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If oddsmakers are right, first-year New Mexico coach Bronco Mendenhall certainly has his work cut out for him. His Lobos are 13.5-point underdogs on their home turf in Saturday’s season opener against Montana State of the Football Championship Subdivision, according to the SportsLine Consensus.
It’s the largest margin for an FCS team over an FBS team in at least 15 years. It’s also the first double-digit spread favoring an FCS team over an FBS team since 2013, when Jacksonville State was given a 10.5-point advantage against Georgia State. Below are the largest FCS-over-FBS lines, per CBS Sports Research:
2024: Montana State (-13.5) vs. New Mexico2013: Jacksonville State (-10.5) vs. Georgia State2013 Samford (-7.5) vs. Georgia State2018 Northern Arizona (-7) vs. UTEP2015 Villanova (-7) vs. UConn2014 Cal Poly (-7) vs. New Mexico State
The line has only grown in Montana State’s favor since it opened at 4.5 points. Though preseason lines are hardly indicative of actual results, a win Saturday would certainly be a feather in Montana State’s cap as it enters a 2024 season with FCS national championship goals.
The Bobcats came in at No. 4 in the FCS Coaches Poll, behind the likes of South Dakota State and North Dakota State. They’re also No. 3 in Emory Hunt’s preseason FCS Power Rankings. They have a 32-9 record over the past three seasons under coach Brent Vigen and have finished each year with a top-10 ranking.
Beating FBS teams isn’t uncharted territory for Montana State, though it has been a while. The Bobcats beat Colorado 19-10 in 2006, their only such…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-odds-fcs-montana-state-opens-2024-season-as-historic-double-digit-favorite-over-new-mexico/
Author : Will Backus
Publish date : 2024-08-23 15:20:45
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