2022 FCS Playoffs

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ST_Lawson
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The playoff bracket is set: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/football/fcs/2022

MVFC did a lot of cannibalizing itself this year, so only had 3 teams in the bracket this year.

South Dakota State is the #1 seed and will play the winner of Delaware and St. Francis (PA).
North Dakota State got the #3 seed and will host the winner of Montana and Southeast Missouri State.
North Dakota also gets in at 7-4 and will play in the first round against Weber State, with the winner heading to #4 Montana State.

YSU had the same record as UND in terms of wins/losses, but was left out this year.


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Scott, I'm sure you saw the same stuff, but a  lot of chatter about the committee not taking into account SOS, UNI was pissed they didn't get in after the schedule they played. Seems if you got to 8 wins you got in. So some are saying play your money game against a P5 school or some similar, then schedule 2 easy wins.Some also saying get rid of the MVFC-Big Sky games, since it doesn't help playing them.
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meganeck wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 11:09 am Scott, I'm sure you saw the same stuff, but a  lot of chatter about the committee not taking into account SOS, UNI was pissed they didn't get in after the schedule they played. Seems if you got to 8 wins you got in. So some are saying play your money game against a P5 school or some similar, then schedule 2 easy wins.Some also saying get rid of the MVFC-Big Sky games, since it doesn't help playing them.
 
I get that schedule makes a difference, but I feel like there were other teams that would have gotten in before UNI. YSU actually had a better overall record than UNI, although a much easier schedule. I didn't see anyone predicting UNI making it in at 6-5, but it seemed like about half of the bracket predictions had YSU in at 7-4.

I agree that the MVFC-Big Sky series should go away. It seems like it's hindering scheduling more than helping. For us, specifically, I get that we probably can't afford to bring in an "easy win" (like a pioneer league team) most years, but I would like to see more H&H series with OVC and Southland teams. If we could schedule a H&H with EIU maybe twice a decade, that would be really nice. Like, play them every 2-3 years going back and forth. On off years, try to do the same with Lindenwood, etc.
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YSU struggled mightily in wins over both WIU and ISUb.  I am sure played a big factor in the decision to leave them out of the mix.  You cannot take a game off any week in the Valley.
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sealhall74 wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:13 pm YSU struggled mightily in wins over both WIU and ISUb.  I am sure played a big factor in the decision to leave them out of the mix.  You cannot take a game off any week in the Valley.

 
Right, I don't think they really deserved to be in it either, just that a lot more people were putting them in the playoffs than UNI.
I think YSU's loss to MSU was the "nail in the coffin" for them. Despite struggling against us and ISUb, they still won those games. It was the 3-point loss to 5-6 Missouri State in the second to last week that probably knocked them out.
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I'm not trying to defend UNI being in, I think they are saying they played Sac St and lost, if they would have scheduled say Drake or someone similar, they would have had 7 wins and might have made it in. 
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meganeck wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 1:32 pm I'm not trying to defend UNI being in, I think they are saying they played Sac St and lost, if they would have scheduled say Drake or someone similar, they would have had 7 wins and might have made it in. 

 
You're probably right. If they had scheduled Drake and (most likely) won by quite a bit, they would have had a decent shot at the playoffs.

I don't know what the rules are for the MVFC-Big Sky series...like, are teams just "encouraged" to schedule teams from the other conference? Are they required to play one at least every other year or something? It doesn't look like YSU plays any Big Sky teams. Nearly all of their OOC FCS games over the last 5 or so years have been against non-scholarship Pioneer League or limited-scholarship NEC teams: Duquesne, Robert Morris, Dayton, Butler, etc.

Is there any rule saying we can't just stop scheduling Big Sky teams once we're done with the ones we already have scheduled? We play at Southern Utah next year (who is WAC now, but was Big Sky when we scheduled them, so for this purpose, I think that counts), then we have a game at Eastern Washington in 2025 that was originally scheduled for 2020. Beyond that, it's just OVC (Lindenwood) and EKU (ASUN). I know it's not normally how things are done, but could we actually do a H&H with a Pioneer League team? Play at Valpo, Butler, or Drake in return for a game here? It'd most likely be a win for each game for us.
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ST_Lawson wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 1:12 pm
sealhall74 wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:13 pm YSU struggled mightily in wins over both WIU and ISUb.  I am sure played a big factor in the decision to leave them out of the mix.  You cannot take a game off any week in the Valley.


 
Right, I don't think they really deserved to be in it either, just that a lot more people were putting them in the playoffs than UNI.
I think YSU's loss to MSU was the "nail in the coffin" for them. Despite struggling against us and ISUb, they still won those games. It was the 3-point loss to 5-6 Missouri State in the second to last week that probably knocked them out.

 
I certainly didn’t come out of our game thinking man YSU is a playoff team. There fans were saying they should be in because there Rb broke or is close to breaking the fcs all time rushing record like yeah that’s not how that works. But there also the fan base who acted like they had won a National championship after beating a winless team on a last second field goal.
 
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Incarnate Word vs Sacramento State in round 2 seems like an exciting game to look forward to.
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jtrinaldi wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 8:16 am Incarnate Word vs Sacramento State in round 2 seems like an exciting game to look forward to.

 
Technically that'd be round 3, but yeah. Sac State is a pretty balanced team, UIW has a crazy high-powered offense. The two teams have a total of 1 loss between them. Should be pretty exciting.

First round games I'm paying attention to:
  • UND at Weber State - UND in our conference, Weber State being the last team we played in the playoffs in 2017. UND fans are upset that this game is at Weber State because it sounds like they think their bid was a decent bit higher than Weber State's. Weber State is, as many of you guys probably remember, a beautiful place to play football.
  • SEMO at Montana - one of our OVC "neighbors" who beat their MVFC rival SIU by 3 early in the season, playing at one of the greatest places to play in the FCS, even though many people felt Montana (at 7-4) didn't really deserve to get an at-large spot. We also have recent history with Montana, beating them in Macomb by 4 in 2018, but then getting crushed at their place in 2021.
  • Idaho at Southeastern Louisiana - Idaho at 7-4, but 7-2 against FCS teams (losses to Sac State and UC Davis, had 2 FBS losses) and coached by first-year HC Jason Eck who was O-line coach for us in 2012 before a couple of other short stops and then a 6-year stint coaching offenses at South Dakota State. Southeastern Louisiana is 8-3, although 8-1 against FCS teams (only FCS loss was to FCS newcomer TX A&M-Commerce, also 2 FBS losses). In the previously mentioned Incarnate Word vs Sac State game, SELA was the 1 loss handed to either team, when they beat Incarnate Word by 6.
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