LAST FOUR IN: Kennesaw State, Southern Utah, Illinois State, Northern Arizona
FIRST FOUR OUT: Eastern Washington, Montana, Delaware, Northern Iowa
The bracket bubble seems to be expanding every week. Teams from just off the radar get huge wins, while teams just hanging in the middle of the “safe” pack lose. The result is about half the teams in FCS still have a chance to reach the last spot or two. It’s probably not quite as muddled as that over exaggeration, but it’s in the neighborhood.
This week, the Colonial loses another bid. Richmond (4-3) has a rugged schedule remaining and at 4-3, there are others with equal or better records knocking the door down to get in. This is not to say that the Spiders cannot re-enter, they certainly have the schedule and ability to do it. Eastern Washington (5-3) also took a third loss, to Southern Utah (5-2), who basically takes over that spot. Youngstown State (3-4) is loved by the national media pollsters, but cannot realistically be left on the bracket with a losing record and two of their wins coming against NEC opponents.
Returning is Illinois State (5-2), who lost a bid last week after getting shellacked by Southern Illinois. This week, they returned the favor to highly-rated South Dakota. Northern Arizona (5-2) also joins the bracket, despite not being ranked, they’re just off. They’ve won five in a row, including a romp over Illinois State.
The Big Sky joins the Colonial (4), Missouri Valley (5), Southern (3) and Southland (3) as conferences with at least three bids. The Big South is still holding two. Everybody else is a single-bid league.
Big Sky (3): Weber State*, Southern Utah, Northern Arizona
Big South (2): Monmouth*, Kennesaw State
Colonial (4): James Madison*, Elon, Stony Brook, New Hampshire
Missouri Valley (5): North Dakota State*, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Western Illinois, Illinois State
Northeast (1): Duquesne*
Ohio Valley (1): Jacksonville State*
Patriot (1): Lehigh*
Pioneer (1): San Diego*
Southern (3): Wofford*, Samford, Western Carolina
Southland (3): Central Arkansas*, Sam Houston State, McNeese
* League Champion and automatic bid
