Predict the FCS playoffs…

[EWURanger]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

[89Hen]

#7 Coastal Carolina

[dal4018]

When German returns for TSU they should play much better.Butler is a true frosh he has taken a beating this yr.The defense has been carrying the squad so far.

[Grizzlies1982]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

You sir have lost your internet privileges for a week. Go sit in the corner and reflect upon your errors!

[Grizalltheway]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

Really? All it's probably going to take is an SUU win over NAU, I've got my money on the T-birds in that one.

[SACCAT]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

Really? All it's probably going to take is an SUU win over NAU, I've got my money on the T-birds in that one.

That won't matter, the CATS will beat the griz and drop them out of the top 8....

[BlackFalkin]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

Since you guys have mastered this... whom do you predict Eastern will draw first... What two teams will play to face Eastern?

[EWURanger]

Not going to try to predict the entire field, but my seeds as of right now.

#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 Coastal Carolina
#8 McNeese State

*Edited - I did a little more research, and Montana will probably be hard-pressed to get into the top 8.

Really? All it's probably going to take is an SUU win over NAU, I've got my money on the T-birds in that one.

I'm assuming you're not arguing with the top 5, so:

-With a win over JMU, Towson will be 10-2 with a win over UConn and no bad losses. Advantage Towson.
-With a win over Lamar, McNeese will be sitting at 10-2 with a win over South Florida. Advantage McNeese.
-I re-looked Coastal. I thought they had a little bit better resume, so I am probably off on that one and would either slide them into the 8 seed, or bump them out in favor of Montana. A 10-2 record in the Big Sky is more impressive than a 10-2 record in the Big South - but the caveat is that Montana didn't play an FBS while Coastal is playing South Carolina tomorrow. Not sure how they'll look at that one, but you have to figure it may play in favor of CC in terms of SoS. I guess you could say that CC played Hampton and Charlotte, but then there's Ok Panhandle State. It'll be interesting to see, but it's hard to imagine the Big South Champion being bumped out of a seed by the #3 team in the Big Sky. I guess it could happen though.

So, revised list:
#1 North Dakota State
#2 Eastern Illinois
#3 Eastern Washington
#4 SELA
#5 Maine
#6 Towson
#7 McNeese State
#8 Coastal Carolina or Montana

[craneac27]

make sure y'all get in final predictions of the top 8 and who hosts 1st round playoff games *before Sunday*



...oh and i got to meet SVP and Russillo today at LSU

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Two CAA bids but three SoCon?

Admittedly I didn't spend a lot of time pouring over the schedules, but after taking a closer look, yeah a W&M win is probably likely tomorrow, and would be a lot better choice at 8-4 with an all D1 schedule over SC State or Furman. I didn't list teams in order of likelihood of being chosen for AL bids, however Furman was my last team in. I struggled in finding teams worthy for the last few spots.

My revised prediction:

---Seeds---
1. NDSU
2. EWU
3. EIU
4. Maine
5. SELA
6. Towson
7. Fordham
8. McNeese

---Home 1st Round---
Montana
NAU
CCU
YSU
Lehigh
W&M
Tennessee State
Chatty

---Road 1st Round---
SUU
Chuck South
Bethune-Cookman
Samford
Sacred Heart
SHSU
Butler
SC State

[Mvemjsunpx]

---Road 1st Round---
SUU
Chuck South
Bethune-Cookman
Samford
Sacred Heart
SHSU
Butler
SC State

If SCSU gets in, I doubt they'll be on the road. Their average attendance is about 17,000.

[JohnStOnge]

Ah! I didn't realize San Diego declared themselves ineligible. As far as McNeese, that's my school. I didn't want to give us a home game for "superstitious" purposes

Well at least now I know why you put the thumbs down thing by Southeastern Louisiana. I was wondering what this is about. I'm a McNeese alum too but I can see that the Lions are very good and deserve a top 8 seed. Heck I think they deserve a top 4 seed.

