People are ridiculous about this question. The division between top D2 teams and bottom level D1 teams is WAY closer than you think. Combine that with a team that has great team culture, a solid set of coaches and you suddenly have a game that wouldn't even be CLOSE. I believe that you are right Gage. This game... isn't.... even.... close. Harding would SMOKE McNeese State. Great breakdown of this matchup!
My son play d2 ball in ok for NWSU and that Harding team is in the same conference they got destroyed , trust that team is like like a mid tier d-1 athletes all over the field
St. Thomas (MN) went straight from DIII to DI FCS last year, and finished 8-3. The difference from DI to DII to DIII is definitely there, and on average the talent and ability goes in that order. However, the best FCS schools can compete with good FBS schools, the top DII schools can compete with average DI schools, etc.
and don't forget to mention that st thomas wasn't even close to being the best d3 school in their own conference at the time. St Johns beat them their last year, had a LT drafted in the 4th round and their qb had nfl scouts looking as well.
I personally play for an NAIA basketball team and we’ve beat a division 1 school the past 2 years. Look us up. University of Tennessee Southern Men’s basketball. And the D1 team (Samford) that we beat, ended up winning the regular season in their conference.
I played QB at Wilkes University D3 started 2.5 years and we had two preseason games one against Iona who is a 1AA school and I only played the first QTR because it was preseason and I was the starter. We scored on TDs on both possessions and then after a 14-3 start they fumbled in the red zone we recovered. We ended up losing 31-17 but if it was 1s v 1s we woulda won in a close game
d2’s have beating FCS teams before. A matter of fact d2 Texas A&M Commerce almost beat fbs utsa a little more than a decade ago. And if we wanna cherry pick, it happens a lot with pioneer league teams (since they’re a d1 conference that doesn’t award scholarships for football) but it’s basically a glorified d3 at that point
Montana had a slow start to the season. If they were to play Montana later in the season, it would not have been close. Harding definitely creams McNeese though, they won one game, and that was due to a forfeit cause a player for the other team died and they didn’t finish out their season.
Ferris State also played a Nationally Ranked FCS Montana, and only lost by a TD. The Best teams in D2 Super Region 3 could easily beat a chunk of FCS schools.
In 2020 COVID year, D2 East Central beat D1 FCS #21 ranked Tarleton State. East Central at that time was just average D2. Harding would demolish McNeese State.
D1 FBS is really the only division that has a major talent difference, FCS D2 and D3 Could probably compete with each other the way all the FBS schools compete with each other.
Now this is a tad bit too broad, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State could compete with semi decent to actually good FBS teams pretty easily
@@mllamogigachad Yea, those are teams that are the exception, not the rule. I do think NDSU if it were to enter the FBS would be a top 25 within the first 5 seasons
Its sad the way Mcneese State has become. As the son of an alumni player at Mcneese State, its very hard to watch their games now. They need to make something happen soon if they still want to be considered a D1 school.
I played for NSULA (a team in the same conference as Mcneese) We would absolutely get smoked by a D2 team and have lost to some over the years. (We're like 7-30 over the past 4 years combined)
bill connelly did a full sp+ ranking of all 760 NCAA and naia schools and harding ranked 156. Above 6 FBS teams and well above mcnese at 355 and several other fcs schools (mcneese is in a good conference). Purely computer ranking so far from perfect but definitely interesting.
There’s a lot of D1s who wouldn’t dominate D2… there’s a lot of D2s that could probably have a respectful to good season D1. There isn’t much difference between D1,2, and 3 NCAA, especially outside of power 6. Once u get past SEC, BIG 10/12, PAC 12, ACC n Allat it’s not much difference maybe a lil size that’s all
ESU beat Wagner college (FCS) in 2019. Wagner was coming off of a 3 point loss to UCONN but had only finished the season 1-11. While ESU had finished 6-5 and evidently had not even made a playoff appearance that year at the division 2 level. I could say undoubtedly that a top level D2 team wouldn’t only compete with the lowest level of D1 schools but would likely stack up some decent wins.
The difference between FCS and DII, even DIII is nowhere near the same as FCS to FBS. St. Thomas is jumping straight from DIII to FCS. (and will become the 2nd DI team in Minnesota)
NDSU was an unranked D2 school when they beat #3 FCS Montana. Valpo is an FCS team that a lot of D3 schools are better than. There is a lot of overlap between FCS and D2.
