley was #2 last year and had 630y (6.2) 4 TDs and had over 100 carries, less big plays receiving but caught more passes than Bankston. #3 RB is gone.

OL – Lose starting C who transferred to NAU and another part-time starter is gone, but 8 of top 9 from final depth chart returns including 2nd Tm LT Ortega. Doesn’t appear they added any OL in the portal.

DL – 6 of 8 top DL are gone including 3rd Tm AA Munier-Bailey (18.5 TFLs #4 tkl’r) and HM Big Sky DE Wilson who actually led the team in tackles (Wilson transferred to Wyoming). Returnees DT Herron and DE Thompson are good, but the rest of the unit is being rebuilt. Beecher and Payne have played a little, but not produced much yet (combined just 10 tkl). Josh Hardy comes in from NC A&T where he only had 7 tkl, but 3 of those were sacks last year.

LB – Better shape at LB as 5 of top 6 are back although they do lose HM Beck (#3 tkl’r). Overall #2 tkl Hitchens and #5 tkl’r Tiniauarii both return along with 3 other significant LBs. They signed LB transfers Hall from Boston College (26 tkl ’23) and Moa from BYU (playing experience at Utah State 2021-22 and 2023-24 at BYU, 10 tkl in 7 games ‘24). This should be a good unit.

DB – 4 of the top 5 tacklers at S return. 2 CBs transferred out to FBS but 2 other experienced CBs are back in Daniels (25 tkl in 9 games 1 INT) and Pate (34 tkl, 3 PBU 1 INT). Also back, Dixon has not started yet, but had 5 PBUs last year and has played in 30 career games. And handful of reserves return including a couple who are converted WRs and have yet to see much action at CB.

ST – #1 K gone and P transferred to Boise

Coaches – Mickey Mental enters year 3 as HC, he was promoted from his OC job after the ’22 season. He has no prior ties to the region. Several new position coaches take spots on the D for DB, DT and LBs, former Co-DC and S coach Dale has now been named the sole DC. Concern for Mental and Weber as a whole, he is an offensive coach, but the O has been lagging and the D has always been strong here, but is now slipping. The PPG O has dropped from 35.15 ppg in Mental’s first year on staff as OC ’22 to 24.1 ’23 and did bump to 28.3 last season. While the D has seen the numbers slip from allowing 20.38 ’22 to 24.1 ’23 to 27.8 last year. Losing the seasoned QB Munoz hurts the growth of the O while they try to replace some defense coaches hoping for improvement. With Mental not having any Utah area ties, the patience could wear thin if the team does not improve and compete for playoff this year as all they did from 2015-22 was win, but have now had back-to-back losing seasons.

4-8 ATS, 2-5 ATS as favorites and they only won 3 of those 7 outright. 2-3 ATS as dogs with only 1 upset win (at Montana in OT 55-48 with a season high 541 ttl yards (8.2.ypp!) They went 0-2 vs the Southland with a close loss at Lamar (SOD at the 1 yard line late in the game when FG would’ve given them the lead) and a shocking home loss to McNeese. The home loss to Northern Colorado is a rock bottom moment, a game that Weber (Munoz specifically) fumbled twice inside the NC 5 yardline! NAU held them to just 6 pts 3 weeks later. And they lost at home to Idaho State for the first time since 1984. They followed that up with going 3-and-out 7x at Idaho in a game that looked close losing by 7 but they were outgained by 123y. That’s a lot of bad stuff going on there. They dominated Cal Poly in the finale 456-220 yard edge, but only won by 11 because of scoring just 1 TD on 6 RZ trips…vs CP!

Schedule – 3 straight on the road to open with 2 FBS games and a revenge trip to McNeese. Host Butler and travel to Davis. 2-3 is probable to open, but without knowing what kind of QB play they get from some guys with literally no experience is tough to predict how it goes really. They avoid Cal Poly, Idaho and UNC – not ideal to miss a couple cellar dwellers.

Take away - I’m not optimistic about their season or the direction of the program.

s--k · Jul 13, 2025

Movement; moves, moves, moves

Don't like a bigger Big Sky, more teams not playing eachother in the conference. Regionally it does fit and not having them in the UAC also makes sense regionally.

ASUN-WAC-UAC, what I take from that is the non-football schools in the ASUN can have a home in FCS and play football in the UAC should they so decide. I don't know, the whole ASUN/WAC/UAC, who's where has been confusing.

Southern Utah & Utah Tech Joining The Big Sky

With Sac State on the way out, the Big Sky is adding new teams. Southern Utah, a former Big Sky school, and Utah Tech will reportedly be going to the Big Sky beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

Southern Utah was in the Big Sky until 2022 when it went to the WAC and now plays football in the UAC. Utah Tech, which recently jumped up to Division I, also competes in those conferences currently.

Considering the Big Sky has members in the western United States, including Weber State in Utah, this move certainly makes sense. This will give the conference 11 full-time members with Sac State on the way out. Cal Poly and UC Davis are also members for football only.

Atlantic Sun Conference and Western Athletic Conference to Forge Strategic Alliance

WAC to Rebrand as United Athletic Conference
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) announced a groundbreaking strategic alliance on Thursday, with the plan set to commence in July 2026. The WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC) and together the ASUN and UAC will form a consortium. The consortium will be led by Executive Director Jeff Bacon, current ASUN Commissioner.

“We are proud to launch this innovative Division I conference alliance, creating an environment where institutions can elevate their programs, leverage collective resources, and champion a new era of intercollegiate athletics,” Bacon said. “This strategic alliance reflects our dedication to empowering the next generation of leaders, both on and off the field, ensuring a legacy of success and impact for years to come.”

The alliance will serve both conferences through the formation of a consortium designed to significantly enhance operational efficiency, foster deeper collaboration, and drive innovation across both NCAA Division I organizations.

“We find ourselves in a transformative era where conferences and institutions are proactively seeking opportunities to collaborate, forge scheduling alliances, unlock new revenue streams, and prepare for a modernized world of intercollegiate athletics,” Bacon added. “This alliance achieves all these objectives simultaneously for our two conferences. We are now prepared to sprint into a new future with a structure that will provide unprecedented support.”

WAC Rebranding and Membership Realignment: The WAC will rebrand as the United Athletic Conference (UAC) in July 2026, with intended membership of eight (8) institutions including Abilene Christian University, Austin Peay State University, the University of Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky University, the University of North Alabama, Tarleton State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of West Georgia. The ASUN will maintain a roster of seven (7) members: Bellarmine University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Lipscomb University, the University of North Florida, Queens University of Charlotte, and Stetson University.

DOUBLEUP4LIFE · Jul 13, 2025

Thank you so much for your time
Fantastic work

Best of luck Brother , may this be your most profitable season to date

s--k · Jul 14, 2025

CAA

Albany - 4-8 (2-6) / 6-6 ATS

QB – Dropped from Poffenbarger’s 3603-58.7%-36-13 in 2023 to 2024’s group passing for just 2712-54.7%-16-11 which was mostly Myles Burkett and some Van Weber (739-55.7%-5-4 in 3 games). Burkertt transferred to WKU and Weber is back. They added Aidan Semo in the portal who was originally with Georgia Tech out of HS, but he did not play in 2 years there. He backed up at JUCO and only played in 2 with less than encouraging numbers (7-20-67-0-2, 15y rushing + TD). I’d assume this is Weber’s job, his 3 games played were starts in the final 3 of the ’24 season. He did throw for 354y 60.8% 2-2 ratio vs URI.

WR/TE – With the strong passing offense of 2023, two WRs had outstanding years and neither were back for ’24. This year they lose their top 4 receivers and actually 5 of the top 6 are gone as 3 transferred out (2 to FCS 1 to FBS). Burti has been in the system several years now and he was #5 last year catching 24-271-3TD. Top TE is back and the RBs return which Albany used a lot in ’23 but not so much last year. In the portal they add Austen after being at Liberty for 3 years (4r-117y) and Barron from Wayland Baptist where he caught 73r-1111y-9TD last year (3rd Tm AA NAIA). Also in is a little used TE from SEMO Tyler Wilms.

RB – Griffin Woodell had a great year in ’23, but he only played in 7 last year and his rushing output dropped from 892(4.9)-8TDs to 178(2.8)-2TDs. Uga led with 422(4.2)-6TDs and he is back. They lose a #2 rusher. I would think that Woodell is better than what he produced last year and if so then Uga will be a good #2.

OL – It looks like just 4 of the top 11 OL are back. McMahon was in the 2-deep as a tFr to start the year but wasn’t listed on the final 2-deep, but he does return making my count of total OL I’m factoring to 11. They lose LT Hutchinson who was 2nd Tm and had FA interest from Baltimore. Marotta was HM CAA at RG and he ended up in the CFL. A RT transferred to Cincy and their LG is gone too. So all the primary starters are gone and only the reserves return who are young. As such they signed 4 OL in the portal, Ogundipe from FIU/UTSA where he didn’t play but in 2022 was #2 rated JUCO OT, Fenderson former JUCO who has bounced around from UTSA to Georgia State without much playing time, Csillian from Lackawanna, Gastelum from Adams. This is an obvious concern.

DL – Only 2 of top 8 DL return as they lose an HM NG and a DE who transferred to NDSU. The two coming back are Sanogo (5.5 TFLs second most on DL) and Balansama (3 sacks + 4 hurries) who both were good. Boyd and Boyer were reserves who are back, could say 4 of top 10 are back. 2 DL added in the portal Macklin who was good at Morehead St (8 TFLs, 5 sacks) and Lewis out of Bowie (’23 12 TFLs and 7.5 sacks, ’24 6 TFLs and 2.5 sacks).

LB – #1 tkl’r and 1st Tm CAA LB Lunan transfer to Coastal Carolina, but rest of the starters and reserves return, 5 of top 6 back.

DB – 2 CB starters gone, the depth was young last year with the next 2 up being Wiggins and Jones both contributing as tFr. Hawkins has 3 years experience from Temple, but only played in 1 game here last year I assume because of injury. The top 3 tkl’rs at the S position are back. They added Hill a 2 year starting CB from Davidson, Estes a reserve from Delaware State (17 tkl ‘24) and a little used DB Fredricks from Monroe.

Coaching – HC Greg Gattuso leaves after 11 years to return to his alma mater and be an assistant coach at Penn State. OC/QB coach Ambrose has been promoted to HC after calling the O for 3 years. WR/pass gm coor promoted to OC/QB coach. 4 assistants have been retained, but of note there is a new DC and OL coach. Last year was an expected step back, but it is encouraging that the man behind Albany’s O from 2022-23 is still on staff to try and bring it back – they will need new receivers to step up and completely new OL starters to figure things out and for a team that has had a great eye for some hidden gems on the DL, that unit needs to find some more pretty quick.

ATS – 2-4 ATS as favorite (lost 3 outright), 4-2 ATS as a dog (won 1). Generally played close vs CAA on the field, but scores didn’t reflect…Lost 20-34 vs Maine, that was just a 7 pt game when Maine got a 78y pick-six with under 2min left to go up 14, Maine also had a 16y drive for TD after another INT). Elon only outgained Albany by 47y but won 30-14 because of TWO KO ret TDs. Delaware only outgained Albany by 11y but won 28-14 due to missed Albany FGs from the 23 and 25 yard lines and INT thrown from the D13. Albany outgained UNH, SB and URI by avg of 49 ypg, but lost all 3 by avg of 12.6 ppg. The craziest game was the finale vs Hampton, Albany trailed 7-28 HT, but the Danes rallied to win in the 2H and were aided by 10 first downs by way of penalties!

Schedule – The opening month is pretty manageable if they can get out of Iowa healthy, but overall the schedule is tough as they play all the better CAA teams and avoid most of the lesser ones. They play at Delaware State in DeSean Jackson’s home opener then host New Haven and Cornell, so 3-1 isn’t impossible best case before playing UNH and SB heading into their week 7 bye. A losing record ultimately is pretty likely unless the OL gels and new stars emerge on DL. They avoid: Campbell, Elon, Hampton, Maine, NC A&T

Both O and D ppg were worse last year by more than a full TD than 2023.

Take away – Need to start well...don’t appear to have all the pieces, likely a lower half tier team again

Bryant - 2-10 (0-8) / 4-7 ATS

QB – tFr Meyer started 4 and played in 7 due to the Coastal Carolina transfer QB Guest’s injury. He was pretty good at times, although INTs were an issue. 1111y-61%-12-8 threw for 338 vs SB and 4 TDs vs Maine. He’ll be starter now.

WR/TE – Bad news for QB Meyer is the loss of AA WR Ruggieri (69r-1096y-15) along with every other WR/TE among the top 10 receptions except for #3 Doe (21r-253y-TD) and #8 Riley (15r-155y-2) and a couple RBs. In the portal they added WRs Owens from JUCO (67r-547y-4TD last 2 years) and Phillips from Seton Hill (50r-1312y-8TD last 2 years). TEs 2-4 do return and they add a Bloomsberg TE Matthew Bowers who was 2nd Tm conference in ’22 but injured most of ‘23/24.

RB – Lose #1 RB, but #2 Kedzior had similar production and #3 Cockrell is back as well. They added a Montana State transfer Elijah Elliot who only played in 2 and recorded no stats.

OL – 2 full time starters gone, one was HM CAA and lose a veteran backup, but a lot of different OL combinations started last year, 7 are back who started including Staggs who started first 3 at C until injury so they should have atleast 4 they feel pretty good about. Overall 8 of top 11 are back. They were supposed to add Waltman from New Mexico State but he is not on roster. They did bring in two interesting OL, Dickson from San Diego State and Williams from TCU – both of which actually got some PT on the OL, not just special teams. Dickson played in 3 games getting offensive snaps last year and was a former JUCO, and Williams has made appearances throughout the last 4 years at TCU.

DL – Lose a couple good DL including Voorhis who transferred to Ball State, but return 6 of top 10 including HM CAA Michael Otty (5 TFL in 8 games) and the units #1 tkl’r Beau Shugarts. I didn’t see any transfer additions here.

LB – Counting the “zip” as LB, 5 of top 6 gone, #2 tkl’r Lonnie Rice is back. Only addition is a small college guy Michael Grant who had 48 tkl and 7 sacks the last 2 years.

DB – Only 1 of top 4 CBs are back, #4 tkl’r Mkparu. Better at S with 3 of top 4 back. Add 3 DBs in the portal, a rFr from NIU Williams, a contributor Liam Linod from Ark PB and Johnson from Pace.

Coaches – HC Chris Merrit enters 7th year. The staff appears to be unchanged.

4-7 ATS – started the year 1-6, ended on 3-1 ATS run. They beat Brown straight up week 6 as 12.5 pt dogs. Pretty competitive towards the end, lost to SB by 1 in OT, trailed Maine big, but rallied 2H to cover as Maine slept walked. Outgained W&M, but a punt ret TD and 62y TD run were big for W&M. In the finale, Bryant led URI 14-13 HT, but URI woke up 2H to win by 14 as 12 pt favs.

Schedule – Travel to New Mexico State and UMass then host Bentley. At Campbell then 3 straight home games leading into bye Towson, Maine, Brown. Win vs Bentley and given the history with Brown, anything is possible in that game. Not sure they pick up another win…maybe? The second half is tougher as they play what many people think are the favorites to win the league in URI and Monmouth..maybe they can beat Albany but it’s away, host UNH and then close with SB who should be tough again this year. Avoid: Elon, Hampton, NC A&T, Villanova, William & Mary

Take away – Big learning curve year 1 in CAA and took some lumps, played better final 1/3 of season (lost by avg 24ppg vs FCS first 3 all of which had winning records Del, HC, UNH – lost by avg 9.25 final 4 of which 3 opponents had winning records SB, Maine, WM, URI), is there improvement that carry over?

Campbell - 3-9 (1-7) / 5-7 ATS

Campbell has their stats messed up, pdf one number, player bio stats 2nd number, online http stats 3rd

QB – Mascoe started the first 8, but Chander took over starting the last 4 and he led the team in rushing playing in every game. Mascoe is gone, but Chandler is back. Campbell shows 3 different stats on different places of their website, just picking one, Chander threw for 1033-53.5%-10-6. They brought in Sixkiller from McNeese where he threw for 928y 53% 6-3 ratio in 10 games. Also Lenoir Rhyne QB Jalen Ferguson is here who has a 36-14 career ratio and passed for 3276y last year.

WR/TE – WR was probably the most talented position on this team the last couple years. #1 and #2 transferred out to FBS after two great seasons. #3 was Fr Randall King and he’s back 28-401-2 and he is an excellent returnman too. But that is it, no other WR or TE who caught a ball returns! They bring in an experienced WR in Trayjen Llanas-Wilcox from East Tx Baptist and a not experienced WR David Hamilton from JC Smith Univ. Two unused TEs are in as well, John Mark Shaw from UNC Pembroke and Chase Wilkins from Monmouth. With transfers and true Fr, their spring roster had just 5 WRs on it!

