FCS Playoffs - Friday Night Update

[DyedBlue]

I have read no one cares or knows about FCS football. Someone needs to send an email to that effect to the nearly 25,000 Montana fans in attendance last night.

#2 Seed Montana (Big SKy Conference) hosted #7 Furman (from the Southern Conference) last night in the snow flurries of Missoula, Montana.

Montana truly 'escaped' with an OT win. The Griz and Paladins were tied at 28 after regulation.

The Griz had scored once on a KO return and then later on a 61-yard punt return to take a 28-21 lead with about 8 minutes to play. Its offense was largely ineffective against the Paladins. Twice Furman failed to move the ball and punted it away maintaining field position. Twice its defense forced Montana into a three-and-out.

Furman got the ball back with less than two minutes to play and no time-outs. (or is it 'times out' like attorneys general??) Two big PI calls put Furman on the 14-yard line with 35 seconds to play and a first down. The Paladins scored on a 4th and 14th with a toss to a 6'7" tight end (former MBB Player). It lined up to go for two with 13 seconds left but its left tackle jumped and after the penalty, it kicked the tying point.

Montana scored a TD and Furman failed to score in the OT. It was an incredibly painful loss for Furman which had outplayed Montana on its home field except for special teams.

Montana will next host the winner of the NDSU vs USD game which occurs today. I wonder if life in a Dome in the winter will come back to haunt one of the MVFC schools that undoubtedly will experience winter football in Missoula. On the other hand, a SoCon school like Furman handled the cold windy conditions very well so no reason on of the Dakota schools cannot do the same.

 

[DyedBlue]

"one of the Dakota schools"

 

[Sycamorefan96]

NDSU just destroyed South Dakota 45-17. SDSU beat Villanova 23-12. UAlbany and Idaho play later tonight.

 

[sycamore tuff]

I shut last night's game off at half. Looks like I missed a good second half.

 

[Sycamorefan96]

Looks like NDSU @ Montana is going to be on Friday night, probably on ESPN or ESPN2. I'll have to try to find a truck stop somewhere and watch that if I can. If not I'll just tune into the Montana radio broadcast on my phone. That's going to be an epic environment. If our team is respectable in a couple of years I wouldn't mind making the trip out there when we play our return game.

 

[Sycamorefan96]

Anybody remember when Montana hosted NDSU during the Week 0 FCS kickoff game a while back, and won on the next to last play?

 

[4Q_iu]

I have read no one cares or knows about FCS football. Someone needs to send an email to that effect to the nearly 25,000 Montana fans in attendance last night...

Montana vs Furman was top 10 seeded match-up in national playoff quarterfinals... And drew "nearly 25,000"

Today, Army and Navy drew 65,800+, over 1,200 OVER stadium capacity... They were only playing for a .500 record and bragging rights. Army now at 6-6 will not land a bowl. Navy finishes at 5-7... And they drew nearly 66,000...

What's the current attendance for the FCS playoffs? Will it surpass most, any of the bowl games?

 

[Sycamorefan96]

#9 Albany upsets #4 Idaho 30-22. Will play SDSU in the semifinals.

 

[DyedBlue]

Please, Army vs Navy is a very special case to cite. Supporting it and attending the game is a ritual of significance to both branches of the military and the community that hosts the game. What was the attendance at the Sun Belt Championship Game in 2023? An FBS conference title game: 20,100. And that league is representative of the majority of FBS leagues that are not power 5-1.

I am off to the ISU WBB game, so at this moment, I don't have the time to research the attendance at last year's bowl games. AND, I wonder how to differentiate between reported attendance based on seats sold and actual butts in the seats. Local sponsors probably suck up thousands of tickets which are never used to make the results look better.

If one watches most of the bowl games on TV, the bottom 30 or so look like MACtion games in terms of attendance.

We know the MAC schools have maintained FBS status by having someone sponsor the game and buy sufficient tickets at a very low price to keep each above the attendance requirements. I would imagine they are not the only culprits in that game.

Also, I do like the Blast from the Past of seeing December football played in northern stadia which 25+ mph winds and snow instead of another game in the south in 60'F weather. I truly hope we start to see that in the 12-team FBS playoffs starting next year when teams 5-8 are hosting first-round games.

 

[DyedBlue]

#5 Seed Univ of Albany goes on the road and beats #4 Idaho (which squeaked past SIU in OT) 30-22.

The Great Danes of U of Albany earned the right to play #1 Seed South Dakota State which fought its way past the Villanova Wildcats 23-12.
(BTW, before becoming the Great Danes, the mascot was something called a Pedwin for the long-time teacher's college)

On the opposite side, unseeded NDSU crushed #3 seed South Dakota 45-17. If it keeps performing at this level, it is heading for a rematch with SDSU in the final game.

But the Bison must go on the road again to face #2 Montana. No small task.

The Griz are highly motivated and will be playing before a packed house in what figures to be another cold, windy, snowy environment. Just what football should be in December!!

The MVFC had three teams in the final 8. USD was ousted by fellow MVFC member NDSU.

The MVFC is now 8-4 in the FCS playoffs with one intraconference game, so 7-3 against non-conference teams.


================================================

Some 2022 FBS Bowl Attendance Figures: 19 of the 41 (?) bowl games are listed below with official attendance that is less than the 25,000 who attended the Montana vs Furman game. Several other bowl games were in the 25-31K range. Now, I must admit that some of the best-attended FCS programs have moved or are moving to FBS: Appalachian State, JMU, Liberty, and now Delaware. Marshall was an early transitioner and I expect its attendance was good. Moving the Championship game from Chattanooga to Frisco has made it more expensive for most team's fans to attend the title game. I am not certain of the effect on attendance because those Dakota farmers have both money and free time.

When in TN, it was within easy driving distance of teams across the southeast and OVC regions. I attended in 2008 when UR beat Montana 24-7 to win the NCAA Division I Football Championship. Now, it is pretty much a flight or a 15-hour drive to get to Frisco, Texas.

Bahamas Bowl Attendance: 12,172; Cure Bowl Attendance: 11,911'; Fenway Bowl Attendance: 15,000

LendingTree Bowl Attendance: 20,512; New Mexico Bowl Attendance: 22,209; Frisco Bowl Attendance: 12,211; Myrtle Beach Bowl Attendance: 12,023

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Attendance: 10,122; Boca Raton Bowl Attendance: 20,622; New Orleans Bowl Attendance: 13,456; Independence Bowl
Attendance: 23,410
Hawai'i Bowl Attendance: 6,605; Quick Lane Bowl Attendance: 22,987; Camellia Bowl Attendance: 15,322; Birmingham Bowl Attendance: 15,901

Guaranteed Rate Bowl Attendance: 23,187; Military Bowl Attendance: 17,974;

There were two games with "0" reported attendance for whatever that is worth.