Horrible take on the worst FCS team. Maneeee might have been 0-10 but they were in a decent conference. The worst schools in the FCS are in the pioneer league, your Presbyterian college’s, Daytona’s, and schools like ST Thomas that was literally D3 2 years ago. These schools are non scholarship D1’s but would absolutely get smoked by Harding. I played for Lincoln CA a new football school that played some of the Best D2’s like Grand Valley, and some of the worst D1’s like St Thomas, and the talent, game atmosphere, and difficulty was waaaay harder and better at Grand Valley. Top tier D2 over a low tire D1 any day
Grand Valley State University is the best looking D2 team on paper, they offered cash to a FCS school a couple year ago to come play them and the FCS school declined lol
Oh, this can happen. UW LaCrosse (D3) beat U Minn Duluth (D2) 34-13 in 2004 and lost to U South Dakota (USD was moving up from D2 to FCS during this time frame) 44-45. UWL was 7-4 that year. They beat U South Dakota 28-24 in 2003. UWL was 10-2 that year. These are just a few examples. Many more exist.
Im would bet pretty much anything that when this question was originally asked and 95% of the time today when its brought up that people dont have the fcs in mind when they say D1. They are speaking to the fbs schools
FBS is the real D1 talent wise, even the low tier FBS teams blow out FCS teams most of time first few weeks when they play. I think D2 and FCS don’t really have that much of talent gap.
Harding would smash. They would control the clock and the scoreboard. Flexbone is the reason the service academies are still competitive on the FBS level. Now that would be a game to see…..Harding vs. Army/Air Force/Navy. Schools that know how to defend the triple option.
I'm from Searcy. Harding is actively AVOIDED by D1 schools. The last time they played a D1 was UCA and they torched em. They'd easily be a top level SLC team today.
Are you sure you have the worst FCS team though. Record wise you might be right but I went to a university that played in the Pioneer league for football and that conference was a special conference for FCS teams who had no scholarships for their football team, the reason they were FCS was only because they wanted to play D1 basketball. But all of these teams were effectively D3 teams in football. I would argue the worst team in that league is probably worse than McNee presuming McNee has a scholarshiped football team.
@growlfootball Valparaiso University, just checked and they were 2nd to last in the pioneer league in 2023. Odds are would lose to most D3 teams. In fact the 2022 PFL champ and 2023 runner up was a D3 team until 2021. They were the first college to ever jump from D3 straight to D1 and they won the conference in the 2nd year.
Ferris State University almost beat Montana University, which went to the championship for FCS. I feel like any top 10 d2 team could easily win against lower level d1 University. There are teams that deserve go big but just dont get the publicity.
It’s a stupid question. Could? It’s already been done. 1994. D2 Tarleton State beats D1 Praire View A&M 72-0. D3 McMurry beat D1 UTSA. This entire video is a demonstration of college football ignorance.
500 subs 85k view is wild keep pounding brotha!!!!
Yessir
People are ridiculous about this question. The division between top D2 teams and bottom level D1 teams is WAY closer than you think. Combine that with a team that has great team culture, a solid set of coaches and you suddenly have a game that wouldn't even be CLOSE. I believe that you are right Gage. This game... isn't.... even.... close. Harding would SMOKE McNeese State. Great breakdown of this matchup!
🤥
yessir. I agree. i really don't think it would be very close
West Florida a d2 team Mcnees last year
And a lot of upperclassmen
@@ThatC1official i play d1 football at tenn state bro not lyin don’t sleep on them d2 teams its dogs at every level bro
EASILY.. winning culture has nothing to do with division. Not to mention a lot of D2 players were either D1 or had D1 interest.
My guy McNeese State literally lost to a D2 school (UWF) 3 years ago.
My son play d2 ball in ok for NWSU and that Harding team is in the same conference they got destroyed , trust that team is like like a mid tier d-1 athletes all over the field
My son is at UCO...coming off meniscus surgery, but hopes to return this season.
Not the same conference, NWMSU is MIAA and Harding is GAC. Just both in the same Super Region for the playoffs.
St. Thomas (MN) went straight from DIII to DI FCS last year, and finished 8-3. The difference from DI to DII to DIII is definitely there, and on average the talent and ability goes in that order. However, the best FCS schools can compete with good FBS schools, the top DII schools can compete with average DI schools, etc.
and don't forget to mention that st thomas wasn't even close to being the best d3 school in their own conference at the time. St Johns beat them their last year, had a LT drafted in the 4th round and their qb had nfl scouts looking as well.
St Thomas is in a no-scholarship FCS conference. If they joined the MVFC FCS, they would have been 3-8.
