Last Four In: Richmond, Idaho State, Stephen F. Austin, Montana State
First Four Out: Youngstown State, Bryant, South Carolina State, Indiana State
The FCS playoff committee should probably send out thank-you notes this weekend to Bryant, Bucknell, Northern Arizona, Indiana State and Youngstown State among others. Why? Because all lost on Saturday, making the committee’s job much easier.
Granted, there are still questions about who gets invited to the 24-team playoff when the field is announced at 11 a.m. (EST) Sunday on ESPNU, but the playoff puzzle definitely got sorted out this weekend. The questions that do remain are these:
* Does three-time defending champion North Dakota State (No. 2 in the latest College Sports Madness poll) get the No. 1 seed after blasting Youngstown State while current No. 1 New Hampshire struggles against Maine? On a side note, North Dakota State receives the MVFC auto bid over Illinois State based on the league’s tie-breaking procedure.
* Does the Missouri Valley Football Conference receive just four berths after speculation for most of the season that it might get five and maybe even six berths?
* Does the MEAC receive just one bid?
According to our projections, this should be the breakdown as far as conference playoff numbers go: MVFC (4), CAA (4), Big Sky (4), Southland (3), OVC (2), Big South (2), Pioneer (1), Patriot (1), Northeast (1), MEAC (1) and SoCon (1).
See the FCS Football Projected Bracket
Big Sky: *Eastern Washington, Montana, Montana State, Idaho State
Big South: *Liberty, Coastal Carolina
CAA: *Villanova, New Hampshire, James Madison, Richmond
MEAC: *Morgan State
MVFC: Illinois State, *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Northern Iowa
NEC: *Sacred Heart
OVC: *Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky
Patriot: *Fordham
Pioneer: *San Diego
Southern: *Chattanooga
Southland: *Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin
* Automatic bid
See the FCS Football Projected Bracket
