Rhode Island through
Illinois State through

NAU down 17-0 in fourth . They are lucky to be in. Lost their 2 tough BSC games, lost by 20 to Incarnate Word and beat poor Lincoln of Oakland. They had a weak Big Sky schedule. Happy to see them lose - not a big fan of their transfer portal overload

So far it looks like Richmond and New Hampshire are the only seeded teams to be upset. New Hampshire losing to UT Martin was not much of an upset because the polls had the Skyhawks ranked higher than the Wildcats. UT Martin now has the pleasure of playing in Bobcat Stadium. Unranked Lehigh beating Richmond, now that was a big upset.

I want to see the playback on the Lehigh / Richmond game so bad.

Richmond obviously was ranked too high. Some were saying they should have been the #8.

Couple of upsets. Love the FCS playoffs.
Interested to see if TSU can compete tonight.

I was bi*ching about this last year when we didnt get in …..but they should really think about getting rid of the Pioneer auto-birth. They get blown out most years.

Tennessee Martin crushed New Hampshire, I mean that was a job well done. The only non-FG points scored by UNH were on a Kickoff Return.

Nova firms up and overcomes Eastern Kentucky
Tarleton whoops Drake
Abilene Christian shuts out the Jacks

What can Tennessee State dial up on Montana?

So far these playoffs, the Big Sky has scored 0 points.

Zero! Hope that changes next week.

...or tonight.

You think Montana can score? :)

In 1993, the Grizzlies scored 39 points in the 4th quarter to beat South Dakota State 52-48.

Montana 3 / Tenn St 3 at end of 1st quarter.

I wonder if the Griz fans will be leaving at half-time like usual --- only to come back to TSU being up 7 in the middle of the 3rd.

Ouch, missed FG by Montana.

they’ve been desperately avoiding wide shots of the crowd. Lot of empty seats even before halftime.

Q2: 10 - 3 Griz. 4:42 left before half.

Montana has only allowed 97 yards of offense.

Griz kicks a field goal to go up 19-6. Stadium looks empty

Griz are embarrassing TSU.

Maybe I spoke too soon!

Griz 41 TSU 27 - Final

Watching the playback on the Griz game. Just looked like a cold, stiff moving night. 2nd half was full of dumb turnovers and special teams breakdowns. Bergen ran back two punts in the 2nd half, just embarrassing for Eddie George's special teams. Tennessee State will be back though, sounds like they're just picking their program back up.

Also had to check the roster and yes, the star WR from TSU was Karate Brenson...so this season we've been witness to a Taco Dollar, an Eastern player named Tuna, and the Griz played a guy named Karate.

I thought FCS conference champions got an automatic berth. Why weren't Harvard and Jackson State in the playoffs?

Neither of those conferences participate in the playoffs.

Ivy League teams do not participate in post-season play in football.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Middle Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), both composed of HBCU schools, have their own post season. Traditionally HBCU schools have played late into the season and not participated in the NCAA post season because of calendar issues. Now the SWAC holds a conference championship which will be played next weekend between Jackson State and Southern University. The winner of that game will play against the regular season winner of the MEAC in the Celebration Bowl to be played in Atlanta on December 14th. South Carolina State will represent the MEAC in that game this year.

(There are a couple of other late season traditions in SWAC schools. Alabama State and Tuskegee play on Thanksgiving in the Turkey Day Classic while Southern and Grambling meet in the Superdome on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the Bayou Classic. Many people go for the game, everybody goes for the bands.)

To add to 72Aggie's comment, the Celebration Bowl payout is $1M for each team which is a lot of money. Some HBCU teams that don't make their playoffs make it as an at large if they finish 3rd for example. But they don't usually win so it makes sense that they have their own competition.

The Ivys have never participated in the playoffs for football only. There has been talk this year of allowing FCS playoffs participation in future years but it requires the ADs and presidents to agree: https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/11/ivy-league-football-fcs-playoff-penn-athletics

Didn't realize, but Lehigh threw two picks, botched a field goal and still won the game. Mountain Hawks may not be the biggest or most impressive team off the bus, but their playmakers can scoot.

The Ivys only play 10 games as a result of their desire to not impose too large an obstacle for academics. Adding potentially five more would be contrary to that goal.

Recap: UT Martin went into New Hampshire and annihilated the Wildcats 41-10 in Round 1.