Yeah, like Montana state cooked New Mexico this year, and sure it wasn't a great FBS team and it was arguably the best FCS team, but still an upset.
I personally play for an NAIA basketball team and we’ve beat a division 1 school the past 2 years. Look us up. University of Tennessee Southern Men’s basketball. And the D1 team (Samford) that we beat, ended up winning the regular season in their conference.
dang bro, you 6'7?
They made it to March madness if I’m not mistaken
Matt Stafford wasn’t the qb when the lions went 0-16 😭
We got Stafford #1 BECAUSE we went 0-16. we had Dan Orlovsky, Dante Culpepper, and Jon Kitna as "starting" qbs that season
Should be fixed...oops lol
I played QB at Wilkes University D3 started 2.5 years and we had two preseason games one against Iona who is a 1AA school and I only played the first QTR because it was preseason and I was the starter. We scored on TDs on both possessions and then after a 14-3 start they fumbled in the red zone we recovered. We ended up losing 31-17 but if it was 1s v 1s we woulda won in a close game
d2’s have beating FCS teams before. A matter of fact d2 Texas A&M Commerce almost beat fbs utsa a little more than a decade ago. And if we wanna cherry pick, it happens a lot with pioneer league teams (since they’re a d1 conference that doesn’t award scholarships for football) but it’s basically a glorified d3 at that point
In 2020, East Central beat #21 D1 FCS Tarleton State. Very little research was done on this video.
Ferris State lost by 7 to one of the best FCS schools. That's it. Case closed, question over. Harding creams McNeese
agreed, and yet ferris state lost in one of the first rounds of the d2 playoffs. crazy stuff
Montana had a slow start to the season. If they were to play Montana later in the season, it would not have been close. Harding definitely creams McNeese though, they won one game, and that was due to a forfeit cause a player for the other team died and they didn’t finish out their season.
Ferris State also played a Nationally Ranked FCS Montana, and only lost by a TD. The Best teams in D2 Super Region 3 could easily beat a chunk of FCS schools.
More than just teams from SR3, remember Pueblo @ Sam Houston in 2014...
In 2020 COVID year, D2 East Central beat D1 FCS #21 ranked Tarleton State. East Central at that time was just average D2.
Harding would demolish McNeese State.
Imappy to be the 1k subscriber
Yes. Easily. The best D2 team would smoke the worst D1 team. The D2 champion has more developed talent, more chemistry, and more confidence.
Bro you deserve more subs
I appreciate that!
This isn’t even a question, a real question would be could the best D2 team beat the worst FBS team(Kent State, Kennesaw State)
Congratulations on 660 subs
D1 FBS is really the only division that has a major talent difference, FCS D2 and D3 Could probably compete with each other the way all the FBS schools compete with each other.
Now this is a tad bit too broad, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State could compete with semi decent to actually good FBS teams pretty easily
@@mllamogigachad Yea, those are teams that are the exception, not the rule. I do think NDSU if it were to enter the FBS would be a top 25 within the first 5 seasons
Watching this from the town where Harding is located. Proud of my city.
Go Bisons! Fun that your in Searcy!
This is a way better question than “can the best college team best the worse nfl team”
Easy rule of thumb: bottom 25% of fbs is same as top 25% of fcs, bottom 25% of fcs is comparable to top 25% of d2, and similar d2 vs d3.
This is really true.
What about McNeese State versus the best Division III team (which I believe is North Central)?
Its sad the way Mcneese State has become. As the son of an alumni player at Mcneese State, its very hard to watch their games now. They need to make something happen soon if they still want to be considered a D1 school.
it just happened, a mid d2 team beat a d1 team
I think a better question is, could a top D3 school beat a bottom D1 school?
Yes
Yes 100%. In football yes, in sports like baseball 100000% the best d3 teams routinely beat crappy d1's
please turn the music down. its kinda hard to hear you. great video man
LOL. got this comment a couple of timees now. my bad
In 1997, Division II University of North Alabama defeated in overtime SW Louisiana (now Louisiana Lafayette) 48-42. Yes, it has happened before.
Yes UWF literally beat McNeese in 2021 after we won the National Championship in 2019.
