College football odds: FCS spring season kicks off Saturday with McNeese State vs. Tarleton State; host Texans making Division I debut

Bettors who thought football season was over with the conclusion of Super Bowl 55 last Sunday were wrong. While there's no Alliance of American Football or XFL this winter/spring, college football's FCS schedule kicks off Saturday with McNeese State visiting Tarleton State. The host Texans are 2.5-point underdogs with a total of 51.5 on the William Hill Sportsbook odds – that book will offer odds on all FCS games.

Of course, all the FCS (Division I-AA) conferences opted out of the fall season – although some teams did play a few non-conference games. The most notable team being defending FCS national champion North Dakota State, which is the Alabama of that level of college football.

The Bison played Central Arkansas back on Oct. 3 simply as an NFL draft showcase for star QB Trey Lance, who then declared for the draft and should be a Top-15 pick in April. North Dakota State is the betting favorite to win a fourth straight FCS national championship and ninth in school history. NDSU opens on Feb. 21.

McNeese State – where former Detroit Pistons star guard and Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars played college basketball; it's a Division I school in that sport – is a Southland Conference school that finished 7-5 last season and missed the FCS playoffs.

The Cowboys have a new head coach in Frank Wilson, the first African-American head football coach in school history and second in the history of the Southland Conference. He spent the past four seasons as head coach at UTSA and before that was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at LSU from 2010-15.

Starting QB Cody Orgeron – the son of LSU coach Ed Orgeron -- is back after throwing for 2,628 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2019, but Wilson lost three key transfers who were originally to return but chose to leave with the move to a spring season. All three were first-team All-Southland last year: receiver Cyron Sutton and cornerbacks Darion Dunn and Colby Burton.

McNeese was picked by coaches and sports information directors to finish fourth in the Southland. Not counting openers against FBS teams, McNeese is 9-1 in the last 10 openers and 17-3 in the last 20. The Cowboys have had 15 straight winning seasons overall, the longest current streak in the FCS.

Tarleton State is moving up from Division II, where it was unbeaten the past two regular seasons and won Lone Star Conference Championships before losing in the playoffs in each year, and is an FCS independent. The Texans will eventually play football in the WAC; the school's other sports are already in that conference.

The Texans lost their starting QB (Ben Holmes), leading rusher (Daniel McCants) and top receiver (Zimari Manning) from 2019, and the starter under center Saturday is expected to be Western Kentucky transfer Steven Duncan. In 13 games and eight starts with the Hilltoppers, he threw for 1,863 yards, 14 touchdowns and 11 picks.

While playing in Division II from 1994-2019, Tarleton was 5-8 against Division I schools. The Texans faced McNeese State in 2016 and lost 33-3.

NCAAF free pick: McNeese State -2.5

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