FCS Football Week 7 Preview

We’re previewing the key games and storylines each week throughout the 2024 college football season. Our FCS coverage is the home for the Top 25 media poll, FCS National Awards, predictive TRACR model and more. The regular season is crossing the midpoint in Week 7.

North, South, East, West, large or smaller conference, it doesn’t matter where or when, important games are all over the FCS schedule.

There’s a Top 10 matchup with Montana State and Idaho in Week 7 of the FCS season, but there’s much, much more across all 13 conferences.

From Nicholls at UIW (Southland) to Chattanooga at Furman (SoCon) to Butler at Drake (Pioneer) to Tennessee Tech at Southeast Missouri (Big South-OVC) to Dartmouth at Yale (Ivy) to Duquesne at Saint Francis (Northeast) to Alcorn State at Grambling State (SWAC), some of the 2024 season’s more-impactful conference games are on tap on Saturday.

Let’s dive into the fun.

FCS Football Week 7 Preview

FCS Game of the Week

Nicholls (2-3, 0-0 Southland) at No. 15 UIW (3-2, 0-0)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. ET Saturday at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium in San Antonio (ESPN+)

Notable: Veteran players are back on both rosters from Nicholls’ 45-32 win at UIW last year – the key game in the Colonels’ Southland Conference championship and UIW winding as the highest-ranked team (No. 22) not to make the FCS postseason. It is UIW’s only loss out of 20 home games since 2021. Nicholls rushed for 335 yards in the win, including Collin Guggenheim (2,895 career rushing yards) with 153 yards and four touchdowns. Like last year, Nicholls has rebounded from season-opening losses to Big Sky power Sacramento State and two FBS opponents. Meanwhile, UIW has played well against a much-tougher nonconference schedule than in 2023. Nicholls lefty quarterback Pat McQuaide is coming off four TD passes (his two-year high with the Colonels) against Southern. UIW QB Zach Calzada (278.6 passing yards per game, 13 TD passes to two interceptions) spreads the ball around, including to RB Dekalon Taylor (114 all-purpose yards per game, six TDs) and wide receivers Jalen Walthall (35 receptions, 569 yards, seven TDs) and Roy Alexander (35-413-3). Nicholls, behind leading tackler Eli Ennis, has been dominant against the run, allowing just 69.2 rushing yards per game and 2.5 yards per carry, while 11 different players have combined on 12 interceptions. UIW hasn’t been as stingy, allowing 427.4 yards and 25.8 points per game. This is Nicholls’ fifth road game out of its first six overall.

The Pick: UIW

Second-and-10 

1. They still must face fellow MVFC programs that posted FCS playoff wins last season, but South Dakota State (4-1) and North Dakota State (5-1) appear destined for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown on Oct. 19. SDSU, the two-time defending FCS champion, has defeated Youngstown State 47-16 and 34-0 on the road in their last two meetings, and this time the Jackrabbits are at home, where they’ve won 23 games in a row. NDSU travels to Southern Illinois, where the Bison’s FCS-record 39-game winning streak ended in the spring 2021 season, but that’s the only Bison loss in their last 12 meetings. SIU (2-4), facing its fifth straight nationally ranked opponent, will start a true freshman quarterback, Jake Curry, for the first time since 1989.

2. Third-ranked Montana State would love to spoil SDSU at NDSU being a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown simply by moving up from its No. 3 ranking in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (it’s been the same top three since Labor Day). Despite tightness in the voting, the gap between the Bobcats (6-0, 2-0 Big Sky) and No. 2 NDSU has grown in the last two weeks. A win over No. 7 Idaho (4-2, 1-1) would be even more important than the Bobcats’ FBS triumph at New Mexico to open the season. Running back Scottre Humphrey (111.3 rushing yards per game) and the FCS’ No. 2 rushing offense face quite the test in the Vandals’ rush defense, ranked eighth nationally. They’ve split four meetings since 2016, with each game decided by seven or fewer points.

3. One of the reasons Montana State and No. 8 Mercer (5-0) remain unbeaten and No. 13 Tarleton State (5-1) keeps raising its highest-ever FCS ranking is steady play on the road. They’re the only FCS teams to have three road wins. Their reward this week? A home game on Saturday.

4. Four of the NEC’s top five in rushing yards per game last season made transfers in the offseason, and there have been dividends for the running backs’ new teams. Tyvon Edmonds Jr., the 2023 conference rushing leader at Merrimack, moved over to Robert Morris as that program returned to the NEC, and he’s second in rushing this season. Jermaine Corbett, who ranked second in the NEC at Stonehill, replaced Edmonds at Merrimack, which left for an independent season. Sacred Heart’s Malik Grant, who ranked fourth at Sacred Heart while finishing a career at No. 14 on the NEC’s all-time rushing list, made a grad transfer to Rhode Island and ranks fourth in CAA Football in rushing. Zach Palmer-Smith, who was fifth at Wagner, also moved into the CAA at Richmond and ranks second in that conference.

5. Rhode Island, which is part of a four-way tie for first place in the CAA, steps out of conference to seek a sixth straight win over Brown in the Governor’s Cup series. Sitting at No. 19 in the Top 25, the Rams (4-1) are getting it done like no other team in the national rankings: They’re -10 in turnover margin – tied for third-worst in the FCS – having finished in the negative against four opponents and tying with the other. Five other Top 25 teams have a negative turnover margin, but barely as they’re a combined -6. The Rams aren’t getting rattled by the miscues, however, as they’ve won three times in games when they trailed in the fourth quarter. No other FCS team has done that.

