2023 Pursuit of Perfection

[taper]

I know some prefer overall records and some FCS only so I give both. # means a FBS loss, ^ is a sub-D1 win. This was a lot of data to go through so feel free to point out mistakes and I'll update.

Win
Albany##
Cornell
Delaware#
Eastern Illinois#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Harvard
Holy Cross#
Idaho#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
Murray State##
Norfolk State##
North Carolina Central#
North Dakota#
North Dakota State
Portland State##
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Southern Illinois
Tarleton State#
Tennessee State#
Tennessee-Martin#
Villanova#
Western Carolina#
William & Mary
Youngstown State#


Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Central Connecticut State^
Charleston Southern^
Colgate
Dayton^^
Delaware State
Drake
Duquesne^
East Tennessee State^
Howard^
Indiana State
Lamar^
LIU
Maine
McNeese State
Merrimack^
Mississippi Valley State
Morehead State^
Nicholls State
North Carolina A&T
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Samford^
Southeastern LA
St. Francis
Stony Brook
Texas A&M Commerce
Texas Southern
The Citadel
Valparaiso
Western Illinois
Wofford
Yale


Outlier
Tennessee Tech - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.

[taper]

Busy week. Several major upsets. A few sub D1 wins in the loss group. Kennesaw St is messing up everything. Changes marked in gray.

Win
Albany##
Cornell
Delaware#
Eastern Illinois#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Harvard
Holy Cross#
Idaho#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
Murray State##
Norfolk State##
North Carolina Central#
North Dakota#
North Dakota State
Portland State##
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Southern Illinois
Tarleton State#
Tennessee State#
Tennessee-Martin#
Villanova#
Western Carolina#
William & Mary
Youngstown State#


Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Central Connecticut State^
Colgate
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Drake
Duquesne^
East Tennessee State^
Howard^
Indiana State
Lamar^
LIU
Maine
McNeese State
Merrimack^
Mississippi Valley State
Morehead State^
Nicholls State
North Carolina A&T
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Samford^
Southeastern LA
St. Francis
Stony Brook
Texas A&M Commerce
Texas Southern^
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford
Yale

Outlier
Charleston Southern^ - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.
Tennessee Tech - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.

[ElCid]

Yeah, I'm fairly sure we may end the year on this list. Us and Wofford until we play each other at least. LOL.

[ST_Lawson]

Yeah, I'm fairly sure we may end the year on this list. Us and Wofford until we play each other at least. LOL.

Indiana State and Western Illinois also...November 11th...one team has to win...technically.
Currently Massey has INSU listed as about a 3-point favorite: https://masseyratings.com/game.php?gid=938288446

[taper]

Week 6 updates. Nothing too special other than wondering why Kennesaw St thinks they're an FBS program. Somewhat surprised Murray St made it this far before a FCS loss, but good for them.

Win
Albany##
Delaware#
Eastern Illinois#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Harvard
Idaho#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
Murray State##
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Southern Illinois
Tarleton State#
Tennessee-Martin#
Western Carolina#

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Central Connecticut State^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
East Tennessee State^
Indiana State
LIU
McNeese State
Mississippi Valley State
Morehead State^
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Southeastern LA
Stony Brook
Texas A&M Commerce
Texas Southern^
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford

Outlier
Charleston Southern^ - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.
Tennessee Tech - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.

[grizband]

So... two teams without am FCS win, have both beaten Kennesaw State?

[FUBeAR]

So... two teams without am FCS win, have both beaten Kennesaw State?
No owlets fan, but FWIW, it may be helpful to understand what FUBeAR has gleaned the FlyingBarnRats are doing this season…

Can’t really speak for their schedule. It looks like a high school lab experiment gone wrong…and not the Kelly LeBrock kinda wrong…so just accept this in-fashion cop out … It is what it is.

On to seeking & gaining understanding…

Kenny is tryna win as many games as they can AND only play their best Players (who aren’t ‘timing out’ eligibility-wise this year) in only 4 of the 9 games on their schedule…so they can redshirt them and be a dominant FBS Team in 2024 (not really).

So…they looked At Tusculum, Lincoln, and VUL as ‘gimmes.’ They were right about Tusculum - their only win so far. They are taking a 2 week nap, but will beat 0-7 Lincoln (CA) (shhh…it’s a fake Team) on 10/28. Same with VUL (another fake Team) to conclude their season. KSU will win that one with their best sitting out.

But…that left ‘em with 6 games and they could only use their best in 4 of those. They could play some in some and some in others, but FUBeAR doesn’t think they went that route. FUBeAR ascertains that they figured they had a shot against Tennessee Tech and Charleston Southern with their less-than-best, plus they were on the road…so their 867 fans wouldn’t see them lose, which they did…but pretty close games without 20-30 of their best Players. Their ‘bets’ on those games didn’t work out, but they really weren’t bad bets.

