Tim Castelli

Following the 2024 chain of defeats that links a title contender to two one-win FCS teams.

As a proud Northern Illinois alum, I’m still pounding my chest over the Huskies’ beating Notre Dame early in the 2024 campaign. With the Fighting Irish playing Ohio State for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) national championship, I began thinking about the interconnectedness of the college football season – the “six degrees of separation”.

Connecting the Defeats: The Surprising Links Between Teams

Resembling the social network theory, the hypothesis is that every college football team, whether championship-caliber or bottom-dweller, is interconnected through an intricate web of often surprising outcomes during a season. For instance, the slayer of a behemoth is itself cut down by a mid-tier team, which in turn, falls to a struggling program.

However, unlike the open network assumed in the “six degrees of separation” theory, college football operates within a constrained network. With about 250 teams across the FBS and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and each team playing only 12 games on average, the opportunities for direct connections between teams are minimal. This constraint increases the degrees of separation because the network relies heavily on indirect connections formed through chains of shared opponents.

So, is it possible to connect a 1-loss Notre Dame to a 1-win team from the FBS or the FCS? I discovered there were 11 degrees of separation in 2024 between Notre Dame and two unexpected heroes from the FCS: the Delaware State Hornets and Stonehill Skyhawks. Both teams managed only one win in 2024, but thanks to a crazy series of defeats, these schools ended up linked to Notre Dame’s lone loss. Let’s break it all down and see how we get there.

The Chain Reaction from Notre Dame to Stonehill

Predictably, the interconnections are largely a result of upsets, starting with NIU’s(8-5) stunning 16-14 victory over Notre Dame(14-1) on September 7. Sadly, Northern could not keep the magic alive, including a surprising 25-23 loss in October to the 11th-place Mid-American Conference finisher Ball State(3-9) on a last-second field goal. Ball State’s two other wins during the season were against winless Kent State (0-12) and Missouri State (8-4) of the FCS.

In more “MACtion”, one of Ball State’s losses was to Central Michigan(4-8), 37-34, via a late touchdown. Earlier, CMU was blown out by Florida International(4-8) of Conference USA, 52-16. Amazingly, Monmouth(FCS, 6-6) of the Colonial Athletic Association earned their first victory over an FBS school by upsetting FIU 45-42 in mid-September.

At the start of September, Monmouth had dropped a game to Lafayette(FCS, 6-6) of the Patriot League 40-35 after giving up two touchdown passes in the final minute. In late October, Lafayette lost to Holy Cross(FCS, 6-6) 34-28 in a close conference battle decided by a last-second red-zone stop. In September, Holy Cross had lost to Yale(FCS, 7-3) on a rushing touchdown with 12 seconds remaining and fell 38-31.

Yale’s season hit a bump in early November in their 97th meeting with Columbia(FCS, 7-3), the eventual Ivy League tri-champion, when they were edged out 13-10. But in late September, Columbia had stumbled badly and was upset by Georgetown(FCS, 5-6) of the Patriot League, giving up an early lead to lose 20-17. Earlier in September, Georgetown’s sloppy play resulted in five turnovers and was routed by the independent Sacred HeartPioneers (FCS, 5-6), 40-14.

Now, here is where it gets wild. Of the Pioneer’s six losses, two were highly unexpected. On August 31, in their season opener, they faced off against Delaware State (FCS, 1-11) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. In one season-ending poll of FCS teams, the Hornets were ranked #126 of 129 teams. Their eleven losses in 2024 were by an average margin of 21 points. Not on this day, Delaware State claimed their only win of the season, edging out Sacred Heart 17-15 with a clutch stop on a two-point conversion with under two minutes to play.

Then, on September 21, Sacred Heart played Stonehill(FCS, 1-10), representing the Northeast Conference, which had just moved up from Division II in 2022. They had an average margin of defeat of 23 points for the season, and in the same FCS poll, they were ranked #124. But in the rain, the Skyhawks triumphed and easily beat Sacred Heart 35-21, for their only win of the year.

Twists, Turns, and Triumphs

There you have it, the remarkable 11 degrees of separation linking a national title contender to two FCS teams with just one win. This chain of unexpected triumphs winded its way across the FBS and FCS ranks, delivering a steady dose of drama throughout the 2024 season. It was all part of college football’s greatness – unpredictability, shocking upsets, and a season filled with twists and turns.