X Delaware 10-1  7-1 – I’m not even going to try to work out tiebreakers. Delaware comes back strong.

X William and Mary 9-2 7-1 – The Tribe have another great season.

X New Hampshire 9-2  7-1 – UNH continues to stretch its playoff appearances.

Y Villanova 9-2  6-2 – Defending champion returns to defend the throne.

UMass 5-6  4-4 – Things just aren’t right in Amherst.

Richmond 5-6 4-4 – CAA is tough and the Spiders just have to get things back on course.

James Madison 5-6  3-5 – The Dukes just can’t turn the corner.

Towson 2-9 1-7 – Same old for the Tigers.

Maine 3-8  1-7 – Another rough year for Maine.  Tough schedule and the CAA is strong.

Rhode Island 1-10 0-8 – Maybe the PL or NEC would be a better fit?

With the season right around the corner, I decided it was time to start the conference by conference breakdowns.

X Southern Illinois 9-2 7-1 – Only slipping up once in conference and owning a win over UNI, SIU earns the MVFC auto-bid.

Y  Northern Iowa  9-2  7-1 – Northern Iowa returns to the playoffs with an at-large bid.

Y  Illinois State 9-2 6-2 – Illinois State makes their return to the playoffs with at at-large bid.

Z  North Dakota State 7-4 5-3 – NDSU is a bubble candidate for their first playoff appearance.

South Dakota State 6-5 5-3 – The Jacks fall a little short this year.

Youngstown State 6-5  4-4 – The Penguins are rebuilding, just a year away from contention.

Indiana State 3-8 1-7 – The Sycamores take a step in the right direction.

Western Illinois 2-9 1-7 – Bad situations in Macomb carry over to 2010. Maybe the healing can begin.

Missouri State 1-10 1-7 – Terry Allen says his goodbyes and cleans out his office.

We’re all excited for the kick-off of the 2010 season, so I thought I would give a rundown of some of the games I’m most excited about in the first week.

9/4/2010:

Weber State at Boston College-  If the Wildcats can keep up the offensive attack they’ve had for the last couple of years, this could be a very interesting game.  I’m always looking out for the FCS over FBS upsets, and this one has an outside shot.

Elon at Duke-  I think the Phoenix have a great shot at taking down the Blue Devils.  Not neccesarily a earth shaking prediction, but FCS over FBS nonetheless.

Richmond at Virginia- This will be a game of interest.  While I might normally predict a Richmond win, Coach Mike London left the Spiders for UVa at the end of the 2009 season.  It will be interesting to see how these two coaches staffs approach this game.  Richmond also has former USC backup, Aaron Corp.

(Edit: Thanks to Ursus!) William and Mary at UMass- What better way to start the season than to see where two CAA teams are at?  This should be a great test for both teams.  Can’t hurt to get an early lead in the CAA standings.

What games are you guys looking forward to?

It’s been another two weeks since the last update and what a wonderful two weeks it has been.  You may be asking why I didn’t do the CS Weekly Update last week (honestly I’m surprised no one asked about it).  The reasoning is that I honestly wasn’t feeling all that great on Friday after my Thursday night shenanigans!

I’m going to start off this week with a summary of what happened the last two weeks not pointing to any threads but mentioning things that happened so you can go find them yourselves!  A lot of pre-season polls were released for the FCS, giving conversational topics to every fan trying to justify why their team should be ranked, or ranked higher.   There really is no way of knowing how the season will be until we see a couple games so they are quite amusing to follow.  AGS transfered servers and the new owner has taken full control.   LSAs have returned so the unmentioned can be happy, Willie has seen a lot of animals and a Tigers pitcher got screwed but lived to tell about it in a very classy way.

Now for the featured posts of the week that I will discuss it GREAT detail…

Our friend AZGrizFan played golf with a former Griz Football player yesterday.  I’m assuming that he really means golf and not some other form of whacking balls around so I am going to give him the benefit of doubt.  Hope you had fun, got some great stories and learned the insight of the new Montana head coach.  This thread also turned into a namedropping game of who has done what with whom, quite interesting if you ask me.  I did not participate in this as I didn’t want to put everyone else to shame.

