Bracketology 6.0

[NDSUstudent]

The Field
SFA at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
Sacred Heart at JMU vs 8. Fordham

SDSU at SHSU vs 5. EWU
Bethune-Cookman at Chattanooga vs 4. JSU

SELA at UNI vs 6. ISUR
Richmond at North Carolina A&T vs 3. CCU

Indiana State at EKU vs 7. Nova
San Diego at Montana vs 2. UNH

Autobids(11): EWU, CCU, UNH, NC A&T, NDSU, Sacred Heart, Jacksonville State, Fordham, San Diego, Chattanooga and SHSU
At Large(13): ISUR, Nova, UNI, SELA, SDSU, JMU, Indiana State, EKU, Montana State, Richmond, Montana, Bethune-Cookman, SFA

Bubble: William and Mary, YSU, NAU, Bryant, Bucknell

A few things...
Montana loses to MSU they are out.
YSU needs to beat NDSU or their bubble is burst...if they win they are in.
Winner of William and Mary-Richmond is in...loser is out
SFA and Bethune a very weak last teams in but the options outside of them are also weak.

Other Brackets....

Sports Network

Indiana State-Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State
San Diego-Montana winner at No. 8 seed Chattanooga

Sacred Heart-James Madison winner at No. 5 seed Jacksonville State
Southeastern Louisiana-South Dakota State winner at No. 4 seed Illinois State

Eastern Kentucky-Sam Houston State winner at No. 6 seed Eastern Washington
William & Mary-North Carolina A&T winner at No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina

Bucknell-Northern Iowa winner at No. 7 seed Villanova
Bryant-Fordham winner at No. 2 seed New Hampshire

Chris Lang(Lynchburg News and Advance)
(http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/liberty_university/chris_lang_blog/fcs-playoff-watch-one-week-to-go/article_c0b36de0-6da8-11e4-9297-5fe6102534f1.html)
Bryant-Fordham winner at #1 New Hampshire
UR/W&M-NCA&T winner at #8 Chattanooga

NAU-SELA winner at #4 Jacksonville State
SHSU-UNI winner at #5 Eastern Washington

SHU-JMU winner at #3 Coastal Carolina
SDSU-Montana winner at #6 Illinois State

USD-MSU winner at #2 North Dakota State
ISU-EKU winner at #7 Villanova

Dom Izzo's bracket (https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/status/534585085966970880)

SDSU at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
San Diego at SHSU vs 8. Chattanooga

EKU at UNI vs 5. EWU
Richmond at Indiana State vs 4. Illinois State

Bucknell at Bryant vs 3. CCU
NC A&T at SELA vs 6. JSU

JMU at Montana vs 7. Nova
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 2. UNH

[natstar1]

Have you done this in previous years? if so how close are you to picking the field?

[NDSUstudent]

Have you done this in previous years? if so how close are you to picking the field?

Missed one last year...Had YSU but the committee took SC State

My bracket from last year...

http://www.bisonville.com/forum/showthread.php?31716-FINAL-Bracketology

[bisonpride4ever]

SFA lost to Abilene Christian today 37-35. Does that still keep them in the field?


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

[NDSUstudent]

SFA lost to Abilene Christian today 37-35. Does that still keep them in the field?


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

Yep, only because they beat SELA. Quality wins are becoming tough to find, Bryant's quality win for example is Bucknell and Bucknell's quality win is Sacred Heart.

[MNLonghorn10]

MSU->EWU->UNI would be a sweet road to Frisco

[BisoninNWMN]

If UNI plays ISU-r again, the Redbirds will win that game IMO. Tougher match-up for UNI. Their special teams and defense scored for them in that game. Plus the Redbirds will be at home.

[BraxtonT]

Fordham getting the #8 seed? Your opinion or how you think the committee will set it up. I like your bracket for NDSU, but would seed UNI or JMU or Fordham.

Not disagreeing with you, but Bethune-Cookman and Stephen F. Austin in the field as at-larges would be the poster child for not having 24 teams in the field. A 7-5 Cal Poly or Youngstown would make for better competition, though they screwed themselves, so no sympathy for them not getting selected.

[marenlee]

This is based on how he predicts the games go next week. Assuming Fordham beats Army I can very well see them slipping in the #8 spot.