RB – QB led in rushing, but the top 2 RBs are back in Cowan and Biggins

OL – Lose just 1 full time starter and 3 reserves/ part-time starters. 12 of the top 16 OL return to form a strong group. They added a reserve RT from Alabama State in Zyterrio Lee and Treaden Henry was supposed to be here from Marshall but he is not on the roster.

DL – 3 man unit, lose their #1 tkl’r from the group and two transferred out to ETSU and another left for North Texas. Only 3 of the top 7 return. 5 DL were added in the portal: Watson from UMass (4 games ’23 none ’24), Miller from Davidson (15 tkl, 3 TFL as reserve), and 2 small college types in Curry (17 tkl, 4 TFL) and Garza who had a break out season at Blinn (1st Tm conference 19.5 TFLs).

LB – They list 4 LB spots on the depth charts. Jalen Brooks was 2nd Tm and #1 tkl’r, he’s gone. Only 3 of top 8 return with Livermon, Rudolph and Sampah being those 3. 3 transfers were supposed to be added but Jones from Georgia State and Pettis from The Citadel are not on the roster. Pettis was a starter at his old school. LB Milad Aghaiepour, a former JUCO from UNC 2022 &’23 where he produced no stats.

DB – Only 1 of the top 4 CBs return in Guzman who was usually a starter and only 2 of the top 5 S are back, Pace (#2 tkl’r) and Semaj (12 tkl, no starts). Markeece Alexander comes in at CB from UC Davis where he saw his playing time decrease last year (8 tkl, 4 PBU), but in 2023 he had 10 PBUs. Then they added Crump at S from JUCO.

ST – K and P gone along with normal returnman, but King can be used more here, as long as they think they can given the lack of bodies at WR out of the spring.

Coaches – Harris’ second year who previously served as an assistant not long ago. New coaches this year include WR, RB and LB.

5-7 ATS, 1-2 ATS as a fav (lost 1 outright to SB) and 4-5 ATS as dog (won 1 outright vs WCU). Campbell lost 3 of their final 4 ATS. They gave up 40+ in 5 of their final 8. For as bad as the D was, ranked bottom ¼ CAA Defensive rankings including the worst run D. The O only scored more than 24 pts 3x (44, 28, 27) so it’s not like the O carried their weight either – kind of an average to sometimes bad offense. They upset Western Carolina week 2 by harassing the WCU QB and forcing 4 INTs, it was pretty much all downhill from there.

Schedule – First 6 games are pretty tough (At URI, at ECU, vs Furman, vs Bryant, vs WCU, at NC State. The last 6 are easier and they avoid Maine, Monmouth, Stony Brook, Albany, Villanova with Mon, SB and Nova being some of the tougher teams they miss.

This is a team that everyone always says “they’ve recruited so well”, but those classes from 2022, 2023, etc, they have nothing to show for it. 5-6 in 2023 and got their coach fired and just 3-9 year 1 of new coach with a really poor finish to the season. How many of those great recruits are still here?

Take away – I don’t know where the improvement comes from, looks like a strong OL, everything else ?

Elon - 6-6 (5-3) / 6-6 ATS

QB – Top 2 QBs gone – only 2 QBs on spring roster! rFr Clark who threw 1 pass last year and Iowa transfer Marco Lainez who in 2 years there only played in ’24 bowl game passing 2-of-7 and rushing for 52y

WR/TE – 1st Tm CAA Brayboy gone (59-979-8TD), #2 gone as well, but #3 Dalton and #4 Winston back (combined for 46r-631-3TD). Top TE HM CAA Magazu back. A lot of little used WRs who caught 5 or less passes return.

RB – Baker was the #1 rusher, but he only started 5 and is gone. #2 rusher Thomas is back who started 7 and was injured in game #8. Thomas was also the top receiving RB. Not much behind him returns, added Virginia St transfer Jimmyll Williams who had 972y-11TD last year.

OL – Was a very experienced group last year and as such, this year they lose 3 OL who had between 40-50 career starts each including a 1st Tm CAA LT. Of those Gilbert was injured last year and only started in 6. They also lose a primary 2023 starter who only started 1 last year. Those injuries did allow Moore, Walker and Hogan to start as rFr or rSo which are now a year older. Overall 6 of top 10 back, but the 4 that are gone were very seasoned, problem is this was a poor group Duke famously got 8 sacks vs them, but UNH actually got 9! Andrew Hancock of Marshall was supposed to transfer in but he is not on the roster.

DL – Lose 2nd Tm and HM CAA DEs along with two DTs that transferred to ACC (overall 3 transferred out to ACC). 5 of the top 10 are back, but the losses are their best guys (4 of top 6 tkl’rs gone from unit) – one of the guys back was Fr AA DE Kahmari Brown. I count 7 incoming transfers and 3 of those are DL. A starting NT Mauney from Norfolk, Kirksey from South Carolina State who has 27 career games played, but only 2 last year and Hampton reserve Nhyaer Kelly although he is not on the roster right now.

LB – 2 man LB unit. 3 of top 4 gone with 2 transferring out to FBS. Cunningham started the final 4 as a rFr and returns. They add a small college LB Brodie Carroll who was a division/conference Fr POY at Shepherd College.

DB – Return 3 of 5 CBs who started counting Hamilton who was lost for the year after first 3 starts of the year. Their starting Spur #3 tkl’r Atkins is back, but lose Ban AA #1 tkl’r Caleb Curtain and FS #2 tkl’r Baker. Hart and Powell got a lot of playing time at the Safety spots and could step up.

ST – Return AA P Jeff Yurk, but lose AA KR Brayboy. FGs need to be better.

Coaches – New OC is Doug Martin (former NM State HC and BC OC, Kent HC). New WR coach. DC promoted from ILB/run game coordinator. New DL coach.

6-6 ATS, 3-5 ATS as a favorite, but they lost 4 outright in that role (WCU, ETSU, UNH, Hampton). 3-0 ATS as a dog (won 2 outright Albany, William & Mary). They lost the Richmond game which I had as pick ‘em. O was pretty bad first half of season, held below 20 pts in 4 of first 5 FCS games. First 6 games, 5 went Under. Final 6 games, all go Over. Stood 2-6 SU after the Hampton loss, but won last 4 to end season .500. The OL was so bad last year, they allowed 3.67 sacks per game, 119th and 6.75 TFLs per game, 94th nationally. The passing numbers were incredibly streaky as well, completing under 50% for a couple games and then connecting on 68% a few times.

Schedule - Avoid : Bryant, Monmouth, Stony Brook, Albany, New Hampshire which is good and bad mixed in there. Other than an occasional 8 win season, they are usually about .500 each year.

Take away - Hard to know anything about the O with this QB situation and there are definitely holes on this defense.

Hampton 5-7 (2-6) / 7-4 ATS

QB – Zellous and Mays both gone. Zellous transferred to Stony Brook in conference. He had his moments in ’23, but last year he saw his playing time cut when they brought in Mays. Mays was better in the passing game in terms of INTs which was always a problem for Zellous. I’ve heard that Isaiah Freeman who transfers in from Lincoln (Pa) of all places is going to be the guy…last year in 10 games only hit on 46% for 904y with an 8-9 ratio. He threw all but 2 passes for them last year (431 gross rush yards, 225y net 5 TDs). Now, 2023 he was 57.2% for 2319y with a 25-9 ratio throwing all but 3 passes for them. 499y net rushing. So pretty good, but that’s at Lincoln…and why the drop off last year? Schedule was mostly the same.

WR/TE – 3 of top 4 receivers are gone, 2 of which transferred out to BGSU and Norfolk. #5 receiver was RB who is gone making 4 of top 5 gone. Do return #2 Moultrie (34-410-TD) (listed as DB on spring ’25 roster?), #6 Ferguson (15-116-0) and the top 3 TEs are back. 3 WR added in the portal, Moss from JMU (3 catches ’23), Walker from Furman (no action), Johnson from Dll’s Lake Erie (52-648-8).

RB – Elijah Burris has been a key player since 2021 when he was conference Fr POY, had a great 2023, was banged up ’24 and finished #2 rusher and is gone. #1 rusher Snipes is back (95att-531-6TD), but is not the receiving threat Burris was. #3 RB gone, Shepard is back (56att-231-TD). Bring in a JUCO Nick Norman. They added Wooster’s #1 RB Austin and there are SIX Fr RBs on the roster.

OL – 7 of top 10 OL from week 1 depth chart gone, 6 of top 10 from final depth chart gone, including a 2nd Tm LT. Of those 4 guys back…2 RS and did not play any games last year. Garnett started 3 in 8 games played and Williamson-Thomas played in 6 games with 0 starts as the two most experienced OL back. They added 3 small college OL in the portal. Pretty lightly experienced group overall.

DL – 10 of the top 10 DL could be gone! DE Kramer who was good as a tFr is on the spring roster, but speculation was he left and then came back. Either way, only 1 of the top 10 producing DL returning is a problem. And Hampton’s D was actually pretty good in spots last year. They are losing a HM CAA DE, two NTs transferred to VT and App St and another DL goes to Elon. 9 non-first year DL on the roster 6 came by way of the portal this offseason from JMU (Nash DNP), WVU (Ulloa and Daniel both DNP), Monmouth (Sogeson 2 tkl) and two small college transfers. Can’t know what this group will look like.

LB – Got younger at end of season. Lose the unit’s #1 tkl’r to UTM, but return unit’s #2 tkl’r Matthews-Canty who played in 9 games and started the final 6. Sturdifen was starting a SAM at the end, he’s back although currently listed as a DB. Still 4 of top 5 tkl’rs gone. A couple young reserves are back. Good additions in the portal led by Marquis Edmonds who was CIAA ROY as a Fr at Virginia State. He’s not on the roster, but just might not be enrolled yet. They add 2x 2nd Tm conference O’Neal form Shepherd and add a couple smaller college guys.

DB – Safeties were the overall #1 and #2 tkl’rs and both are gone. Hicks started the final 6 as a rFr and was #4 team tkl’r. Whaley played a lot as a Fr (30 tkl), he’s on the roster, but I think he transferred out. 3 lightly used reserves return. So Hicks might be the best they have back at any S position. CB is in rough shape. 3 of the top 4 were Grad Sr last year and the top 4 are all gone this year. Moving #2 WR Moultrie to DB when WR isn’t deep to begin with makes sense now because this secondary needs help. And if they move Sturdifen from LB to DB, that makes sense now too. There are transfers obviously. This is going to be a very young group without much experience. Only 5 of 21 DBs on the roster are upperclassmen.

15 of top 18 tacklers gone counting Whaley as gone.

Coaches – HC Boykin was hired after spring last year. 5-7 was actually pretty good considering that kind of coaching change at that point in the year. The D was pretty good, #1 total yard D in the CAA! #5 ypp D 5.4 allowed. #3 3rd down D. #10 scoring D at 26.9ppg. The only change to the staff this year is new OC/QB coach Ollie Taylor comes over from Delaware State and he was WR/TE coach here in 2021/22.

7-4 ATS, 2-1 ATS as a favorite the one loss was outright to Morgan in the opener. 5-3 ATS as a dog with 2 outright upset wins. Lost to URI by 2 in OT (crazy game – Hampton blk’d xpt that would’ve seen them keep the lead late, but they were offside and that xpt tied it to go to OT. Hampton failed 2pt conv in OT). 5 of Hampton’s 7 losses straight up came by 7 pts or less. They were only outgained in 4 games and 2 of those games they were only outgained by 20 yards or less. If not for all the roster turnover, it would be easy to have some optimism for year 2 with this staff given how competitive they were most of last year.

Schedule – Opener at Jackson State is going to be rough. But then Elizabeth City, A&T, Howard (Hampton has won 5 in a row), Elon and Norfolk are the first 6. If this was last year’s team they probably have a shot at being 5-1. Hard to know this year. Avoid : Bryant, Stony Brook, Towson, Albany, New Hampshire

Take away – Last year’s performance and this year’s schedule would make for a good season, but roster is kind of a mess. Will test coaching staff’s ability.

s--k · Jul 14, 2025

CAA continued

Maine - 5-7 (3-5) / 4-8 ATS

QB – Carter Peevy is back for a 6th year…in his first year at Maine he threw 2422-66.5%-18-5 and finished with a 71y net rushing. This is the former Merce QB that held the 2023 offense back from really explosive with the weapons they had on hand. Had a few more attempts, completions per game at Maine than he did at Mercer, definitely a better TD-INT ratio (18 TDs vs just 11), but the exact same ypc of 11.3. He’s good enough, just don’t expect him to really elevate an offense. Still a downgrade from the QB Maine had 2023-prior, Derek Robertson who put up better numbers here and was fantastic at his new school, fellow CAA member, Monmouth. As a result Maine’s overall O slipped some last year. But Peevy’s experience is probably better than going with an unproven guy to start the year at least.

WR/TE – Top 2 gone including Moss who showed great improvement in his career here as he was labeled team MVP after last year (61-722-7)(one of Randy’s sons) and Joe Gillette who was #1 in ’23 and #2 in ‘24 (30-466-2). #3, 4 and 5 are back with Laughlin being named team ROY (22-186-TD + rushing TD). Top 2 TEs gone. They added a really good all-purpose type WR in Scott Woods from Harvard, he was HM Ivy as a WR last year (52-547-3), but was 1st Tm Ivy as a returnman. And Ethan Davis from Virginia is interesting too, he has seen the field, caught a long TD vs Clemson last year and earned a couple starts in 2023. If those two pan out with the returning guys, could be a pretty WR good unit.

RB – Maine has generally not been a good rushing team, they only rushed for 4.0 or more ypc four times last year. #1 RB Santana-fis is back (418, 5.0 3TDS). #2 and 3 gone. They added Sincere Baines out of UNC Pembroke who was Conference Fr POY in 2023 after averaging 7.59ypc.

OL – Lose 2 full time starters at C and RT. Overall they return 4 OL who started last year and lose 3. Overall 5 of top 8 back from final depth chart. Cruji has 22 career starts; Kocan and Iliano each have 12 and Boutaugh has 7 career starts, Williams checking in with 6 (all starts were prior to ’24). They were all underclassmen last year so starting to be veteran unit at this point. They added a Villanova transfer Erickson who’s played in 25 games and Walz from ECU (no action).

DL – top 5 producers from a 4 man DL gone, 3 reserves return who combined for just 12 tkl. Bacon started once at DE, technically he’d be the group’s #6 tackler. DE Holmes was 2nd Tm CAA (transferred JMU), DT Henderson HM/3rd Tm was named team DL POY and another DT transferred to UMass. 3 of top 4 interior DL gone and they are losing close to 80 career starts from the DL. In the portal they added Titikpina from Coastal Carolina, Purnell from Virginia, Sherman from Central Missouri. Both FBS transfers haven’t done much before, Sherman has played at Dll.

LB – 2 part-time starters back, but overall they lose 3 of top 5. Thomas was #3 tkl’r in 8 games and Couchman was #10 both are back. They added a transfer from Army and UTEP who haven’t played there much and also had added Noble from West Chester, but he is not on roster.

DB – S Devin Vaught was named not just team D ROY, but D POY as a rFr. He started 11 and was #6 tkl’r. Good news, he’s back, bad news 4 different safeties started last year, and only Vaught is back. They return their top CB in Gibson (9 pbus), bad news, the other CBs are gone. 4 different CBs started last year and Gibson is the only returnee. They added Folk from Kent where he didn’t play, but at his former school West Chester, he had 106 tkl in 2023 where he started as a 190 lb MLB. He’s a DB here. Hampton S Wilson had 97 tkl’s in 37 career games. Also in is Nwachi from Frosburg St where he had good production (8 PBUs ’23) and a Furman DB Holmes who did not play.

Coaches – Maine alum Stevens enters year 4. OC is in 7th year. Everyone is back except for a new OL/run game coordinator and WR coach.

4-8 ATS – went 0-2 ATS as a favorite, but did win both SU (Colgate -16 tll yards and Bryant +79 ttl yards). Big win on the year was an upset of Villanova as a 13.5 home dog. They outgained an underwhelming 2024 Villanova team by 127y and led 28-0 HT! They also pulled an “upset” at Albany (+77 ttl yards), but the full adjustment on Albany’s correction from ’23 wasn’t complete yet. Still those are 2 outright wins in Maine’s 10 dog roles, overall they were 4-6 ATS as dog. Only one of Maine’s 5 CAA loses was by single digits. Maine was really bad on 3rd down to end the season, final 2 games they were a combined 2-of-21! They converted 43.4% in their other 9 FCS games.

Schedule – 3 of first 4 games on the road and those are all loses (Liberty, W&M and Georgia Southern). Host Stonehill week 3 as a probable win. Next 3 are winnable, A&T, Bryant and Merrimack before the midseason bye. If they figure things out could be about 3-4 before a tougher final stretch. Avoid : Campbell, Monmouth, Towson, Albany, Villanova

Take away – Peevy gives them a steady hand at QB, haven’t run the ball well and lose top receivers, O seems limited and D has not been good, now it could be worse.