Those Eastern Washington fans are up to their hopes and dream shenanigans again as witnessed in this thread.  Most of you probably don’t think anything of these types of threads because they arrive every summer to only disappear into the great darkness known as page 137.  It is quite the funny read though, seeing all the predictions that those EWU fans have.  I say bring it, and I’ll be there in person to take pictures of you taking pictures of the Griz fans celebrating yet another win in Washington’s Grizzly Stadium.

A local moderator had his eyes opened to some interesting ways of life in his drive through northern Idaho last weekend.  He was upset and rightfully so.  This created some very interesting points as to who deserves what, what is free speach, and what people have the right to do, etc.  It is a somewhat controversial topic but thought it was worth a mention… after all, Mr.T is trying to ban people once again… this time off the forums.

I asked a question last week about what people’s dream job was and what was preventing them from going after it.  Some said they already had it, some had dream jobs that were so far out there and other were on their way.  If you missed this topic, check it out and tell us your dream job. This is something I have really been focusing on lately… following my dreams and making them a reality.  Note: this was way to serious of a topic to include in this recap but what the hell… ummm… I love Bacon?

Thanks for reading yet another CS Weekly Update and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, especially the… unmentioned.  I am driving to Lake Chelan, WA for a bachelor party weekend so if I end up in jail, dead or lost… send the search party!

This has been your CS Weekly Update, Enjoy!

First of all, thanks to my friend Chris Lynn for hooking this up. I’ve had a few email inquiries about the FCS preview I did for Lindy’s, which was recently published, and am anticipating a few more so I thought it might be efficient to address those questions here. I’ll try to encapsulate the questions people had of me.

Readers: Why is there no No. 9 listed on your national rankings?

Me: Well, there was. It was Colgate – who I have winning the Patriot League – but the No. 9 line must have gotten accidentally wiped when the magazine was laid out. It’s a shame, but typos happen unfortunately. Overall it’s a pretty impressive book in my opinion.

Readers: Why did you even write this preview? Don’t you cover the NFL?

Me: Yes, I do. My friend Otto Fad, who normally writes the Lindy’s FCS preview, had a conflict this year and contacted me looking for a potential replacement. We were between FCS Coordinators at The Sports Network, and so I volunteered my services. Though I haven’t covered FCS full-time since 2004, the thought at Lindy’s was apparently that I was a professional, with a body of work on the subject, and that I would take the assignment seriously and do a credible job. I definitely did the former, whether I achieved the latter is not up to me to decide, though I think Lindy’s liked what I turned in.

Readers: How did you select your Top 25/conference standings?

Me: I used the same method as when I made predictions while covering the FCS beat. I drew up all of the conference predictions first, then contacted every conference SID in FCS (except the SWAC, who didn’t have one at that moment) to get their feedback before I finalized them. I always involved the conference SIDs in the process when I covered the beat because I felt they would give me an objective portrayal of where their teams stood. I made a few changes to my conference predicted order of finish based on their thoughts. I also enlisted their help in coming up with a group of top players.

From there, I devised the Top 25, which seems to have elicited some discussion questioning my sanity. That’s a bit surprising to me, since 13 of my Top 17 were 2009 playoff teams, three others in that group (9-2 Colgate, 7-4 Montana State, and 7-4 Texas State) were close, and the other was Prairie View, which won the SWAC and whose only loss was to a FBS team. The ’09 playoff teams I didn’t have in “the playoff zone” in my Top 25 were No. 22 New Hampshire (lost seven of eight all-conference picks in a league we all know is really competitive), No. 24 Holy Cross (lost the QB and 80 percent of their o-line) and unranked Weber State (who I simply felt might have lost some ground after losing eight first- or second-team All-Big Sky choices from a 7-5 team that had a bad first-round playoff loss).