[NDSUstudent]

Sports Network

Indiana State-Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State
San Diego-Montana winner at No. 8 seed Chattanooga

Sacred Heart-James Madison winner at No. 5 seed Jacksonville State
Southeastern Louisiana-South Dakota State winner at No. 4 seed Illinois State

Eastern Kentucky-Sam Houston State winner at No. 6 seed Eastern Washington
William & Mary-North Carolina A&T winner at No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina

Bucknell-Northern Iowa winner at No. 7 seed Villanova
Bryant-Fordham winner at No. 2 seed New Hampshire

Chris Lang(Lynchburg News and Advance)
(http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/liberty_university/chris_lang_blog/fcs-playoff-watch-one-week-to-go/article_c0b36de0-6da8-11e4-9297-5fe6102534f1.html)
Bryant-Fordham winner at #1 New Hampshire
UR/W&M-NCA&T winner at #8 Chattanooga

NAU-SELA winner at #4 Jacksonville State
SHSU-UNI winner at #5 Eastern Washington

SHU-JMU winner at #3 Coastal Carolina
SDSU-Montana winner at #6 Illinois State

USD-MSU winner at #2 North Dakota State
ISU-EKU winner at #7 Villanova

Nobowls.com
http://nobowls.com/images/week12.png

[NDSUstudent]

Nobowls.com
http://nobowls.com/images/week12.png

College Sports Madness (http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs-football/bracketology)
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 1. UNH
SHSH at JMU vs 8. Chattanooga

SELA at UNI vs 5. EWU
SDSU at Montana St vs 4. Jax State

Richmond at Indiana State vs 3. CCU
SFA at Montana vs 5. Illinois State

NC A&T at EKU vs 7. Villanova
San Diego at Idaho State vs 2. NDSU

[BisoninNWMN]

IMO, if the Bison beat YSU, they are the #1 seed over UNH. Better SOS and an FBS win.

[NDSUstudent]

Dom Izzo's bracket (https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/status/534585085966970880)

SDSU at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
San Diego at SHSU vs 8. Chattanooga

EKU at UNI vs 5. EWU
Richmond at Indiana State vs 4. Illinois State

Bucknell at Bryant vs 3. CCU
NC A&T at SELA vs 6. JSU

JMU at Montana vs 7. Nova
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 2. UNH

[Tatanka]

^^^^Impossible to describe how much that would suck to have the entire mvfc on one side of the bracket.

[MNLonghorn10]

What an awesome road to Frisco. Let's kick some ass and take a few names

[Bison Loaf]

^^^^Impossible to describe how much that would suck to have the entire mvfc on one side of the bracket.

And that is one of the real downsides to getting more MVFC teams into the tourney.

Another downside is just the whole "begging" nature of it. Hear me out on this. It seems to me a major reason for wanting to get more MVFC teams into the tourney is so that when YOUR TEAM is on the bubble, you'll have a greater likelihood of getting in or maybe a higher seed if you do get in. But in many ways, that's the whole psychological rub - "when YOU are on the bubble".

Now let's apply it to NDSU in the last 3 years. The Herd's seed has not been affected at all by not having as many MVFC teams in. They have taken care of business (as it should be) and earned everything they've gotten - seed and results. Oh, I know we got in by the skin of our teeth in 2010 and made a good run, and I do realize that I'd be right there with everybody else lobbying for a spot IF we were on the bubble, but it still gives me the willy's to even be thinking about such scenarios. I don't want to think about or talk about getting a conference propped up so that IF NDSU is a bubble team, we'll get in. It seems so....so....UN-Bison-like!!!

Frankly, let the rest of the MVFC teams eat cake.

[bisonaudit]

And that is one of the real downsides to getting more MVFC teams into the tourney.

Another downside is just the whole "begging" nature of it. Hear me out on this. It seems to me a major reason for wanting to get more MVFC teams into the tourney is so that when YOUR TEAM is on the bubble, you'll have a greater likelihood of getting in or maybe a higher seed if you do get in. But in many ways, that's the whole psychological rub - "when YOU are on the bubble".

