Bracketology 5.0

[NDSUstudent]

Well things are shaken up a bit....MVFC moves up to five projected playoff teams....NDSU holds onto the top seed due to the strength of the MVFC...

SFA at NAU vs 1. NDSU
EKU at JMU vs 8. Fordham

Idaho State at SDSU vs 5. EWU
SC State at Chattanooga vs 4. Jacksonville State

Richmond at UNI vs 6. ISUR
Jacksonville at Bethune-Cookman vs 3. CCU

Bryant at YSU vs 7. Nova
SELA at Cal Poly vs 2. UNH

Autobids(11): NAU, CCU, UNH, SC State, NDSU, Bryant, Jacksonville St, Fordham, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, SELA
At Large(13): EWU, Nova, ISUR, EKU, SDSU, UNI, YSU, Idaho St, Richmond, JMU, SFA, Bethune-Cookman, Cal Poly

Bubble: ISUB, Montana State, Liberty, NC A&T, William and Mary, SIU, Delaware, Montana, McNeese State, Bucknell and Sacred Heart

Bold/italic=team has has clinched

[JSUBison]

My thoughts are that EIU will beat Jacksonville State, and win the autobid. OVC gets three with JSU and EKU. SHSU wins the Southland auto. Southland gets three with SFA and SELA. The Big Sky, well I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole, but I do think a minimum of three get in. The way that league is looking, I honestly would not be all that shocked if NAU loses to UN_ this week. As far as Coastal getting a top seed, look at 2011 and Lehigh. Lehigh was 10-1 and was sent on the road in the first round. It could be argued that Lehigh had a tougher schedule thus far than Coastal has had this year. The committee wasn't impressed with Lehigh's record too much, they didn't even get a seed.

[NDSUstudent]

a few more brackets....

NoBowls.com
http://nobowls.com/images/week11.png

Chris Lang(Lynchburg News and Advance)

Bryant-Fordham winner at #1 New Hampshire
Richmond-YSU winner at #8 Southeastern Louisiana

SCSU-Chattanooga winner at #4 Coastal Carolina
SDSU-SHSU winner at #5 Eastern Washington

JMU-Liberty winner at #3 Jacksonville State
EKU-UNI winner at #6 Villanova

Jacksonville-BCU winner at #2 North Dakota State
MSU-NAU winner at #7 Illinois State

Sports Network
Eastern Kentucky/Montana winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State
Jacksonville/Richmond winner at No. 8 seed Chattanooga

Cal Poly/Southeastern Louisiana winner at No. 5 seed Eastern Washington
Sam Houston State/Northern Iowa winner at No. 4 seed Illinois State

Bethune-Cookman/Liberty winner at No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina
Fordham/South Carolina State winner at No. 6 seed Jacksonville State

Northern Arizona/South Dakota State winner at No. 7 seed Villanova
Bryant/Youngstown State winner at No. 2 seed New Hampshire

On the at-large bubble: Idaho State, Indiana State, James Madison, Montana State, North Carolina A&T, Stephen F. Austin

[NDSUstudent]

While it won't happen(MVFC not getting six in) the nobowls bracket would be a brutal slate of games. Meanwhile I would love the TSN bracket but it would setup a dozy of a semifinal game in the dome.

[Mayville Bison]

Of the seeded teams, the 4 brackets have the same 7 teams - only #8 is different. If our goal is to get to Frisco, who would we want to play (basically who would be the 4 easiest teams to play)? My opinion:

Round 2 - Fordham/SELA/Chattanooga - all 3 would be easy wins IMO
Quarters - CCU - I have been higher on CCU than most, but still much easier than the other 5 remaining
Semis - Jacksonville St - Not sold that the OVC is anything special. That being said, I don't expect them to be seeded after they lose to EIU.
Championship Game - EWU - Our offense could run all over this team. I don't think we would need a punter all day and Keller could stay at home too, but I'm sure there will be some 21 yd FG that needs to be kicked.

Compare that to who I'd want to see (stealing Tony's thread from the football forum)
Round 2 - ISUr - just to prove we are the best in the MVFC
Quarters - EWU - I'd love for this to be in Frisco, but they deserve to come to Fargo
Semis - Nova or JSU - someone new would be good
Frisco - UNH or CCU - rematches from last year's playoffs to show we are just as good as last year

[bisonaudit]

Of the seeded teams, the 4 brackets have the same 7 teams - only #8 is different. If our goal is to get to Frisco, who would we want to play (basically who would be the 4 easiest teams to play)? My opinion:

Round 2 - Fordham/SELA/Chattanooga - all 3 would be easy wins IMO
Quarters - CCU - I have been higher on CCU than most, but still much easier than the other 5 remaining
Semis - Jacksonville St - Not sold that the OVC is anything special. That being said, I don't expect them to be seeded after they lose to EIU.
Championship Game - EWU - Our offense could run all over this team. I don't think we would need a punter all day and Keller could stay at home too, but I'm sure there will be some 21 yd FG that needs to be kicked.

