Bracketology Breakdown
Last Four In: Eastern Kentucky, Missouri State, Rhode Island, Virginia Military
First Four Out: Furman, Delaware, Northern Iowa, Monmouth
For those who enjoy chaos, you got your second dose after last week’s barrage of upsets. Most of the damage was done in the Colonial Athletic this week. New Hampshire and Delaware both took losses again, dropping them off the bracket. Rhode Island also was upset this week, but their 5-1 record overall keeps them safe. The win over Delaware helps keep their heads above water.
Also falling off this week was Northern Iowa, who lost for a second consecutive time. Their earlier win over Sacramento State, who just upset Montana, keeps the Panthers close, but off for now. Speaking of Sacramento State, their huge win at Montana vaults them into the field. Virginia Military also rejoins the field by beating previously 4-1 Mercer, thoroughly.
So what we have now is six conferences getting multiple bids. A truly democratic representation on the FCS landscape. It also spreads the map out a little, which makes pairing teams together easier. Still, the seed lines are heavily dominated by the western powers in the Big Sky and Missouri Valley. And Sam Houston State too, who’s west of the Mississippi River.
The process of smoothing out the bids across conferences has finally started to happen. I’ve been doing this a long time and I can tell right now, there’s potential for a very thin bubble come season’s end, at least as far as the first 22 or 23 bids are concerned. However, there may be 10-12 teams fighting for that 24th bid. Yay for me.
Bids By Conference
AQ7 (2): *Sam Houston State, Eastern Kentucky
Big Sky (5): *Eastern Washington, UC-Davis, Montana State, Sacramento State, Montana
Big South (1): *Kennesaw State
Colonial (3): *Villanova, James Madison, Rhode Island
Missouri Valley (5): *North Dakota State, Southern Illinois, South Dakota State, South Dakota, Missouri State
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (1): *Tennessee-Martin
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *Davidson
Southern (2): *East Tennessee State, Virginia Military
Southland (2): *Southeastern Louisiana, Incarnate Word
* denotes projected conference’s automatic qualifier
