Or the College Football Playoff. Or my family’s Christmas party. But I guess you’re probably not invited to that. FCS Playoffs — Semifinals #3 Montana Grizzlies at #2 Montana State Bobcats3pm | ABC | MTSt -5.5 | O/U 54.5 | BRAWL OF THE WILD Game of the day, and it’s not particularly close. It’s a […]
Or the College Football Playoff. Or my family’s Christmas party. But I guess you’re probably not invited to that.
FCS Playoffs — Semifinals
#3 Montana Grizzlies at #2 Montana State Bobcats
3pm | ABC | MTSt -5.5 | O/U 54.5 | BRAWL OF THE WILD
Game of the day, and it’s not particularly close.
It’s a rivalry game, it’s the FCS Playoffs, it’s $600/ticket minimum to get in the door in Bozeman. In the regular season leg, the ‘Cats saw off the Griz in Missoula on the strength of a pick-six and a made field goal. Will the home playoff game provide the extra juice? Bobby Hauck’s not much in the business of losing games in Missoula, but then neither is his gold-and-blue counterpart, Brent Vigen.
Illinois State Redbirds at #12 Villanova Wildcats
6:30pm | ESPN2 | ILSt -2.5 | O/U 51.5
HOW ABOUT THEM REDBIRDS?
Unseeded in the playoffs, Illinois State suffered the indignity of going to Southeastern Louisiana, beat the Lions 21-3 on their home turf, and then did the impossible: walked into Fargo and beat the #1-seeded North Dakota State Institute of Bull Insemination Studies, 29-28, scoring two late touchdowns and, after scoring one with just a minute left to make it 28-27, went for two and succeeded.
Their quarterback threw five interceptions, and them beat the Bizon in Fargo. That’s about as “Meant to Be” as it gets, and the subsequent 42-31 win over #8 UC Davis has the Redbirds in the catbird seat.
They get the #12-seeded Wildcats, who thumped Ivy entrant Harvard—Yale did better, guys—before gritting out a 14-7 win over #5 Lehigh and then stunning #4 Tarleton, 26-21. They’ll be home dogs, though, as the Redbirds have the momentum and the Missouri Valley Football Conference pedigree.
Division II Championship
#1/#2 Harding Bisons vs. #1/#1 Ferris State Bulldogs
3pm | ESPN2 | at McKinney ISD Stadium (Texas, duh)
It’s been one-way traffic for the wire-to-wire #1 Bulldogs, whose 49-17 win over Newberry in the reseeded semifinals was the first time they’d been held under 50 points in the D-II playoffs. Harding scuffled a little more on their march to the finals, letting #4 seed Pittsburg State hang around and only seeing off unseeded UT Permian Basin by six in the super region final.
Both are worth watching: the Bisons run a variation of the flexbone triple option, while the Bulldogs—originally home of Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss—broke 50 points nine times this year with their spread option that uses tons of RPO, orbit-type motion, and lots of speedy receivers in space.
Division III Playoffs — Semifinals
Johns Hopkins Bluejays at UW-River Falls Falcons
12pm | ESPN+
In the only B1G matchup of the day (hey babe), the Bluejays take on the “Top Gun” offense of River Falls—one that’s been putting up almost 600 yards a game all season.
John Carroll Blue Streaks at North Central College (of) Cardinals
3:30pm | ESPN+
The Blue Streaks are here, incidentally, having conquered their “Mount Everest”, the Mount Union Purple Raiders, 10-7 in the Round of 16. The challenges keep coming, as the Cardinals have lost one game in the last four seasons—a 38-37 loss in the 2023 title game.
College Football Playoff
#10 Miami Fluoride Hurricanes at #7 Texas A&M Brownshirts
11am | ABC | TAMU -3.5 | O/U 48.5
#11 Tulane Green Wave at #6 Ole Miss Rebels
2:30pm | TNT | Miss -17.5 | O/U 57.5
#12 James Madison Dukes at #5 Oregon Ducks
6:30pm | TNT | UO -20.5 | O/U 46.5
These are all also games. Excited to see what happens next week, when Big Ten teams enter the tournament.
Go Wave, go Dukes.
Here’s your thread for the day. Behave.
Category: General Sports
