Bracketology Breakdown
Last Four In: Villanova, Chattanooga, Maine, Southern Illinois
First Six Out: Furman, Indiana State, Southeast Missouri State, Youngstown State, North Dakota, The Citadel
A few newcomers hop onto the tree this week. Villanova, has been eating the Patriot League alive, going 3-0 against their conference. Right now, it looks like a diet full of empty calories, but they still count as D-I victories, so the Wildcats will get the benefit of the doubt. The second team being Southern Illinois. After beating FBS Massachusetts last week, they follow up with a win over Tennessee-Martin. So they will get some shine this week. Elon also rejoins after taking care of Richmond. They are more the beneficiary of their win over The Citadel looking stronger, after their upset of FBS Georgia Tech.
Falling off this week was Furman, Indiana State and Southeast Missouri State. The bottom of the rankings and the playoff bubble is softer than a newborn’s head right now. A lot of teams are sitting at 1-2 with FBS losses and wins over softer competition. This will be sorted out after a few more weeks. This will also be the time the CSM FCS Power Rankings will debut; most likely the Monday after Week 5. One other note, this coming week will also begin the introduction of the Ivy League teams starting their schedules.
Bids By Conference
Big Sky (5): *Weber State, Eastern Washington, UC-Davis, Montana, Montana State
Big South (1): *Kennesaw State
Colonial (5): *James Madison, Towson, Elon, Villanova, Maine
Missouri Valley (5): *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (1): *Jacksonville State
Patriot (1): *Colgate
Pioneer (1): *San Diego
Southern (1): *Chattanooga
Southland (3): *Nicholls, Central Arkansas, Southeastern Louisiana
* denotes projected conference automatic qualifier
