Besides FCS games, which football game on 12/16/23 interests you the most?

[CHIP72]

It's time for my (almost) annual poll asking which college or NFL game besides the DI-AA/FCS games taking place that you have the most interest in watching on DI-AA/FCS semifinal and HBCU championship Saturday. (The post also helps people identify all the available games across the four different college football classifications and NFL, which generally are not listed anywhere all in one spot.) The various college and NFL games join a pair of DI-AA/FCS games (Celebration Bowl: Howard/Florida A&M, 12 PM ET, ABC/ESPN+; second DI-AA/FCS semifinal: North Dakota State/Montana, 4:30 PM ET, ESPN2/ESPN+; those games follow the first DI-AA/FCS semifinal on Friday 12/15: Albany/South Dakota State, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN2).

The Saturday 12/16/23 schedule features seven non-FCS college football games - a half-dozen DI-A/FBS bowl games and the D2 championship game. It also includes a three NFL games, all of which have playoff implications for both teams in each game.

So which of the games listed above holds the most interest to you?

NOTE: The D3 championship game (Cortland/North Central (IL)) will be played on Friday 12/15 (7:00 PM ET, ESPNU/ESPN+), while the NAIA championship game (Keiser/Northwestern (IA)) is scheduled for Monday 12/18 (12:00 PM ET, NAIA.org stream).

[CHIP72]

To answer my own poll question, I picked the Denver/Detroit NFL game, but really all three NFL games are of definite interest to me. All of them have playoff implications, and four of the six currently 7-6 AFC teams tied for the last two wild-card spots are in action in those games. The three game Saturday NFL slate is actually a lot better than the Sunday 12/17 NFL schedule, which really only has two standout games (Dallas/Buffalo at 4:25 PM ET on Fox and Baltimore/Jacksonville at 8:20 PM ET on NBC; I guess Tampa Bay/Green Bay at 1:00 PM ET on CBS is decent too).

Among the college games, that D2 national championship game, Harding vs Colorado School of Mines, a matchup of two undefeated teams both trying to win their first D2 national title, is intriguing. The Miami (OH)/Appalachian State and New Mexico State/Fresno State games look pretty good too. Though it isn't listed (to avoid biased results considering this is a DI-AA/FCS message board), obviously North Dakota State/Montana is also a really interesting game.

[CHIP72]

Saturday's game results:

DI-AA/FCS
*Montana 31 North Dakota State 29 (2 OT)
*Florida A&M 30 Howard 26

(Additionally, South Dakota State defeated Albany 59-0 on Friday night.)

DI-A/FBS
*Ohio 41 Georgia Southern 21
*Jacksonville State 34 Louisiana-Lafayette 31 (OT)
*Appalachian State 13 Miami (OH) 9
*Fresno State 37 New Mexico State 10
*UCLA 35 Boise State 22
*Texas Tech 34 California 14

D2
*Harding 38 Colorado School of Mines 7

NFL
*Cincinnati 27 Minnesota 24 (OT)
*Indianapolis 30 Pittsburgh 13
*Detroit 42 Denver 17

Hopefully you enjoyed the games!