Monmouth - 6-6 (4-4) / 6-6 ATS

QB – Added Maine transfer Derek Robertson last year and he passed for 3937y-65%-31-6 earned 3rd Tm AA honors. He’s back for his grad year. The depth behind him is all green. Last year’s backup only threw 4 passes and left. There are two rFr and a tFr backing him up this year.

WR/TE – Monmouth has had a good offense for a few years now, not quite this good, but for the receivers, they had a Miller catch 90-1293-9 in 2023. They lost their top 2 into ’24, but Derry and Speight stepped into big roles to kind of co-lead with 60-917-5 and 61-896-6 for which they earned 2nd Tm and HM CAA respectively. Nelson had 35-643-3TD and a Fr AA Neal had 34-490-7. Top TE Neri caught 32-329-5. The top 7 receivers were all WR or TEs and they all are back. With RBs, the top 9 receivers all return!

RB – Definition of TD vulture, former Harvard RB Stone Ntoh would run wildcat near the goal line and he scored 25 TDs last year on 109 attempts. In 2023 he scored 14 TDs on 56 att. He was #2 in yards with 487 and is gone. The primary RB Nelson is back, he earned Fr AA for his 809y (6.1) and 6 TDs rushing plus 17 receptions. #3 Green is back. They lose #4.

OL – Lose their top 3 at C (2 shared starting plus top reserve), but 4 starters return at the other positions including 2nd Tm Cornelius. They only lose an inexperienced reserve at the OT and OG spots, so 8 of top 9 OT and OGs are back, just have to replace Center. No OL were added in the portal so they are content with what they have. They allowed less than 1 sack per game on 440 pass attempts! Best in the CAA and top 10 nationally.

DL – 7 of top 8 DL are gone including two HM/3rd Tm CAA guys. It was a heavy Sr/5th year group last year, but for as veteran as it was, they weren’t especially good. The Monmouth pass D was worse than the run D, but they were 9th CAA in run D ypg – 4.21ypc allowed was about midpack. Bigger issue they were second to last in sacks and that contributes to the poor passing D. I’ll assume Bigos is going to be 1 of the DL starters as he’s the only rotational guy back (10 tkl 1 sack). Literally no other DL returning had more than 1 or 2 tkls. I only see 2 DL transfers. Sloan from Cornell is a good addition, he started every game last year at DE and in his career has 70 tkl, 7.5 TFL. The other add is Graham from Emory & Henry who has 21 tkl and 6.5 TFL in 2 years playing there. They must be counting on developing the rest of their depth.

LB – 5 of top 6 LBs who were mostly upperclassmen last year are gone. Only Sasso with his 6 starts and his 28 tkls is back. 3 of the top 4 team tkl’rs were LBs and all gone of course and a reserve transferred to Temple. Lots of portal adds here and it looks like they did very well. They bring in a Yale starting LB who was their #2 tkl’r Ayo Durojaiye, Rutkowski from Towson who was starting OLB, Hook from Colgate who’s played 37 games with 16 starts there plus they add Kishbaugh from Coastal Carolina (15 games 2 years), and Russo who was once at Rutgers (no action), but was at JUCO last where he had 41 tkl in 10 games. Seems they have pieces to work with here.

DB – The pass D is really what was awful, the only CAA teams worse in pass eff D last year were A&T and Bryant, bad. 6 of their top 8 last year were either Fr or So so they were mostly getting some of their first meaningful action. They lose a starting CB and a S that got hurt after 7 starts. 7 of the top 8 from final 2 deep return and they bring in experienced transfers. Starting DBs McLeer from Saint Francis (66 tkl ’24), Porter from Pace (20 games career 83 tkl, 7 PBU) and Ricci from Wagner (starting CB 4 INTs ’24).

Coaches – Kevin Callahan is the only coach Monmouth football has ever had. 188 wins is the most by any active FCS coach. This will be his 33rd season. Brings in new DL, LB/run game coordinator and DB coaches this year to try and improve the D although the same DC remains. Interesting the QB coach/pass game coordinator is the older brother of the current QB Derek Robertson. Coach Jimmy Robertson has been here for 4 years now. Gallo has been OC for 6 years, but has been on staff for 21.

ATS – 6-6, 4-4 ATS as a favorite, but 3 they failed to cover they lost outright (Lafayette who recovered an onside kick and scored winning TD in final seconds, Towson who held Monmouth to just 14 pts amazingly and URI who never led until the final 1:17 but their D did hold Monmouth O to 335 4.4ypp). Monmouth was 3-1 ATS as dogs with 2 covers being outright upset wins (FIU fumbled at the 1 yard line going in with :32 left, Villanova where Monmouth +174 yardage edge). Monmouth was outgained by 100+ yards in 3 games because of their D (in those games the O averaged 415.6). There was a 3 game consecutive stretch vs Towson, URI and UNH were Monmouth O only average 20.6ppg and 336.3ypg … so this O wasn’t always unstoppable despite being the CAA's best PPG (39.0) and YPG O (489.9).

Schedule – 3 straight road games to start Colgate, Fordham, Charlotte…which Monmouth beat FIU last year and Charlotte nearly lost to Gardner Webb last year and lost to William & Mary a couple years ago so they could open 3-0 before home opening vs Villanova and an early bye. Monmouth beat Nova last year with a 502-328 ttl yard edge. They come out of the bye to face Delaware State before fully getting into conference play. They avoid Campbell, Elon, Maine, Rhode Island, William & Mary with URI being notable as the other CAA favorite this year.

Take away - The D has been an issue allowing 29.5 ppg in '23 and 33.5 '24, but if Robertson stays healthy with all the experience around on the O this can be a CAA championship contender and a playoff team

New Hampshire - 8-5 (6-2) / 7-5-1 ATS

QB – The loss of Max Brosmer to Minnesota triggered a huge drop in UNH’s offensive output. Brosmer guiding a 37.5 ppg and 434.4 ypg offense, #1 in CAA both categories. ’24 transfer Seth Morgan had a good start to the season, notably weeks 3 and 4 where he passed for 439 and 314 yards with a 10-0 ratio in those 2 games vs SH and Bryant. He would only pass for 10 TDs total over the next 8 games and the passing O failed to top 200y in half those games. Quite a contrast from the 2023 offense. Morgan is gone. Matt Vezza is entering his 3rd year with the program and appears to be the guy for this season after serving as backup. I will assume he is an upgrade. They did add Wingate QB Brooks Bentley who was conference Fr POY ’23 and in 2 years threw for 3869-60.4%-28-11.

WR/TE – The other component to such a dramatic dropoff in this UNH O last year was the loss of RB Dylan Laube. Laube was the #1 receiver in ’23 with 68 receptions to go with his lead RB duties. He had 26 more catches than the next leading receiver Tomlinson. Tomlinson was back in ’24 and he caught for 80-826-9 which was 28 more catches than #2. They lose #1 Tomlinson who earned 2nd Tm CAA and was invited to Balt minicamp. Also #3 Corcoran was drafted by CFL. They return #2 Burke 52-711-6 and their top TE along with reserves plus a handful of WRs who caught 10 or fewer passes. In the portal they added Johnson from NIU who caught 17 passes playing 10 games in ’23 but only played in 4 games last year. Also in is Wilson from Wesleyan who in 3 years caught 110-1883-20TDs and was twice conference 1st Tm including O POY last year. He made an immediate impact in spring.

RB – Definitely felt the loss of do-it-all Laube who ran for 749 (4.7) and 9 TDs in ’23, the top 3 RBs in ’24 combined for 945 (3.6) and 5 TDs. As a team they dropped from 115ypg (4.0) to just 86.5 (2.9). They lose #1, but #2 and 3 Gibson and Thomason return.

OL – Yet another issue with the O last year was returning just 2 starting OL. Those 2 Center Poirier (HM CAA ’24) and RT Davis are the only 2 that depart for this year, they combined for 59 career starts. 7 of the top 9 from the final depth chart does return with 38 career starts among them. As a group they blocked for the CAA’s worst rushing O and they allowed a staggering 7.62 TFLs per game (114th nationally). It appears they only added a Lackawanna transfer Campanelli.

DL – As bad as the O was last year, the D was pretty terrific led by an outstanding DL. DEs Silver was AA and Ruiz was 1st Tm CAA. Silver had 17.5 TFLs,11.5 sacks last year and Ruiz had 15.5, 9.5 sacks. These guys were highly decorated players for UNH through their combined 83 career starts. The top 4, all 4 starting DL are gone, although they do return their top 4 reserves, DEs Garron and McAllister and DTs Bonagura and Garner-Young all of whom produced pretty well (combined 71tkl, 9 TFLs as rotational players). They added Aghakham from Iowa (no action) and Akinmoladun from Washburn (83 tkl in 35 career games). Silver/Ruiz are impossible to replace, but this might still be an ok unit. Akinmoldadun was having an impact in the spring.

LB – They play 2 LBs and the top 5 are gone including a 2nd Tm #1 tkl’r Toscano who had 118. They only announced one incoming transfer, Cole Bullock from Montana State where he only played in 3 last year registering 6 tkl. Looks like an unknown unit.

DB – 4 of 5 starters are gone, but they do return the top reserves at 4 of 5 positions. Lose a 3rd Tm AA in S Owens who was #2 tkl’r with 111 and lose other starting S in Williams. Tighe was #5 tkl’r at the third S spot and he has 15 career starts. Reserves Skinner, Moreland and Stone all contributed and return. CB is worse off. They lose HM CAA CB Stansbury who had 43 career starts and Mead is gone at other CB spot. Collins started a few at CB and he’s gone too. Webb is the only CB returning who had double digit tkl’s (he had 10). They didn’t announce any transfers at CB. Safeties look to be capable, although Skinner is now listed as CB on the depth chart. They only have 5 CBs identified on the roster and 7 guys listed as S.

ST – lose 1st Tm K and 2nd Tm P

Coaches – UHN alum and former record setting QB Santos enters 4th year as HC. New coaches included: QB, RB, DL and S. There were several new hires last year, but everyone else is entering 2nd year or longer.

7-5-1 ATS – Got off to a hot start 3-1 ATS with an upset win as a 3 pt dog at Holy Cross week 2. After alternating some loss/cover/loss/push they were at 4-3-1. In back-to-back weeks they were 1 pt dogs at Albany and home vs Monmouth but they won both as the start of a 4 game SU winning streak to end the season (3-1ATS). Unfortunately for them they couldn’t hide their weak offense in the playoffs and UT Martin came in a short road fav in round 1 and dominated with a 482-124 ttl yard edge in the 41-10 win. UNH O was held below 300 yards in 6 FCS games! The D was pretty outstanding as they held pretty much everyone in check which allowed this team to go 6-2 in conference and look good enough at 8-5 for the playoffs.

Schedule – Santos and UNH’s history on offense has me thinking they can and will bounce back if they get better QB play. Schedule isn’t so bad. Trip to NCCU is interesting to open season. Then Holy Cross, Ball State, Dartmouth, Albany…at least vs the FCS opponents, UNH should be able to compete and those are all potentially winnable (and losable). Then it gets tougher in the middle of the season and that’s where their fate will be determined. Avoid : Elon, Hampton, NC A&T, Stony Brook, Towson

Take away – O slipped 15 ppg from ’23 to ’24 – D improved 7 ppg from ’23 to ’24 – figures O can be better this year if Vezza can be ‘the’ guy at QB, but D likely to take a sizable drop back

North Carolina A&T - 1-11 (0-8) / 4-7 ATS

QB – They doubled the passing yards from just 1154 in ‘23 to 2203 in last year and TDs went from 5 to 11. Fomby was the primary QB last season and he’s gone. KJ White broke his leg in the spring although it was said he could be back and ready for fall camp. Last year he saw 4 games 46-75-444-1-1, 100y gross rushing + TD. Former FAU QB Alston Hooker was thought to be #1 perhaps among the unit in spring, but he tore his ACL. That left Braxton Thomas who was 18-46-151-0-1, 103y gross rushing here last year in 4 games. Thomas was injured in spring too with a shoulder. It was down to 4th string Noah Sanders as the primary QB in the spring game/scrimmage. Sanders was originally with Delaware out of HS ’22 and ’23 but DNP and normally you think of a guy who’s 4th can’t possibly be as good as the others, but this QB room is pretty weak so they are all pretty much the same I’d guess. Only Hooker is considered out for the season. We’ll see about White.

WR/TE – Lots of options back here, lose #1 Caldwell who had 43-530-3TD and #6 receiver is gone. Problem is this group doesn’t get a ton of opportunities given the offensive struggles A&T has had the last 2 years. Jones led in ’23 with just 18 catches in 8 games, last year he only played in 4 and caught just 11 – he’s back again. Dillard was #2 last year 33-393-0TD and TE Rucker was relatively productive 19-210-3. WR Stevens was supposed to be in from ECU but he is not yet on the roster. They did add a little used TE from JUCO. 13 WRs and 3 TEs are on roster.

RB – 2023 leading rusher Kenji Christian ran for 718 (5.4), but he only played in 3 last year for 256 (8.8). He transfers to Toledo. Everyone else is back and they add Wofford’s JT Smith who has about 550y in 2 years there and is a good receiving option as well. They would appear to have capable guys here, but maybe lack Kenji’s explosiveness.

OL – New HC Gibbs said this unit was his #1 concern. They do return HM CAA RG Sharpe who was flirting with leaving. He is the only sure thing they have coming back. Minarro is still on the roster but I do not believe he is part of the team. They also lost Ivy who had an NFL camp invite and Stukes who transferred to NC State. Adams transferred to New Mexico. And part-time starter Webb transferred to Eastern Mich. Aside from Sharpe’s 22 career starts the only OL back with starting experience are Ke Cullberson 2 starts in 6 games played and Wiggins 3 starts in 7 games played. Cannon has played in 30 but never started...the time is now young man! They were active in the portal here with additions Moorer from ETSU (1 game ’24), Marshall from GW (no action), Dorsey from Ft Valley St (1st Tm conference ’24) and Navarro from Virginia St (10 games ’24). There is potential they get 4-5 OL who are starting caliber but the quality depth is really questionable.

DL – D is moving back to a 4-3 this year away from a 3 man DL previously. It looks like 3 of the top 4 DEs are gone with Glover announcing a late for the portal. Ward would be the top returnee at edge with just 19 tkl and .5 sacks last year. It is believed the first string at interior will be good enough with Broadhurst and King-Leverett both having played in over 20 games each. Still a concerning unit. They added Murphy from Howard who hasn’t played and Poole from Virginia St who had 52tkl and 8 TFLs in 2 years.

LB – #1 tkl’r Moledor transferred to Wofford. If the online roster is accurate they do return 4 of the top 6 tkl’rs at LB and 6 of the top 9 overall. Roberts from Campbell comes in from the portal with 0 games experience. Alderman is an interesting addition from AP where he played in just 4 registering only 6 tkl, but previously he was Dll 1st Tm conference at Fort Valley where he accumulated 107tkl and 38 TFLs in his career.

DB – Karon Prunty was a rare star at CB for this team unfortunately he transferred to WF after 32 career starts. The other starting primary ’24 CB is gone too. Sumpter started 6 last year and he is back with his 47 career games played and 26 starts overall. Steven Davis ll was on the 2024 depth chart as a FS, the 2025 online roster has him as a CB, but he torn an ACL so he’s out. Counting Sumpter and leaving Davis out, there are 4 players classified as CBs on the roster, 3 players labeled DBs, but 12 at S. And they do appear to return all their top S players, minus Davis, although they have Laney listed still and he supposedly transferred out to GW. His twitter account still shows A&T affiliation with no GW mention, so maybe the coaches lured him back. At any rate, might assume CB is going to be thin and S could be ok. One of the DBs on the roster is an incoming transfer from Ft Valley St Blankumsee who was 2nd Tm conference as a FR in ’23 when he had 4 INTs (62 tkl 2 years).

Coaches – Shawn Gibbs returns to A&T where he was RB coach from 2011-21 which was an extremely successful time for the team and for Gibbs’ unit. He coached some great RBs including Tarik Cohen. Gibbs left to be the Fort Valley State HC where he had winning seasons of 6-4, 8-3 and 8-2. The new OC is former Howard QB and 2x MEAC O POY McGhee, his coaching experience is light with OC role at West Liberty and QB coach at Howard the last 2 years. Jones is DC coming over from Fort Valley and is an A&T alum. His run D was #1 in the SIAC last year. OL and WR coaches were retained. CB coach is Tony McRae, an A&T alum, spent several years bouncing from team to team in the NFL and his coaching is highly thought of, he spent the last few seasons in the same role for NCCU.

4-7 ATS all as dogs. They were 2-7 ATS at one point, but covered some high spreads vs average teams to close the season. WF got off to a slow start in the opener or else that game would’ve been uglier, 45-13 Final as it was covered the +33.5. Their other cover on the year came in a surprisingly close game vs Richmond. Richmond’s head may’ve been elsewhere, but it was nothing short of A&T’s best game of the season, only outgained by 61y in the 17-20 loss (Richmond 1 TD on 5 RZ trips). A&T had 349 ttl yards in that one. They failed to top 300 yards of O in 6 of their 10 FCS games. The scoring O and scoring D were dead last in the league.

