If FCS playoffs were like Division II, it would look like...

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

2008 Division II Playoff Bracket
Posted on 2008 under Division II

Super Region 1
6. Seton Hill (9-2) at 3. American International (9-1)
Winner plays at 2. California Pa (10-1)

5. Southern Connecticut (8-2) at 4. West Chster (8-3)
Winner plays at 1. Bloomsburg (10-1)

Super Region 3
6. Wayne State (9-2) at 3. Chadron State (10-1)
Winner plays at 2. Minnesota Duluth (11-0)

5. Minnesota State (9-2) at 4. Ashland (8-3)
Winner plays at 1. Grand Valley State (10-0)

Super Region 2
6. Carson-Newman (7-3) at 3. Valdosa State (8-2)
Winner plays at 2. Northern Alabama (10-1)

5. Albany State (7-3) at 4. Tusculum (8-3)
Winner plays at 1. Delta State (9-1)

Super Region 4
6. Nebraska-Omaha (7-3) at 3. Pittsburg State (10-1)
Winner plays at 2. Northwest Missouri (10-1)

5. Central Washington (10-1) at 4. West Texas (10-1)
Winner plays at 1. Abilene Christan (10-0)

The winner of Super Region 1 will play the winner of Super Region 3 in one semi-final game while the winner of Super Region 2 will play the winner of Super Region 4 in the other semi-final game.

Given how they do it in Division II, I made my brackets as I see things panning out:


Super Region 1
6. Albany at 3. Elon
Winner plays at 2. Villanova

5. Holy Cross at 4. UNH
Winner plays at 1. James Madison

Super Region 3
6. Montana State at 3. Cal Poly
Winner plays at 2. Weber State

5. Lafayette at 4. Maine
Winner plays at 1. Montana

Super Region 2
6. Liberty at 3. Wofford
Winner plays at 2. Richmond

5. SC St. at 4. Furman
Winner plays at 1. App St.

Super Region 4
6. Tennessee St. at 3. William & Mary
Winner plays at 2. Southern Illinois

5. Northwestern St. at 4. McNeese St.
Winner plays at 1. Northern Iowa

The winner of Super Region 1 will play the winner of Super Region 3 in one semi-final game while the winner of Super Region 2 will play the winner of Super Region 4 in the other semi-final game.

So who would prefer to see this? Imagine the outcries from schools such as South Dakota St., N. Arizona, W. Illinois, Colgate, TN-Martin, Texas State and of course Dayton for not being included.

Just had to throw this out there for fun! Discuss! xpeacex

[dgreco]

I think it would be more like this... I didn't do the teams yet, but you have to go by conferences.

SR1:
NEC, Ivy, PL, CAA

SR2:
Big South, SoCon, SWAC, MEAC

SR3:
MVFC, Big Sky, Great West

SR4:
SLC, OVC, PFL, Indies

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

The problem is when weighing GPI into the mix, there will be many more teams from the CAA, SoCon and BSC. Other years other conferences may have more bids. I kept the 8 autos, added at-larges including NEC, BSO, and GWFC.

Even without the GPI, some conferences are bigger than others.

Point is, 16, 20 or 24 - the playoffs will never be an exact science or entirely fair for that matter.

[dgreco]

Basically using the same teams --

SR1:
6. Albany/Sacred Heart at 3. Richmond
Winner plays 2. Villanova

5. Colgate/Holy Cross at 4. New Hampshire
Winner plays 1. James Madison

Ivy doesnt compete.

SR2:
6. Prarie View A&M/Grambling St at 3. South Carolina State
winner plays 2. Wofford

5. Liberty at 4. Elon
winner plays 1. Appalachian State

SR3:
6. South Dakota State at 3. Montana
winner plays 2. Northern Iowa

5. Cal Poly at 4. Southern Illinois
winner plays 1. Weber State

SR4:
6. Jacksonville at 3. Jacksonville State
winner plays 2. Tennessee-Martin

5. Dayton at 4. McNeese State
winner plays 1. Tennessee State

[dgreco]

The problem is when weighing GPI into the mix, there will be many more teams from the CAA, SoCon and BSC. Other years other conferences may have more bids. I kept the 8 autos, added at-larges including NEC, BSO, and GWFC.

