Last Four In: Samford, North Dakota, Mercer, Eastern Washington
First Four Out: Austin Peay, Southern Illinois, Towson, Youngstown State
Woo-hoo! Great weekend for the FCS! Four more wins for the Subdivision against the FBS. You COULD call it five, if you want to count Northern Arizona beating transitioner Sam Houston. Besides that debate, congrats to Weber State (over Utah State), Holy Cross (over Buffalo), Eastern Kentucky (over Bowling Green) and Incarnate Word (over Nevada). They join William & Mary and Delaware, who pulled the trick in Week 1.
As for this week’s bracket, there were no changes to the seed lines. Almost moved Incarnate Word into the top four, from #5, but with convincing wins or wins against perceived good teams, it seemed unnecessary at this time. If it were the end of the season, I’d really be pressed into splitting hairs. Another tough decision was Weber State and almost bumping them into the seed lines. For the same reason, we’ll just wait and see, for now.
Within the conference placements, the Colonial joins the Big Sky in drawing a fifth bid. The Big South is looking totally abysmal right now. North Carolina A&T loses their designated autobid spot for Campbell. Why? Because the Camels actually have a victory. The only other team in the conference with a win is Gardner-Webb, but that was against an uncounted sub-FCS opponent. Though, the Runnin’ Bulldogs were very close to knocking off FBS Coastal Carolina. Southeast Missouri takes over the bid in the Ohio Valley for much the same reason. The only playoff eligible teams with a victory are themselves and UT-Martin. Southeast Missouri’s win over Southern Illinois is likely stronger than a win over Western Illinois. The biggest news from amongst the conferences is the Western Athletic having no bids. Stephen F. Austin, the preseason favorite, fell to 0-2 and have not looked good in either game. Abilene Christian is 2-0, but against perceived weak opponents. If they can pull the upset this coming week, they’ll force their way into the bracket.
Bids By Conference
Atlantic Sun (1): *Eastern Kentucky
Big Sky (5): *Montana, Montana State, Weber State, Sacramento State, Eastern Washington
Big South (1): *Campbell
Colonial (5): *William & Mary, Delaware, Villanova, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Missouri Valley (4): *North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Missouri State, North Dakota
Northeast (1): *Sacred Heart
Ohio Valley (1): *Southeast Missouri
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *Davidson
Southern (3): *Chattanooga, Samford, Mercer
Southland (1): *Incarnate Word
Western (0):
* denotes an automatic qualifier
** one of the champions between the Atlantic Sun and Western combined, will also receive an automatic bid
