For the first time in six seasons, North Dakota State will not have a chance to win another FCS Championship. The James Madison Dukes took care of that when they went into Fargo and knocked off the favored Bison in the FCS Semifinals a month ago and are now the heavy favorites to win their second FCS Championship ever. They will be taking on the Youngstown State Penguins, a team that also went on the road to defeat a favored opponent, and Youngstown State will be looking for its first tile in 20 years.
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FCS National Championship Odds at BookMaker.eu
Dukes -8 -105
Penguins +8 -115
Over/Under 63
Odds Analysis
FCS games typically don’t have much action, but a nationally televised one competing against no other football should see a flurry of bets as kickoff approaches. Look for most of the public to put their money on James Madison after the Dukes knocked off NDSU, but the line shouldn’t move that much. That’s because the sharps will be on the Penguins at this price on the basis of their strong defensive performances.
Team and Coaching Playoff History
Following his unceremonious dismissal by Nebraska, Bo Pelini couldn’t find an FBS coaching job and made the move down to FCS. He has rejuvenated the Youngstown State program since taking over though and although the Penguins lost three games this season, they were all on the road against very good teams. Pelini has plenty of postseason experience from his time at Nebraska and it’s no surprise his team has kicked it into another gear since the playoffs started.
What a run it’s been for Mike Houston. Houston was hired at James Madison after rebuilding Lenoir-Rhyne and The Citadel and now has the Dukes on the verge of something special. No team has looked more dominant than the Dukes in the playoffs, blowing out Sam Houston State on the road before knocking off North Dakota State.
Recent Games of Note
Youngstown State had a furious 20-point fourth-quarter rally capped off by a last-second touchdown from Hunter Wells to Kevin Rader that gave the Penguins a 40-38 victory against Eastern Washington in their semifinal game. Like every Youngstown State game this year though, the formula for a victory was a dominant running game coupled with some solid plays on defense.
The Penguins gashed the Eagles for 262 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and ended up holding onto the ball for over 39 minutes. They did the same thing when they played Wofford the week before in the Quarterfinals, rushing for 240 yards and controlling the ball for 46 minutes of action in an overtime victory.
YSU is being billed as the Cinderella story here, but James Madison has simply outplayed its opponents. The Dukes completely shut down the best offense in the country when they destroyed Sam Houston State in the Quarterfinals, leading the BearKats 65-0 after three quarters of action. It was one of the most dominant performances that you’ll see at any level of football with James Madison racking up over 600 total yards of offense against a Sam Houston State squad that had no answers defensively.
That set up the anticipated matchup against a North Dakota State team that hadn’t lost a home playoff game in 25 years. There was no denying who the better team was when it was all said and done though. The Dukes just made more plays during the game and their secondary totally limited the Bison’s passing attack in a 10-point win. RB Khalid Abdullah put together an amazing performance, notching 231 total yards on just 25 touches, as North Dakota State couldn’t stop the bruising runner.
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