FCS Playoffs - seeding change

Fri Apr 26, 2024 11:24 am

The NCAA approved seeding teams 1-16 for the FCS playoffs.

The way it will work going forward is that teams 7-16 will host a 17-24 team in the first round, with pairings made regionally. Then the winner of the #16 vs whomever game will play at #1, #15 game vs #2, etc.
In the past, everything in the first two rounds was regional, so the first round was just two close pairings of teams that didn't play each other in the regular season, then the winner would play a seeded team that was relatively close.

So, instead of just the top 8 seeds having something to play for near the end of the regular season, the top 16 teams get a "goal" (beyond just trying to win).

Top 8 get a first round bye and host a second round game
9-16 get to host a first round game
17-24 are just happy to be there

For example, in 2017, most rankings had WIU around the 10-11th spot and Weber State around 9-10th, yet, because of where we're located, we ended up having to play each other, and because Weber State was able to bid more, we had to go on the road there (where we lost by 3). With this new setup, we would have likely been a #10 seed, hosted in the first round, probably someone like Northern Arizona or Nicholls State. Then if we'd have won, we would then have played at #7 Wofford.

https://herosports.com/fcs-playoffs-seed-16-bzbz/