Bracketology Breakdown
Last Four In: New Hampshire, Missouri State, North Dakota, Weber State
First Four Out: Virginia Military, Central Arkansas, Incarnate Word, Furman
Rejoice again, FCS fans! The division picked up two more FBS scalps this weekend. Once again, the Big Sky claims a victim as Northern Arizona took down the Pac-Twelve’s Arizona. Also, Incarnate Word beat Texas State, bringing the season total number of upsets to ten.
No change in the teams making my current Bracketology field. Of course, there’s always some shuffling. I will say that right now, the bracket is very difficult to put together. Six of the current eight national seeds reside west of the Mississippi River - and one of the other two is in Illinois (Southern Illinois). So the map is heavily tilted towards the frontier states. Conversely, most of the other teams reside in the east and south. So what we’re stuck with are some wonky pairings, to avoid as many conference rematches as possible and long travel lines. USUALLY, this takes care of itself once conference play starts and the huge number of Missouri Valley and Big Sky teams drop some. Eleven total teams from those two conferences do my map no favors.
Most conferences will start the bulk of their conference play within the next two weeks. Also, the Ivies have joined the party after two weeks and are also playing now. With that, my College Sports Madness FCS Power Rankings SHOULD be revealed for the first time after next week’s games. Some of that will depend on the few ratings kinks being worked out. Like most of these number-driven, results-based entities, the earlier you are into a season, the more distorted the numbers can get. We’ll see what happens.
Bids By Conference
AQ7 (2): *Sam Houston State, Jacksonville State
Big Sky (5): *Montana, Eastern Washington, UC-Davis, Montana State, Weber State
Big South (1): *Monmouth
Colonial (4): *James Madison, Delaware, New Hampshire, Villanova
Missouri Valley (6): *South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Southern Illinois, North Dakota, Northern Iowa, Missouri State
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (1): *Austin Peay
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *San Diego
Southern (1): *East Tennessee State
Southland (1): *Southeastern Louisiana
* denotes projected conference’s automatic qualifier
