Leatherneck Nation

So, now that we're only 4ish weeks from the end of the regular season, we've started seeing projected FCS playoff brackets that will likely start getting close to what the actual bracket will look like. There's a few out there to peruse, so here's a few links:

TheFCSWedge.com Bracket (based on the AGS Poll):
Currently has Western playing Montana in the first round with the winner going to #1 seed Eastern Washington

Nobowls.com Bracket: http://nobowls.com/
Currently has Western playing North Dakota in the first round with the winner going to #4 seed North Dakota State (I would not relish back-to-back trips up to ND).

College Sports Madness Bracket: http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs ... acketology
Currently has Western playing North Dakota in the first round with the winner going to #1 seed North Dakota State.

For reference, there are 24 teams in the playoff bracket. The committee will seed the top 8 teams, and then pair up the remaining 16 somewhat according to "regionalization", although they will try to avoid first round regular season rematches (so we probably won't be playing Eastern Illinois in the first round). Teams submit bids to the NCAA prior to being announced as playoff participants with the higher bid team getting to host. Winner of each of the 1st round games go on to play one of the top 8 seeds.

I've also seen some people's brackets matching us up with Youngstown State. Same conference, but we didn't play each other during the regular season, so it wouldn't be a rematch.

Week 9 Updated Brackets:

TheFCSWedge.com Bracket (Based on the AGS Poll):
Moved a few things around, but still has Western playing Montana in the first round with the winner going to #1 seed Eastern Washington.

NoBowls.com Bracket: http://nobowls.com/
They have us playing at Central Arkansas and the winner going to #2 seed Jacksonville State

College Sports Madness Bracket: http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs ... acketology
We're listed as playing St. Francis (PA) with the winner going to #8 Chattanooga.

The playoff committee will try to minimize flights in the first round whenever possible (and when it doesn't create first-round regular season rematches), but at this point the closest teams to us that appear to be bound for the playoffs are Chattanooga and Central Arkansas, which are both roughly in the neighborhood of 8ish hours away...which would still be a flight.

Although, I do think that with our current ranking, if we are able to win out (still a big if, there's a couple of tough games in there) and a little help from some of the lower "top 10" teams, then we have an outside shot at a top 8 seed. That would mean a first-round bye and a second round home game....which would be awesome. I believe that the FCS playoff committee releases their first set of top 8 (or maybe top 10) rankings on Thursday this week, at which point we should know who is in line to get seeds at this point. We'll want to root for the bottom 3-4 teams in that ranking to lose and for Western to win, of course.

Hmmm, only one Valley team forecasted in top 8 and two from CAA. I just might have to scrounge up a ticket for this week's JMU@UR game to see if those guys are really worthy.

The top 10 will be released this Thursday. It will be broadcast during ESPNU's College Football Live at 2pm CST.

Believe this will be the case the rest of the way out.

sealhall74 wrote:Hmmm, only one Valley team forecasted in top 8 and two from CAA. I just might have to scrounge up a ticket for this week's JMU@UR game to see if those guys are really worthy.

Yea, that game looks like it'll be the AGS FCS Game of the Week. Big implications for the CAA. The MVFC has been cannibalizing itself somewhat this year, so there's realistically probably 4 teams that will make it in and 1...maybe 2, that get a top 8 seed.

Gaudy records often impress poll voters or media playoff projectors. The NCAA seems to respect the MVFC where good teams often "beat each other up" during the conference season. However, the conference is the toughest FCS conference in the country. We need to finish strong with hopefully three wins but not less than two in order to be a "slam dunk" for playoff selection.

Bob

these votes were EMAIL ONLY and ZERO discussion among the 10 AD's on the committee.

total hack job, what an embarassment