Last Four In: William & Mary, Southern Illinois, Western Carolina, Liberty
First Four Out: James Madison, Northern Iowa, Sacred Heart, Sam Houston State
Here are two schools that don’t readily come to mind when talking about the FCS playoffs: Western Carolina and Presbyterian. Don’t laugh. The way this season is shaking out, these two schools have a shot...and the Catamounts right now are projected to make the playoffs as the second entry from the Southern Conference. With schools such as Northern Iowa, Sam Houston State and Tennessee State losing, the door has been opened for teams such as WCU and Presbyterian, and they’re making some noise.
The Catamounts are 5-2 (3-0 in the conference) and still must play Chattanooga and Samford (and a little school called Alabama), but if they can finish 8-4, they’d have a real shot because the playoff committee would likely prefer to have more than one entry from the SoCon. Third-year coach Mark Speir has done a fine job turning around this moribund program so keep this name in mind come late November.
The other school to consider is the Big South’s Presbyterian. The Blue Hose stunned No. 25 Charleston Southern Saturday, 7-3, to raise its record to 4-3. Presbyterain still must play Liberty and Gardner-Webb (it battled Coastal Carolina before losing 40-28), but it’s in the hunt. And Presbyterian is one of the few schools to play three FBS opponents: Northern Illinois, North Carolina State and Ole Miss. So even a 7-5 Presbyterian team (projecting a loss to Ole Miss and splitting with Liberty and Gardner-Webb) might be interesting to the playoff committee.
See the FCS Football Projected Bracket
Big Sky: *Eastern Washington, Montana, Montana State
Big South: *Coastal Carolina, Liberty
CAA: *Villanova, New Hampshire, Richmond, William & Mary
MEAC: *Bethune-Cookman
MVFC: *North Dakota State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, South Dakota State, Youngstown State
NEC: *Bryant
OVC: *Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky,
Patriot: *Fordham
Pioneer: *Jacksonville
Southern: *Chattanooga, Western Carolina
Southland: *SE Louisiana, McNeese State,
* Automatic bid
See the FCS Football Projected Bracket
