Which Week One FCS-FBS Games Were the BEST?

[Native]

Richmond 24-16 over Duke
William & Mary 16-14 over Virginia
Villanova 27-24 over Temple
Samford 24-28 loss at UCF
North Dakota State 17-34 loss at Iowa State
Northern Iowa 16-17 loss at #22 Iowa
App State 24-29 loss at Eastern Carolina
Central Arkansas 25-20 loss at Hawaii
Massachusetts 17-21 loss at Kansas State
Weber State 29-22 loss at Wyoming

[89Hen]

The wins. I do believe there can be such a thing as a "good" loss, but I don't think I'd ever call one "best" with a group that include wins.

If I had to pick the best loss, I'd say UNI/Iowa. Should have won it. xoopsx

[MSUBear42]

Gotta be UNI.

[BEAR]

UCA should have won it. Had a 3rd and 2 with a few minutes left and got a critical penalty that moved it to 3rd and 7! It's one of those games you wish you could go back in time and correct that one mistake. UCA lost that one, Hawaii didn't win it. Anyway, it got my vote. xlolx

[93henfan]

Easily the UNI game.

[Gil Dobie]

I think Willie and Mary xthumbsupx

The poll ask "Best FCS Performance", best game may have been Iowa vs UNI.

[darell1976]

I would say none of the above!!! UND vs Texas Tech i think was a great game. We hung in there and only trailed by 15 points in the 4th quarter only to surrender 10 late points. We had a player grab 3 Int's, we almost had 2 goal line stops only to have them score on a 4th down play. We didn't get blown out 49-3 or 72-6 it was 38-13 not bad for a team in its second year of transition against a team who challenged for the national title last year. My vote is for the Sioux against the Red Raiders.xthumbsupx

[Gil Dobie]

I would say none of the above!!! UND vs Texas Tech i think was a great game. We hung in there and only trailed by 15 points in the 4th quarter only to surrender 10 late points. We had a player grab 3 Int's, we almost had 2 goal line stops only to have them score on a 4th down play. We didn't get blown out 49-3 or 72-6 it was 38-13 not bad for a team in its second year of transition against a team who challenged for the national title last year. My vote is for the Sioux against the Red Raiders.xthumbsupx

I really didn't think you guys would lose by 40 points. Tech lost a great QB and WR from last year to start with. Still a good game by UND.

[DX Man]

I went with Richmond over Duke. Not only was Richmond representing their school and the CAA in that game, but as the current National Champion, they represented all of FCS.

[Skjellyfetti]

I went with UNI-Iowa. They didn't get the win... but, Iowa is a quality football team. It's early in the season... but, I don't imagine Duke or Virginia will win many games.

[tribe_pride]

Not sure if you can fix the score but it was W&M 26-UVA 14

[Native]

Not sure if you can fix the score but it was W&M 26-UVA 14

Ooops! Sorry. :o

If anyone knows how to fix poll questions, please PM me.

Better yet, could we get some admin help here?

[spdram]

I debated the UR, VU and W&M wins and finally went with the UR win -- gotta admit a little homerism, but I tired to remove that and decide. Temple has never gotten out of their hole like Duke, but felt UR pretty much controlled Duke most of the game. So then I thought about the W&M win and felt they were playing a new offense with a new OC and it showed (not trying to take anything away from W&M). Somebody had to be picked.

[skinny_uncle]

SIU plays @ Marshall who has the best homefield advantage in the country, only loses by 3 and doesn't even get a nomination????
xconfusedx

[darell1976]

I really didn't think you guys would lose by 40 points. Tech lost a great QB and WR from last year to start with. Still a good game by UND.

I see a higher score if we would have played them last year. I think Tech may have a longer season than us if they play the Big 12 like they played us.

[ekufbfan]

All of them are worthy of a mention, but leaving out EKU? Come on! Certainly the Colonels should not have been left out, just another snub of one of the winningest programs in college football.

With my protest noted.
1. I pick Northern Iowa
2/3. Toss up' William and Mary or Richmond

[Native]

SIU plays @ Marshall who has the best homefield advantage in the country, only loses by 3 and doesn't even get a nomination????
xconfusedx

Thanks for the catch, Uncle! Sorry for the omission.

Tell us about the game?

