A preseason quiz for FCS 2019

(STATS) – The presence of a dynasty – North Dakota State – has raised the national interest in FCS college football, but a potential wide-open national landscape has more and more teams and fan bases anticipating the 2019 season.

The arrival of conference media days this month ushers in the unofficial start to the season. As it inches closer, let’s see how well you know the FCS.

Our 10-question quiz (with a bonus question) about the fast-approaching season will show if you’ve reached the end zone or punting.

The answers follow, so don’t scroll to them before it’s time.

Questions

1. OK, let’s start with an easy screen pass to the running back: College football celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Which current FCS program played in the first football game in 1869?

2. The STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award enters its 25th anniversary season. Former NFL linebacker Dexter Coakley won the first two awards in 1995 and ’96 and remains the only two-time FCS defensive player of the year. Which player can join Coakley with that distinction this season?

3. You can’t talk FCS without the national champion. Who is the new head coach at North Dakota State?

4. Which FCS team enters the season with the longest conference winning streak?

5. The FCS lost six senior quarterbacks with over 10,000 career yards of total offense. What signal caller returns as the active FCS leader with 9,399 yards?

6. Speaking of quarterbacks, which one from the Big Sky Conference has the most career touchdown passes?

7. Who are the two new teams in the FCS? Hint, they’re from the same conference.

8. FCS teams have 114 matchups against FBS opponents this year. They’re chasing the highest victory total in 2013. Was it 12, 14 or 16 wins?

9. Which conference has led the FCS in overall attendance in 40 of the 41 seasons since the Division I split in 1978?

10. Frisco, Texas, is celebrating its 10th season as host of the FCS championship game. Only one other city has hosted the game more times. What is it?

Bonus Question (a takeaway worth a free point!): This year, the FCS will be played at 126 schools across 37 states and the District of Columbia. What is the most common nickname: Bears, Bulldogs or Tigers?

Answers

1. The first collegiate game pitted Princeton against Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869. Princeton is the defending Ivy League champion.

2. Southeast Missouri linebacker Zach Hall received the Buck Buchanan Award as a junior last season. He seeks to become the second two-time winner this season.

3. North Dakota State elevated defensive coordinator Matt Entz to head coach after Chris Klieman departed for Kansas State. The Bison have won two straight and a record seven FCS titles in the last eight seasons.

4. With 29 straight wins in the Pioneer Football League since 2015, San Diego enters the season with the longest active conference winning streak.

5. Western Carolina’s dynamic quarterback Tyrie Adams is the FCS active career leader with 9,399 yards of total offense.

6. Ah, did you guess Big Sky offensive player of the year Jake Maier of UC Davis? Actually, the active leader in touchdown passes is Northern Arizona’s Case Cookus, who returns from injury last season with 74 in his career.

7. Welcome, Long Island Sharks and Merrimack Warriors, the newest FCS members in the Northeast Conference.

8. FCS teams combined for 16 wins over FBS opponents in 2013 – the single-season high.

9. The Southwestern Athletic Conference is the perennial leader in FCS attendance. Last year, the conference averaged 15,240 fans for its 40th attendance title.

10. Chattanooga, Tennessee, hosted the FCS championship game for 13 straight seasons from 1997-2009.

Bonus Question: An FCS-high nine schools share the Bulldogs nickname – Alabama A&M, Bryant, Butler, Drake, Gardner-Webb (Runnin’ Bulldogs), Samford, South Carolina State, The Citadel and Yale.

Starter, Backup or Keep Training

So how did you do?

The questions were at a reasonable level. With six or more correct answers, consider yourself a starting player. Five right and you are on the two-deep. Less than five, well, keep following the FCS.