Schedule – The season could get off to a good start at rebuilding Tennessee State. Just a matter of which team has more questions in that one I suppose. After that, the optimism with the coaching staff is high, but the roster limitations might prevent that from turning into wins. But for a team that has only won 1 game each the last two years, they could find their way to a couple this year perhaps if coaches can will it out of them. Avoid : Bryant, Rhode Island, Albany, New Hampshire, Villanova

I’m suspicious the online roster has some errors as it stands now, I believe I sorted through it well enough.

Take away – have yet to win a CAA game since being in the league, a lot of work to do, this staff will get the best out of them, what that means is yet to be seen.

Rhode Island - 11-3 (7-1) / 9-5 ATS

QB –There were big shoes to fill last year after Kasim Hill left as URI’s career yardage leader compiled over his 4 seasons here. They brought in a veteran Hunter Helms from Clemson (back-up, 5 starts ’23) who competed against the returning second stringer Devin Farrell (originally VT ’22). Farrell won the job starting the first 4, but was benched after the first series of the 3Q after a poor 1H. Helms came in and led a comeback and started the next week at Hampton. After back-to-back turnovers, Helms was benched and Farrell came in to lead the comeback (Hampton actually led by 14 twice). Farrell started the rest of the year until he was injured and lost for the season at Delaware and Helms started the final 4 where he finished the year with a 5-9 TD-INT ratio. This offense was very average with both QBs really (24ppg and 362ypg both 9th CAA). Helms is gone and it’s Farrell’s show now. He passed 1670-58%-11-8, 302y net rushing with 5 TDs. Not counting the Delaware game where he only got in 4 passes, in his 8 other FCS games Farrell only had a positive TD-INT ratio in half of them and completed under 50% twice. His running makes him tough to defend, just has to improve the passing.

WR/TE – Buchanon was 2nd Tm AA and #1 receiver 82-1124-8 and Gaines caught 50-603-3 for #2. Both are back. They return their #5 receiver also Walker 12-153-0, but that is it, everyone else who caught a pass is gone including #3 Smith who earned 2nd Tm CAA. SHU’s #1 WR Kwarteng from 2023 came in last year, but played a reserve role. They added a Dlll 2nd Tm AA in Sanchez. There are 12 other WRs on the roster, but it’s all about Buchanon and Gaines. The TE is not involved in the passing game, still they lose their top 2 TEs, although they get a contributor from ’23 back in Schaeffer who was injured half of last year. Caspe hasn’t done much yet, but he is 6’7”. They brought in experienced TEs Finer from Kennesaw (31 career games), Smith from UMass/Duke (30 career games) and a less experienced Dixon from WVU (7 games 2 years)

RB – Added former SHU RB Malik Grant last year who had an outstanding season, 1426y-13TDs, 14rec-152-TD to earn HM CAA. HE’s gone after 1 year, as is every RB. QB Farrell was #2 in yards. They were supposed to add a really good RB from Dartmouth Q Jones (1st Tm Ivy), but he is not on the roster and I heard he doesn’t appear to be coming. They did add Littleton from Temple/Maryland who has 1013 career yards and a transfer from Stanford and Rutgers who didn’t play.

OL – Only lose 1 full time starter. Return Bethea who earned 2nd Tm CAA at LT, HM CAA Alexander at C and Buxton is back at LG and Robinson at RG. There are 64 career starts among those 4 (1/3 of which are Bethea’s). They lost their primary RT, but Cooper made 3 starts there last year and overall he has 7 starts in 22 career games played. Lose their most experienced reserve, but Neal and McMillian have been around. They bolstered this already good unit by added Reimer from BGSU where he started until injury, but prior to that he was a 1st Tm NEC for Merrimack. They also added another former starting Merrimack OL in Christian Smith and Nick Thomas from BC who’s played in 8 games over 3 years.

DL – Lose all 4 starters and lose 5 of top 7 overall including 1st Tm and HM CAA guys. Those 5 were all 4th and 5th year Sr. Only Mankins and Wilson return who had any production last year. They added Aaris Bethea from Rutgers (no action), Swain-Price from UMass (7 tkl ’24) and Robbins from VMI who had 18 tkl as a reserve NT seeing 25 games in 3 years there. This looks like a questionable group after the veteran unit they had last year.

LB – Some of the biggest news of the offseason was AA LB AJ Pena transferring to Memphis, but then deciding to come back! He had 22.5 TLFs here last year with 12.5 sacks while being the #3 tackler. Unfortunately not much else returns with him, the top 3 tkl’rs on the team were LBs and #1 and #2 are gone both HM CAA one transferring to UAB and they lose another LB who had 24 tkl. – so 3 of the top 4 gone with only Pena returning. They do return several reserves who contributed in Meus (16 tkl), Garner (12tkl) and Davy (10tkl). Wofford transfer John Bayles comes in with 34 games of experience in 5 years including 18 starts (35 tkl ’24).

DB – 2 of the 3 starters at CB are gone, including 2nd Tm CAA Mallay. Johnson is back who had 56 tkl and 7 PBUs and Neal played as a reserve with 2 PBUs in 6 games. The top two tklr’s at S are gone, but DePina-Gray had 38 tkl in 10 starts and States-Jones had 17 tkl and both return. So in terms of tklr’s just 1 of the top 5 return, overall 4 of top 9 are back. 5 DBs added in the portal; Campbell from Sacred Heart (39 tkl ’24), Carcel who was 2nd Tm NAIA AA (5 INTs ’24), Hibbert from LIU (44 tkl ’23), another NAIA Lubin (29 tkl) and Philostin from Indiana (no action).

Coaches – HC Fleming begins 12th ssn. This year the new OC is Flanagan who has been on staff coaching TEs, RBs and last year was OL/run game coordinator. There is a new OL and WR coach.

9-5 ATS – only 5-4 ATS as a favorite, excelled as a dog going 4-1 ATS with 2 upset wins. Half their games were 7pt margins or less and URI won 5 of 7 SU. One of those losses was their 2nd round playoff defeat at Mercer. URI had 2 TDs called back by penalty and had a 315-239 ttl yard edge (5.3-3.6 ypp), but lost 10-17 because of a pick-six and a 21% 3rd down conversion rate on O…and the called back TDs. This was not the first time URI D dominated an opponent, they were a top 5 D in the CAA and held 5 opponents below 300y ttl O including both playoff games. 9 opponents were held to 340y or less – which is good because about 6 games URI O failed to reach that total as well. It wasn’t so much the offense that led the way on this team, it was the D. URI was outgained in 6 games, 5 vs FCS and they won 4 of those.

Schedule – Rhody opens with 9 straight games before a late season bye and the first two weeks feature CAA foes Campbell and Stony Brook. The next 4 weeks are non-con games vs HC, LIU, WMich and Brown. Before UNH, Albany and Bryant. Elon, Hampton and Maine close the year after the bye. All of those games accept WMich are very winnable. Avoid : Monmouth, NC A&T, Towson, Villanova, William & Mary – all but A&T would be fairly tough so URI’s schedule is very favorable.

Take away – Need the O to take step forward because the D is likely taking a step back - QB Farrell needs to be better, if he is the pieces are here to contend for league title again.

s--k · Jul 14, 2025

CAA continued

Stony Brook - 8-4 (5-3) / 8-4 ATS

QB – 2023 leading QB Case returned, but it was Georgetown transfer who started week 1. tFr Marshall would start the next 4 before Knoop started the rest of the year. Knoop passed 2021-69%-17-4 and rushed 172y net. Marshall only threw for 814-49%-1-2 with 30y net. Both are gone. Case DNP ’24 and is still around, although shown to have a limited ceiling under the prior coaching staff here. This year Zellous comes in from Hampton who split time last year passing 1030-63.5%-3-6, 328y rushing + 6TDs and in 2023 1368-55.5%-12-13, 569y rushing + 8 TD. Zellous has a career 18-23 TD-INT ratio.

WR/TE – #1 WR in terms of yards is back, Freeman 23-506-6TD. But the #1 and #2 WR in terms of catches are gone including 2nd Tm CAA TE Redman (these two combined 83-892-7TD). So 1 of top 3 back and they return #4 Dez Williams 30-382-2TD and Lamarre caught 22-267-0. RB Dempster was big in the passing game 32-335-TD and #2 TE Bunicci is back 14-259-2TD. They signed 3 WR in the portal with success at prior schools: Dietz from Albany (#3 rec ’24) and two small college WRs in Slywka (81-1179-12TD career) and Flood-Brown (41-710-4TD ’24).

RB – Dempster is back after having an AA season 1132y (5.0) 18 TD + being #5 receiver. #2 is gone, but a couple backups return.

OL – 3 full time starters return LT Allen, LG Papic who earned HM CAA and RG Melendez. Both who started at C are gone and 2 of the 3 starters at RT are gone, but Garcia started 2 here and is back. Overall 6 of top 10 are back and they should be in good shape on the first team assuming they find a C. In the portal they added OL who started at their prior schools; Forbes from Howard and Inge from VMI along with a small college OL Maiava.

DL – 3 man DL, 5 of top 8 are back. However one of the departed is DE Lawrence was AA. The top returning performer is DE Faulk who had 9 TFL, 4.5 sacks. It wasn’t a very heavy DL with average weight being 263 lbs among the 3 starters. Including Fr there are 14 DL on the roster, it does not appear they added any in the portal. Avg weight is 254 lbs.

LB – Top 3 tkl’rs at LB return HM CAA Robers, Ferrelli and Chalmers. Overall 6 of the top 9 are back. In the 4 man group, the hybrid/Rover position loses both players who started last year. So 3 full time starters are back at the other spots. Kaler returns after playing at Charlotte last year (14 tkl). Here in ’23 he led the team with 83 tkl and was team captain. They also add Ruane who started 9 at S, he’s listed as LB here. A small college LB Aphayvang rounds out their additions (18 games in 3 years).

DB – Both starting S and a starting CB are gone. Johnson started 7 as a rSo at CB. While 4 of the top 9 return, the top 4 tkl’rs all depart including 2nd Tm CAA Silvera. The depth players were young. 69 tkls return, 181 depart. They added 7 DBs in the portal not counting Ruane (hybrid-LB). Kamara was a part-time starting CB at Maine, Garcia was LIU’s #1 tkl’r at S, Parker from Richmond had 8 starts in ’23 (110 tkl 3 years), Crawford contributed at SFU and a couple small college guys are in including Shamar Askin who is 2x 1st Tm MSFA league.

ST – Return 2nd Tm CAA K Kirby (17-of-20), long 41. P back as well.

Coaches – Chris Cosh won multiple COY awards for his turnaround job. 0-10 ’23 to 8-4 in year 1. Almost all the staff is back, but there is a new RB and S coach. Both the OL and DL coaches were retained from the prior staff.

8-4 ATS – Covered 4x from weeks 2-5 including upset wins vs Fordham and Campbell. Of course Fordham would turn out to be awful and Campbell was Campbell. 5-3 ATS as dogs with 4 upset wins (Ford, Camp, Towson, W&M). 3-1 ATS as favorites, the non-cover was a 1 pt OT win as 10 pt road chalk at Bryant. They were 3-1 SU in one score games. SB was outgained 4x in FCS games and they won 2 of those. 3 of those games the SB O was held to 326y or less. Generally this O was very good outside of those games. They went from 314 ypg O in ’23 14th CAA to 403 ypg ’24 4th. They were two full TDs better on O and D ’23 vs ’24 (O 15 ppg vs 29 ppg)(D 39 ppg vs 24.8 ppg)!

Schedule – Tricky start to the year with trip to San Diego St and then host Rhode Island. The next 4 weeks should be wins, but trips to Lindenwood and Albany could be unexpectedly tougher. Bye is middle year week 7. If trajectory from last year can continue, this is a league championship contender and their first playoff birth since 2018. They do play the other teams most would say are league co-favorites in URI, Monmouth and maybe Nova. So they don;'t catch any breaks in the schedule department. Avoid : Campbell, Elon, Hampton, New Hampshire, William & Mary

Take away – Only beat 2 teams with winning records last year and were +10 TO ratio. Zellous history is boom-bust at QB – if he delivers this could be a good team again.

Towson - 7-5 (5-3) / 7-5 ATS

QB – Returned ’23 starter Nathan Kent, but UMass transfer Carlos Davis started 3 of the first 4 and the rest of the games were started by 2023 backup Sean Brown. Davis is gone, Kent is back despite only playing in 3 games last year and didn’t throw a pass. As the starter in ‘23 he threw for 2123-58%14-6 ratio while rushing for 288y net with 3 TDs. Last year with the bulk of the action Brown passed for 1974-63%-12-8 with just 120y gross (-35y net) rushing. This team seems to need something better at QB and the coaches must not believe it is Kent based off of last year’s playing time. No transfers were added. Could it be time for rFr Winston Watkins to compete for job?

WR/TE – #1 rec was TE Runyon who was an AA! He's gone, but the top 5 WRs return. Top 2 TEs gone and 3 RBs who caught passes are gone. Added a WR from UConn Jones who played in 1 game last year and N’namdi-Hall who led Frostburg in receiving last year (42-554-5).

RB – Of the 5 RBs who had a carry last year, only #4 rusher Ike Daniels is back (75y 2 TD in 6 games). #1 RB was HM CAA and #2 RB transferred to Liberty. They combined for 1648 (6.4) and 14 TDs. So somebody has to replace that production. They did add Al Wooten who didn’t do much at Duke, but prior to that he was a 24 game starter at Mercer with 1371 career yards and 11 TDs. Otherwise it is tFr, rFr or a rSo.

OL – Return 5 of 7 OL who started last year. Lose full time starters at LG and C. Volpe and Montgomery shared starts at LT and Brooks started the first 6 at RT until injury and Montgomery finished up the season there. Germain started every game at RG except for 1 that Nelson was in his place. 10 OL played in 6+ games last year and 7 of them return, 1 addition in the portal, Williams who RS at Florida ’24.

DL – Top 6 from a 3-man unit are gone including an HM CAA interior DL and the reserve interior DL transferred to ECU. Two deeper reserves Stegall and Clark return but combined for just 13 tkl. Portal additions include: JT Black from Lenoir Rhyne (23 tkl, 7 TFL ‘24), Draeger from San Deigo St (21 tkl 4 years), and Adams from JMU (no action).

LB – 5 of top 8 LBs are gone including 3 who transferred out to other FCS schools. Roane had good production as did McClendon and Peters. 3 transfers are in with the most notable being Shamar Graham from Virginia Union who has 264 career tkl in 37 games, he led his team in tkl the last 3 years! 1st Tm CIAA ’23. Also add Turner from UMass (19tkl ’24) and Drummer from ODU (7 tkl ’24).

DB – Lose 1 primary starter at CB, but Gant started 2 and played in 11 as a tFr and is back along with HM CAA CB Brodie (9 PBUs). Lose their #4 tkl’r at S, but 3 of the top 4 are back at the position with Terry being the #2 overall tkl’r; Shiggs and White played in every game and combined for 51 tkl. Added 3 DBs in the portal. Meeko Lodge from JUCO, Henderson from Stonehill (40 tkl 2 years), Nell Davis from Duquesne (21 tkl ’24).

Coaches – Shinnick enters year 3. He won a Dll National Championship at West Florida in 2019 and was in the playoffs 4 of his last 5 years there. New OC/QB coach this year from McNeese. About everyone else came in with Shinnick 3 years ago.

7-5 ATS – were great dogs going 5-1 ATS with 2 upsets vs William & Mary and Monmouth. Bad favorites, 2-4 ATS, lost 1 straight up. As favorites they won 14-9 vs Morgan as 10pt home fav, beat Norfolk 28-23 as 16.5 pt road fav, lost big outright to SB as 9.5 pt home fav, and only beat A&T by 18 as 21 pt fav. The wins were comfortable vs Hampton and Campbell. They outgained Villanova and lost 13-14 due to 3 missed FGs including two that would’ve given them the lead late. At NDSU, the Bison led by 21 a couple times, but Towson did comeback to make it just a 7 pt game mid 4Q before it went final at 24-41. Towson outrushed them 205-188 (8.5-3.6)! Towson actually had 3rd best O rushing ypc in the CAA (5.02). Another close loss, was actually closer than the 11 pt loss at Richmond, Towson essentially handed Richmond 3 FGs and there was a 90y pick-six. Turnovers were big, in three games they had a -3 ratio. The D did hold their final 3 opponents below 300 tll yards, but that was just vs Hampton, A&T and Cambell. Were 4-5 on the year before closing on a 3 game straight up winning streak.

Schedule – They open the season at Michael Vick’s Norfolk State, then at Morgan and at Maryland. Home opener vs YSU, then at Bryant, host Elon and Monmouth before the bye. They beat Monmouth last year. Other than Maryland, there isn’t any game on the first half of the schedule they can’t win. Call it 5-2 best case, maybe 4-3 safer. Can probably go 3-2 in the final 5. Avoid : Hampton, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, William & Mary. The D got better by 7.5 ppg last year while the O made modest improvement.