[SuperJon]

I love how our game was closer than NDSU's and we don't even get a mention.

[dgreco]

uni almost knocking down instate top #25

[Tribe4SF]

SIU plays @ Marshall who has the best homefield advantage in the country, only loses by 3 and doesn't even get a nomination????
xconfusedx

Yeah, the Salukis could have been in there. Marshall, however, does not have the best home field advantage in the country. W&M nearly won there in 2005, and UNH beat them in Huntingdon.

[Native]

I love how our game was closer than NDSU's and we don't even get a mention.

Tell us all about your game! Which team do you support?

[Native]

SIU plays @ Marshall who has the best homefield advantage in the country, only loses by 3 and doesn't even get a nomination????
xconfusedx

Uncle, if you had to choose, which of the ten games mentioned would you leave out in order to include the Saluki game?

[SuperJon]

Tell us all about your game! Which team do you support?

WVU 33
Liberty 20

West Virginia was never more than 13 up until five minutes to go. It was 10-3 after the first quarter. WVU scored on their first drive with a FG, we answered to tie it. Their next drive was a TD. We answered it in the 2nd quarter with a TD to make it 10-10. They scored 13 points in the 2nd quarter to make it 23-10 at halftime. In the third, we traded field goals to make it 26-13. We threw an INT with six minutes left and two plays later they go up 33-13. We answered with a TD drive to make it 33-20.

They had their starters in the entire game.

Redshirt sophomore Mike Brown had 11 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and 107 yards on three kick returns.

Noel Devine didn't get to the 100 yard mark til the touchdown run he made with five minutes to go.

[RabidRabbit]

Uncle, if you had to choose, which of the ten games mentioned would you leave out in order to include the Saluki game?

Not that I am either Skinny or an Uncle, but if I was to drop one from the group, I'd drop NDSU/ISU. NDSU really never got into the game, came close but not quite. Eerily similar to SDSU's game with ISU a year ago.

The UNI/Iowa game was a barnburner, thrilling game, with suspense to beyond 0:00 left. It's hard to believe that with two chances to hit that final FG, that Iowa managed to block it twice, and escape. I have a feeling that UNI is THAT good to compete with a top 25 FBS this year. Not that Iowa is an overrated team.

Lots of great, competitive FCS/FBS games this weekend. Congrats to all the FCS teams, but especially those that won, or were within a TD of a win.

[JohnStOnge]

I think Willie and Mary xthumbsupx

The poll ask "Best FCS Performance", best game may have been Iowa vs UNI.

I think UNI had the best performance as well. I'll admit that there's an argument to be made for William & Mary because they did win and win by double digits. But Virginia was coming off a 5-7 season. Iowa's coming off a 9-4 season and is believed to be a top 25 FBS team. I suspect Iowa's got a lot better team than Virginia does.

But time will tell.

[skinny_uncle]

Yeah, the Salukis could have been in there. Marshall, however, does not have the best home field advantage in the country. W&M nearly won there in 2005, and UNH beat them in Huntingdon.
Since Joan C. Edwards Stadium opened in 1991, the Thundering Herd is 115-17 at home. That's a winning percentage of .871, ahead of Alabama, Boise State, Fresno State and Penn State in the top five.

[smallcollegefbfan]

Best performance by a FCS was W&M winning by 12 points over an ACC program but the best game was the UNI 17-16 loss. UNI should have won. The UCA, Richmond, and App State games were also very good ones as well.

[skinny_uncle]

Thanks for the catch, Uncle! Sorry for the omission.

Tell us about the game?
The Salukis took a 14-7 lead into halftime. Marshall scored three straight TDs in the third quarter to go up 28-14 before the Salukis started clawing their way back into the game. The Dawgs scored a TD late in the third quarter to get close. Marshall picked up a FG early in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead back to 10. Later in the fourth it looked like Marshall would put it away with a drive that SIU stopped on their 9 yard line when Marshall went for it on fourth down. The Salukis drove 91 yards in 1:40 to pull within 31-28. The ensuing onside kick failed. Marshall went three and out and backwards 10 yards on their next series. The Salukis then basically just ran out of time with a screen pass for no gain and a couple of incompletions.
It was a tough loss, but we did get in some licks.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h13/skinny_uncle/g276258f160c7a94c5e52f9dc037545fa7c.jpg

[skinny_uncle]

Uncle, if you had to choose, which of the ten games mentioned would you leave out in order to include the Saluki game?
Probably the NDSU game.