Now let's apply it to NDSU in the last 3 years. The Herd's seed has not been affected at all by not having as many MVFC teams in. They have taken care of business (as it should be) and earned everything they've gotten - seed and results. Oh, I know we got in by the skin of our teeth in 2010 and made a good run, and I do realize that I'd be right there with everybody else lobbying for a spot IF we were on the bubble, but it still gives me the willy's to even be thinking about such scenarios. I don't want to think about or talk about getting a conference propped up so that IF NDSU is a bubble team, we'll get in. It seems so....so....UN-Bison-like!!!

Frankly, let the rest of the MVFC teams eat cake.

Who's talking about propping up a conference? The MVFC doesn't need propping up. It's the best conference in the FCS. We're not blowing smoke here. This isn't blind homerism. The objective measures agree. As far as I'm concerned this issue doesn't have much to do with NDSU or the MVFC, it is about the legitimacy of the process.

[Bison Loaf]

Who's talking about propping up a conference? The MVFC doesn't need propping up. It's the best conference in the FCS. We're not blowing smoke here. This isn't blind homerism. The objective measures agree. As far as I'm concerned this issue doesn't have much to do with NDSU or the MVFC, it is about the legitimacy of the process.

"Propped up" in the sense of the committee seeing fit to put more MVFC teams into the tourney, not in the sense that the MVFC was a weak conference. I thought that was abundantly clear. :confused: Must not have been. Sorry for hitting a nerve with you specifically. Didn't mean to.

As for "legitimacy of the process", I'll leave you to worry about that all you want. I'm no FCS process groupie. Fact is, I AM a Bison homer, and proud of it. My overall opinion is that if the committee wants to screw a couple of bubble teams from ANY conference from not getting into the tourney - as long as it's not NDSU, of course - then I've never had a real problem with it. The response might then be that "Well, NDSU is going to be the one getting "screwed" one of these times", and of that I have no doubt. But then I'll say be a clear Top-5 team in the country and you don't have to worry about all that other crap.

[StL Bison Fan]

Dom Izzo's bracket (https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/status/534585085966970880)

SDSU at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
San Diego at SHSU vs 8. Chattanooga

EKU at UNI vs 5. EWU
Richmond at Indiana State vs 4. Illinois State

Bucknell at Bryant vs 3. CCU
NC A&T at SELA vs 6. JSU

JMU at Montana vs 7. Nova
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 2. UNH
Did you notice the schedule Dom had on there? He has the final on Jan 4. Thought it was 10?

[coloradobison]

Did you notice the schedule Dom had on there? He has the final on Jan 4. Thought it was 10?

January 10 http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/football/fcs/

[StL Bison Fan]

January 10 http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/football/fcs/

The 10th. On the Bison calendar.
The 4 th on the DIzzo Calendar

He forgot to update. Someone will catch it.

[Mayville Bison]

Dom Izzo's bracket (https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/status/534585085966970880)

SDSU at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
San Diego at SHSU vs 8. Chattanooga

EKU at UNI vs 5. EWU
Richmond at Indiana State vs 4. Illinois State

Bucknell at Bryant vs 3. CCU
NC A&T at SELA vs 6. JSU

JMU at Montana vs 7. Nova
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 2. UNH

I don't see ISUr getting a 4 seed. They played a very week out of conference schedule (best team was a 5-6 OVC team) and their loss wasn't to an FBS school (yes I get UNI is most likely better than Toledo). Switch ISUr and JSU (and the round 1 games that go with it) and that's how I see it. However, if Fordham beats Army, Fordham should get the #8 in my opinion.

EDIT - after looking at some of those round 1 games, I think some of those bubble teams get switched. For instance, I don't see Montana beating MSU, so I think Montana is out. Bucknell is another example. I guess I was just looking at the seeds, haha.

