2020 FCS Season: Inside The Box Score for Week 8

* Please note there will not be a week 9 Inside The Box Score as there are no FBS games. This series will return on Sunday, November 8 following the action from Week 10 of the college football season. *

Week 8 delivered plenty of action including the season’s first FCS over FBS upset thanks to Jacksonville State. There were five games this past weekend and we take a look at some of the trends below.

Date	Away	Home	Score
10/23	Jacksonville State	Florida International	19-10
10/24	Mercer	Army	3-49
10/24	Abilene Christian	Stephen F. Austin	32-35 (1 OT)
10/24	Central Arkansas	Eastern Kentucky	28-31
10/24	Chattanooga	Western Kentucky	10-13

FCS Versus FBS Points and Yardage

We keep track of points and yardage for each FCS versus FBS game this season. Listed below are the FCS team, points scored by each FCS team, points given up, offensive yards gained by each FCS team, and yards given up by each FCS team. Totals and averages since week one are also provided.

To date, 28 FCS versus FBS games have been played. Both charts and tables are provided to show the change throughout the season. The number of games played each week is listed in parentheses.

Please note that due to only 1 game being played in week 7, no averages will be provided for that week.

FCS Team	FCS Points	FBS Points	FCS Off. Yards	FCS Def. Yards
Chattanooga	10	13	225	254
Jacksonville State	19	10	444	156
Mercer	3	49	221	360
Week 8 Totals (3)	32	72	890	770
Week 8 Averages	10.7	24	296.7	256.7
Week 7 Totals (1)	29	31	425	507
Week 6 Totals (2)	36	64	629	801
Week 6 Averages	18	32	314.5	400.5
Week 5 Totals (4)	68	190	1,304	1,955
Week 5 Averages	17	47.5	326	488.8
Week 4 Totals (3)	66	168	1,022	1,509
Week 4 Averages	22	56	340.7	503
Week 3 Totals (5)	64	188	1,509	2,183
Week 3 Averages	12.8	37.6	301.8	436.6
Week 2 Totals (6)	75	248	1,734	3,062
Week 2 Averages	12.5	41.3	289	510.3
Week 1 Totals (4)	80	185	1,258	2,171
Week 1 Averages	20	46.3	314.5	542.8
YTD Totals (28)	450	1,146	8,771	12,958
YTD Averages	16.1	40.9	313.3	462.8

The historical scoring average through 2019 for FCS versus FBS games since the Division I split in 1978 was 15 points for FCS teams and 37 points for FBS squads. In 2019, FCS teams averaged 13.9 points per game against FBS teams while FCS teams gave up 43 points per game on defense.

FCS Versus FBS Conference and Team Records

Below are the records for each conference for FCS versus FBS games. A running total will be kept throughout the season and updated weekly. Historical team records can be found here and historical conference records can be found here.

Team	2020 vs. FBS	All-Time Record	Last FBS Win
Chattanooga	0-1	3-40	2013
Jacksonville State	1-1	6-22	2020
Mercer	0-1	0-6	Never

Conference	Weekly Record	2020 Record
ACC (FBS)	0-0	4-0
American Athletic (FBS)	0-0	3-0
Big 12 (FBS)	0-0	3-0
Big South (FCS)	0-0	0-5
Conference USA (FBS)	1-1	8-1
FBS Independents	1-0	4-0
MVFC (FCS)	0-0	0-1
Ohio Valley (FCS)	1-0	1-6
SoCon (FCS)	0-2	0-5
Southland (FCS)	0-0	0-10
Sun Belt (FBS)	0-0	5-0

FCS School Trends Versus FBS Teams

Chattanooga lost a 13-10 game with a highly controversial ending. The Mocs surrendered a late touchdown and then scored on the ensuing kickoff before it was wiped out on review. Had the Mocs won, it would have been their first victory against an FBS team since 2013.

Since that win, Chattanooga has lost 9 games in a row against FBS teams. Two of those were by a touchdown or less and the Mocs have averaged less than 8 points per game.

Jacksonville State pulled the first FCS over FBS win this season and the sixth such occurrence in program history (6-22 all-time record). The win against Florida International was the 6th over an FBS school for Jacksonville State after wins against Louisiana-Monroe (1994), Louisiana (2000), Arkansas State (2001), Mississippi (2010), and Georgia State (2013). Jacksonville State improved to 1-2 against C-USA opponents.

Mercer has only played six games all-time against FBS opposition after the latest matchup versus Army. Unfortunately, the Bears have struggled in those games losing by an average of 40 points per game. The task gets taller with future games against Alabama (2021), Auburn (2022), and Ole Miss (2023).

Field Goal and Extra Point Trends

After a rough start to the season, special teams have been performing at some of the best levels all season. For the third week in a row, extra points were perfect. Field goals slipped a bit with two additional misses compared to last week. Nevertheless, the field goal rate inched up one percentage point from 66% to 67%.

The charts and tables below show the field goals and extra points by week along with season totals.

Week	Field Goals	FG %	Extra Points	XP %
Week 0	4/4	100%	3/3	100%
Week 1	1/7	14%	11/11	100%
Week 2	5/8	63%	6/7	86%
Week 3	6/8	75%	4/5	80%
Week 4	4/6	67%	16/19	84%
Week 5	9/15	60%	25/27	93%
Week 6	5/7	71%	11/11	100%
Week 7	11/13	85%	17/17	100%
Week 8	11/15	73%	15/15	100%
2020 Totals	56/83	67%	108/115	94%

What’s Ahead for Week Nine

As of this writing, 40 of the 57 games scheduled FCS games have been completed. The latest updated FCS schedule for 2020 can be found here. Week nine will feature four games with three on Halloween. There will be two all-FCS matchups and two FCS versus Division II contests.

Date	Away	Home	Time (ET)	TV
10/30	SE Missouri State	Southern Illinois	7 PM	ESPN+
10/31	Western Colorado	Stephen F. Austin	3 PM	ESPN3
10/31	Abilene Christian	Mercer	3 PM	ESPN3
10/31	Missouri Western	Central Arkansas	4 PM	ESPN3

Photo courtesy of Jacksonville State University Athletics.