Take away – QB could be holding this offense back (need somebody new?) – D is a bit of a question this year after solid improvement last year. Could be in playoff mix

Villanova - 10-4 (6-2) / 6-7-1 ATS

QB – Watkins return last year and his potential for a big year was much anticipated nationally. Unfortunately he had a disappointing season. 2023 passed for 2682-56.5%-20-10 with 378y net rushing + 10 TDs. 2024 in one less game just 2102-51.4%-13-5 with 430y net rush + 8 TDs. They lost a couple very good WRs into last year, only Sanchez was back and the OL was down 2.5 starters. It all made for a fairly weak offense and it was on display week 1 where he connected on just 35% of pass attempts. Sub-50% in 6 games and the sacks went from 25 in 2023 to 37. Watkins is gone. Rather than going with last year’s backup Tanner Maddocks (who they used on punt returns) they brought in Pat McQuade from Nicholls. In 2 years at Nicholls he passed for 4414-57.5%-27-22 with a net negative rushing yards. Not a bad add for the experience, but not somebody who is going to really be efficient or elevate an offense and a downgrade from what Watkins should've been off the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but not as bad as a downgrade considering the season Watkins actually had last year. Must watch those INTs Pat!

WR/TE – Top 2 WRs gone, in terms of WRs they return their #3, #6 and #8 guys. All the star players from the 2023 and 2024 teams are gone now. They added Princeton’s #1 receiver in Luke Colella (45-562-5TD). Hopefully they have a young player ready to emerge.

RB – This position group is loaded with young talent led by CAA O ROY and Fr AA #1 rusher Avit (923-5.3-9TD). 3 Fr RBs got action last season with Ragland being the primary the first few games (finished year with 511-4.9-4TD) before Avit took over. They also got contributions from their 3rd Fr Mace (180-4.6-TD) – all finished 1,2,3 among RBs in rushing and they all return plus veteran Wright. Watkins was big in this rushing game, past performance says McQuade won't be.

OL – Only lose 2 experienced reserves. All starters return. 3 guys held their respective LT, C and RB positions all season with multiple players having time at the other two spots. 7 OL started and all return, 128 career starts are back along with a few experienced reserves. Picard was 1st TM CAA at C and Voltaire HM at LT.

DL – 5 of the top 6 DL are back for the 3 man unit including 4 of the unit’s top 5 tkl’rs. McSween had 28 tkl and 6 TFLs, 4.5 sacks as a rFr playing as a reserve last year.

LB – Lose AA #1 tkl’r Bell, but 5 of the top 7 are back including 1st Tm CAA Hartzell.

DB – All 5 primary starters at CB and the three S positions are gone including a 2nd Tm AA and 2nd Tm CAA. All 5 were 5th or 6th year Seniors. Dawud did start 3 at CB while playing in all 16 games and earned Fr AA recognition (47 tkl). Wyatt started 1 at the other CB spot. Essiem has played some. The top reserves at safety are Moody who came over from Harvard last year where he had 10 career starts in 35 games played, assuming he will move into one spot. Sapp has 5 starts in 33 career games while Williams has never started. With only 6 transfers announced, 2 are at DB. They bring in Talley who was starting FS at Penn (#5 tkl’r) and Adderley from Lehigh at CB who had 8 starts last year and 5 in ’23.

ST – 2 of the other transfers are a K and P. Barnum comes over after earning 2x 1st Tm NEC at CCSU and Larsen from ECU where he punted 174 times while there and was their #2 all-time net punt avg.

Coaches – Ferrante enters 8th year as HC and 38th year here overall. Staff has had a lot of continuity. One of the LB coaches is new, everyone else at least in 3rd year.

6-7-1 ATS – Made it to the second round of the playoffs despite an overall disappointing season and poor offense that is reflected in the ATS record. 3-7-1 ATS as a favorite with 2 outright loss and nearly lost to Towson (only won thanks to missed FGs). They were 3-0 ATS as a dog with one outright upset in their now 4th in a row and 12 out of the last 13 in the battle of the blue vs Delaware! Fitting the Hens leave FCS with a loss to ‘Nova. This team just never got it going on offense. Were DD favs their first 6 FCS games (2-4) and 8 of their first 9 (3-5) until PR finally adjusted to their on the field play instead of expectations. O held under 340 tll yards 9 times (under 300y 6x)! They dropped over 100 yards per game and over a TD scoring ’24 vs ’23. Only NC A&T had a worse pass efff rating in the conference! One thing that saved them was they only threw 5 INTs and the D was solid to pretty good. Their best game vs a quality team was the Stony Brook win 42-24 with a 122y edge and a season high 280y rushing.

Schedule – Start season week 2, play 11 games. 1-1 after an expected win vs Colgate and a loss at Penn State, then go to Monmouth which will be interesting (Monmouth’s great O, but bad D historically and ‘Nova’s run game good but maybe softer secondary). Hard team to forecast until seeing them play. Avoid : Bryant, Campbell, Maine, NC A&T, Rhode Island – Missing URI is good for them, but the other teams are in the bottom ¼ of the league so kind of a tougher schedule overall.

Take away – McQuade doesn’t run like Watkins, I’d expect this team to really lean heavily on the running game and their OL- D should be pretty good still, but secondary has to gel with all new starts and transfers. History says they will contend for league title.

William & Mary - 7-5 (4-4) / 4-8 ATS

QB – Darius Wilson started 44 career games here. Time to turn the page. Tyler Hughes has been backup the last 3 years. Some of his high points include 130y rushing on just 3att vs Hampton, 54y rushing on 6att in garbage time vs Coastal Carolina. Started vs Hampton 2023 6-16-163-2-0 added 36y rushing with TD. Played mop up duty in 2022 playoff win vs GW and threw 48y TD. I’ll assume Hughes will be good runner and limited as thrower until seeing otherwise.

WR/TE – Every WR who caught double digit balls is gone. Top 3 TEs do return including HM CAA McElwain who was #2 rec with 20-361-5TD. Damien Harris only played in 4 here with 2 starts finishing with a modest 8-101-0. Prior to that he was a good WR at Bucknell 104-1151-5TD in 33 career games there, #1 rec ’23 and ’22. Lemmond also only played in 4 games and caught just 2 passes. But at VMI 2022-23 he caught 59-738-TD. Assuming both will have expanded roles this year. Depending how they want to use Carson Jenkins…he was 1st Tm CAA PR, but only caught 4 passes at WR. In the portal they added Stetson/Ed Waters transfer Devin Thompson who had 38-544-5TD the last 2 years. W&M will likely remain a run first team. Hollis’ 52 receptions last year stands out because in 2023 the leading receiver had just 30 and in 2022 leading receiver had 37.

RB – Yoder and Imoh have been leading on the ground for the last 3 years. 5041 yards combined in that span. Both are gone. QBs run for good chunk of yards here. Josh Miller played in 9 as a tFr, but only had 22 yards. Two grad transfers are in, Raymond from UTM who only had 48y in 6 games, but previously he had 1315y in 40 games at VMI and Sims from ODU who ran for 108y and 2 TDs last year.

OL – Lose AA 4 year starter LT Charles Grant who was NFL draft pick. Every other starter from the end of the season is back. They do lose a 3yr starter who was injured last year after 5 games. They were young in spots last year. 5 are back who have a combined 68 career starts including HM C McKenna who has been a 3 year starter. They add Trainor who was a starter at Merrimack and 2nd Tm NEC ’23.

DL – Ty Gordon was a Fr AA DE here last year (5 sacks). 6 of top 8 back to a 3 man group and Dzidzienyo was HM CAA at the other DE.

LB – 4 LBs on the field, or 3 and a hybrid, and this unit takes a hit. 4 of top 5 tkl’rs at LB gone. 3 LBs return who had 18 or more tkl each led by Harrison (39 tkl) and Rainer started 6, Boring started 3. Added Cornell’s Luke Banbury who was 1st Tm Ivy and their #1 tkl’r.

DB – Secondary takes some hits too. They do return AA CB Jalen Jones (20 PBU! ’24). Two split time at the other CB spot and one transferred to WF, both are gone. Return a reserve CB Robison. Yip has 9 career starts at CB but he only played in 3 last year. The starting S were #3 and #4 tkl’rs and both are gone – one got a NFL mini camp invite and the other transferred to JMU. Smith-Leaks only started 2 last year, but has 11 career starts. He’s back and had 21 tkl in 8 games ’24. A couple of young reserves return also. They add Stephen Hicks from VT and Aidan Ryan from Virginia to the unit. Neither have played much yet.

ST – Only attempted 9 FGs last year. FG, KO guy and P gone. Return 1st Tm PR Jenkins.

Coaches – Coaching vet Mike London is back for 7th year. He’s guided W&M to 4 straight winning seasons, but only one playoff appearance in that span so each year has ended pretty disappointingly, even their 2022 playoff run, they were a total no-show in Bozeman (cold). New OC this year from rival Richmond! He was previously on the W&M staff ’14-17. New QB coach also, Bryan Randall former VT QB. This his first role coaching. New RB coach (London likes former UVA players he coached on his staff, this is another).

4-8 ATS – 4-6 ATS as favorite, lost 3 outright to Towson, Stony Brook and Elon. 0-2 ATS as dogs vs Coastal Car and were shutout vs Richmond in the finale! Turnovers were a significant problem in the losses. Towson had 21 pts of W&M TOs, including a 70y fum ret TD. W&M lost 5 TOs vs Stony Brook for a -2 ratio, one of those was a fumble ret TD. If those losses were kind of “fluky”, the team did respond and waxed A&T easily and 6-3 their playoff hopes still alive with a strong finish. Elon scored the go-ahead TD with just :05 left and that appeared to kill their will. Bryant outgained them but W&M won 22-12 and then the offense no showed at Richmond was an embarrassing close to the season. Outgained their first 5 FCS foes by 95 ypg, 149 ypg in the first 6 if I include Hampton (418 ttl yard edge). But in their last 5 games W&M was outgained in 4 with the only exception being lowly A&T. Outgained in those 4 by avg of 99.75. 7 wins last year, none came vs teams with winning records.

Schedule – Open at what should be a better Furman team this year. W&M only covered vs Furman last year because of a late Tribe TD in final minute. Host Maine, at Virginia, host Charleston Southern, at Nova, host A&T. You’d assume they win those home games, but the 3 road games? Assume they beat Maine, ‘Nova maybe yes, maybe no…probably 4-2 into the bye. The CAA schedule is pretty good as they miss URI, Monmouth and Stony Brook who should be among the toughest teams in the league. But with so much new at QB, RB, WR, offensive coaches and LB and DB…and after this team has failed to live up to their talent in previous years…hard to say right now how this season turns out.

Take away – A lot of new on O and D and tend to underachieve

DOUBLEUP4LIFE · Jul 14, 2025

Really appreciate every post

s--k · Jul 14, 2025

DOUBLEUP4LIFE said:
Really appreciate every post

Do you follow any FCS? It’s the only college football I am interested in now.

carolinablue · Jul 15, 2025

s--k said:
Do you follow any FCS? It’s the only college football I am interested in now.

Hey man I have some fcs v fbs matchups on my “potentials” list for week 1, so if you have time feel free to let me know if any of the big fbs favs I am targeting look off to you based on your fcs research, thanks!

s--k · Jul 15, 2025

carolinablue said:
Hey man I have some fcs v fbs matchups on my “potentials” list for week 1, so if you have time feel free to let me know if any of the big fbs favs I am targeting look off to you based on your fcs research, thanks!

Will do. I would need help with FBS teams this year. Would like to find some vulnerable FBS teams for potential upsets because you know me, I've always loved trying to pick upsets. Going against weak and poor FCS teams to just get hammered though is easier. I'll check into your thread, give me a couple more weeks. Assuming FCS lines are still going to be week of this year. Looking forward to some more crazy Saturday mornings this year!

DOUBLEUP4LIFE · Jul 15, 2025

s--k said:
Do you follow any FCS? It’s the only college football I am interested in now.

The only conference I care about is the MAC , think they've destroyed the " major college football conferences " ...

FCS is the only real college football left .. I do enjoy watching and betting on it

s--k · Jul 15, 2025

DOUBLEUP4LIFE said:
The only conference I care about is the MAC , think they've destroyed the " major college football conferences " ...

FCS is the only real college football left .. I do enjoy watching and betting on it

The great thing is we have choices. The ability for me to bet FCS games domestically and offshore came at a pivotal time when I was questioning my love for college football. For me, it was exactly what I needed at the exact time I needed it (2023 is when I jumped and and turned my back on major college football) and I'm happy for it to be my sole focus both personally for my enjoyment and for my handicapping interests.

s--k · Jul 15, 2025

I listened to a local interview today with YSU's HC Doug Phillips. He said something I did not realize. In all the talk I have heard on the House vs NCAA settlement and I think I have heard quite a bit from the normal media sources that cover FCS football atleast. Not until today did I hear how the former player $2.8 billion fund will impact FCS schools. As part of the settlement, the NCAA is reducing the amount it sends to it's FCS members. To the tune of $250,000 to perhaps $400,000 per year for 10 years. So now, these programs are getting less money from the NCAA because of this settlement, when their players would not have been receiving this benefit anyway on any kind of scale all while the cost of everything else and what is expected to be competitive vs one's peers only gets more expensive. Sounds like a pile of bullshit. I'll link a couple sources and provide some quotes that stood out to me and a link about what the lawyers get out of all it. Lawyers always win don't they.

North Dakota Athletics to opt in to House Settlement - University of North Dakota Athletics

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota has made the decision to opt in to the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement beginning in the 2025-26 athletic

fightinghawks.com

Valparaiso University Opts In to House Settlement - Valparaiso University

After careful review and thoughtful consideration, Valparaiso University is proud to share that we will opt in to this forward-thinking model, effective July 1,

valpoathletics.com

How does the House settlement affect Illinois FCS schools? Not well, based on fallout thus far

The recent House v. NCAA settlement resulted in nearly $2.8 billion in damages to be paid over 10 years. According to published reports, that breaks down to approximately $280,000 annually for FCS …

prairiestatepigskin.com

‘Liars’ — Outrage Erupts Over Lawyers’ Massive $750 Million Earnings in House vs NCAA Settlement

When a judge approved a massive payout for lawyers in the House vs. NCAA settlement, fans flooded social media with sharp, critical reactions.

www.profootballnetwork.com

According to Forbes, the NCAA is paying $1.1 billion of the settlement for those past damages. Approximately $1.65 billion is being paid by the Power 4 conference schools. The remaining 27 Division I conferences are paying $990 million.

Tom Wistriell is the commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, which plays FCS football. He was quoted in Forbes from an interview with a Utah radio station.

“We didn’t get a say in this, and now we’re paying this tax – essentially getting our wages garnished – and nothing to say about it, nothing to do with it, and certainly our former student-athletes aren’t benefiting from this,” Wistreill said.

“The frustrating part for schools like us is that we didn’t earn any of the money that the lawsuit was based on (TV contracts, etc.) and our former student-athletes won’t get any of the back damages and yet we’re losing money from NCAA distributions for the next 10 years,” Beggs said.

While Valpo and other non-Power 4 institutions were not parties in the litigation, the NCAA and the P4 are requiring that all Division I schools contribute to the $2.8B settlement through reduced NCAA distributions over the next ten years. These payments will come from reductions in revenue institutions would have received from the NCAA, not institutional budgets.

The NCAA, which UND is a member of, along with the A5 conferences will pay approximately $2.8 billion in damages over a ten-year period to a class of former student-athletes who did not have the opportunity to benefit from their name, image and likeness (NIL). These back damages will be paid regardless of opt in or opt out status. The estimated annual damages paid by UND are projected at $250,000.

After the parties reached the original $2.8 billion House vs. NCAA settlement, the plaintiffs’ lawyers received paid fees of $750 million. That will come directly from the damages award. This decision, by Judge Claudia Wilken, set social media ablaze in anger.

Lawyers find money for their successful cases, and that money finds its way into their pockets. $750 million just seems like an abnormally large set of fees. In a way, the lawyers taking that much of the award are taking money out of the player’s hands, who took all the physical risk in the first place.

carolinablue · Jul 15, 2025

s--k said:
Will do. I would need help with FBS teams this year. Would like to find some vulnerable FBS teams for potential upsets because you know me, I've always loved trying to pick upsets. Going against weak and poor FCS teams to just get hammered though is easier. I'll check into your thread, give me a couple more weeks. Assuming FCS lines are still going to be week of this year. Looking forward to some more crazy Saturday mornings this year!