I do think McNeese is capable of a lot better than it showed when the two played this year and would not assume they'd lose again if the two have a rematch. They'd be the underdog, no doubt. But they put up fewer yards against Southeastern than anybody Southeastern played this year and I know they're not anywhere close to the worst offense Southeastern played. In fact I'd say they have the best offense among teams Southeastern's played except maybe TCU. Just for some reason they didn't show up on that side of the ball on that day.

[JohnStOnge]

I just thought of something to wonder about. Let's say McNeese is the 8 seed and wins in the second round. Let's say North Dakota State also wins. When they get to that point are they doing to do a bracket thing so that if both 1 and 8 are still alove 1 plays 8, etc. Is it the case that if McNeese does get the 8 seed then wins its second round game the Cowboys would likely be going to Fargo for the quarterfinal?

[grizinidaho]

What's everyone's surprise guess? There's always one where a team gets let in that's questionable and left out the same way.

SHSU out SUU in

[EWURanger]

I just thought of something to wonder about. Let's say McNeese is the 8 seed and wins in the second round. Let's say North Dakota State also wins. When they get to that point are they doing to do a bracket thing so that if both 1 and 8 are still alove 1 plays 8, etc. Is it the case that if McNeese does get the 8 seed then wins its second round game the Cowboys would likely be going to Fargo for the quarterfinal?

My guess is that in that scenario the higher seed continues to play the lowest seed possible. So yeah, I think if the #8 wins they're going to Fargo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TribeFanInNC]

I just thought of something to wonder about. Let's say McNeese is the 8 seed and wins in the second round. Let's say North Dakota State also wins. When they get to that point are they doing to do a bracket thing so that if both 1 and 8 are still alove 1 plays 8, etc. Is it the case that if McNeese does get the 8 seed then wins its second round game the Cowboys would likely be going to Fargo for the quarterfinal?

My guess is that in that scenario the higher seed continues to play the lowest seed possible. So yeah, I think if the #8 wins they're going to Fargo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The bracket is set regardless of who is left in it--there is no re-pairing if a seed loses. So #1 and #8 as set tomorrow will be on a collision course in the quarters assuming they both win in the second round. If the #1 seed loses in the second round and #8 wins, then the #8 hosts the team that beat #1.

[Gil Dobie]

1. NDSU
2. Maine
3. EWU
4. EIU
5. SELU
6. McNeese St
7. NAU
8. Montana

[craneac27]

Well at least now I know why you put the thumbs down thing by Southeastern Louisiana. I was wondering what this is about. I'm a McNeese alum too but I can see that the Lions are very good and deserve a top 8 seed. Heck I think they deserve a top 4 seed.

yeah one of my good friends kicked for McNeese from 2000-2004. i went to LSU but took a summer class at McNeese just to be apart of it. love the MSU Cowboys and FCS football. i HATE SLU and everything about Hammond

[slulionsfan]

Ah! I didn't realize San Diego declared themselves ineligible. As far as McNeese, that's my school. I didn't want to give us a home game for "superstitious" purposes

Well at least now I know why you put the thumbs down thing by Southeastern Louisiana. I was wondering what this is about. I'm a McNeese alum too but I can see that the Lions are very good and deserve a top 8 seed. Heck I think they deserve a top 4 seed.

I do think McNeese is capable of a lot better than it showed when the two played this year and would not assume they'd lose again if the two have a rematch. They'd be the underdog, no doubt. But they put up fewer yards against Southeastern than anybody Southeastern played this year and I know they're not anywhere close to the worst offense Southeastern played. In fact I'd say they have the best offense among teams Southeastern's played except maybe TCU. Just for some reason they didn't show up on that side of the ball on that day.

I don't know about another 41-7, but you're not taking into account match ups ... McNeese is a great match up for us and we're a bad match up for them. They're not very big and don't have a mobile QB ... conversely, we have the size to neutralize their O-line and speed to take away their skill guys. Other than a couple of drives in the first half last year, they've struggled to move the ball against us over the last six quarters. We match up well with SFA too.