Compare that to who I'd want to see (stealing Tony's thread from the football forum)
Round 2 - ISUr - just to prove we are the best in the MVFC
Quarters - EWU - I'd love for this to be in Frisco, but they deserve to come to Fargo
Semis - Nova or JSU - someone new would be good
Frisco - UNH or CCU - rematches from last year's playoffs to show we are just as good as last year

pos rep coming.

[Bison Loaf]

Jeez, NoBowls' bracketology is just a glorified MVFC conference tournament. It's interesting to look at, but very much agree that the MVFC would NEVER get 6 teams in, nor do I currently believe that they would even get 5 teams in. But I do agree with the underlying, unspoken NoBowls sentiment that the committee will likely put all the MVFC teams together and NOT put themselves (the committee) in a position of a possible all-MVFC final.

As such, I think we see that 4th MVFC team (SDSU, UNI) in the Fargo Dome in round two. And honestly, as much as I would enjoy beating either of them, as a fan it really sucks to see conference mates in the playoffs, instead of different teams.

[NDSUstudent]

I think if ISUR is seed, UNI is basically a lock to got here, since it is a bus trip. UNI-NDSU is not a bus trip.

Of course the same goes for SDSU and us, I think if Montana State makes it SDSU is a lock to go there and we get the winner. But an Idaho State-SDSU game could go either way between NDSU and EWU. Same for SDSU-Montana.

[bisonaudit]

Jeez, NoBowls' bracketology is just a glorified MVFC conference tournament. It's interesting to look at, but very much agree that the MVFC would NEVER get 6 teams in, nor do I currently believe that they would even get 5 teams in. But I do agree with the underlying, unspoken NoBowls sentiment that the committee will likely put all the MVFC teams together and NOT put themselves (the committee) in a position of a possible all-MVFC final.

As such, I think we see that 4th MVFC team (SDSU, UNI) in the Fargo Dome in round two. And honestly, as much as I would enjoy beating either of them, as a fan it really sucks to see conference mates in the playoffs, instead of different teams.

If they want to do the geography thing, I understand it. I don't agree with it but I understand it. However, their weak prohibition on teams from the same conference only being restricted from playing each other if it's the first game for both teams really needs to be changed. Especially if the teams have already played each other. As it stands it's just another excuse that they have to let in 2 or 3 teams from shitty conferences because the playoffs as they're currently constituted will never generate any evidence about the quality depth of any conference.

[Bison Loaf]

I think if ISUR is seed, UNI is basically a lock to got here, since it is a bus trip. UNI-NDSU is not a bus trip.

Of course the same goes for SDSU and us, I think if Montana State makes it SDSU is a lock to go there and we get the winner. But an Idaho State-SDSU game could go either way between NDSU and EWU. Same for SDSU-Montana.

Yeah, you're probably right.

However, in your projection, you have ISUr as the 6th seed, thus opposite of NDSU's bracket (as the #1 seed). I guess what I am thinking is that, under that scenario, the committee would somehow find a way ;) to have ISUr as the 5th seed and EWU as the 6th seed. Then SDSU, UNI and ISUr would all be assured of running up against NDSU before ever getting to the finals. They'd take their chances with a non-seed like YSU in the other bracket (opposite NDSU), but not a seed like ISUr or a playoff team that has beaten NDSU in the same season (which did not happen in 2011 or 2012).

Am I being too much of a conspiracy theorist?

[NDSUstudent]

Yeah, you're probably right.

However, in your projection, you have ISUr as the 6th seed, thus opposite of NDSU's bracket (as the #1 seed). I guess what I am thinking is that, under that scenario, the committee would somehow find a way ;) to have ISUr as the 5th seed and EWU as the 6th seed. Then SDSU, UNI and ISUr would all be assured of running up against NDSU before ever getting to the finals. They'd take their chances with a non-seed like YSU in the other bracket (opposite NDSU), but not a seed like ISUr or a playoff team that has beaten NDSU in the same season (which did not happen in 2011 or 2012).

Am I being too much of a conspiracy theorist?

I'm not sure about that last year they had all the conferences with multiple seeds split up. I think they seed the 8 in regards to who is best and let the chips fall where they may after that.

The regionalization really occurs within the first two rounds.

[Mayville Bison]

Yeah, you're probably right.

However, in your projection, you have ISUr as the 6th seed, thus opposite of NDSU's bracket (as the #1 seed). I guess what I am thinking is that, under that scenario, the committee would somehow find a way ;) to have ISUr as the 5th seed and EWU as the 6th seed. Then SDSU, UNI and ISUr would all be assured of running up against NDSU before ever getting to the finals. They'd take their chances with a non-seed like YSU in the other bracket (opposite NDSU), but not a seed like ISUr or a playoff team that has beaten NDSU in the same season (which did not happen in 2011 or 2012).

