Five takeaways from FCS Week 10

By AP
Published

(STATS) - The race to the regular-season finish line got so much more serious - and contentious - as few teams with realistic FCS playoff hopes got knocked out Saturday.

San Diego (Pioneer), Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley), Wofford (Southern) and either Central Connecticut State or Duquesne (Northeast) can each clinch an automatic bid with a win next weekend, but it's complicated elsewhere. Take away 10 automatic bids and there's at least 22 teams in the mix for 14 at-large spots, so scoreboard watching will be at a premium moving forward.

Here are five takeaways from Week 10 of the FCS regular season:

- North Dakota State fell from the ranks of the unbeaten when it lost 33-21 to rival South Dakota State, yet didn't drop from first place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference standings because of defeats by Illinois State and South Dakota. But how much will the Bison drop with the FCS playoff selection committee, which had them at No. 2 behind 2016 national champ James Madison in its rankings this past week? Neither Jacksonville State nor Central Arkansas, which were third and fourth, respectively, by the committee and in the STATS FCS Top 25, has lost to an FCS opponent. They also don't face as strong a conference schedule as NDSU, whose track record probably comes into play as well. The guess is Jacksonville State moves up to No. 2, but NDSU holds off Central Arkansas for the third spot.

- Top 10 teams Elon and Wofford have proven it's about winning, not style points. Both clutch teams won on field goals in double overtime Saturday to continue magical seasons. Elon, which is tied with James Madison atop the CAA Football standings, has an eight-game winning streak on a combined 31 points. Seven of Wofford's eight wins are by seven points or less, although it will have little problem disposing of winless VMI next Saturday to clinch the automatic bid out of the Southern Conference. In an odd contrast, the Terriers are led by coach Mike Ayers for the 30th straight season, while Elon has a first-year coach in Curt Cignetti.

- What were the odds Northern Arizona star quarterback Case Cookus would be ejected from Saturday's big game at Montana for targeting? Remote, of course, but the weirdest penalty of the season might have turned the extremely competitive race in the Big Sky. In the first quarter of their 17-15 loss, the Lumberjacks ran a reverse with tight end Wallace Gonzalez and Cookus set a downfield block on Griz linebacker James Banks that was high, causing the rare targeting call against the offense and an even rarer one on a quarterback. With the loss, NAU (7-2, 5-1) fell into a three-way tie atop the standings with Southern Utah and Weber State. Add in perennial power Eastern Washington falling to 5-4 and in a struggle to make the playoffs, and the Big Sky had its usual wild Saturday of action.

- The Cinderella story at Austin Peay got even better when the Governors' 35-28 win over Tennessee Tech clinched the first Sgt. York Trophy in program history. The 11-year-old trophy goes to the winner of the quadrangular season series between the four Ohio Valley Conference teams in Tennessee (also Tennessee State and UT Martin). The Govs (6-4, 5-1) entered the season with only seven wins in the series and were 0-3 in each of the last four seasons, but second-year coach Will Healy's team won close games with each of its rivals. They racked up 423 rushing yards to stop Tech.

- Jacksonville State's 30-game win streak in the OVC and James Madison's Division I-leading 21-game win streak get a lot of attention on a weekly basis, but San Diego is dominating the Pioneer Football League like never before. The Toreros (7-2, 6-0) beat Drake 45-15 for their record 19th straight PFL win and a 30th league win in a row at home. Their average margin of victory in the PFL is 31.7 points, and with a two-game lead in the standings, coach Dale Lindsey's team is one win away from a second straight playoff bid and third in the last four seasons. Senior quarterback Anthony Lawrence has thrown for 25 touchdowns against only one interception (which came in a non-league game) this season.