The FCS Roundtable: Championship Favorites and Surprise Contenders

Last season, SaturdayBlitz.com hosted a weekly panel of Championship Subdivision bloggers. The FCS Roundtable returns for 2012 bigger and better, with more of the nation covered. The Roundtable dives in talking national championship contenders. Last season’s title winner, North Dakota State, generated pre-season buzz after an impressive postseason to cap 2010.

Similarly, programs with strong finishes in 2011 are expected to parlay that success into something more this season: programs like national semifinalist Georgia Southern and runner-up Sam Houston State.

Of course, SHSU’s unbeaten regular season and run to Frisco came largely unexpected. The panel also discusses teams flying below the radar that could emerge as national championship contenders come December.

Shaun Bummer, Griz Nation Blog

Looking at national title contenders, you have to start with the two national championship participants from last season: Sam Houston State and North Dakota State. While North Dakota State won the title game, I believe Sam Houston State has the edge heading into 2012. Returning for the Bearkats is one of the best backfields in all of FCS with QB Brian Bell, RB Tim Flanders and RB/WR Richard Sincere. Flanders will have an opportunity to equal or exceed his impressive 1,644 yards rushing in 2011 this season behind preseason all-Southland offensive lineman in Kaleb Hopson, Dan Jenkins, and Matt Boyles.

Even though frequently overlooked given the success of the Bearkat offense, Sam Houston State’s defense is one also of the best in the country too led by SS Darnell Taylor and DE J.T. Cleveland. Taylor finished 2011 with a team high 128 tackles while Cleveland had an impressive 46 tackles with nine for a loss. In fact, of the 11 preseason all-Southland players, six of them are Sam Houston State Bearkats.

Looking at North Dakota State, the Bison return preseason all-american CB Marcus Williams along with additional talent on defense including SS Colten Heagle, DE Cole Jirik, and LB Travis Beck. North Dakota State also returns an outstanding backfield led by QB Brock Jensen and RB Sam Ojuri who rushed for 1,105 yards in 2011.

As for other title contenders besides the Bearkats and the Bison, I think Towson is going to have another opportunity for a special season and a big playoff run in 2012. Returning is 2011 Jerry Rice award winner Terrance West who rushed for 1,294 yards and 29 touchdowns last season. Also returning for the Tigers is DE Frank Beltre with 68 tackles and four sacks last season.

Additionally, I like a pair of teams from the Big Sky to be contenders. Eastern Washington will have one of the best offenses in the country this year with SMU transfer QB Kyle Padron, who I believer will fit in the Eagles’ spread offense just fine after 2011 Payton Award winner Bo Levi Mitchell. Additionally, the Eagles have some of the best receivers in the country with Nicholas Edwards and Brandon Kaufman. Looking at Montana State, the Bobcats return an outstanding QB in Denarius McGee along with preseason all-Big Sky RB Cody Kirk, not to mention plenty of standouts on defense including DT Zach Minter and LB Jody Owens.

As for a darkhorse national championship contender, I like Indiana State to surprise. 2011 Payton award runner-up RB Shakir Bell is arguably the best returning player in the FCS this season, who rushed for an astonishing 1,670 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Additionally the Sycamores have some nice talent on the defensive side with DE Ben Obaseki and LB Aaron Archie.

Steve Suess, FCS Football Network

One season ago, Towson turned heads with their worst to first CAA run, and with so much offensive firepower returning, the 2012 championship predictions should at the very least mention the Tigers. Running back Terrance West returns as an All-American, and dual-threat quarterback Grant Enders is entering his senior season. Despite some defensive question marks, all signs point to the Tigers having a deep playoff run.

Of course, North Dakota State winning back-to-back titles surely is not out of the realm of possibility, and SHSU will be a popular pick with running back Tim Flanders returning. Conference favorites like Montana State and Georgia Southern need to be included in the championship conversation as well, but if you’re looking for a conference with many title contenders, the CAA is certainly the place to be. A healthy James Madison team is good enough to beat anyone in the FCS, and New Hampshire linebacker Matt Evans would love to add a championship ring to his trophy case, which already includes a Buchanan Award.

As far as dark horses are concerned, pay close attention to what Shakir Bell and the Indiana State Sycamores do in 2012. Bell was the first sophomore in the history of the Championship Subdivision to be invited to the Payton Award ceremony, and he very well could have won the award if he stayed healthy for the entire 2011 season (he finished tied for second). The downside for ISU is that the MVFC has quite a crowded field of contenders, including another dark horse candidate, Illinois State. The Redbirds were arguably a playoff-caliber team a season ago, and add a handful of Bowl Subdivision transfers to an already great core of returning starters. From the non-power conferences in the FCS, Lehigh is worth taking a look at; however, the Mountain Hawks will need to impress without another Payton Award finalist from 2011, quarterback Chris Lum. Lum graduated in the spring, and although Lehigh is the hands-down favorite to win the Patriot League, it’s debatable whether or not the Mountain Hawks can hang with the power conference teams in November without their star quarterback.