Sounds good man, looking forward to being on the right side of a few 6-7 point line moves like in years past!

s--k · Jul 21, 2025

Going to pause the team information posts. It takes a lot longer than I thought it would to make my notes into a coherent write up. Want to make sure I have all my internal info in order. Not going anywhere, just changing what I'm spending time on for a bit.

s--k · Jul 21, 2025

Conference Preseason polls

Big Sky

Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Montana State (7) - 117
2. UC Davis (1) - 100
3. Montana (2) - 96
4. Northern Arizona (1) - 94
5. Idaho - 81
6. Sacramento State (1) - 73
7. Idaho State - 56
8. Weber State - 55
9. Eastern Washington - 48
10. Portland State - 32
11. Cal Poly - 25
12. Northern Colorado - 15

*Parentheses denotes first-place vote // Coaches could not vote for their own team

Big Sky Preseason Media Poll
1. Montana State (30) - 488
2. Montana (6) - 434
3. UC Davis (4) - 399
4. Idaho (1) - 364
5. Northern Arizona - 354
6. Sacramento State (1) - 282
7. Idaho State - 247
8. Eastern Washington - 225
9. Weber State - 192
10. Portland State - 140
11. Cal Poly - 94
12. Northern Colorado - 57

*Parentheses denotes first-place vote

Big South / OVC

Rk - School (first-place votes)	Points
1 - Tennessee Tech (5 first-place)	57
2 - UT Martin (2)	56
3 - Southeast Missouri (2)	53
4 - Lindenwood	39
5 - Western Illinois	30
6t - Eastern Illinois	24
6t - Gardner-Webb	24
8 - Tennessee State	23
9 - Charleston Southern	18

CAA

Rhode Island (8 first-place votes) 163
Monmouth (4 first-place votes) 142
Villanova (2 first-place votes) 139
Stony Brook 125
UNH 119
Towson 108
William & Mary 104
Elon 98
Maine 71
Campbell 53
Hampton 50
UAlbany 47
Bryant 32
North Carolina A&T 23

Ivy

MEAC
School (first-place votes) Points
1. South Carolina State (5) 63
2. North Carolina Central (4) 61
3. Morgan State 39
4. Norfolk State (1) 36
5. Howard (1) 33
6. Delaware State (1) 20

MVFC

Team (1st-Place Votes)

1. North Dakota State (39)

2. South Dakota State

3. South Dakota (3)

4. Illinois State

5. Youngstown State

6. Southern Illinois

7. North Dakota

8. UNI

9. Indiana State

10. Murray State

NEC

1. CCSU (5)
2. Duquesne (2)
3. Robert Morris (1)
LIU
5. Wagner
6. Saint Francis U
7. Mercyhurst
8. Stonehill

Patriot
1. Lehigh, 97 (13 first-place votes)
2. Richmond, 83 (3)
3. Holy Cross, 78
4. Bucknell, 51
5. Lafayette, 47
6. Georgetown, 32
7. Colgate, 31
8. Fordham, 29

Pioneer

SoCon

SWAC

SWAC East

Jackson State- 126 points (16)
Florida A&M- 99 points (3)
Alabama State- 91 points (2)
Alabama A&M- 62 points
Bethune-Cookman- 45 points (1)
Mississippi Valley State- 24 points

SWAC West

Southern- 120 points (17)
Alcorn State- 90 points (2)
Prairie View A&M- 72 points (1)
Texas Southern- 60 points
Grambling State- 55 points
Arkansas-Pine Bluff- 28 points (1)

*First place votes listed in parenthesis ( )

Southland

UAC
2025 PRESEASON UAC COACHES POLL
1. Tarleton State (8 first-place votes) -- 80 points
2. Abilene Christian (1 first-place vote) -- 68 points
3. EKU -- 59 points
4. Southern Utah -- 50 points
5. Central Arkansas -- 45 points
6. Austin Peay -- 41 points
T7. North Alabama -- 26 points
T7. West Georgia -- 26 points
9. Utah Tech -- 10 points

s--k · Jul 22, 2025

What do you do when you lose Delaware, Richmond, William & Mary and Villanova. Well of course you add Sacred Heart!

I'm much less interested in the kind of side-show of these kinds of moves, the politics, the grandstanding people do as I once was at FBS. This will certainly get panned by all those in the FCS outlets.

Sacred Heart does have pretty good football tradition. All-be-it, not at the top or near the top of the food chain. But recently they competed well in the NEC before going independent last year. 4 straight years with winning record 2018-22. Outright NEC champs spring '21 and fall '21. Won or shared the league title 5 of their last 11 seasons in the NEC. Good homefield advantage and fans who care (sometimes rare at this level). Winning record at home 10 of last 12 seasons and all under their current head coach. Undefeated season once upon a team in 2001.

Does this make the CAA any better or more credible nationally or for any kind of playoff discussion. Not at all. Does that always have to matter for everything? No. Maybe the HBCUs (Hampton and NC A&T) and the southern teams (Elon and Campbell) will go somewhere else and the CAA right-sizes and everyone can just play ball and not worry about conference image.

s--k · Jul 29, 2025

I really felt I had to do a conference run down on the MVFC, it's the best conference and will be a very competitive year. All the turnover taking place league-wide also makes for a very fascinating season ahead for these teams. This will be the last team-by-team conference type writeups I offer and in a couple weeks will turn to weekly threads.

Missouri Valley

Illinois State : 10-4 (6-2) / 5-9 ATS

QB – Added transfer Rubly last year, played in 11 428y passing – he’s gone. Rittenhouse #1 2840-66.4%-17-7 and #2 rusher 480y net + 8 TD – he’s back as seasoned veteran, sat out spring with offseason surgery.

WR – Return #1 2nd Tm Sobkowicz (80-1108-9)(34 career starts). Lose #2 Loyd after spring and #4 who was top TE. Everyone else back. Two FBS TEs in; Schmitz from Cincinnati and True from Illinois. Added Western Mich WR Mack who caught a handful of passes last year with 2 TDs.

RB – King major knee injury game 1 at Iowa. He’s back, but how effective will he be? Return top 3 RBs, Wright #1 1123-5.2-11TD, Lawson 447-4.3-3TD, Glatz 252-5.4-2TD. Added transfer RB Dawson from Cincinnati (63y ’24), but in 2022 was Fr AA at Merrimack (744y-10TD).

OL – Top OL Zambrano only played first 2 due to injury. Had 30 career starts and he’s gone. Lose 2 HM OL at LT and C. Backup C gone too. 6 of top 10 from final depth chart back (47 career starts back – 76 starts gone). Added two FBS OL who saw no action in Brasfiled from Coastal and McGarry from Missouri. Also add Dlll 2 year starter Chris Hill.

DL – 3 man line – return 2.5 starters and 1 reserve back (2nd Tm DT Anderson, DE Kessler, DT Harmon, NG McBride) - lose .5 starter and 1 reserves gone. 4 of top 6 back. Also return Galloway who has 4 career starts but was inj ’24. Also back is Steffen who missed ’24, but in ’23 had 27 tkl, 4.5 TFL. Add DT Lorenzon from Ga State (17 tkl ’24) and DE Jellison from Purdue (no action).

LB – Abdullah was star from 2023, but only played in 6 last year. Still earned HM. He’s gone along with 2 other starters. 3 of top 4 unit’s tkl’rs gone. Return 1st Tm #1 tkl’r MLB Niekamp and Bauer (20 tkl) started 2 as rFr playing in 11. Amusan (5 tkl), Edwards (28 tkl) and Smith(6 tkl) played in 13 each. No incoming transfers.

DB – DBs were 6 of the top 11 tkl’rs and all are gone. Top 7 DB tkl’rs gone including AA S and 2nd Tm CB. 2 transferred out to FBS, 1 to FCS and one had NFL camp invite. Dwyer played in 13 with 14 tkl as the top returnee. Add Jordan Coleman who started 12 at Ball State last year (41 tkl) and Shadwel Nkubal from ULL who played there in ’23, not as much in ’24 and had an early impact here in the spring. Also added LeBrun from UMass (22 tkl 8 games ’24), Mullen from JMU (2 games ’24), rFr Espinoza from Limestone (2 games), JUCO Brown. 24 DBs are on roster. Significant questions here.

Coaches – Spack entering 17th year. OC in 4th year and DC 8th year. New RB coach and DB coach.

5-9 ATS – 4-6 ATS as fav, lost 1 (-2.5 vs Missouri State) – 2-2 as dog, won 1 (+2.5 at SIU). Blown out home vs NDSU as 10.5 home dog and home vs Missouri St as 2.5 pt fav. Benefitted from playing SIU without their QB and then their backup got hurt too! Only trailed Iowa 0-6 HT, lost 0-40. Outgained vs WILL by 113y! and Missouri State by 106y! SEMO -280y and UCD -143y. SIU outgained them by 80y. Outgained in 6 of their 13 FCS games by 80+ yards. O and D both better in 2023 vs 2024 yet the ’23 team went 6-5 and the ’24 team went 10-4. Did not play SDSU nor USD and did not beat any Valley teams with a winning record. Two teams they played with winning records in the Valley, NDSU and Missouri State, they lost by combined 17-83 score!

Take away – for a 10 win team that lost in the second round of the playoffs, were they really that good? Actually no they weren’t as good as 2023, but in ’23 they lost 4 of 5 games decided by 3 pts or less. Last year the Valley was soft in the middle and they had a favorable schedule. QB and offensive skill players are good, fair amount to replace on OL and especially DB. DL and LB should be a strength.

Indiana State : 4-8 (3-5) / 7-4-1 ATS

QB – Owens played in 4, starting 1 in 2023 and last year started every game but Dayton. Ind St was held below 100y of ttl O vs Dayton without him! Owens passed 1717y-68.8%-12-5, #1 rusher 645 (3.9) net – 8 TD. Only Passed for over 200y 3x and only passed for 2+ TDs 3x. Rushed for over 100y 3x with some good games vs E ILL, Murray, Ill St, YSU, SIU, UNI and UND. The backup who started the Dayton game, Patterson, is back (stat line of 6-9-12-0-0 - 6 completions for 12 yards!). No new transfers.

WR/TE - #1 Rochelle on All Newcomer team is back 58r-527y-4, every other WR/TE who caught DD balls is gone. Return Wuest 4-39-0 and TEs Rees 7-37-TD and Ciocca 3-13-0. WRs Singleton from AF, Stephens from Toledo and Domino + Drawdy from UConn added in portal. TE Smith from Toledo was added.

RB – Plex Lawrence was all-newcomer team ’23 and #2 RB here last year, top RB with 410y-(3.8)-3TD, #4 rec 23r-218y-3TD. No other RB returns with DD carries. Added Brown from EMich

OL – Lose 4 primary starters on OL. Lose 60 career starts among 5 guys, return just 14 among 6 players. 23 OL on depth chart, 10 are rFr/tFr, 6 are rSo and 7 are transfers (3 FBS, 1 FCS, 3 JUCO).

DL – Lose top 4 DL who all had DD tkl, return next 4 who all had less than DD tkl. DT Belizaire had 33 career starts and DE Shaw was 2nd Tm MVFC (17 career starts). 28 TFLs gone, 5.5 returning. Was a bit of an underrated group vs midpack type Valley teams - #6 in league sacks and TFLs per game and run D. Added Childers from WMich, Pahmahmie from UNLV, Campbell from NIU and Smith from Toledo. Would think it’s weaker this year.

LB – Lose 1st Tm and #1 tkl’r Brown (39 career starts) and HM #3 tkl Ollendieck (21 career starts). 3 LBs back with 24+ tkl (McAllister, Sampson, Westhoff). Each of whom have started 2-4 games each. Griffith transferred out, but returned (5 tkl ’24). Added Covington from LV. Again, another underrated unit on this D the last couple seasons. Brown and Ollendieck have been big time players for years and will be missed.

DB – Lose 4 who started at CB, but return 3 including all-newcomer team Valdes (4 starts, 6 PBUs). Lose Blackwell #2 tkl’r HM at FS (29 career starts) and lose both who split starts at SS. Added 7 transfer DBs Baker-Booker from UVA, Clark from CCSU (3rd Tm AA #1 tkl’r), Johnson from Mia, Oh, Anderson from FIU, Gavin from Kansas and 3 JUCOs. Clark is a great addition, but overall another questionable unit on this D.

Coaches – Mallory entering 9th year. 10 new coaches on the staff including OC/QB coach, DC/LB coach, and OL/run game coordinator, RB, WR, DL, S, ST. Only CB, TE and an defensive assistant remained.

7-4-1 ATS – 1-2 as fav (lost 1, HCU at home) – 6-2-1 as dogs (2 upsets over SIU and UND). Covered 4 of the last 5 with 2 upset wins (SIU and UND). Only outgained 4 teams all year by just 47, 4, 18 and 50 yards. Held below 300y O 5x vs FCS, allowed over 400y on D 5x.

Take away – Seems like Owens hype at QB has made this team out to be more dangerous then they actually are – beat some teams who were spiraling last year and benefitted from not playing NDSU or SDSU. In their game vs USD they were shutout and lost by 49 with a 129-622 yardage deficit. A lot of new on OL and the D with a lot of new coaches. They struggled with Dayton and lost to Houston Christian last year.

Murray State : 1-11 (0-8) / 3-9 ATS

QB – Last year brought in one-time NDSU reserve QB, then Dll star Jayden Johannsen at South Dakota Mines. Only passed for over 200y 3x and had 7-13 ratio, 56.5% 1498y + 265y rushing here last year. He’s gone. Backup Holcomb gone. Co-OC’s son Ogle threw for 17-43-39.5%-197-2-1, 32y net rushing here last year. Were supposed to have Ty Williams, Mississippi Valley State's starting QB, but not on roster. Twitter implies he is still Murray St? Even coming from MVSU, suspect he is better than coaches son, but message board talk thinks shenanigans going on here with this staff.

WR/TE – HM WR Carter #1 rec back 42-560-TD. Return #3 Galbreath 18-147-0, Maxwell 4-52-0. Everyone else gone

RB - #1 back Northington 518 (4.7) 6 TD + 9r-53y receiving. #2 and #3 gone.

OL – 14 OL played in atleast 1 game last year, only 3 are back! Those 3 played in total of 12 games with just 1 start among them!

Top 19 tkl’rs gone! Top contributors back are S Ruckman (17 tkl), DB Dumas (16 tkl), LB Sonnabend (16 tkl), DB Slade (12 tkl, 3 PBU).

1st Tm K London transferred to Pitt. Return All-Newcomer MVFC P O’Hara – when you’re this bad punter gets lots of time to get good at his craft!

Coaches – new DC/LB coach, QB coach and ST coach. Fan base divided on the firing of the ’23 coach and the hiring of the new staff last year and how capable they actually are.

67 new signees including 48 Fr, 5 Soph, 12 Jr and 2 Sr/Gr

3-9 ATS – 1-1 as a fav (lost to Butler) – 2-8 as dogs. Lost by 4 to Ind St as 6.5 pt dogs, only outgained by 4 yards in that one. Outgained by avg of 251.7 vs other MVFC teams! Other cover was 8 pt loss vs Ill St as +17.5 pt dogs where they were outgained by 207y.

Take away – team really doesn’t belong and can’t compete in the Valley. They avoid NDSU, but still may not win a game.

North Dakota : 5-7 (2-6) / 6-6 ATS

QB – Romfo back 2051-60.8%-18-8 last year+296y net and 4 TD rushing. Missed spring. Added San Diego St Tupou’ata-Johnson (4 gm 1 start ’24). ’24 backup Kaminski returns also who is legitimately in the battle for starting job.

WR/TE – Lose Super WR Belquist (65-932-10 ’24, 41 career starts). #2 and #3 back. Strandell is wearing Belquist’s #1 jersey this year (Strandell 5-25-0 last year). Lose top 2 TEs (one to CFL other was 2nd Tm MVFC). Added WR BJ Fleming from NAU who’s played for 2 years there (about a dozen catches each year). Young from ASU and Haskins form Minny in- haven’t played much at all. Added TEs Kallstrom from Wyoming and Hafer from Missouri State, neither has played much.

RB – Lose #1, but return #2 Ziebarth (534-4.0-8TD) and #3 Seidl (494-5.4-3TD). Seidl was All-Newcomer team and Fr AA for AP. Added Xavier Leigh from SHU #2 rusher ’24, 729 career yards.

OL – All 5 started every game last year. Only lose LG. Return HM RT Anderson who has 30 career starts. Buza was a Fr AA at C. 8 of top 10 from final depth chart back. A team strength.

DL – moving to 4 man unit this year. NTs were top producing players in this group and top 2 are gone. 3 of the top 4 return at DE. So 3 of top 6 overall back. Added Olagbaju from St Thomas who had potential there, but was inj after just 2 last year (9 tkl). Sat out spring here. Added Henry from Sac State (3 games in 3 years). And Vengrowsky from Winoana State, 97 tkl and 23 TFLs in 3 year career there. A bit of a question mark, especially inside.

LB – LBs were top 3 tkl’rs here and 5 of top 7 overall. Just 2 of those 5 back McNeal and Rucker. Only 2 of 8 from final depth chart return. Added Devereaux from ODU (9 tkl ’24). Will play with a hybrid LB/S this year.

DB – Lose 1st Tm CB, but return 3 of top 4 including Scott who was All-Newcomer team. 4 of the top 5 at S return. Added Walker from San Diego St/E Mich (’23 at EM 23 tkl 5 PBU), Lewis from NAU (#3 tkl ’24 19 career starts), Carmichael (16 PBU, 8 INT career) and Frankfather (4 PBU ’24) from JUCO.