The point for me with the Top 25 exercise has always been to vaguely predict what the poll will look like heading into the playoffs (before regional bracketing knocks some really good teams out early and skews the final rankings a bit), not to mirror The Sports Network preseason poll or any others. I think the way I did it is more useful than a traditional “power ranking,” since the race to the playoffs is such a meaningful goal for much of the sub-division. Am I saying that Colgate will be better than William & Mary? Not necessarily, but I am willing to wager based on experience that the champion of the Patriot League is going to be ranked higher, entering the playoffs, than the third-place team in the CAA. Maybe that will turn out to be incorrect, but it’s the nature of predictions.

The only predicted conf. champ with an automatic NCAA bid in the expanded bracket that I didn’t include in my preseason Top 25 was my NEC pick, Robert Morris, although RMU finished ’09 on a five-game win streak in the NEC and outscored opponents 110-36 in those games.

Readers: Why did you pick Villanova’s Matt Szczur as your national player of the year when he’s uncertain to return?

Me: I weighed it, discussed with Coach Talley and Villanova Assistant AD Dean Kenefick as well as my editor at Lindy’s, and determined that it was worth the risk to include a guy that played so well when it mattered last season. If Szczur decides to sign a MLB contract, which would seem to be about 50-50, I think reasonable people will understand why his name appears in the book. I detailed the situation in the feature I wrote as part of the preview. I really hope he comes back, he’s fun to watch.

Readers: Why did you pick Aaron Corp as your newcomer of the year when he is uncertain to start at Richmond?

Me: Please note that my deadline came before Richmond’s spring practice, so I was flying blind a little bit there. My judgment was that Corp didn’t transfer from USC to be a No. 2 at Richmond, but of course we’ll have to see how it shakes out. For the record, my second choice was Bo Levi Mitchell from Eastern Washington, and had he been confirmed as the starter before my deadline, there’s a good chance I would have picked him over Corp.

Readers: What do you make of the criticism of your Lindy’s work on various Internet forums?

Me: It takes me back to when I covered the beat  The reality is that the four-page spread of 2010 FCS predictions amounts to no more than someone’s take, and forums like this one exist to debate the same topics that are in Lindy’s or any other magazine.

The goal is to be objective and reasonable given the data you have in front of you, and if people want to say I’m off base, then that’s fine. It comes with the territory. I would add that some of the most ardent criticism of me (not on the CS board) comes with an agenda that is pretty easy to size up if you look hard enough. Overall though, it’s clear that there are many more FCS fans who are educated about the sub-division from a national standpoint than there were six years ago, and that’s great to see.

If you have any more questions about my Lindy’s preview, our FCS or NFL coverage, or just want to say hey, please feel free to drop me a line at tmoss@sportsnetwork.com.

Tony Moss
Senior Editor/NFL Editor
The Sports Network

It’s been three long weeks since the last update due to me being “away” from the computer in Beautiful Kauai.  It was an amazing trip full of wonderful memories, activities and scenery.  Snorkeling with sharks and turtles, boogie boarding nice waves, eating amazing food, and kayaking up rivers to secret waterfalls.  It was a very nice getaway and break from the daily grind, but now I am back!  I was a little saddened by the lack of people that missed me though, I guess I should have said I was retiring rather than going on vacation.

This recap is actually going to contain 3 topics from the football forum which is a new record, the second record set this week!  First of all, we hit a new all time users online at once record yesterday!  It was previously broken the day before so this has been a good week for CS. The first football forum topic is amazing in itself.  It’s entitled “Blank” and goes on for three pages (as of now) of exciting football conversations.  You should definitely check it out, you’ll thank me later… trust me!

The WAC has been a popular topic this week with the possibility of a new member joining the conference.  Is it Montana, “Cow Poly”, Sac State?  Who knows, but there are lots of opinions on who should/shouldn’t go and whether or not Boise will even leave the WAC to go the the MWC.  Have an opinion?  Throw it out there, you can’t be wrong… but I’m sure there are a few people out there that will tell you that you are.

Although this next bit of information didn’t happen this week, it is/was a very shocking piece of news upon my return to the main land. D1B has officially retired.  This comes with a feeling of sad joy.  What is sad joy you ask?  Think about, read posts on D1B and report back to me. [Edit: He has un-retired]. [Edit: He has officially retired again]. [Edit: He has unofficially un-retired once again]. [Edit: he has retired for 38 minutes]. [Edit: he's back and in a non retired fashion].