[bisonaudit]

The Field
SFA at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
Sacred Heart at JMU vs 8. Fordham

SDSU at SHSU vs 5. EWU
Bethune-Cookman at Chattanooga vs 4. JSU

SELA at UNI vs 6. ISUR
Richmond at North Carolina A&T vs 3. CCU

Indiana State at EKU vs 7. Nova
San Diego at Montana vs 2. UNH

Autobids(11): EWU, CCU, UNH, NC A&T, NDSU, Sacred Heart, Jacksonville State, Fordham, San Diego, Chattanooga and SHSU
At Large(13): ISUR, Nova, UNI, SELA, SDSU, JMU, Indiana State, EKU, Montana State, Richmond, Montana, Bethune-Cookman, SFA

Bubble: William and Mary, YSU, NAU, Bryant, Bucknell

A few things...
Montana loses to MSU they are out.
YSU needs to beat NDSU or their bubble is burst...if they win they are in.
Winner of William and Mary-Richmond is in...loser is out
SFA and Bethune a very weak last teams in but the options outside of them are also weak.


What Sagarin projects from this bracket:

59% NDSU
9% Jacksonville State
8% Ill St
8% New Hampshire
5% Coastal Carolina
4% UNI

NDSU's most likely route: Montana State, Fordham, Jacksonville State, New Hampshire

Potential conference matchups:
SDSU is 10% to advance to the semis.
Ill St is 24% to advance to the final.
UNI is 12% to advance to the final.
Ind St is 1% to advance to the final.

[bisonaudit]

Sports Network

Indiana State-Montana State winner at No. 1 seed North Dakota State
San Diego-Montana winner at No. 8 seed Chattanooga

Sacred Heart-James Madison winner at No. 5 seed Jacksonville State
Southeastern Louisiana-South Dakota State winner at No. 4 seed Illinois State

Eastern Kentucky-Sam Houston State winner at No. 6 seed Eastern Washington
William & Mary-North Carolina A&T winner at No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina

Bucknell-Northern Iowa winner at No. 7 seed Villanova
Bryant-Fordham winner at No. 2 seed New Hampshire


What Sagarin projects from this bracket:

54% NDSU
8% Jacksonville State
8% Ill St
8% UNI
7% New Hampshire
7% Coastal Carolina

NDSU's most likely route: Ind St, Chattanooga, Ill St (by 0.1% over Jacksonville State), Coastal Carolina

Potential conference matchups:
Round 2: Ind St 76%
Semi: Ill St 45%
Semi: SDSU 7%
Final: UNI 20%

[bisonaudit]

Chris Lang(Lynchburg News and Advance)
(http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/liberty_university/chris_lang_blog/fcs-playoff-watch-one-week-to-go/article_c0b36de0-6da8-11e4-9297-5fe6102534f1.html)
Bryant-Fordham winner at #1 New Hampshire
UR/W&M-NCA&T winner at #8 Chattanooga

NAU-SELA winner at #4 Jacksonville State
SHSU-UNI winner at #5 Eastern Washington

SHU-JMU winner at #3 Coastal Carolina
SDSU-Montana winner at #6 Illinois State

USD-MSU winner at #2 North Dakota State
ISU-EKU winner at #7 Villanova


What Sagarin projects from this bracket:
56% NDSU
13% Jacksonville State
7% New Hampshire
7% Ill St
6% UNI
3% Coastal Carolina
3% Chattanooga

NDSU's most likely path: Montana, Villanova, Ill St (by 0.6% over Coastal Carolina), Jacksonville State

Potential conference matchups:
Quarters: Ind St 20%
Semi: Ill St 43%
Semi: SDSU 12%
Final: UNI 14%

[bisonaudit]

Dom Izzo's bracket (https://twitter.com/DomIzzoWDAY/status/534585085966970880)

SDSU at Montana State vs 1. NDSU
San Diego at SHSU vs 8. Chattanooga

EKU at UNI vs 5. EWU
Richmond at Indiana State vs 4. Illinois State

Bucknell at Bryant vs 3. CCU
NC A&T at SELA vs 6. JSU

JMU at Montana vs 7. Nova
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 2. UNH


What Sagarin projects:
51% NDSU
12% Jacksonville State
10% Ill St
8% New Hampshire
6% Coastal Carolina
5% UNI
3% Villanova

NDSU's most likely path: SDSU, Chattanooga, Ill St, Jacksonville State

Potential conference matchups:
Round 2: SDSU 75%
Semi: UNI 26%
Semi: Ill St 56%
Semi: Ind St 3%

[MNLonghorn10]

What Sagarin projects from this bracket:

58% NDSU
11% Ill St
9% Jacksonville State
7% New Hampshire
5% UNI
3% Coastal Carolina

NDSU's most likely route: JMU, Fordham, Jacksonville State, Ill St

Potential conference matchups:
SDSU is 8% to advance to the semis.
Ill St is 32% to advance to the final.
UNI is 12% to advance to the final.
Ind St is 1% to advance to the final.

you have your first potential match up wrong. should be MSU or SFA

[JDZ]

you have your first potential match up wrong. should be MSU or SFA

You have your conference wrong. NDSU is in the MVFC. :)

Edit: Nevermind. I see what you are getting at.