The teams who have had success against us, have either come out with a bunch of new wrinkles and changes in their offense, or have a running threat at QB. But usually we make adjustments and pull away.

[JohnStOnge]

If the two teams were to play again I think McNeese needs to focus more on running the ball. Without looking I don't know if you're the Lions fan that came to the McNeese board and pointed out that Marcus Wiltz didn't gain five yards on the first rushing attempt because he fumbled it forward after Zem noted that McNeese did well when it ran the ball. But regardless McNeese did do well when it ran the ball on designed run plays. It's just that they'd do things like make good yardage running the ball on first down then try to pass the ball.

I don't think McNeese's offensive line had that much of a problem with SLU's front. I think it was much more a matter of either McNeese receivers not being able to get open and/or Stroud having an off night. He did generally have time to throw the ball. I thought the sacks were coverage sacks. And the offensive line did usually create space when they ran the ball. If you give Wiltz a zero instead of a five for the early fumble play McNeese tailbacks still averaged five yards per carry. What I would hope is that if they meet Southeastern Louisiana again they think more in terms of making them stop the run instead of being too conscious of trying to mix it up. That doesn't mean I don't think they still wouldn't have a very steep hill to climb or that I don't think they'd still be the underdog. But even during the game as a fan watching what was working and what wasn't I think that would give them their best shot.

The Northern Iowa game was similar by the way. The passing game was totally ineffective but designed run plays did well on a play by play basis. And the sacks were coverage sacks. I thought in both games the offensive line did well in terms of what they're responsible for doing. Stroud had enough time to throw the ball by any reasonable standard and they created space for the running backs in both games. I don't think the offensive line not matching up well with the other team's defensive front was the problem in either case.

[Theee Catrabbit]

I don't know what you two are discussing....McNeese blows and sela sucks....you're both horribly overrated and your conference sucks, which helps you be horribly overrated.

[TribeFanInNC]

After Saturday's carnage, this was a TOUGH bracket to fill out. I have a low level of confidence on this, but here goes:

1 NDSU vs.
Butler at Tennessee State
8 McNeese State vs.
Lafayette at New Hampshire
5 Maine vs.
Sacred Heart at Fordham
4 Montana vs.
Samford at Sam Houston State

3 Eastern Washington vs.
S Dakota State at Northern Arizona
6 Towson vs.
Lehigh at Bethune-Cookman
7 SE Louisiana vs.
Furman at Coastal Carolina
2 Eastern Illinois vs.
Chattanooga vs. Jacksonville State

What about...
SCSU, Charleston Southern: Didn't beat anyone of note
S Utah: Are victories over S Alabama and Montana State really that impressive in the end?
William & Mary: Lost last two
Youngstown State: Lost last three
Why Lehigh? This is a make-up call by the committee to amend for 2012.

Commence brickthrowing now.

[grizzaholic]

You are braver than I. I wouldn't know where to start after the top 4 or 5.

Do you really think Montana will get the 4 seed? If Montana does get the 4 seed...shouldn't NAU also get a seed?

[Mvemjsunpx]

My guess at the seeds

#1 - North Dakota St.
#2 - Eastern Illinois
#3 - Eastern Washington
#4 - Southeastern Louisiana
#5 - NAU
#6 - Montana
#7 - McNeese St.
#8 - Maine


Coastal, Fordham, and Towson could conceivably take one of those seeds, and Bethune-Cookman could perhaps be a dark horse. The Maine/Towson situation is interesting. Maine won the CAA by a game, but they have the same overall record as Towson & one less FCS loss. Will their loss the final week drop them below Towson, or will they drag Towson down with them (Towson & Maine didn't play each other)?

[TribeFanInNC]

You are braver than I. I wouldn't know where to start after the top 4 or 5.

Do you really think Montana will get the 4 seed? If Montana does get the 4 seed...shouldn't NAU also get a seed?

5-8 all have some sort of negative and Montana played EWU tough late in the season. (On second thought, maybe SELA is too low?) As for NAU, I just couldn't give one conference three seeds. Call it ECB if you like.