Something I just wanted to point out that is a pretty cool and interesting tidbit is that the Official CS.com Drinking Thread hit its two year anniversary recently and is still going strong.  It’s a great read and participatory topic.  Football, Drinking and Girls… wow, if this site isn’t an exact image of a man’s brain I don’t know what is.

In another sad situation, a fellow FCS message board has been suspended indefinitely due to childish behavior of its members.  I’m glad that the sites I run don’t have childish members, that would be a pain to deal with.  I couldn’t imagine having to deal with those types of people, always criticizing the way you do things, attacking other members and overall just not happy with anything.  I hope that site returns valiantly but I do have an offer to make.  I will take control of the GoHens.net site and run it to return the sanity of previous admins.  I have a knack for this sort of thing and would be happy to take over if you feel that would be a better solution.  PM me if you are interested.  Hens Fans, if you like this idea, start spreading the word.

The last topic for this weekly recap is about TV Lineups and Reality TV shows.  Lets think about this for a second…  On THIS website, we are talking about Fall Network Lineups and Reality TV Shows, started by UNHWildCats and dbackjon respectively. Hmmmm, coincidence…. maybe, shocking… not really, a reality… most likely.  If anyone had any doubt about anything, you don’t anymore… I’m just sayin… wink wink.  In all seriousness though, we as a community thank you both for your contributions, and I honestly mean that!  We need topics other than the ones discussed in paragraph five above to even out… umm… yeah.  I’ll just leave it at that.

[edit: LSAs still don't work Ursus]

Thanks for reading yet another CS Weekly Update and I hope you all have a most enjoyable weekend.

This has been your CS Weekly Update, Enjoy!

It’s Friday once again and this Friday is a special one as I went undercover to report on the infamous Friday Lunches in Missoula.  I heard through the grapevine of this super secret lunch that happens every Friday at undisclosed locations around Missoula.  I did some digging and found out the location of todays event and made an appearance.  Poor ol’ guy Grizo didn’t even realize it was me until he told me the same thing at least three times.  Was a great lunch though and I did hear rumors of next weeks location so if you want the inside scoop, just send me a PM.

Now for the weekly recap… It all starts with D1B once again self proclaiming himself as the religious guru of CS, which is all fine and dandy because I don’t believe anyone on here gives a #$%& about any of that stuff so carry on my friend.  I am starting to wonder if this new found religion is due to the non retirement threats that used to fill the void in your lonely Friday afternoons? This will be the shortest paragraph in CS Weekly Update History so congrats D1B for holding that title.

Screamin_Eagle174 also had a very self proclaimed week patting himself on the back for “blazing past” 2500 posts… but that did give him the first ever douche bag of the week award so congrats to you.  A fellow EWU fan had a major case of Griz Envy (see being a fan of a shitty team so you bash the fans of the good team to try and make yourself feel better) and posted a pic from 2005 (the last time EWU beat the Griz).

So that concludes the users that are trying to put themselves in the national spotlight.  Oh No… I just realized I robbed D1B of his shortest paragraph award… sorry man, maybe next time.  SE and your fellow EWU fan claimed the SP of the week award in addition to your  DB of the week award.  Congrats to you (both).

The KFC Double Down sandwich (or is it?) was a HUGE hit this week, causing controversy among the bread lovers and health nuts around the globe. andy7171 is intrigued but doesn’t feel as if he could stop eating once he started. GATW is not willing to betray bread therefore will not eat a sammy without it, and many other users talking about wanting one for each meal and some even talking about having multiples in one meal.  We also got into how andy7171′s wife pretty much owns his “soul” and will not allow grape jelly in the house.  I recommend this read, heck, go to KFC and grab one, nestle up to your favorite computer or iPad and write a review on this topic as you eat the thing cause as it has been reported that the grease will not transfer to your typing device, which is very handy IMO.