[missingnumber7]

EDIT - after looking at some of those round 1 games, I think some of those bubble teams get switched. For instance, I don't see Montana beating MSU, so I think Montana is out. Bucknell is another example. I guess I was just looking at the seeds, haha.

I think you have to look at 2 things with the 'brawl of the wild'.

1. UM's domination of the series, although the Cats have won the last 2 in missoula both were in close low scoring (by big sky standards) games.

2. Delaney's last regular season game.

I think the griz win low scoring game. I think UM's is better than MSU's O, and especially if they have the backup QB in the game. If Prokup plays...is he more one dimensional (knee injury). And they've been running over everyone lately, over 260 rushing in last 6 games. I doubt they will put up that much in Missoula. That being said, I've been to a few of these games...It should be a good one.

[NDSUstudent]

Good stuff audit, I thought my bracket was the easiest run for NDSU when I first looked at the brackets but it is close to the others.

[Bison Loaf]

Good stuff audit, I thought my bracket was the easiest run for NDSU when I first looked at the brackets but it is close to the others.

Yeah, that IS good stuff. Just points out your glaring Midwestern bias, though. :biggrin:

[NDSUstudent]

Yeah, that IS good stuff. Just points out your glaring Midwestern bias, though. :biggrin:

Yep, I should probably weigh my bracket with an east coast bias!

It cost me a perfect bracket last year picking YSU over SC State.

[bisonaudit]

you have your first potential match up wrong. should be MSU or SFA

Thanks, s/b fixed in the original post now.

[bisonaudit]

Sagarin's take on the nobowls bracket:

49% NDSU
11% Jacksonville State
9% New Hampshire
8% Coastal Carolina
8% Ill St
5% UNI
4% Villanova
3% Eastern Washington

NDSU's most likely path: SDSU, UNI, Jacksonville State, New Hampshire

Potential conference matchups:
Round 2: SDSU 75%
Quarters: UNI 59%
Semis: Ill St 41%
Semis: Ind St 2%
Final: YSU 1%

[bisonaudit]

College Sports Madness (http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs-football/bracketology)
Sacred Heart at Fordham vs 1. UNH
SHSH at JMU vs 8. Chattanooga

SELA at UNI vs 5. EWU
SDSU at Montana St vs 4. Jax State

Richmond at Indiana State vs 3. CCU
SFA at Montana vs 5. Illinois State

NC A&T at EKU vs 7. Villanova
San Diego at Idaho State vs 2. NDSU


Sagarin's take:
55% NDSU
12% Jacksonville State
9% Ill St
7% New Hampshire
6% UNI
3% Coastal Carolina

NDSU's most likely path: Idaho State, Villanova, Ill St, Jacksonville State

Potential conference matchups:
Semis: Ill St 55%
Semis: Ind St 4%
Finals: UNI 14%
Finals: SDSU 4%

[NDSUstudent]

Lehigh Football Nation's Bracketology...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sDU6-bMXDOU/VG0txxih0uI/AAAAAAAAAr0/Bf3QyCwKB4s/s1600/FCSPlayoff11192014.png

[gotts]

He sure has a different view on things. I'm surprised there's no Bucknell in there. I won't have to rip him as hard on geographic match ups this week!

[bisonpride4ever]

Lehigh Football Nation's Bracketology...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sDU6-bMXDOU/VG0txxih0uI/AAAAAAAAAr0/Bf3QyCwKB4s/s1600/FCSPlayoff11192014.png

I'm surprised it didn't have Lehigh listed for every team


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

[BisoninNWMN]

^^^^^^

No way an undefeated CC team will be a #7 seed. If they beat Liberty, they will be a top 3 seeded team.