FARGO — The FCS Playoffs officially kick off Saturday with eight first-round matchups, with the Missouri Valley Football Conference being represented in five of the games.
Before we go any further, why are all the game times so compressed the next two weeks? Saturday there are three games that kick off at 11 a.m., with the other five at noon. Television isn’t an issue, since all the games are streaming on ESPN Plus. I haven’t been able to get an answer on that question, next week is only slightly better with kickoff times ranging from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Multiple streams are going to be necessary to follow the games, so charge those tablets and laptops as needed.
Here’s a look at the Valley matchups in the first round. The conference has posted an 18-8 record since 2015 in the opening round with a pair of games that had teams playing an intra-conference matchup, the most recent coming in 2022 when Southern Illinois beat South Dakota.
DRAKE at SOUTH DAKOTA — A rematch of a game played back in September and won by the Coyotes, 42-21. It was after that game that USD came to Fargo and lost by 38 points to North Dakota State, which I and several other media members declared the Coyotes dead. Full credit to USD and first-year head coach Travis Johansen in how they turned their season around.
They got a favorable schedule after the game in Fargo, ripping off three straight wins over Murray State, Northern Iowa and Indiana State. USD lost at home to Illinois State, making its final three games must-wins. All South Dakota did was win all three, beating North Dakota and South Dakota State at home and then rally to beat Southern Illinois in five overtimes.
On top of all of this, USD played twelve straight weeks, as its bye week came in the final regular season. LJ Phillips has been a revelation at running back, on his way to being named one of the top players in the conference.
South Dakota should roll a Drake team that won the Pioneer Football League, but lost to St. Thomas three weeks ago. The Bulldogs allowed just sixteen points in their last two games as they make their third straight playoff appearance. It’s the second time in three years that Drake gets a Valley team in the first round, losing to NDSU in 2023.
NORTH DAKOTA at TENNESSEE TECH — The Fighting Hawks didn’t back their way into the playoffs, according to the FCS Playoff Committee, they weren’t even one of the last four teams picked.
UND enters with a 7-5 record, but lost three of its last four games heading into the playoffs. Eric Schmidt’s team is getting some help with the return of running back Gavin Ziebarth, who’s been out of the lineup since the middle of October with a broken collarbone. Defensively they are razor-thin at cornerback, which could be a big factor in a game facing a mobile quarterback.
UND has been in every game this season that they have lost, but hasn’t been able to make a critical play in the fourth quarter to put a team away, whether that was Kansas State, NDSU or SDSU.
Tennessee Tech was the Big South-Ohio Valley champion this year, racking up an 11-1 record. The Golden Eagles have to be thinking why are they playing Thanksgiving Weekend, after being ranked seventh in the last committee rankings in early November. TTU’s only loss was to Kentucky during that time frame, and they dropped six spots to the 13 seed. The only reasoning has to be the committee didn’t have much respect for the OVC, which wasn’t competitive this year, Bison fans saw Tennessee State and Southeast Missouri State up close.
The Golden Eagles are led by the OVC Player of the Year in quarterback Kekoa Visperas, the former Eastern Washington signal caller. Visperas was the QB for EWU in the 2023 game at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Bison. He threw 25 touchdowns passes this year and can scramble and make plays. Schmidt says there are comparisons between Vispersas and Youngstown State’s Beau Brungard. UND may have boxed in Brungard the best this season, running out to a 28-0 lead in the game against YSU in October.
YALE at YOUNGSTOWN STATE — One of the more intriguing matchups in the first round as the Ivy League makes its long-awaited playoff debut with not one, but two teams in the tournament. Yale won the automatic bid in its win over Harvard, and has its own Walter Payton finalist in running back Josh Pitsenberger. He was named the Ivy League player of the year, running for over 12 hundred yards and 15 touchdowns for the Bulldogs.
They will have to do something that few teams have done this year and that’s contain Brungard. Brungard has accounted for 49 total touchdowns, whether that’s passing, rushing and even receiving. Max Tomczak and Flash Wilson have become great threats on the outside for an offense that can put up points in bunches. There were plenty of anxious fanbases that were worried where the Penguins were placed in the bracket, I’m sure there were some groans from Bozeman when they saw where YSU was.
The Penguin defense has been an issue, giving up 32 points last week to Northern Iowa. If Yale is able to somehow slow Brungard down, this will be a game to watch into the second half.
NEW HAMPSHIRE at SOUTH DAKOTA STATE — A month ago, SDSU was a lock for the playoffs and UNH was going to miss out again. A lot has happened over the last four weeks, the Wildcats have gotten red hot and the Jacks found a way to win one football game to reach the postseason.
New Hampshire finished 8-4, losing both of its games against the two powers in the Coastal Athletic Association; Rhode Island and Villanova. Since the CAA has 16 teams in it, they play an unbalanced schedule. The Wildcats got hot in November, which included a blowout win over Monmouth, who missed out on the playoffs with nine wins. It’s hard to gauge how good this team is, simply because of who they played and beaten during the year.
Meanwhile for the Jacks, who earned a playoff berth with an unreal overtime win at North Dakota, they get another game at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. They were booed off the field the last time SDSU played there, falling behind 35-0 to Illinois State in the first half. Freshman Jack Henry has played quarterback for the last three games, but it’s still a mystery in who will play this week.
Chase Mason has been practicing for the last two weeks, he did not dress after warming up prior to the UND game, it is unknown if he’s been physically cleared to play for the Jacks medical staff. If Mason is cleared, it’s been seven weeks since he injured his foot at Murray State, how effective can he be in what is certain to be bad weather conditions?
Snow is expected in Brookings and with it wind, which can’t be discounted for how it could affect the game. SDSU is looking to copy its road they took in 2021, the last time they played on Thanksgiving. It will be fascinating to see how they respond.
ILLINOIS STATE at SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA — The Redbirds return to the postseason for a second straight year, but enter after a thrashing, losing 37-7 at home last week to Southern Illinois.
That loss cost the Redbirds a likely top-eight seed and sent ISU on the road for the postseason. The question for this game is which ISU team will show up? The one that beat USD and SDSU or the one that got blasted by the Salukis. Brock Spack’s offensive line is beat up right now, meaning quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse will have to make even more plays with his feet. Wide receiver Daniel Sobokowicz is a special player, add in Tye Niekamp on defense and the Redbirds have the talent to win this game.
SELA is not your typical Southland team that can run it up and play no defense. In fact, all the Lions do is play defense. Up front they are led by the conference player of the year Kaleb Proctor, who has 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks this year.
They run a dual-quarterback offense, one of the quarterbacks is former USD signal caller Carson Camp, on his second stop after leaving Vermillion. Paired with Kyle Loew, SELA is averaging 33 points per game, with their only FCS loss coming to Lamar.
Typically these Valley vs Southland matchups have been mismatches, it will be intriguing to see how SELA performs Saturday.
My bracket projection is included below, bookmark this for later in December to see how many I actually got right.