We had a triumphant return of a member that has been MIA for quite some time, even reports of no longer being alive.  He has risen once again, hacking his way around the firewall so hopefully he can stay longer this time as his contributions were missed greatly… I think… were they?  What the hell did he even contribute?  Oh well, welcome back lizrdgizrd.  Oh that’s right, a good avatar.  Now Rob Iola doesn’t have to dig into the archives to stare at it as it will most likely be on more recent and frequent threads.

We also welcome a new member to the site that is making quite an impression so far (even though her secret identity was revealed on the first reply of her very first post.  We welcome you and hope to have many great conversations in the future.  We also like the idea of having more women on the forums, so thanks for joining.  Rumor has it, you have some very good information and insight on the Griz Football program which is a rarity these days.  I hope you decide to share your inside information and everything for us non connected people.

Some site updates occurred this week (no LSAs are not working yet) and (yes I am still working on them, waiting for some assistance from a web developer). Facebook has been further integrated into the site giving you the ability to “like” any blog post (such as this one) or any forum topic.  The like feature then shows how many users “liked” the thread giving them an idea of how popular their topic may have been, similar to the karma idea but a little different.  This will then let other users know what posts are shared/liked the most and bring more attention to them.  So, if you are reading something you are a fan of, please click the like button and share your laughter and knowledge.  CS has also gone mobile! On any pda type mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry, Droid) you can download a Mobile App and view the forums using the mobile technology which is VERY slick. I highly encourage anyone to give it a try.

The other OTW awards from last week are recapped here in a GREAT write up done by Ursus (takes notes Grizo).  Other news, I will be gone from the forums starting the evening of Tuesday May 4th for 8 days as I will be in Beautiful Kauai, Hawaii soaking up the sun!  This also means no weekly update next week! I know I am missing something… hmmmm… what was it…. Oh yeah… Poor ol’ guy Grizo still isn’t funny (you can’t bribe me even if you did make a montage screen saver of all my avatar pics).

This has been your CS Weekly Update, Enjoy!

How to get this on your phone: (note: iPhone version shown below)

1) Go to your app store

2) Search for Tapatalk

3) Download either version

4) Open app

5) go to the search page and search for fanplay

6) Select Championship Subdivision

7) Go into the forum, you will see the Category listing or select by name

Login by clicking login button

9) Check out the posts and unread posts (or navigate by forum)

10) Read the thread and enjoy!

Wow, time sure flies as it seems like I just wrote last weeks column.  This week has been a very busy week and once again I didn’t get to fixing the LSAs, sorry Ursus (check). I celebrated my 28th birthday, went camping and fishing and had all sorts of fun… wait… this article isn’t about me, ok… back on track.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2010 NFL Football draft and as always, it’s kind of exciting to see some FCS players that we have watched grow through their college careers make it to the next level.  Here is a great thread on FCS Prospects and some great conversations as well.  Did any of your FCS Players get drafted? (yes, that is a question and you can answer it by commenting on this article). This was about the only “worthwhile” subject on football this week so I am going to skip right into the important issues.

Our good friend AZGrizFan had an amazing weekend with the Goddess .  They went to L.A. for their anniversary and saw the Eagles live in concert, had some great food, uber quickies, and spent some time with some “famous” people.  We were all quite jealous of your weekend so hats off to you “the most interesting man of the weekend”.

Our boy Mr. danefan is trying to plan a bachelor party and what better place to ask for advice than CS, home of many BFLs, aka bachelors for life.  I’m sure if this party included the likes of D1B, capt’n, appaholic, dback, and UNH it would be quite the party.  Dane is wanting the party to be at a beach type scene away from gambling (props to your for following your boys wishes).  The only issue I see is that it is on the east coast which knocks down the quality of the party a few notches (WCB).  Check out the thread, gets some laughs, reminisce on the memories of past parties and maybe offer some advice.  Either way, it appears its on track for a good time.

