(STATS) – The cozy confines of the UNI-Dome and a perfect fall afternoon at Bridgeforth Stadium couldn’t stop a harsh reminder from blowing in on the first Saturday of October:
The FCS season is on, and it’s more than two teams deep.
Top-ranked North Dakota State and No. 2 James Madison have a fight on their hands before they can book any tickets to Frisco, Texas, and the national championship game on Jan. 5.
North Dakota State (5-0) overcame Missouri Valley rival and No. 22 Northern Iowa 56-31, but James Madison (4-2) fell to No. 10 Elon 27-24 – its first FCS loss of the season and the end of a CAA-record 20-game conference winning streak.
The perils of conference play were in full swing and it doesn’t figure to change on the way to the 24-team playoffs. Third-ranked South Dakota State, No. 4 Kennesaw State, No. 5 Eastern Washington, it doesn’t matter which top-tier team, everybody will run into some type of trouble.
That’s the beauty of it, of course, even when there’s an FCS dynasty and a rival standing up to it.
North Dakota State, the defending national champion and perhaps the calmest team in the FCS, overcame a third-quarter deficit against UNI with 28 unanswered points. The Bison even trailed 14-0 midway through the first quarter, the Bison’s largest deficit since they fell behind 17-0 in a 27-17 loss to – you guessed it – James Madison in the 2016 FCS semifinals.
James Madison, the 2016 FCS champ and the national runner-up last season, hadn’t trailed against an FCS opponent this season until the third quarter against Elon. Davis Cheek’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Avery Jones with 1:17 left was the game-winner for the Phoenix.
All it takes is one game to change everything for any team.
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