Can’t wait my cousin committed to Harding
I played for NSULA (a team in the same conference as Mcneese) We would absolutely get smoked by a D2 team and have lost to some over the years. (We're like 7-30 over the past 4 years combined)
bill connelly did a full sp+ ranking of all 760 NCAA and naia schools and harding ranked 156. Above 6 FBS teams and well above mcnese at 355 and several other fcs schools (mcneese is in a good conference). Purely computer ranking so far from perfect but definitely interesting.
nice backround song!
appreciate that
There’s a lot of D1s who wouldn’t dominate D2… there’s a lot of D2s that could probably have a respectful to good season D1. There isn’t much difference between D1,2, and 3 NCAA, especially outside of power 6. Once u get past SEC, BIG 10/12, PAC 12, ACC n Allat it’s not much difference maybe a lil size that’s all
2:45 montaña state is always a top 10 FCS team though.
Living in a town with a D2 school that is in the same conference as Harding, it’s an auto loss every year
Living in a town with a D2 school that is Harding.
Iowa almost lost to a d2 school and they finished as one of the top 25 teams with a top 5 defense in college football last season
That was South Dakota State who is D1-AA which is still D1. SDSU was also the best D1-AA team and has been
Iowa can't play a D2 school.
Who would the best d3 school against the worst d2 school
I like this idea! Thanks for commenting!
Man as someone from Lake Charles LA that hurts seeing McNeese 😭
This is not shocking players like winning not that uncommon for a player who could go low D-1 to choose elite D-2
The best D3 could beat the worst D1
Top D2 vs worst FBS team would be a lot closer.
Honestly Harding might be able to beat Kent state
ESU beat Wagner college (FCS) in 2019. Wagner was coming off of a 3 point loss to UCONN but had only finished the season 1-11. While ESU had finished 6-5 and evidently had not even made a playoff appearance that year at the division 2 level. I could say undoubtedly that a top level D2 team wouldn’t only compete with the lowest level of D1 schools but would likely stack up some decent wins.
The difference between FCS and DII, even DIII is nowhere near the same as FCS to FBS. St. Thomas is jumping straight from DIII to FCS. (and will become the 2nd DI team in Minnesota)
My cousin plays for a really D2 school and some of his teammates started or played at D1 schools
NDSU was an unranked D2 school when they beat #3 FCS Montana. Valpo is an FCS team that a lot of D3 schools are better than. There is a lot of overlap between FCS and D2.
FBS schools was getting beat by D2 schools in the 90s, then they changed the rules so FBS couldn't schedule D2 schools anymore because of it.
Saint Anselm (D2) plays Sacred Heart (D1) tomorrow... watch the game :)
its not a large talent difference like College Football vs NFL. D1 and D2 talent gap is a lot smaller than people think
The only difference between D1 and D2 is that the athletes are 2 inches shorter, and depth.
"Harding runs a wingback offense"
yeah its over
Best d3 team could beat worst d1 team
What about grand valley
1:22 mines is where my uncle played at as a wr then he went to Florida state
Best d2 team would win easily. Ppl are forgetting that D2 teams have nfl players too.
Harding would be very competitive at the FCS level.
West Florida a D2 school beat Mcneese State in 2021...
Horrible take on the worst FCS team. Maneeee might have been 0-10 but they were in a decent conference. The worst schools in the FCS are in the pioneer league, your Presbyterian college’s, Daytona’s, and schools like ST Thomas that was literally D3 2 years ago. These schools are non scholarship D1’s but would absolutely get smoked by Harding. I played for Lincoln CA a new football school that played some of the Best D2’s like Grand Valley, and some of the worst D1’s like St Thomas, and the talent, game atmosphere, and difficulty was waaaay harder and better at Grand Valley. Top tier D2 over a low tire D1 any day
And Northwestern quit their year, and were terrible. McNeese may have beat Northwestern last year
My fav college team is Nicholls St which is in McNeese St’s conference (Southland)
Grand Valley State University is the best looking D2 team on paper, they offered cash to a FCS school a couple year ago to come play them and the FCS school declined lol
yea. maybe on paper. Harding still beat them in the playoffs tho. 7-6, but ay, a dub is a dub.
They should do like soccer and have the top teams move up while the worst move down.
Oh, this can happen. UW LaCrosse (D3) beat U Minn Duluth (D2) 34-13 in 2004 and lost to U South Dakota (USD was moving up from D2 to FCS during this time frame) 44-45. UWL was 7-4 that year. They beat U South Dakota 28-24 in 2003. UWL was 10-2 that year. These are just a few examples. Many more exist.
Playing D2 football and looking at portal a lot of D1 guys play D2 I think they can win 🤷🏾♂️
A D2 school beats an FCS school almost every year.
