Last Four In: Central Arkansas, Southeast Missouri State, Nicholls, East Tennessee State
First Three Out: Chattanooga, Monmouth, Idaho State.
After the first three out, there are eight teams sitting at 4-3 who are in varying states of flux.
Turmoil. Turbulence. Weekly changes to the FCS Bracketology. Didn’t I say this last week, too? Occasional weeks like these are fun. But consecutive weeks like these for a bracketologist are not.
This week’s bracket in particular was horrible. Typically, the top eight ranked teams secure the eight national seeds. This week, there would have been five teams a full state to the west of the Mississippi River. So I had to take a deserving seed from Eastern Washington and give it to a nearly as deserving Colgate. The bid could have been taken from South Dakota State, who was ranked lower, but it wouldn’t have helped the geography any. And since this is a week-to-week venture and NOT the final edition, some irregular movements were made.
The disturbing upsets against contenders in the Southland were definitely alarming. Sam Houston State has played their way right off the bracket. McNeese had one of the more shocking losses themselves and are in serious danger of falling off themselves. A few weeks ago, the SLC looked like a three or four bid conference. When all is said and done, now they’re a three bid conference leaning towards two.
The Missouri Valley is starting to separate also, which should bode well for a four bid finale. The Colonial lost a bid in this week’s edition, but their five bids look pretty solid with a month to go. Jacksonville State lost their OVC undefeated streak to Southeast Missouri State. That’s bad for them, but better for their conference. It’s the kind of win that a runner-up needed.
Lastly, the Northeast Conference. I’m about to give up on projecting an automatic. Without looking, pretty sure that five of their seven teams have been projected to hold that spot. It’s not that none of the teams are decent, they’re all just so evenly matched.
Big Sky (3): *UC-Davis, Weber State, Eastern Washington
Big South (1): *Kennesaw State
Colonial (5): *James Madison, Elon, Towson, Stony Brook, Delaware
FCS Independent (1): North Dakota
Missouri Valley (4): *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa
Northeast (1): *Sacred Heart
Ohio Valley (2): *Jacksonville State, Southeast Missouri State
Patriot (1): *Colgate
Pioneer (1): *San Diego
Southern (2): *Wofford, East Tennessee State
Southland (3): *McNeese, Central Arkansas, Nicholls
* denotes conference’s projected automatic qualifier
