The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick hitters, and commentary on various topics.
A new Daily Dose will be published multiple times a week.
New Customer Offers at BetMGM
Bonus Bets Expire in 7 Days. One New Customer Offer Only. Add’l Terms
Celebration Bowl Date Moved Up A Week
The Celebration Bowl, previously played on the third Saturday in December, is moving up one week this year to Dec. 14. It will maintain its noon ET kickoff on ABC, a good sign for the FCS bowl game that draws big TV viewership numbers.
The MEAC sends its regular-season champion to the Celebration Bowl, while the SWAC has a conference championship game between the SWAC East champ and the SWAC West champ with the winner going to the Celebration Bowl.
The SWAC title game is scheduled for Dec. 7, a week before the Celebration Bowl. The MEAC champ’s last game will be Nov. 23, the final full week of the FCS regular season. An extra game for the SWAC champ and extra rest for the MEAC champ will be an interesting dynamic.
Overall, though, it’s a smart date change to move off a jam-packed Dec. 20-21 weekend.
The College Football Playoff plays its first-round games that Friday and Saturday, plus the NFL scheduled two games on Saturday.
Friday, Dec. 20:
8 pm ET – CFP on ABC/ESPN
Saturday, Dec. 21:
12 pm ET – CFP on TNT
1 pm – NFL on NBC
4 pm – CFP on TNT
4:30 pm – NFL on Fox
8 pm – CFP on ABC/ESPN
The FCS semifinals are still currently scheduled for this weekend. Pushing them ahead to a week later could conflict with Christmas travels.
The good news is TNT is sublicensing select CFP games from ESPN. That frees up some Saturday TV slots on ESPN networks. But whenever the FCS semifinal games are played, which usually see a Friday night/Saturday afternoon split, they will have massive competition in trying to draw eyeballs. Avoiding getting buried in exposure is why the FCS championship moved to a Monday night starting this season.
Idaho, South Dakota Schedule Home-and-Home
FBSchedules reports that Idaho and South Dakota have scheduled a home-and-home football series for the 2029 and 2030 seasons.
The first game will see Idaho travel to USD on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2029. The Vandals will then host the Coyotes on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2030.
South Dakota and Idaho were two FCS quarterfinalists last fall.
Past Daily Doses
FCS vs. Non-D1 Opponents In 2024 … READ MORE
UIW Lands UAlbany Transfer WR Roy Alexander + Elijawah Tolbert Returns to EIU … READ MORE
FCS Marquee Matchups Will Receive National TV Exposure … READ MORE
