Championship Subdivision Football | FCS Football | Stadiums | Blogs | Forums

It was stated on another thread that we shouldn't discount teams from AQ conferences, this early . Just thought I'd put some things down here (before my head explodes)

Lamar - already not eligible because they are provisional. While they started out strong they are still new and are playing kind of Jekyl and Hyde. Already discounted.

McNeese - no one ever expects McNeese to be down but this seems to be the year. That and they seemed to have scheduled themselves out of even an at large spot. Unless they turn things around 'big time' in conference, they are staying in Lake Charles this year.
1-2 with the only win being a D2. They take on NWS this week, a must win. The following 2 weeks are SFA, then LSU
Standing at 2 DI losses already does not bode well.

Nicholls - with a new coaching staff and new O scheme, they scheduled themselves out of any running for anything.
1-3 going into conference they already have 3 DI losses, with 7 games left.

Northwestern - last seasons new coach looked promising on paper and made big promises, but it has yet to pan out.
Also 1-3, with 3 DI losses heading into SLC play, I don't see them making a lot of noise.

SAM - no clue where this team is at. 1-2, all DI games, they still are on the edge with 2 DI losses. I don't see them beating everyone in conference. They're on that precipice of elimination, as we speak.

SLU - a pre-season top 3 in most polls (geared at the SLC) SLU seems to have nearly scheduled themselves out of the running. Sitting @ 1-3 at the Bye week, I don't see them capable of taking 6 of 7 in conference.
None of the above teams has the capability to run the table in the SLC, not this year.

----more to follow

SFA - 3-1 going into conference, with the only loss being at FBS TXA&M. They have Moses and have seemed to re-load in the other areas of their game. Only weakness is still their runnung game. Can they run the SLC table? Distinct possibility.

TXST - 3-1 going into conference, with the only loss being to FBS Houston. The last time TXST went into conference @ 3-1 was 2005. Can TXST run the SLC table? Possible, not likely though. The Defense is, surprisingly, the best TXST has fielded in 5 seasons but the O leaves a lot of questions yet to be answered. They have yet to fully gell and the true freshman QB has not quite settled in. At-Large looms ahead as a possibility.

UCA - Not sure what to think here either. They are also @ 3-1 with a D2 win and an FBS loss. That said, the DI wins were EIU and Murray. They will open conference with NWS, then SFA. I'm holding off on UCA's conference fate until I see more.

Good break down of each team catmom but with conference coming up i'm looking at it as if everyone is 0-0. anything can happen. Back in 2004 SFA was 4-1 entering conference and was ranked #6 in the nation after beating 3 top 25 teams and then ended up going 1-4 in conference starting with a loss to Texas State. In 2006 SFA was 0-5 entering conference and then went 4-2 in conference almost winning conference. So anything can happen.

If SFA's defense plays like it did against UNI and Lamar then I think SFA has a great chance of running the table but of course they play that one crappy game against a conference foe and there goes the conference crown. I think TX State and McNeese will be the greatest challenges for SFA. Even though they say McNeese is down SFA doesn't play well down in Lake Charles and of course Texas State has had our number the last three years.

Not sure yet about UCA. I remember them giving SFA a good game last year but not really sure who or what they lost from last years team but since its in Nac I think SFA should be able to beat them.

As far as the other teams I'm not going to count anyone out just yet.

It should be a good conference season (and hopefully another conference title for SFA).

Catmom if you or any of your Texas State friends are coming up for the game you should go ahead and try to get your hotel since that is homecoming weekend. Hotels might be hard to come by just to give you a heads up.

I agree with both posts. UCA is a wild card at best. Youth and injuries are making a title run impossible..so it seems. SFA should be able to beat UCA IMO, but I wouldn't be surprises to see UCA win that game either. Hope that one's on TV cause I gotta work that weekend!

I believe it is the Southland game of the week

sfajack,

As much as I'd love to come to the game I can't. Every year I have to pick and choose my away games and due to limited monetary funds I just can't go everywhere. Don't think I ever want to go to Hammond, Natch or Thibodeaux but I have wanted to get to Lake Charles (been to LC before, but not for a game) and Nac, for a game. It just hasn't ever happened.

I manage the FBS and one other SLC away and this year I'm heading to SAM. Fortunately I have a friend who lives in Houston, so that helped defray the cost of going there for the UH game. That gets me 8 of the 11 games, so I don't do too bad.

Nac is just too far a drive for me to do in one day (there and back) and I would probably be traveling alone. I need another driver for trips over 3 hours. It's an age thing.