London's first win a boost for new FCS coaches

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:16 p.m. ET

(STATS) - The anticipated debuts of new coaches across the FCS was met with a thud as most suffered losses, but, yes, Howard's Mike London was heard giving a (UNLV) Rebel yell.

While only five of the 17 new coaches earned victories, the big surprise was London's debut with Howard. He unveiled quarterback Caylin Newton, Cam Newton's younger brother, on UNLV and came away as a 43-40 victory Saturday night. The MEAC program, which has only one winning record in the past 15 seasons, was considered a 45-point underdog to the Rebels.

CAA Football was the lone conference to claim two of them as Delaware opened the Danny Rocco era with a 22-3 victory over Delaware State and No. 10 Villanova held off No. 17 Lehigh 38-35 to give Mark Ferrante, who replaced the legendary Andy Talley, his first win.

Northeast Conference member Bryant, under new coach James Perry, rallied to beat Division II Merrimack 49-41. The Big Sky's Idaho State also won against a Division II team, beating Western Oregon 37-6, for coach Rob Phenicie.

New coaches who lost in their first games were No. 5 Eastern Washington's Aaron Best (Texas Tech), No. 7 Richmond's Russ Huesman (No. 3 Sam Houston State), No. 12 Chattanooga's Tom Arth (against No. 6 Jacksonville State last weekend), No. 14 Charleston Southern's Mark Tucker (Mississippi State), Elon's Curt Cignetti (Toledo), Indiana State's Curt Mallory (Eastern Illinois), Presbyterian's Tommy Spangler (Wake Forest) and Lafayette's John Garrett (Monmouth).

Also falling were Lamar's Mike Schultz (North Texas), Abilene Christian's Adam Dorrel (New Mexico), Furman's Clay Hendrix (No. 11 Wofford) and UC Davis' Dan Hawkins (San Diego State).

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Howard Bison

Mid-Eastern Athletic