Russell Varner, SouthernPigskin.com

First off, can I just say how great it is to have football back? Seriously, welcome back football. It is a needed distraction from the dark cloud that hangs over the FBS and really, all of college football.

First question for a lot of people is who are the national title contenders this year? Hard not to include teams like Sam Houston State, North Dakota State, James Madison, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. Know who I think is being overlooked by a lot of people? The Wofford Terriers. They return almost all of the key players from last year’s team that lost in the playoffs because of (for lack of a better word) one of the biggest bonehead plays you will ever see – sorry to bring back the bad memories Stephon Shelton. But we are talking players like Alvin Scioneaux, Donovan Johnson and Eric Breitenstein. It is amazing how while the rest of football moves towards spread option, pass-first, second and third offenses, the Terriers continue to use the wishbone offense. And with great successs. As long as these guys have both Breitenstein and Johnson healthy, they have a good chance to make some noise this year.

Joe Suhoski, VBR Productions

Consideration for this year’s national contender has to begin with the team that won it last year – North Dakota State. The Bison bring back their starting quarterback (Brock Jensen) and leading rusher (Sam Ojuri). They do lose defensive leaders from last year to graduation, but still return safety Colten Heagle and defensive end Cole Jirik. Georgia Southern loses Jaybo Shaw, a quarterback who led the Eagles’ triple option to consecutive FCS semifinal appearances. However, their running game remains strong behind RB Dominque Swope and their defense will be strong behind Brent Russell.

Towson University brings back an immense amount of talent, including quarterback Grant Enders and 2011 Jerry Rice Award winner, Terrance West. The key to their season will be whether the offensive line, which returns four starters from last year, can help control the clock like it did last year. Old Dominion brings back quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who ended with 25 touchdowns against one interception last year. Assuming the sophomore can guide the offense at the same scoring pace as last year, their season will go only as far as the defense can take them. James Madison returns talent on both sides of the ball, and Mickey Matthews’ teams always run the ball and defend – a good combination for playoff football.

If there’s one team that might surprise people a la Sam Houston State, my vote goes to the Chattanooga Mocs. They return 16 starters from last season (eigh on both sides of the ball). Although they finished 5-6, they lost consecutive games to Appalachian State, Citadel and Georgia Southern by a combined four points. Their last two losses were against Furman (seven points) and Wofford (one point). If a ball bounces a couple different ways last year, they could’ve ended up with seven wins instead of only five. With a large number of starters coming back, they may not have to rely on a break here or there to decide the outcome of some of those games.

First question for a lot of people is who are the national title contenders this year? Hard not to include teams like Sam Houston State, North Dakota State, James Madison, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern. Know who I think is being overlooked by a lot of people? The Wofford Terriers. They return almost all of the key players from last year’s team that lost in the playoffs because of (for lack of a better word) one of the biggest bonehead plays you will ever see – sorry to bring back the bad memories Stephon Shelton. But we are talking players like Alvin Scioneaux, Donovan Johnson and Eric Breitenstein.

It is amazing how while the rest of football moves towards spread option, pass-first, second and third offenses, the Terriers continue to use the wishbone offense. And with great successs. As long as these guys have both Breitenstein and Johnson healthy, they have a good chance to make some noise this year.

Rob Abbott, JMU Sports Blog

Sam Houston State, Georgia Southern, and North Dakota State are deserved favorites at this stage of the preseason. Sam Houston State brings back 19 starters (including the sensational Tim Flanders) from last year’s 14-1 team. There might be slight cause for concern because they only play 3 real home games (and 2 games at “neutral” sites), but they still probably face an easier path to a playoff seed than some of the other contenders. The Southland could earn multiple bids, but it doesn’t look to be as competitive top to bottom as the CAA, SoCon, or MVC.

Georgia Southern brings back a lot of starters & has the benefit of facing two of the SoCon’s other top teams, Wofford and App State, at home in Statesboro. I’ll be the first to admit that I critically under-rated North Dakota State heading into the playoff match-up against JMU last year. I came away from that game extremely impressed with the Bison defense and rushing attack. If the defense plays anywhere near the level it did in the playoffs last year, they’ll be in the mix all season.

My final contender is a bit of a cop out, but I think it’s going to be a team TBD from the CAA. Last year the CAA placed 5 teams in the playoffs, but didn’t really have a national championship contender. At least one CAA team could make a deep playoff run this season.Odds are that it might be Towson, ODU, or JMU, but I’ve learned to never discount New Hampshire’s chances.

Eastern Washington is my pick to emerge from outside the list of preseason favorites and make a run. They lost their first 4 games last season, before rallying to win 6 of their last 7. Kyle Pardon, a transfer QB from SMU, and WR Nicholas Edwards should give the Eagles a potent passing attack this year.

Ben Moore, PantherTalk.com & SBNation Atlanta

Top 5 Contenders:

1) North Dakota State
2) Georgia Southern
3) Towson
4) Wofford
5) Old Dominion

Darkhorse: Jacksonville State