ST – Return HM K Elrichs. P back as well. Lose Belquist at PR. Seidl was primary KO returner and is back.

Coaches – new HC Schmidt was San Diego State DC ’24. Was DC here 2014-19. Former UND player. OC/QB coach retained as was OL, DB and ST coaches.

6-6 ATS – 3-3 as fav (lost 2 as 10 pt road fav at YSU and 17 pt road fav at Ind St during late season slide) – 3-3 as dog (backdoored vs USD :23 left)(1 outright upset vs Montana). The USD backdoor cover saved them from ending the year on an 0-5 ATS slide (1-4 as it was). Outgained by 154, 209 and 189 yards in their final 3 games vs Ill St, USD and SDSU. Team was ranked as high as 6th or 7th last year and was a respectable 5-2 before it all went sideways. Lost YSU game in OT went their 2pt conversion was stopped. Couldn’t hold the lead at Ind State, SDSU dominated them and the white flag was up in the finale at Ill St to end the year on a 4 game losing streak.

Take away – The Schmidt hire looks like a very good one and keeping the OC/QB coach and OL coach should be beneficial if they can overcome the loss of Belquist. The D might take some time to transition to the style and personnel required. Potential to be no worse than .500 heading into final stretch when they play all 3 Dakota schools over a 4 week period.

North Dakota State : 14-2 (7-1) / 10-6 ATS

QB – Cam Miller had 55 career starts in 66 games played and leaves as a 2x National Champion (’21 & ’24). Cole Payton has played in 39 career games, missed the last 8 games of 2024 with injury. Has 1141 career yards rushing (7.6) with 18 TDs and 37-58-469-5-2 passing. Most of his playing time came in 2023 (13 rushing TDs that year). Nathan Hayes slid up to #2 after Payton’s injury last year and did well filling in passing 12-19-214-3-0, 90y rushing + TD. Assumption is this is Payton’s job, but Hayes looked capable last year.

WR/TE – 1st Tm MVFC and #1 Bryce Lance back (75-1071-17!) #2, 5 and 6 receivers also back. Lose #3 and the top TE who was #4 receiver. No new transfers. This is a very capable and talented WR unit.

RB – Fr AA, MVFC FR POY and Newcomer of the year #1 rusher Brown transferred (1181-4.8-15). #3 RB Marhsall also gone. Kpeenu was #2 (725-5.5-7) and more of a receiving threat than the others (15-122-1). Added Scott form Kennesaw and LeGrant from Minnesota (both little to no action). Another Kpeenu is in from community college. And two tFr. Not quite the loaded RB room one would expect in Fargo. We’ll have to see how they handle the playing time.

OL – Lose 3 full time starters including AA LT Zabel (NFL 1st Rd)(61 games). AA RT Miller (60 games) also gone as is RG Rock (58 games) and part-time starter Poncius (39 games). Empey (13 games / 13 starts career) and Fraley (15 games / 15 starts career)(All Newcomer team). Both back with Liwienski (10 games /2 starts career). So could say almost 2.5 starters back. Reserves are B Johnson (8 games), H Johnson (14 games), Lockerby (9 games), Schneckloth (6 games) and Magin (15 games). Very young. 14 of 18 OL are underclassmen. No seniors! Will assume the first line unit will be good, depth?

DL – Both Mostaert brothers gone (Eli was AA at DT). Two full time starters gone from unit and two half starters gone. Return two half starters in Anene at DE and Duttenhefer at NG. 8 of top 12 overall production gone. Return DE Anene (29 tkl, 5.5 tfl – 26 games played 8 starts), DT Wilson (15 tkl, 5 tfl – 14 games played 0 starts), NG Duttenhefer (14 tkl 2.5 tfl – 46 games played 9 starts) and DT Larson (10 tlk 4.5 tfl – 29 games played 0 starts). Added DE Symons from ASU/NW Mizz St (2 tkl over 3 years) and DT Niyokuru from ISU (no games 2 years), Wilson from Dll (18 tkl ’24) and DE Iuliano from Albany (starter 30 tlk, 4 tfl). Same as OL, probably safe to assume the starting group will be good, but what’s behind them?

LB – 7 LBs started and 6 are gone. Only 1st Tm and #1 tkl’r Kopp is back! Next LBs with most tkl returning is Altepeter (15 career games) and Woolen (10 career games) with 14 and 10 tkl last year respectively. Staehling only played in 5, but had 4 tkl and 1 sack (19 career games played). Add Alex Elliott from Minnesota (no action 2 years). 13 of 16 LBs are Fr or So, Kopp is only Sr!

DB – Lose full time starter at CB and Jung who started first 8 at S last year. Return Chideme-Alfaro and Duffie who split starts at the other CB spot plus Alexander is a former starter at CB who played in 10 last year as a reserve. N Nelson had a couple PBUs in limited action. Crumby (All Newcomer team), Givance (#6 tkl’r) and Jones (#8 tkl’r) all had several starts each at S. 6 of the top 7 from final depth chart return.

Coaches – Polasek wins national title in his first year back in Fargo. New OC/FB-TE coach this year, Don Larson promoted from OL coach to be OC. Old OC went to be RB coach at Iowa State, FWIW. New OL coach from Tennessee State. 45 year vet who coached QBs last 11 years retired, new QB coach. New DT coach with retirement of former coach.

ST – 2nd Tm K Crosa is gone, but Ozick had a few attempts as a rFr while handling KO duties. Ozick’s long was 54y. He’s back. Also back is 2nd Tm returnman Jackson Williams (named Fr AA and All Newcomer team). LS Bowers was HM CAA and returns. P gone.

10-6 ATS – 6-6 ATS as fav (lost 1 to South Dakota), but 4-0 as dogs with 3 outright upset wins (SDSU x2 and Montana State). NDSU was outgained 4x on the year, -55 at CU, -58 vs SDSU 1, -51 vs USD and -4 vs SDSU 2. They outgained their other 12 opponents by 142 ypg. Did nearly lose at ETSU as Bison trailed 17-28 and 23-35 in the 2H. D forced a ‘got to have it’ 3-and-out punt in final minutes scored TD, got onside kick and scored winning TD with just :50 left. NDSU maybe a little flat off that game, did lead Towson 24-3 HT. They could’ve scored more but were SOD T11 and missed FG from T26. That game was only 31-24 before Bison scored 10 pts in final 5 minutes for 41-24 F. Good showing by Towson to hang in there. NDSU led USD 28-17, but Yotes scored 2 TDs in final 4 minutes with winning TD just :12 left! Check some poor ypc rushing numbers: 3.6 vs Towson, 3.5 vs SDSU, 3.5 vs USD, 3.3 vs ACU, 3.2 vs Mercer.

Take away – Have to give them benefit of a doubt but this team is not without questions. Payton has shown potential up to this point, but replacing Miller are some huge shoes to fill. Outstanding at WR, but Payton hasn’t been asked to do much in the passing game before. Might it take some time for OL and DL to come together? What about conventional running game…Payton could be team’s leading rusher when all is said and done.

s--k · Jul 29, 2025

Northern Iowa : 3-9 (1-7) / 3-9 ATS

QB – Shecklman 1276-61.5%-7-2 + 86y rushing and Duanne 955-60.4%-9-3 + 113-TD rushing: both are back. Shecklman in games with atleast 20+ pass attempts he threw for 250+ yards in 3 of those. Dune’s best game was against Ind St 13-15-204-3-0. Added Jaxon Dailey from Ark State (no action ’24, 7 games ’22-23). Interesting both QBs stayed with the staff change, maybe some optimism?

WR/TE – Top two WRs and top TE gone – 2 of 3 were HM MVFC (those 3 combined 105-1251-11 TDs – other 11 receivers caught 89-980-5 TDs). Top WR back is Kershaw 12-193-TD (best game 5-96-TD vs MizzSt) and Ellis-Lahey 8-147-TD (18.38 ypc in just 8 games). #2 and #3 TEs are back who caught 11 combined passes compared to the #1 TE’s 30. Added WR Friedrichsen from Iowa (3 years no stats) and Price from Iowa (2 years no stats). Would appear to be down from UNI’s standards of what they normally have at the top of their depth chart unless the returnees are ready for larger roles. Ellis-Lahey has been around a while, 14-255-TD in ’23 again with an 18.21 avg per.

RB - #1 RB was 1000y rusher, HM MVFC and transferred to WVU. #2 RB is gone as well (465y-4.8-4, 20rec-159-TD). #3 Bey-Bluie had just 17att. Add Bill Johnson from Tulsa (600y in 22 games) and is wearing the #1 jersey and Glausser in from Iowa who hasn’t played. 7 RBs on roster are Fr or rFr. Roque was #5 receiver in yards (183), but only had 1 rush attempt.

OL – Lose 2nd Tm LT and HM RT, but 7 of top 10 OL from final depth chart back. 3 OL will enter their 3rd year starting (Anderson, Kamerling and Volk) and overall will have four 5th Yr Sr on the OL. Added no transfers – retained OL coach. Did flip rFr Parker Thomas to OL (had 8 tkl vs Ill St as tFr).

DL – Top 3 DL gone, 2 transferred to FBS. Return reserve DTs Bey-Buie (11 tkl 4 games) and Kriebs (11 tkl 6 games) and DE Mehmert (8 tkl 2.5 TFL, 4 games). And Parker Thomas went to OL after seeing playing time on DL as a tFr. Added Ostroski from Tulsa (9 starts in 24 games), Kuennen from Iowa (former walk-on no action) and Augustus from JUCO (7 sacks). This is a unit that needs to improve. 5 Valley teams ran for 4.9ypc+ on them and they didn’t generate many negative plays.

LB – Return #1 tkl’r Langenberg, but #2 and #3 are gone. #4 Frazer is back after playing in just 8 (21 tkl). Schoville had 24 tkl, but is now listed as a Safety. Big addition is Western Illinois’ 2024 #1 tkl’r and 2023 #2 tkl’r Ryan Crandall (11.5 TFLs ’24). Were said to add Bullock from Tulsa, but he’s not on the roster.

DB - #2 tkl’r Safeties Cabral-Martin is back and Sander will enter 3rd year starting (34 tkl ’24). Mo Olowo is also back (17 tkl in 7 games). Another Safety Dervil was All-Newcomer team, but he is gone (63 tkl) so that would make 3 of top 4 back – although Cabral-Martin is now listed at CB, so 2 of top 4 from last year’s positions. Of the 9 S on the roster, 3 have significant playing time including Schoville who moves in from LB. One CB spot is held by Marshall who will be 3rd year starter. Lose their other top CB, but Morgan played as a reserve (16 tkl). Overall return 2 of top 4 last year CBs. Counting 9 CBs on the roster and including Cabral-Martin at CB now, only 3 of the 9 CBs really played much here last year. Added a Kansas State transfer Hall who primary game action was on ST. They were 120th pass eff D in the nation last year.

ST – lose 1st Tm returnman Morancy (was also #1 receiver) – he had TD on KR and PR! K and P back.

Coaches – Stepsis comes in from Drake to replace the retired Farley. Farley was HC here for 24 years with a run of very successful seasons (national title appearance 2005, semi-final appearances ’01 and ’08 and 5 runs to the quarters). Stepsis won back-to-back Pioneer League titles at Drake the last 2 seasons. The new OC and DC come over from Drake. OL coach and LB coach (who has been moved to assistant DL coach) have been retained.

3-9 ATS – started 0-7 ATS! 0-3 as favorites, but were 3-0 SU in those (Valpo, St Thomas and Ind St). 3-6 ATS as dogs, only covered vs Missouri State because of 4th-28 TD pass with :44 left. Other cover was 1 pt OT loss at YSU as 4.5pt dog and lost by 23 as 29.5 dog in Fargo. NDSU led 35-3…42-19 Final.

Take away – UNI-Dome is being renovated and by most accounts it needed. UNI football team needed a renovation as well. Stepsis is a natural hire from successful lower level school in state. They only lost 1 transfer on O that I can tell and then 4 transferred out on D. I don’t think it is risky to say they will be better than last year, but how much better, hard to say.

South Dakota : 11-3 (7-1) / 9-4 ATS

QB – Return Bouman 214-312-2959-68.6%-19-4 passing ’24 – 4 starts in ’22, started every game ’23 and ‘24

WR/TE – Bell was #1 rec 53-806-4TD, RBs and TE was #2-5. WR Adams was #6 18-543-5 (30.2ypc!). Bell was 6 year starter. Top 2 WRs gone. 1st Tm TE gone (32-469-4). RBs were 3 of top 5! #3 and #4 WRs back Phelps and Martens (combine 28-398-2TD). Martens has 18 career starts and Phelps 11. #2 TE back but Witte only had 2 catches. 3 WRs in the portal Graunke from St Thomas, Bryant from Ark St and Sherrill from North Carolina haven’t played much. Do add 2nd Tm Patriot TE Holmes from Lafayette (12-112-3TD).

RB - Lose All-purpose AA and 1st Tm RB Theis (1172-6.3-19TD, #2 receiver 33-385-2TD). But AA #1 rusher Pierre is back (1244-7.4-16TD, #5 receiver 19-190-2TD). Also return #3 and 4 RBs (combined 424y 4 TDs – Jones-Logan was HM MVFC All-purpose). Anderson in from WVU who had 456y in 22 games.

OL – Lose 3 AA OL and lose 4 full time starters overall (3 transferred to P4 and one FA NFL). Hawkins started 13 at RG and was All Newcomer team for the lone returnee. Other than him only 4 OL return who played in ’24 (combined 35 games, 1 start) are back. 4 OL added in portal: Woolf from Kansas St (no action 2 years), Smith from Merrimack (10 games ’24), Crim from UTC (first 6 starts ’24, 18 career starts), Lawson from FIU (5+ starts ’22 and ’23, 5 games ’24) so atleast some experience is coming in.

DL – 3 man unit – top 3 all gone including AA DE and 2nd Tm DT. Back are Dixon at DT (20 tkl) and Hooper (18 tkl), but 4 of top 6 gone. 6 DL added in portal: Bowie + Crawford both from Iowa (very little action in multiple years), Cowgill from Wazzou (RS ’24), Laperi from N Tex (2 tkl as tFr), Presser from Ark State (no action 2 years), White from JUCO (22 tkl, 3.5 TFL ’24). Big questions here.

LB – Lose 2 AA guys, Grace was MVFC D POY – lose 3 of top 4 overall. #2 tkl’r and All Newcomer team Ewell is back. 5 of the top 6 reserves return (Hardman, Abrams and Dickel). Only added JUCO Thompson in the portal (55 tkl, 6 TFL ’24). Some more questions.

DB – Return AA and #3 tkl’r Shorter at S, but lose 4 year starter Ganues at the other S spot. White had 34 tkl as reserve (3 career starts) and Munn played as tFr, both return. 2nd Tm CB and other starting CB gone. Tillmon was top reserve at CB and is back. 7 DBs added in portal! Notably added Lewis from Lamar (#1 tkl’r ’24) and Carter from Minot St (good ’24 and ’23 JUCO prior). Then Kennard from Mich St and Paine from Wazzou haven’t played much on D and two from JUCO Brumfield (107 tkl, 7 sacks, 3 INTs career) and Boehm-Peterson (5 PBU ’24). Atleast the pieces added here try to answer some of the questions.

ST – all the kickers are back, lose Bell who was HM punt returner.

Coaches – Bob Nielson was named COY and retired after 32 years in coaching. Promoted DC Travis Johansen (DC ’19-24). New OC was ’23-24 TE coach, WR coach promoted to Co-OC. New DC ran strong units at NAIA. New OL coach from Fresno.

9-4 ATS – started 5-0 ATS – 3-1 as dogs with 1 upset win vs NDSU and near win at SDSU (missed go-ahead FG in regulation, settled for FG in OT). 6-3 as favs with spread losses at YSU, UND (up by 14 late UND backdoor with :23 left), and Tarleton (only +32 tll yards). USD outgained Montana State on the road in playoffs, but lost by 14 due to empty possessions (0 for 2 RZ TDs) – had 7.0 to 5.3 ypp edge on Cats in that one. Also of note in the playoffs, UC Davis outgained USD by 55y, but Yotes had two short field TDs after turnovers and UCD threw INT in EZ (UCD threw 5 total INTs).

Take away – QB and RB lead the way in terms of what returns, but that is it. O took a big jump last year (24 ppg to 35.8 ppg), also now with all these guys gone? D has been good for 2 straight years (allowed 17 ppg the last 2 years, allowed 29 in 2022), but now with all these guys gone how fall back might they drop?

South Dakota State : 12-3 (7-1) / 8-6 ATS

QB – Mark Gronowski transfers after being a 4 year starter, 2x National Champion and all time great here. Transferred to Iowa (his dream school as a kid). 2719-61%-23-7 + 380y rushing with 10 TDs ’24. Chase Mason backup ’23 and ’24 with combined 400y-63%-3-0 passing + 648y rushing with 8 TDs. 3rd string Bell is here and added St Thomas part-time starter Tak Tateoka, but he reentered the portal post spring.

