Well, it was a bit of a wild weekend to begin the Fall 2021 FCS football campaign. Within the AGS Preseason Top 25, only 9 teams lost, with 8 teams falling to FBS opponents and the remaining FCS matchup being the #18 team (Chattanooga) losing to the #23 team (Austin Peay).
Of the 8 losses to FBS opponents, #19t Northern Iowa and #19t Missouri State had strong showings against Big 12 teams (#7 Iowa State and Oklahoma State, respectively), losing by only a touchdown each. #6 Weber State was the only other loss against a ranked P5 school (#24 Utah). The remaining losses were against G5 opponents.
Despite this, there were also 4 wins against FBS opponents for AGS Top 25 teams, and another 2 wins from teams in the top 40. Perhaps the stunner of the evening was #8 Montana over the #20 FBS team (Washington). #2 South Dakota State, #11 Eastern Washington, and #25 UC Davis also scored victories over G5 FBS opponents. #31 East Tennessee State handily defeated a P5 opponent, while #33 Holy Cross was also victorious. It was a very good showing for the FCS vs. FBS, especially for the Big Sky and Missouri Valley.
Any surprises this week were for the teams outside the top 25 looking in (see above). Of additional note were losses by #27 North Carolina A&T and #35 Alcorn State. Otherwise, only two other teams (#37 Albany and #36 Davidson) ranked #26-40 lost, and both losses were to AGS Top 25 teams (#4 North Dakota State and #17 Virginia Military Institute).
Here is a link to the discussion on AGS as well.
https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?278897-AGS-Top-25-How-They-Fared-Week-1-Fall-2021
Credit for the hard work here go to the poster Preferred Walk-On on AGS.
