2023 - Around College Football - Week 13 and FCS Playoffs

[ST_Lawson]

The 2023 FCS Playoff field has been set. The 8 seeds are...

1. South Dakota State
2. Montana
3. South Dakota
4. Idaho
5. Albany
6. Montana State
7. Furman
8. Villanova

MVFC and OVC/Big South matchups in the first round are:
12 PM - Sacramento State at North Dakota -> winner goes to #3 South Dakota
2 PM - Gardner-Webb (OVC/Big South Auto-Bid) at Mercer -> winner goes to #1 South Dakota State
2 PM - Nicholls at Southern Illinois -> winner goes to #4 Idaho
2:30 PM - Drake at North Dakota State -> winner goes to #6 Montana State
4 PM - Duquesne at Youngstown State -> winner goes to #8 Villanova

Full bracket is here: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/print/football/fcs/2023

This is also "Rivalry Week" in the FBS. Teams in our region include:
11/24 at 11 AM - #16 Iowa (9-2) at Nebraska (5-6), CBS
11/24 at 3 PM - #9 Missouri (9-2) at Arkansas (4-7), CBS
11 AM - Indiana (3-8) at Purdue (3-8), BTN
11 AM - Northern Illinois (5-6) at Kent State (1-10), ESPN+
11 AM - Miami OH (9-2) at Ball State (4-7), CBSSN
2:30 PM - Wisconsin (6-5) at Minnesota (5-6), FS1
2:30 PM - Northwestern (6-5) at Illinois (5-6), BTN
7 PM - Iowa State (6-5) at #21 Kansas State (8-3), FOX

Also of interest if you're a general college football fan:
11 AM - #2 Ohio State (11-0) at #3 Michigan (11-0), FOX

[ST_Lawson]

Based on the Masseyratings predictions, here's what the first round of the FCS playoffs will look like:

First Round
55% chance North Dakota beats Sacramento State (31-28)
79% chance Richmond beats NC Central (35-21)
87% chance Delaware beats Lafayette (32-17)
67% chance Mercer beats Gardner-Webb (34-24)
90% chance Southern Illinois beats Nicholls State (31-14)
69% chance Austin Peay beats Chattanooga (31-24)
100% chance North Dakota State beats Drake (45-2)
90% chance Youngstown State beats Duquesne (90-10)