Bracketology Breakdown
Last Four In: Villanova, North Dakota, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
First Four Out: Eastern Kentucky, Weber State, South Dakota, Kennesaw State
A little bit of movement this week in the FCS Bracketology. Not so much with teams moving in or out, but with seeding. Eastern Washington’s victory over Montana bumps them up to #2 and drops Montana from the crow’s nest down to #6. However, that might be a little bit harsh. As the season goes along, that will be re-evaluated - at least once or twice or seven thousand times.
Only bracket casualty this week was Virginia Military, who’s on again / off again ways could give motion sickness to even the steadiest pirate out there. Speaking of which, that leaves those landlocked Buccaneers of East Tennessee State as the lone Southern Conference survivor.
Picking up that lost bid were those headbutting Rams of Rhode Island. As skull-cracking of an outfit, if you ever saw one. They are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial, so why not? They’ll be tested this coming week at home, so we’ll see if they earn their keep.
The aforementioned Colonial picks up a fifth bid, overtaking the Big Sky for second most overall. Only the Missouri Valley and their six bids tops the conference list. Conference play is pretty much in full swing now, so we’ll see if the “Big Three” conferences can continue the death grip on the thirteen at-large bids, of which they hold twelve right now, or if someone else can wrestle a few away.
Bids By Conference
AQ7 (1): *Sam Houston State
Big Sky (4): *Eastern Washington, UC-Davis, Montana, Montana State
Big South (1): *Monmouth
Colonial (5): *James Madison, Delaware, Villanova, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Missouri Valley (6): *South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Missouri State, North Dakota
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (1): *Tennessee-Martin
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *Davidson
Southern (1): *East Tennessee State
Southland (2): *Southeastern Louisiana, Incarnate Word
* denotes projected conference’s automatic qualifier
