FCS College Football Week 4 Preview & Picks Recap
The College Football Experience (@TCEonSGPN) on the Sports Gambling Podcast Network continues its 2026 season coverage with FCS Week 4 picks, as conference play takes over the FCS. Pick Dundee aka (@TheColbyD) and Phil Steele’s Chris Van Dine (@ChrisV160) run 49 games on the board. Is 13 and a half too much for Harvard to lay at Brown in the wind? Can UT Martin stay inside 14 and a half at in-state Austin Peay? Why is McNeese only laying 2 and a half to East Texas A&M? Is South Dakota or Youngstown State the side in the best game of the weekend? And does Eastern Illinois hang around at South Dakota State at 34 and a half?
From there they work down the whole FCS slate, from the Ivy League to the SWAC to the Pioneer League. Chris brings the Phil Steele computer numbers and game grades to almost every matchup. Eight double locks come out of it, and the booth splits hard on a handful of sides. Then each of them names the one play he likes most this week. We talk it all and more on this episode of The College Football Experience.
More free college football picks every week at sportsgamblingpodcast.com/college-football-picks.
Weather In The Northeast And A Friday Night Dog
Moneyline Mac is on the road to Morgantown this week. So Colby Dant has the chair with Chris alone, and the first thing they agree on is the forecast. A nor’easter is sitting on most of the early kickoffs, and they lean into it all show. Brown plus 13.5 against Harvard went down as a double lock before Saturday even started. Chris thinks Harvard’s win over New Hampshire was softer than it looks. The Crimson had 262 yards and threw for 74, and they also scored three short touchdowns after turnovers. The Phil Steele computer has it 27-22 Harvard. And Brown won 31-28 the last time Harvard came to town, in 2024.
Sacred Heart laying 4.5 to New Hampshire is the other early double lock. The Pioneers are 0-3. But one of those losses came by seven to Monmouth, and they won the yardage in it. Quarterback Poochie Snyder also has a six-to-one touchdown ratio. Then comes Lehigh minus 10.5 at Penn. Chris says Hayden Johnson is likely out again. He does not think it matters much, because Lehigh threw for 120 yards in its 44-point game against William & Mary. Penn ran for 170 last week, but Lehigh has one of the better run defenses in the country. So Lehigh is a double lock, and both of them like the under 48.5 too.
The Best FCS Week 4 Picks On The Board
McNeese laying 2.5 to East Texas A&M is a number neither of them could explain. McNeese won by 15 at Commerce last year, and the computer has the Cowboys by 13. So McNeese is a double lock. Southern Illinois minus 17.5 at Murray State is another. Chris thinks this is the week the Salukis start playing like the team he expected. Eastern Washington laying 2.5 to Cal Poly makes three. Chris has the Eagles at 21-9 as a home favorite. Cal Poly also ranks 116th in the Phil Steele pass efficiency defense numbers. UC Davis minus 3.5 against Montana was Colby’s bet, and Chris told him to lock it. That makes four.
Chris went to the unders. He locked the under 46.5 in Chattanooga at The Citadel, and Colby joined him. Both teams mostly run the ball, so Chris expects the clock to keep moving. He also locked the under 46.5 in Colgate at Villanova, where his computer has a 20-19 game. The over 60.5 in Idaho State at Southern Utah got a double lock, since that game produced 70 points last year. Colby’s favorite play of the week is the over 63.5 in Western Carolina at East Tennessee State. Chris is on it as well. His computer spits out 38-34 Western Carolina.
Where The Booth Split
UT Martin at Austin Peay is the big one. Colby is betting the Skyhawks plus 14.5 in an in-state rivalry. Chris locked Austin Peay, which he has at 4-0 against the spread. The Governors have barely used quarterback Chris Parsons as a runner, and he is not even in their top five rushers. Chris then named them his top play of the week. Western Illinois at North Alabama went the same way. Colby is betting the Lions at minus 7.5 in their new stadium. Chris took the Leathernecks, mostly because new quarterback Kennedy McGill is completing 73 percent.