D3 is the second best
Im would bet pretty much anything that when this question was originally asked and 95% of the time today when its brought up that people dont have the fcs in mind when they say D1. They are speaking to the fbs schools
Yeah, I agree. They mean the crappiest FBS team, not the crappiest div 1 team
FBS is the real D1 talent wise, even the low tier FBS teams blow out FCS teams most of time first few weeks when they play. I think D2 and FCS don’t really have that much of talent gap.
Yeah I honestly believe the NDSU bison fcs could be a lot of the FBS teams back when they were on there 4 or so winning championships
Harding would smash. They would control the clock and the scoreboard. Flexbone is the reason the service academies are still competitive on the FBS level. Now that would be a game to see…..Harding vs. Army/Air Force/Navy. Schools that know how to defend the triple option.
Could u do this with FBS vs. FCS? So Kent State vs. Montana?
FCS schools beat FBS schools more than you think
SDSU is better then Montana
I gotchu :)
When I went to JMU when they were fcs, they were better than a lot of FBS schools. It’s showed when they moved up
Would love to see that fs in not Montana and sdsu or ndsu vs Kent state all would be pretty close fs
I’ve been to mcneese st. I ran on their track when I was 12. lol 😂
I'm from Searcy. Harding is actively AVOIDED by D1 schools. The last time they played a D1 was UCA and they torched em. They'd easily be a top level SLC team today.
Not anymore. Harding can't schedue OOC games.
🎉I was hoping there was a least a game simulator or something.
Are you sure you have the worst FCS team though. Record wise you might be right but I went to a university that played in the Pioneer league for football and that conference was a special conference for FCS teams who had no scholarships for their football team, the reason they were FCS was only because they wanted to play D1 basketball. But all of these teams were effectively D3 teams in football. I would argue the worst team in that league is probably worse than McNee presuming McNee has a scholarshiped football team.
you could say the same about the Ivy League. They are an exception, D1 should be full scholarship.
Hmmmm. What school did you go to? Might use them in my next video!
@growlfootball Valparaiso University, just checked and they were 2nd to last in the pioneer league in 2023. Odds are would lose to most D3 teams. In fact the 2022 PFL champ and 2023 runner up was a D3 team until 2021. They were the first college to ever jump from D3 straight to D1 and they won the conference in the 2nd year.
@@Valpo2004 Interesting. I'll check it out
Haven’t watched it, but not only could they do it, the d2 team would be favored.
Pretty sure that more of my d2 teammates went to nfl than many fcs teams
the answer is yes, and that will not change from year to year. i would say that the best d2 team would beat the worst d1 team 8/10
Harding could legit be fcs if they wanted too
w video
Ferris State University almost beat Montana University, which went to the championship for FCS. I feel like any top 10 d2 team could easily win against lower level d1 University. There are teams that deserve go big but just dont get the publicity.
Wouldn’t it be Ferris State for D2?
They lost to grand vally state first round this past year
D2 could definitely beat a D1. Not a power 5 or maybe even Group of 5 but mid major D1? Absolutely.
This year Barton a d2 school beat Davidson a FCS school 33-31. Barton is by no means close to the top of d2 football but they still beat a fcs school
Kent State and St. Francis, that's all I'm saying 😭😭😭
Yes best D2 could stomp this current Nebraska team
Mcneese just says play us in basketball
Yeah but clearly Montana wasn't the worst fcs d2 team and ferris state only lost by 7 so the d2 would beat the worst fcs d1 team by a landslide
turn the music down a little bit
i gotchu
Appalachian State beat a highly ranked, high-powered Michigan team who was ranked 5th in the nation. So, why couldn't they?
I watched my D1 dchool lose to a D2 school live, so i know its possible
You should do the best D3 football team beat the best D2 football team
mmmmmmmm i gotchu
CSU Pueblo destroyed Sam Houston in 2014, ended their home winning streak.
I’d argue the best D3 teams would be able to compete at the top of D2
Yes, there’s non scholarship football that’s technically D1, a great D2 is thumping a bad pioneer league school.
D2 teams beat fcs teams every year
Ferris state lost to MONTANA, montana is always top of fcs
Harding, GVSU, Ferris state (D2) would body teams like Butler and Valpo (D1)
Agreed
1000%
A league of third graders would body valpo
It’s a stupid question. Could? It’s already been done. 1994. D2 Tarleton State beats D1 Praire View A&M 72-0. D3 McMurry beat D1 UTSA. This entire video is a demonstration of college football ignorance.
you shouldn’t have used McNeese, you should’ve used Northwestern State or Mississippi Delta Devils
Damn really gonna put LR in the thumbnail but not even mention them