6. Like last week, there’s another impactful schedule of games in the Big South-OVC, and it’s led by No. 11 Southeast Missouri hosting Tennessee Tech in a matchup of 2-0 co-leaders. Conveniently, the all-time series is tied 16-16 heading into the showdown. Tennessee Tech’s secondary boasts strong safety Tin Coutras and regularly uses a nickelback, and those are keys against SEMO quarterback Paxton DeLaurent, who is 34 passing yards shy of matching the school’s all-time record (Jason Liley, 6,179) and is tied with Daniel Santacaterina for the career touchdown passes mark (46). 

(Big South-OVC member Tennessee State in the conference title hunt)

7. The Pioneer Football League has an important schedule with defending champion Drake hosting Butler and Davidson traveling to Dayton – four teams that are a combined 6-0 in league games and 15-3 overall. Butler (5-0 with three sub-FCS wins) is one of four unbeaten FCS teams, while Drake (3-1, 2-0) owns a 13-game PFL winning streak – the third-longest active streak in FCS conference play. Davidson (4-1, 2-0), the early co-leader with Drake, leads the FCS in rushing yards per game (368.6), keeping the ball on the ground for a remarkable 82.4% of its offensive plays. Dayton owns the league’s top-ranked passing attack with redshirt freshman Drew VanVleet at the controls.

8. Returning from injury, Fordham linebacker James Conway made his season debut with 13 tackles against Lafayette last Saturday. While he could limit himself to four games to maintain a redshirt, it may not stop him from becoming the Patriot League’s career leader in tackles this year. He’s in ninth place with 400 stops, but that’s only 32 behind Jacob Dobbs’ all-time high of 432 at Holy Cross from 2019-23.

9. As Delaware (5-0, 2-0) transitions toward an FBS move and plays over FCS scholarship limits, it’s ineligible for the CAA title, but its games count in the standings. The Blue Hens join Butler, South Dakota and Stephen F. Austin as FCS teams to rank in the top 10 nationally in both scoring offense and defense. Season-opening quarterback Ryan O’Connor and Zach Marker have combined for 14 TD passes against just one interception for an offense averaging 42.7 points and 457.7 yards. The defense has 16 sacks and fuels a plus-8 turnover margin while surrendering just 17.4 points and 315.6 yards per game.

10. The NEC’s most-recent champions are set to square off at Saint Francis, where the Red Flash face a must-win in their 50th all-time meeting against defending champ Duquesne due to having a conference loss to Central Connecticut State. Allstate may not be asking if the Red Flash (2-3) are in good hands, as they’ve fumbled the ball 18 times and lost 12 of them in only five games. In their only game with fewer than three turnovers (they also have two interceptions this season), the Red Flash defeated an FBS opponent (Kent State).

FCS Football Week 7 Top 25 Schedule

All Times ET Saturday

1. South Dakota State (4-1, 1–0 MVFC): Youngstown State (3 p.m., ESPN+)

2. North Dakota State (5-1, 2-0 MVFC): at Southern Illinois (3 p.m., ESPN+)

3. Montana State (6-0, 2-0 Big Sky): No. 7 Idaho (10:15 p.m., ESPN2)

4. South Dakota (4-1, 2-0 MVFC): Northern Iowa (3 p.m., ESPN+)

5. Villanova (5-1, 2-0 CAA): No game

6. UC Davis (5-1, 2-0 Big Sky): Cal Poly (7 p.m., ESPN+/My58)

7. Idaho (4-2, 1-1 Big Sky): at No. 3 Montana State (10:15 p.m., ESPN2)

8. Mercer (5-0, 3-0 SoCon): Princeton (3:30 p.m., ESPN+)

9. North Dakota (4-2, 1-1 MVFC): No game

10. Abilene Christian (4-2, 3-0 UAC): at North Alabama (7 p.m., ESPN+)

11. Southeast Missouri (5-1, 2-0 Big South-OVC): Tennessee Tech (4 p.m., ESPN+)

12. Central Arkansas (4-2, 1-1 UAC): West Georgia (5 p.m., ESPN+)

13. Tarleton State (5-1, 2-0 UAC): Utah Tech (7 p.m., ESPN+)

14. Montana (4-2, 1-1 Big Sky): No. 24 Northern Arizona (4 p.m., ESPN+)

15. UIW (3-2, 0-0 Southland): Nicholls(7 p.m., ESPN+)

16. Illinois State (4-2, 1-1 MVFC): Missouri State (1 p.m., ESPN+)

17. William & Mary (4-2, 1-1 CAA): No game

18. Sacramento State (2-3, 0-1 Big Sky): Eastern Washington (9 p.m., KMAX 31/ESPN+)

19. Rhode Island (4-1, 2-0 CAA): Brown (1 p.m., FloFootball)

20. Weber State (3-3, 2-0 Big Sky): Northern Colorado(8 p.m., ESPN+)

21. Richmond (4-2, 2-0 CAA): No game

22. Lamar (3-2, 0-0 Southland): Stephen F. Austin (4 p.m., ESPN+)

23. Chattanooga (2-3, 1-1 SoCon): at Furman (2 p.m., ESPN+)

24. Northern Arizona (3-3, 1-1 Big Sky): at No. 14 Montana (4 p.m., ESPN+)

25. North Carolina Central (4-2, 2-0 MEAC): Virginia-Lynchburg (2 p.m., ESPN+)

2023 Montana State vs. Idaho Top Photo (Garrett Becker/Montana State Athletics)

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