Don’t worry, Colorado State. You certainly have some company.
Colorado State came into Saturday’s game in Fort Collins as anywhere from a four- to a six-point favorite over FCS No. 16 Illinois State. After 60 minutes of play, the Rams exited with an embarrassing 35-19 loss at the hands of the Redbirds. It was actually even worse than the final score indicated as the Rams scored a garbage-time touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth to slice into what was a 22-point deficit.
CSU simply had no answer defensively as ISU put up 538 yards of total offense -- 271 passing, 267 rushing. Most notably, they allowed ISU to run for 6.4 yards per carry.
With the loss, CSU becomes the seventh FBS team to lose to an FCS team this season. The others?
- UC Davis 44, San Jose State 38 (August 30)
- No. 19 Villanova 19, Temple 17 (September 1)
- Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10 (September 1)
- No. 18 Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 in overtime (September 1)
- No. 14 North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23 (September 2)
- No. 22 Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28 (September 8)
This is actually a “down” year for the FCS (thus far) as last season there were nine such FBS losses, the same number as in 2015. In 2016, the FBS lost 10 games to lower-level teams. The single-season record for FCS wins over FBS teams is 16, set in 2013.
Exactly 10 years ago, there were two FCS upsets -- Cal Poly over San Diego State and New Hampshire over Army.
The last time there was an FCS upset past September was 2015, when Georgia State and North Texas lost in October. South Carolina dropped one in November of that year as well.
And the first-ever FCS upset of an FBS team, since the 1978 split to I-A and I-AA? Lamar lost to Stephen F. Austin Sept. 23, 1978. A little over three years later, the Cardinals dropped down to the FCS level, where they have remained ever since.
That same year, by the way, Boston College lost to UMass 27-0 in late November in the midst of a 0-11 season. UMass, of course, now plays at the FBS level.