WR/TE - #1 Wilde 70-1147-12TD gone. #2 Goering and #3 WR O’Groske back (combined 40-572-6TD). Lose top TE to Illinois (14-177-TD), but #2 and 3 TEs Alpers and Gannon return (18-277-2). Most other contributors gone. Added Nebraksa WRs Bullock and Garcia-Castaneda with Bullock having 15r-221-TD in ’23 (scout team Co-O POY ’22) and Garcia-Castaneda 11 punt ret and 6r-130y in 3 years. Also add Iowa WR Osgood (3 years no stats). TE from Iowa Thompson (2 years no stats). Added TE Kuntz from Sac State (16 career starts and ’24 had 25-191-2TD). tFr 4* WR Landon Dulaney could have immediate impact?

RB – Lost top 2 and 1st Tm RBs, plus All Newcomer team RB gone too – top 3 gone. No major contributor back. Added Fordham RB Julius Loughridge 1st Tm Patriot League with 20 career starts and receiving threat as well. Also in is Nate White from Wisconsin (no stats).

OL – Lose all 3 interior OL starters, 2 were AA and the other went CFL. Return full time starters at LT Christensen and RT Hagen. Depth players were young. Paepke started 3 last year as rFr. Bigbow played in 8 as rFr, Willenbring RS as a tFr last year while playing 4 regular season + 2 playoff games. Kersten played in 2 as rFr. Added SFA starting C Adams and an NAIA 1st Tm All Conference player in Pica. Might not be up to their standards right off the bat impact of transfers could be key.

DL – DL had 1st Tm and 2 All Newcomer team players, but 2 of those 3 are gone. DE Clayborne was the All Newcomer guy who returns (#1 tkl’r from unit with 34 tkl, 5.5 TFL, 4.5 sacks). Also back, Ripperda was the top DE on the other side (23 tkl, 5.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks). 3 of the top 4 interior DL gone with just Wolfcale-Holstein back (14 tkl, 3 TFL, 2.5 sacks). 2 reserve DEs and a DT are back also; Kirschenman, Wells and Green (combined 11 TFLs). 6 of the top 12 overall are back. Added Sac State starting DT Brosseau (5 TFL, 4 sacks) and two small college transfers.

LB – Lose 2 AA guys who were team’s #1 and #2 tkl’rs. Lose the group’s top 4 tkl’rs. #5 Van Tol is back (35 tkl, 3 TFL). Return 3 of 4 other depth players (34 tkls returning among them). Added Eben from Iowa who RS in ’24 and Goehring from Sious Falls where he earned All Conference honors twice. Looks quite a bit weaker on surface.

DB – Lose two AA, a 2nd Tm CB who was also on the All Newcomer team and a HM MVFC S. All 4 starters gone and 6 of top 8 from final depth chart gone (top 7 tkl’rs overall gone from unit). Top returnees at CB are Dautermann and Lee (30 tkl combined). Johnson and Thomson at S (combined 12 tkl combined). 7 transfers added. A few FBS guys who haven’t played much if any; Powers from Minn, Bretz from Nebraska and Holiman from FIU. Oliver started 8 games in 12 appearances at Buffalo ’22-’23 (inj ’24). Some experienced FCS and lower level guys added; Aziz from Georgetown (8 PBU ’24, 26 tkl ’23), Johnson from Bemidji St (31 games 3 years 7 PBU ’24) and Thorne from Colorado Mesa (5 INT ’23, 51 tkl and 4 INT ’24). Definitely an area where transfers will need to hit right away.

ST – everyone gone

Coaches – Entire coaching staff is new. Dan Jackson was Idaho DC last year, was on staff here 2012-19. New OC/QB Coach was here ’99-03 and ’10-18, served as NIU OC/QB coach ’19-24. DC was on staff ’17-21 and was last Winona State HC.

8-6 ATS – 8-5 as fav (lost twice both to NDSU), 0-1 as dog (Ok St). Outgained every opponent except Ok St (only -6 yards). +158.5 ypg vs FCS. Vs NDSU Jacks were +58 and +4 tll yards in those 2 losses. Were up 35-3 on Montana, but only won 35-18. 8 of 10 regular season opponents held below 280 ttl yards. 6 held below 250.

Take away – have a few pieces around, but also a lot a lot of new needs to hit the ground running. The former reserves that are back have gained experience due to all the blowouts Jacks have had which should help more than most teams replacing so much. First two games, hosting Sac State and at Montana State will be tough for new players and staff.

Southern Illinois : 4-8 (2-6) / 5-7 ATS

QB – DJ Williams was injured two plays into the 4Q game #3 571-59%-4-2 and was #2 rusher 242y net (6.2) with 4 TDs. Was 17-31-172-2-0 at AP and 19-27-301-2-1 (just 3Q). Former OVC Fr POY at Murray ST ’23. Broken hand, has recovered well, injury at Murray was knee – so not related injuries. Jake Curry returns to backup (he was also injured last year). 4 different QBs started last year including a retired former player with eligibility left who was serving as GA Michael Lindauer. Lindauer who had only ever played in 3 career games anywhere in college, started 1 game here last year and threw 7 TDs vs Murray! He remains on staff this year. Williams could have shot at MVFC O POY based on the expectations people have for him.

WR/TE – 3 of top 4 WRs gone. Two were new transfers and one was a rFr. #2 Davis entered portal but returned for a big boost to the group. He had 38-382-2TD and is an all-purpose type. Over 100 career catches and 1100+ yards. Lose just about everyone else. Top TE gone, #2, 3, 4 TEs return (combined 12 catches). Marrero was only used on ST here last year, but previously at Charleston he caught 55-923-10 TDs in ’23 and is expected to have a larger role on offense this year. Added Parker who played 5 years at Albany 94-1224-5TD career. Also add Fabian McCray who started the first 3 last year til injury. 10 starts 2023 41-584-4TD. Also played 32 games at NIU with 16 receptions. Thomas comes in from NIU 3r-62y in ’23 and Walls from Ok St and Sisson from Illinois who were walk-ons. They had a good unit last year with new guys, could do it again.

RB – not good production, no RB topped 300y. #1 gone. #2 and 3 back Lester and Athans (369 combined yards). Athans was only RB over 4 ypc (5.5). Robinson transferred in from Duquesne last year but RS. He had 662y and 8 TDs in ’23 there and expectations are he steps up this year. Added a JUCO Chapman who had 1000y in 2 years.

OL – 8 different OL started last year, 4 return including full time starter at LT Fenske and half season starter at RT Dye. Halley and Harden were 2 of 3 players who started at LG and both are back. 9 OL played in atleast 5 games and 5 return (Logan was the nonstarter played in 5). Moved Reid from DL to OL. Added 3 OL from Coastal Carolina, Jackson St and Austin Peay, all RS ’24 so not sure what they are getting there.

DL – 3 man DL, Mathis was Fr AA and is gone to Kent State. 4 of the top 5 producing DL are gone. DT P Reeves (6 starts 23 tkl), DE C Reeves (5 starts18 tkl), Chairse (18 tkl), Parrella (14 tkl), DT Dwight (13 tkl) are top returnees. DT Chandley had 3 tkl in 3 games. Added starting Lindenwood DE Wingate (5 sacks last year, 24 career games), starting Robert Morris DT Fleurima (25 tkl last year, 31 career games), Friedt from St Thomas (26 games in 4 years 17.5 TFLs, 2nd Tm Pioneer ’24, HM ’23) and added a Dll and JUCO transfer. Sounds like they like their transfers.

LB – Lose #2 tkl’r to WVU, but other 2 starting LBs return in #4 and #5 overall tkl’rs Walker and Presto. Top reserve is gone, but the rest of the depth returns all though not much production (35 tkl combined among 5 players). Bohanek started the first 2 games til injury and had 14 tkl and he is back. Behm played in 3 and made 1 start. Added Whelpley from Iowa St who RS ’24. Should be good.

DB - #1 tkl’r 2nd Tm S Steed is gone. All 4 players who started across three S positions are gone. 3 top reserves from final 2-deep are back with Pierre is the top returnee (21 tkl). Parson and Schmitt contributed. 5 started at CB, 3 are back. McClendon played in the final 8 starting the final 4. Parson started the first 2 games at CB before rotating at S. Vargas played in 12 with 4 starts as rFr. 1st Tm Pioneer transfer McClelland was supposed to be a key piece from Morehead St but he was injured in the spring and will miss the season. Naz Hill from Wyoming is expected to play although he only saw 1 game in Laramie last year and RS ’23. Gibson from NIU also only played in 1 last year and Tillman from NIU RS ’24. Jagger Williams played in 34 games at Utah Tech with 103 tkl. Relying on transfers to hit in this group.

ST – All the key ST players are back.

Coaches – Nick Hill takes over OC duties this year so he can personally work with Williams. S coach was promoted to DC while keeping Safety responsibility. New CB coach, DL coach from Robert Morris.

5-7 ATS – 3-3 ATS as favs with all 3 losses being outright (SEMO, Ill St, Ind St). Won pick’em game vs YSU. 1-4 ATS as dogs, covered vs NDSU despite being outgained by 176 yards. 24-3 that game was, SIU covered the +22.5. Vs the top 3 teams in the league, SIU was outgained by 183, 176 and 270 yards. Vs everyone else, not bad in terms of yards, bad in terms of score. Were +80 yards vs Ill St but lost by 35. Were only -18 yards vs Mizzou St but lost by 21. Were +64y but lost to Indiana St. Only -46 yards vs SEMO but lost by 17. All those games go differently if Williams is QB.

Take away – Very injured team last year everywhere. With Williams back, if the new receivers click like the new ones did last year and interior OL gels this O will be in good shape. D allowed 2 TDs and 125 yard more than the ’23 D did. Should be better this year, how the secondary shakes out probably biggest concern.

Youngstown State : 4-8 (3-5) / 5-7 ATS

QB – Brungard back for year 2 starting. 2141-66.6%-12-11, #1 rusher 998 (6.3) 16 TDs – 1st Tm MVFC All Purpose! Threw INT in all but 3 games – had a negative TD-INT ratio in 5 games. Back up gone

WR/TE – Return #1 WR in 1st Tm Max Tomczak 73-904-4TD (28 receptions in final 3 games). Lose #2 and #3 WRs (combined 52-567-1). Lose top TE who caught 8-41-1. Hensley had 11-145 in 6 games with his best game coming in the finale. Couple TEs are back Bray and Sechrest with Bray’s 8 catches all coming in the final 1/3 of the season. So a couple of those guys who are back came on late. A few other single digit reception guys are back. Added 2 good Dll WRs and a JUCO. Both from Slippery Rock are ‘Flash’ Wilson (1524y AP, 57r-637y-4TD ’24) and Mike Soloman (’24 13 starts 56r-786y-8TD and ’22-23 Notre Dame College 55r-724-3TD 2 years). From JUCO is Fresh Walters (75r-868y-8TD ’24). Had a better passing QB in 2023, but that WR unit was also stronger in ’23 vs ’24. The additions this year give this group a chance to improve on what they fielded last year. Tomczak turned down FBS offers to stay.

RB – typically strong unit. Wright was All Newcomer MVFC and led the RBs with 677y (5.0) and 4 TDs. Lose #2 RB King who was HM (had 541y-3.9-7TD). Bring back Gilbert and Whatley who combined for under 200y. In the portal they added Caffey from Ohio State 2022-24. DNP the last 2 years, but did get 10 carries ’22 and had 49y TD run vs Toledo. Also in is a 3 year starter Mills from East Stroudsburg (855y-5.74-8TD ’24, 461y-5.0-5TD ’23 and 3 starts final 4 games as Fr 346y-4.7-4TD). Two rFr are on hand as well.

OL – Lose AA RT and 3 experienced OL overall are gone although one, Metzler only started 2 last year after starting 30 the previous 3 years so he wasn’t a factor most of last year. Return an underrated LT Desmeal Leigh who was only HM MVFC but has big potential this year and maybe as a pro and turned down FBS offers. Leigh has 24 career starts and is joined by returnees Keen at C (11 career starts 9 of which were ‘24) and Keenan at RG (11 starts all ’24). Most of the depth guys were young, 3 of 5 return from final depth chart. Added Perkins who started 15 of 20 games at Colgate ‘23/24 and Lahr from Liberty and Lawrence from St Francis neither of which saw action.

DL - Return top DE in terms of tkl and TFLs in Voitus (28 tkl, 8 TFL), but everyone else gone from 4 man line. Two transferred to FBS. 5 DL had DD tkl and 4 of those 5 are gone. 3 of the 5 depth guys are back who didn’t produce much. Brown has started 3 games at DT. Looks like area of concern. 5 new transfers in all from small Dll type colleges: Jolly from Grand Valley State (36tkl, 8 TFL ’24), Cunningham (22 tkl ’24), Vaugh (47 tkl, 9.5 TFL ’23), Jacobs (33 tkl ’24), Lowery who may’ve been at Dlll and came to YSU fall ’24 for basketball, but listed as DE here now. Ajaga transferred in 2024 but was hurt in fall camp, had 15 tkl ’23 at Notre Dame College. This unknown group is going to need to come together.

LB – 3 of top 6 LBs back. Lose unit’s #1 tkl’r and #3, but return #2 Zandier (8 starts 45 tkl , 6 TFL) and #4 Wells (3 starts 23 tkl 4.5 TFL). Marshall was originally at Iowa State and DNP here first 4 games, but saw field more late in the year and had 4 tkl in finale (9 tkl on the year). This is a group light on experience outside of Zandier, Wells and maybe Marshall – assuming those are the top 3 hopefully they stay healthy. No new transfers brought in.

DB – Good at SS and FS with #1 tkl’r and All Newcomer Team DJ Harris back and #2 tkl’r Shahid. Do lose #5 tkl’r S who transferred to Norfolk. 4 CBs started and return 2 (Hackett and Rudolph started combined 5 games) - lose their best CB an HM player transferred to Temple and lose other primary CB starter. Not in great shape here. Hickey transferred in from Yale and RS here last year, was granted a 7th year but he has not played more than 4 games in a season since 2021 when he was a decent CB in the Ivy League. Added atleast 5 transfers led by Dayne Hodge from Tulsa (#2 tkl’r ’24 and #3 tkl’r ’23), Piper from Western Illinois (28 tkl, 4 PBU ’24) and a couple Dll guys in Wimpye (21 tkl, 5 INT ’24) and Taylor (51 tkl, 5 PBU ’24). This is another group that needs to get it figured out, mostly at CB.

This D wasn’t bad 2022 and 2023 (allowed 25.3 and 25.4 ppg) but they lost just about every starter off the ’23 playoff team mostly in the portal and last year they were bad (allowed 35.8 ppg and 7.6 ypp). They might be able to get the right guys in there and have them play well, but just looking at some of the experience and resumes, a lot of lower level transfers, it’s hard to be optimistic there will be a ton of improvement while at the same time, they can’t be much worse than last year.

ST – P Kilpatrick was 3rd Tm AA

Coaches – Phillips enters year 6 as HC. He was a GA on some the great YSU teams of the 90s. His first year being Covid it hasn’t been the easiest build. Just 1 playoff team 2023 and last year was a big drop backwards. They were a bubble team Jaleel McLaughlin’s final year of 2022. Same OC had been with Phillips here since the beginning, but they have hired Mike Yurcich to be OC/QB coach who was in the same role at Penn State 21-23 among other stops and in ‘19 he was the Ohio State QB coach/pass game coordinator for Justin Fields. Normally a coach with his resume wouldn’t be on a team like YSU. His wife wanted to be back in the area so he reached out to be on staff here. He was fired from Penn State in 2023 and was out of football 2024. Another big name here is Michael Zordich who will coach CBs. Zordich is a valley native. He had a 10 year NFL career and most recently coached at Central Michigan and University of Michigan and has also coached in the NFL. DC/LB, DL and S coaches enter year 2 and CBs with Zordich is year 1. The D coaches need to get their units to step up.

5-7 ATS – fav 1-3 (lost 1 Duquesne) – 4-3 as dog (won 1 UND) – 0-1 pick’em game (at SIU). 2-0 ATS as home dog (USD and UND). SDSU was really the only FCS loss YSU was completely noncompetitive. Threw late 4Q INT down 7 at Villanova. Tied with Missouri State 31-31, Mizz St TD with :08. Led USD 17-14 HT, lost by 10. Weren’t really in it at Illinois St, but lost by 7 and blew some scoring opportunities, outgained by just 47y. YSU lost by 4 at SIU, but they at one time led 28-0 in that game, outscored 3-25 2H!

Take away – Case for optimism on offense in year 2 of Brungard at QB and the new coach – very difficult to have optimism for defensive improvement given the cast until we see they can do it on the field. Mercyhurst and Robert Morris to start should give the D opportunity to work out kinks, which need to be worked out by week 4 with huge swing game at Towson.

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