Am I being too much of a conspiracy theorist?

There's one reasoning that agrees with you (2012) and a few that don't (2012 & 2013), so I don't think there's a rhyme or reason outside of who are the best 8 teams.

2012 - They put 3 Big Sky teams on one side of the bracket and Sam Houston beat all 3 of them en route to Frisco. ISUr and NDSU were on opposite sides of the bracket, but ISUr wasn't a seed.

2013 - Montana and Eastern Washington were on opposite sides of the bracket. Maine and Towson were on opposite sides. SELA and McNeese were on opposite sides.

[NDSUstudent]

New updated bracket going into tomorrow's games...

The Field
Idaho State at SDSU vs 1. NDSU
EKU at JMU vs 8. Fordham


San Diego at Cal Poly vs 5. EWU
SFA at NAU vs 4. Jacksonville State


SHSU at UNI vs 6. ISUR
SELA at Chattanooga vs 3. CCU


Bryant at YSU vs 7. Nova
SC State at Richmond vs 2. UNH

Autobids(11): NAU, CCU, UNH, SC State, NDSU, Bryant, Jacksonville St, Fordham, San Diego, Chattanooga, SHSU
At Large(13): EWU, Nova, ISUR, EKU, SDSU, UNI, YSU, Idaho St, Richmond, JMU, SFA, SELA, Cal Poly


Bubble: liberty, ISUB, Montana State, NC A&T, William and Mary, SIU, Delaware, Montana, McNeese State, Bucknell and Sacred Heart

[missingnumber7]

New updated bracket going into tomorrow's games...

The Field
Idaho State at SDSU vs 1. NDSU
EKU at JMU vs 8. Fordham


San Diego at Cal Poly vs 5. EWU
SFA at NAU vs 4. Jacksonville State


SHSU at UNI vs 6. ISUR
SELA at Chattanooga vs 3. CCU


Bryant at YSU vs 7. Nova
SC State at Richmond vs 2. UNH

Autobids(11): NAU, CCU, UNH, SC State, NDSU, Bryant, Jacksonville St, Fordham, San Diego, Chattanooga, SHSU
At Large(13): EWU, Nova, ISUR, EKU, SDSU, UNI, YSU, Idaho St, Richmond, JMU, SFA, SELA, Cal Poly


Bubble: liberty, ISUB, Montana State, NC A&T, William and Mary, SIU, Delaware, Montana, McNeese State, Bucknell and Sacred Heart

They gonna play that game 2 weeks in a row?

[NDSUstudent]

They gonna play that game 2 weeks in a row?

They shouldn't but it is a bus trip and the NCAA is cheap.

[A1pigskin]

I think it would be fun to play someone that has not been to the Dome yet.

[Mayville Bison]

They shouldn't but it is a bus trip and the NCAA is cheap.


I thought first round games couldn't be regular season rematches

[NDSUstudent]

I thought first round games couldn't be regular season rematches

It can't be a conference rematch, but it can be a non-conference rematch.

[missingnumber7]

It can't be a conference rematch, but it can be a non-conference rematch.

NAU is a bus trip too, only 90 mins longer according to google.

If its a close game then maybe I could see it, but if its a blow out, no way does the committee do that. And either way if I were the schools I would be very pisssed off.

[Mayville Bison]

NAU is a bus trip too, only 90 mins longer according to google.

If its a close game then maybe I could see it, but if its a blow out, no way does the committee do that. And either way if I were the schools I would be very pisssed off.


I think it's safe to say NAU is out of the playoffs after today

[JSUBison]

The way that league is looking, I honestly would not be all that shocked if NAU loses to UN_ this week.



I think it's safe to say NAU is out of the playoffs after today

I just knew NAU couldn't finish the season without another horrible loss. Bubble teams are loving todays scores.

[bisonpride4ever]

The annual Youngstown Late Season Meltdown is happening again. Hallmark needs to create a genre of greeting cards for this event.


Sent using both a Speak-n-Spell and an Etch-a-Sketch

[bisonaudit]

The annual Youngstown Late Season Meltdown is happening again. Hallmark needs to create a genre of greeting cards for this event.


Sent using both a Speak-n-Spell and an Etch-a-Sketch

perhaps they can work out a way to convert their UNI inventory.

[missingnumber7]

The annual Youngstown Late Season Meltdown is happening again. Hallmark needs to create a genre of greeting cards for this event.


Sent using both a Speak-n-Spell and an Etch-a-Sketch

I expect some high quality heckling next week when Pouty Coach comes to the dome.

[missingnumber7]

perhaps they can work out a way to convert their UNI inventory.

Their UNI inventory says playoff choke job.