[UNIFanSince1983]

I went with UNI because the title said best game, and there is no doubt I watched the best game of football played yesterday. I know it is tough to say we had the best performance, but we should have beaten the #22 team in the country. A team that many have pegged to win 8-10 games. It was impressive that W&M, Richmond, and Nova won. I was actually not shocked at W&M won as I had predicted they would. I would have also thought those other two probably would have won as well. App State shocked me as I did not think they would have been quite that competitive without Armanti.

Overall, I think it was a great showing by the FCS this weekend!!

[Mountaineer#96]

The UNI game since it was against a Top 25 team.........and then the all the wins over FCS teams in no real order since the FBS teams they played really would get kicked around a lot in a good FCS conference like the CAA / SOCON / etc..

[Gil Dobie]

I think UNI had the best performance as well. I'll admit that there's an argument to be made for William & Mary because they did win and win by double digits. But Virginia was coming off a 5-7 season. Iowa's coming off a 9-4 season and is believed to be a top 25 FBS team. I suspect Iowa's got a lot better team than Virginia does.

But time will tell.

Both great performances, but I expected UNI (AGS #5) to give Iowa a run for their money. I was thinking William & Mary (AGS #13) had a lesser chance against Virginia.

[Gil Dobie]

Not that I am either Skinny or an Uncle, but if I was to drop one from the group, I'd drop NDSU/ISU. NDSU really never got into the game, came close but not quite. Eerily similar to SDSU's game with ISU a year ago.

The UNI/Iowa game was a barnburner, thrilling game, with suspense to beyond 0:00 left. It's hard to believe that with two chances to hit that final FG, that Iowa managed to block it twice, and escape. I have a feeling that UNI is THAT good to compete with a top 25 FBS this year. Not that Iowa is an overrated team.

Lots of great, competitive FCS/FBS games this weekend. Congrats to all the FCS teams, but especially those that won, or were within a TD of a win.

I would agree that the SIU game should have been on the list instead of NDSU, but NDSU was in the game, and came close until the end. 24-17 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.

[bjtheflamesfan]

Im surprised LU-WVU didnt end up in this poll

[Buzzcut]

All of them are worthy of a mention, but leaving out EKU? Come on! Certainly the Colonels should not have been left out, just another snub of one of the winningest programs in college football.

With my protest noted.
1. I pick Northern Iowa
2/3. Toss up' William and Mary or Richmond


I concur - the Colonels definitely deserve some respect here! Indiana may not win another game all season, but they are a Big 10 program nonetheless and should not have been challenged to the extent they were by EKU.

That being said, I had to go with the Northern Iowa game followed by the smackdown delivered by W&M.

[89Hen]

Im surprised LU-WVU didnt end up in this poll
All the ones on the list were I-AA wins or single score losses. xpeacex

Actually you're right. It could have been on over NDSU's loss to Iowa State.

[AmsterBison]

FWiW, heck if I want a 17-point loss to Iowa State considered a good effort for the FCS, much less for NDSU.

[Native]

All the ones on the list were I-AA wins or single score losses. xpeacex

Actually you're right. It could have been on over NDSU's loss to Iowa State.

I appreciate all the feedback. My list needed improvement.

For example, Liberty's performance against West Virginia was one of the best of the weekend!

[Ivytalk]

Gotta go with the Tribe over the Hoos! Got some family skin in the game!xnodx:p

[Seawolf97]

William and Mary - nice!

[4th and What?]

I picked W&M simply as I think for best performance you need that W. That being said, I watched the replay of the UNI/Iowa game today on the big ten network and UNI looked AMAZING.

[JMU Newbill]

The worst win is better than the best loss, anyday. Any of the wins listed on here could get my vote... but I went with W&M

[89Hen]

I appreciate all the feedback. My list needed improvement.

For example, Liberty's performance against West Virginia was one of the best of the weekend!
Nah. You did just fine. We're talking about the 10-11 seed. It only got one homer vote anyway. I watched some of the Liberty/WVU replay... it wasn't in the top 9.

[89Hen]

The worst win is better than the best loss, anyday.
Especially when talking I-AA vs I-A. xnodx