Bracketology Breakdown
Last Four In: Maine, Indiana State, Southeast Missouri State, Elon
First Five Out: The Citadel, Youngstown State, Delaware, North Dakota, Stony Brook
Goodbye to Eastern Washington, Chattanooga, Southern Illinois. Hello again to Indiana State, Southeast Missouri State and Elon. The bottom of the bracket is much like it is every year; fluid and mostly interchangeable. It’s still a little shocking to not have Eastern Washington on the tree, as they are a traditional staple. But their loss to Idaho only looked as close as a chaotic fourth quarter comeback. Will they jump back on? They certainly could. But right now, EWU is fighting Wofford for most shocking early season disappointment. But it’s not even October, there’s still a lot to be determined.
Villanova made the big jump this week, upsetting previously seeded Towson and just missing the seedline themselves. Another shocker was North Dakota State beating UC-Davis. Shocking only in the fact that anybody would be shocked. Realistically though, UC-Davis proved they still belong in the upper echelon. Also jumping back on the seedline is Jacksonville State, who’s righted themselves after an unexpected loss to open the year against Southeastern Louisiana, who’s pretty good, with three solid victories.
As for conference affiliations, the Missouri Valley Football Conference has three teams currently on the seedline and two others in the field. On top of that, a sixth of their ten members is knocking on the door for inclusion. Not to be out done, the Colonial Athletic Association also has five teams in the field at the moment, with two more rappin’ like the raven. Conference season starts cranking up the next two weeks, so some of these log jams should take care of themselves.
Bids By Conference
Big Sky (4): *UC-Davis, Weber State, Montana State, Montana
Big South (1): *Kennesaw State
Colonial (5): *James Madison, Villanova, Towson, Maine, Elon
Missouri Valley (5): *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Indiana State
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (2): *Jacksonville State, Southeast Missouri State
Patriot (1): *Colgate
Pioneer (1): *San Diego
Southern (1): *Furman
Southland (3): *Nicholls, Central Arkansas, Southeastern Louisiana
* denotes projected conference automatic qualifier