Chris locked West Florida plus 6.5 at Southeast Missouri State, and he is sprinkling the money line. The Phil Steele average game grade has the Argonauts winning by two. Colby laid it with the Redhawks and stayed off. In South Dakota at Youngstown State, Chris locked the Penguins and Bo Brongaard at home. Colby rode the Coyotes instead, because he likes how physical they have looked. That one is for the trash talk as much as the money.
Colby also locked Eastern Illinois plus 34.5. His theory is that South Dakota State pulls its starters with Illinois State next. He locked Prairie View minus 10.5 against Grambling at the State Fair Classic, too. Chris locked Campbell minus 18.5 at Hampton. And Furman plus 3.5 at Richmond flipped mid-segment. Colby had Richmond until Chris made the case for backup quarterback Connor Ackerley. Ackerley was a Division II starter who threw for 3,000 yards last year. Colby moved to Furman, and Chris locked it.
Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
1:03 Week 3 Recap & Phil Steele’s Chris Van Dine Joins
21:25 Harvard vs. Brown Picks
25:23 New Hampshire vs. Sacred Heart Picks
28:14 Rio Grande vs. Duquesne Picks
29:02 Presbyterian vs. Marist Picks
30:28 Holy Cross vs. Lafayette Picks
35:48 Columbia vs. Georgetown Picks
38:20 Lehigh vs. Penn Picks
41:35 Yale vs. Cornell Picks
44:45 Drake vs. Davidson Picks
47:24 Monmouth vs. Dartmouth Picks
50:27 Stony Brook vs. Fordham Picks
54:25 New Haven vs. Merrimack Picks
55:38 North Dakota vs. Indiana State Picks
59:50 Tennessee Tech vs. Wofford Picks
1:03:15 Chattanooga vs. The Citadel Picks
1:05:35 San Diego vs. St. Thomas Picks
1:07:29 UT Martin vs. Austin Peay Picks
1:10:13 Furman vs. Richmond Picks
1:12:30 Maine vs. Elon Picks
1:14:53 Butler vs. Valparaiso Picks
1:16:00 South Dakota vs. Youngstown State Picks
1:18:24 Colgate vs. Villanova Picks
1:21:03 Albany vs. Princeton Picks
1:22:41 Western Carolina vs. East Tennessee State Picks
1:24:52 VMI vs. Samford Picks
1:25:57 Texas Southern vs. Alcorn State Picks
1:27:32 Western Illinois vs. North Alabama Picks
1:29:13 Rhode Island vs. NC A&T Picks
1:29:50 Lamar vs. Nicholls Picks
1:31:30 Illinois State vs. Northern Iowa Picks
1:32:59 Towson vs. Delaware State Picks
1:34:40 Campbell vs. Hampton Picks
1:35:25 Mississippi Valley State vs. Alabama State Picks
1:36:30 West Florida vs. Southeast Missouri State Picks
1:39:39 East Texas A&M vs. McNeese Picks
1:41:32 Southern Illinois vs. Murray State Picks
1:43:09 Cal Poly vs. Eastern Washington Picks
1:45:20 Alabama A&M vs. Florida A&M Picks
1:46:20 Eastern Illinois vs. South Dakota State Picks
1:47:37 Norfolk State vs. Chicago State Picks
1:48:40 South Carolina State vs. Bethune-Cookman Picks
1:49:49 Prairie View A&M vs. Grambling Picks
1:50:38 Southern vs. Jackson State Picks
1:51:29 SE Louisiana vs. Northwestern State Picks
1:52:35 Idaho State vs. Southern Utah Picks
1:54:22 Portland State vs. Weber State Picks
1:54:55 Mercer vs. Abilene Christian Picks
1:55:51 Utah Tech vs. Northern Colorado Picks
1:56:39 Montana vs. UC Davis Picks
1:57:38 Northern Arizona vs. Montana State Picks
1:58:50 Sign-Off & Socials