Another interesting topic this week was SunCoastBlueHen asking for advice from the “sages” which makes it interesting in itself, the fact that he thinks this place contains sages, but I won’t get on the subject of SCBH being higher than appa in the 80′s while standing at the highest point on the east coast. SCBH has a daddy day care issue where mr. daddy of another daughter is making “indirect” moves on Mrs. SCBH disguising it as “kid play time”.  Although members of CS may not be sages, there is some pretty darn good advice given in this thread, mainly kicking the guy to the curb and claiming Mrs. SCBH once again.  Go get em Hen! [Advertisement] Have you been through this type of situation?  Are you caught in a daddy day care love triangle?  Please call the Jerry Springer Show today! [end Advertisement].

A recap of the POW (Posters of the Week): “That ODU guy” also known as Trip, or Co Co Co or ∞∞∞ won the Humorous (or as grizo put it funny) poster of the week award.  The political poster of the week award wasn’t even worth mentioning since only 5 votes were submitted but OL FU won 3 to 2.  Ursus claims the Homo of the week award by a landslide so congrats!  Look for a better managed POW next week as Ursus has taken the reigns.  Maybe we should make this an official thing… hmmmm.

In other news… Grizo (check) was OWNED by a waitress from Pfalls in Missoula, Montana and clenz was outed as a true “Iowegen” but we all still know… IOWA ROCKS.

This has been your CS Weekly Update!  Enjoy!

This has been another very busy week with lots of controversy on many differing subjects and I will  summarize a few of them below.

On Thursday the NCAA adopted three new rules. 1) players are not allowed to have any symbols or messages on their eye black starting in the 2010 season.  2) wedge-blocking formations of three or more players by the receiving team on kickoffs has been banned for the 2010 season and 3) players will now be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct as a live-ball foul beginning with the 2011 season. These new rules come with both approval and protests from users across the country.  The most debated rule would be #2 as to what is acceptable taunting and celebration.  Many don’t believe that refs have the ability to make proper judgement… unless of course the penalty is on the opposing team, or any team in the CAA for that matter. WCB

In other news, the NCAA denied Deaware’s TE Josh Baker a 6th year of eligibility.  He was injured in the first quarter of the first game in the 2009 season which ended his season and now it is apparent that it also ended his college career.  My question to you all is… how many fricking years does it take for a CAA football player to graduate?  6 Years?  Really?  All kidding aside (no offense to you Mr. Baker) this just shows that the NCAA is starting to sway to the west. WCB

Iowa… what can I say about Iowa?  Actually, what can’t I saw about Iowa.  Iowa has been the most discussed topic as of late and I am starting to learn just how bad ass that state is.  I mean they have flying fireballs, hailstorms that could take out a small country (excluding Iowa), a sub par football team and don’t forget the Austin Powers missile silo with attached pig trough.  They even have a “mature discussion” thread on the subject, which happens to be the only official mature topic on this entire site.  I’m sure it is soon to be hijacked by a JMU poster soon, oh wait… it was started by one, $#%&.  The only thing Iowa doesn’t have is Willie, and he is one bad ass MoFo.

Facebook rarily makes it to CS (most users on this site can’t figure it out) but when it does, it can be quite the interesting conversational topic.  This weeks facebook topic was asking whether or not andy7171 should add one of his lacrosse players’s mom on facebook and stalk her.  This turned into many demands for pictures which then brought out more facebook mommies from Towson and was quite a treat for all. It was like a trip down memory lane for the 2 people that know where Towson is.  We did get to see a picture of what she looked looked like in the 80′s but have yet to see a recent one so the judgement is still out. andy7171 did end up adding her, which makes his brother andysbrother7070 very happy as he can now…

The last but not least and hugely debated and overly controversial topic is LSAs.  You might be asking what the heck LSAs are?  Well, LSAs are Left Side Avatars (AKA Left Side Profiles) on the topic pages.  It seems that a few (Ursus, dback and DJH, not to name names) can’t seem to grasp the concept of having the information on the left with the pictures on the right.  As of right now, LSAs do not work but we are hard at work *cough* (camping, drinking, fishing, partying) *cough* trying to get these things fixed so please be patient.  If you don’t give a rats ass which side the avatars are on then please ignore this topic and continue on.

This just in, Alpha has a best friend (no homo… or is it?)

This has been your CS Weekly Update!  Enjoy!