OTOH…KSU has long-standing beef with the SoCon and they knew, without their best, they had no shot against Furman (at home - can’t get embarrassed) or on the road @ Chatt, so those Teams got the best of their HundredHootyHoo’s. Also…Sam Houston (an FBS (cough, cough) Rival) and Homecoming vs. Tennessee State made sense for the owlets to pull out the stops. So far…3 more lost bets, but they kept them all to 1 score games. Egos intact even if record sux.

They sit at 1-5. They will almost certainly finish 3-6. If their TTU & CSU bets had hit, they would be able finish 5-4…and hoped they could steal 1 (most likely TSU) to get to 6-3. Not gonna happen… 3-6, but not embarrassed by any FCS Team…prolly ‘works’ for them and their 612 fans in this science experience of a lost season.

So…honestly, best not to draw any conclusions for comparative scores or outcomes in KSU games this season. They are really fielding 2 different Teams - an A and a B Team. Will be glad to see them go…

[taper]

Week 7. Finally got rid of the outliers. Clearly the most significant games of the weekend.

Win
Albany##
Delaware#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Harvard
Idaho#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Tennessee-Martin#
Western Carolina#

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
East Tennessee State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Mississippi Valley State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Southeastern LA
Stony Brook
Texas Southern^
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford

Outlier
Charleston Southern^ - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.
Tennessee Tech - No FCS wins but beat Kennesaw St.

[taper]

Week 8. Pretty boring this week. Had a pair of undefeated and winless meet so somebody had to go. We are down to just one pure winner though.

Win
Delaware#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Harvard
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Tennessee-Martin#
Western Carolina#

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Southeastern LA
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford

[taper]

Week 9. Nobody dropped from the loss group, but with Northwestern cancelling their season they'll stay there and McNeese missed an opportunity.

Win
Delaware#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota#
South Dakota State
Tennessee-Martin#

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford

[taper]

Week 10. Some big drops from the win group.

Win
Delaware#
Florida A&M#
Furman#
Incarnate Word#
Lafayette#
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota State

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford

[ysubigred]

Indiana State and Western Illinois also...November 11th...one team has to win...technically.
Currently Massey has INSU listed as about a 3-point favorite: https://masseyratings.com/game.php?gid=938288446
After yesterday, I can't believe Indy State is winless. They are a solid team with a nice defense. SMFH..

[The Yo Show]

Indiana State is my pick to win the winless bowl when they play similarly winless 0-9 WIU

[ST_Lawson]

Indiana State is my pick to win the winless bowl when they play similarly winless 0-9 WIU

Agreed. They've had close games against some decent teams and just haven't quite made it over the hump. WIU meanwhile, has completely given up (pretty sure that happened after we got torched by Southern Utah in late September). I think the Sycamores take this one by about 2 scores.

[FUBeAR]

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Bethune-Cookman^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Valparaiso^
Western Illinois
Wofford
One of these 2 leaves this list this week.

Who ya got?

[taper]

One of these 2 leaves this list this week.

Who ya got?
I generally go with the home team. Maybe a giant meteor hit the stadium and neither wins.

[FUBeAR]

I generally go with the home team. Maybe a giant meteor hit the stadium and neither wins.
Not sure about interplanetary intervention, but FUBeAR could envision a rogue band of rebels manning Ft. Sumter, rearming it, and firing on Johnson Hagood Stadium from the Charleston Harbor. Sort of a reversal of historical events...that could keep 'em both on the list.

[taper]

Week 11. WIU@ISUb and Wofford@Citadel guaranteed 2 drops from the loss column. Congrats I guess. Stony Brook doesn't play next week so joins Northwestern in a "perfect" season. Also fired their coach.

Win
Florida A&M#
Furman#
North Carolina Central#
South Dakota State

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Dayton^^
Delaware State^
Indiana State
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Western Illinois
Wofford

[taper]

Week 12. This is the end. Congrats to the winners, decent chance both continue through the post-season. Condolences to the losers, may next year be better.

Win
Florida A&M#
Furman#
South Dakota State

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Delaware State^
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Western Illinois

[ST_Lawson]

...Condolences to the losers, may next year be better.

Loss
...
Western Illinois

It won't be. This was year 2 of a 5-year contract for our HC, who is now 0-22, and it's not like we have the money to buy out his contract.
Our best hope is that we actually pick up a win or two over the OVC/Big South bottom feeders...although we played this year's last-place OVC team Lindenwood, and they beat us too.

[ElCid]

Week 12. This is the end. Congrats to the winners, decent chance both continue through the post-season. Condolences to the losers, may next year be better.

Win
Florida A&M#
Furman#
South Dakota State

Loss
Arkansas-Pine Bluff^
Delaware State^
McNeese State
Northern Colorado
Northwestern State
Stony Brook
The Citadel
Western Illinois

Great. First winless season since 1918. Only second ever since 1905. Only way to go is up. So we got that going for us.