Even without the GPI, some conferences are bigger than others.

Point is, 16, 20 or 24 - the playoffs will never be an exact science or entirely fair for that matter.

Thats why the regions stink. Carson-Newman 10-1 last year and top 10 in all polls got bumped out because of earned access by a CIAA team. I tried to keep it that way and include all conference - except Ivy. It was fun.

[mcveyrl]

Basically using the same teams --

SR1:
6. Albany/Sacred Heart at 3. Richmond
Winner plays 2. Villanova

5. Colgate/Holy Cross at 4. New Hampshire
Winner plays 1. James Madison

Ivy doesnt compete.

SR2:
6. Prarie View A&M/Grambling St at 3. South Carolina State
winner plays 2. Wofford

5. Liberty at 4. Elon
winner plays 1. Appalachian State

SR3:
6. South Dakota State at 3. Montana
winner plays 2. Northern Iowa

5. Cal Poly at 4. Southern Illinois
winner plays 1. Weber State

SR4:
6. Jacksonville at 3. Jacksonville State
winner plays 2. Tennessee-Martin

5. Dayton at 4. McNeese State
winner plays 1. Tennessee State


Everything was going good until SR4....:D

[jaxstatealum]

Everything was going good until SR4....:D

xrolleyesx

[gr8ness97]

2kDuke Dog, why would you have 2 schools from the same conference playing each other (IE: Northwestern St and McNeese? Why not put SC State against one of these schools?)

[Cranium716]

Basically using the same teams --

SR1:
6. Albany/Sacred Heart at 3. Richmond
Winner plays 2. Villanova

5. Colgate/Holy Cross at 4. New Hampshire
Winner plays 1. James Madison

Ivy doesnt compete.

SR2:
6. Prarie View A&M/Grambling St at 3. South Carolina State
winner plays 2. Wofford

5. Liberty at 4. Elon
winner plays 1. Appalachian State

SR3:
6. South Dakota State at 3. Montana
winner plays 2. Northern Iowa

5. Cal Poly at 4. Southern Illinois
winner plays 1. Weber State

SR4:
6. Jacksonville at 3. Jacksonville State
winner plays 2. Tennessee-Martin

5. Dayton at 4. McNeese State
winner plays 1. Tennessee State

Wow, SR4 is a BEAST! xlolx

[dgreco]

Wow, SR4 is a BEAST! xlolx

there weren't enough conferences and its like SR1 in Division II. Whoever comes out loses in the region vs. region semifinals. Plus if Central Arkansas was eligible that bracket would look a lot different.

[mcveyrl]

xrolleyesx

I've got no problems with those teams being in. I just don't like the fact that they all get thrown in together (I know it's the way the regionalization works in DII, but still). In this scenario, Tenn. St. is one of the top 4 teams in the country...xeekx xeekx

[dgreco]

I've got no problems with those teams being in. I just don't like the fact that they all get thrown in together (I know it's the way the regionalization works in DII, but still). In this scenario, Tenn. St. is one of the top 4 teams in the country...xeekx xeekx

Well if UCA is eligible I think you can say they deserve a 1 seed and it makes the bracket look a little different.

[mcveyrl]

Well if UCA is eligible I think you can say they deserve a 1 seed and it makes the bracket look a little different.

Agreed. The whole Super Region thing just bugs me. Obviously I'm in Carson Newman land and last year opened a lot of people's eyes...

[jaxstatealum]

I've got no problems with those teams being in. I just don't like the fact that they all get thrown in together (I know it's the way the regionalization works in DII, but still). In this scenario, Tenn. St. is one of the top 4 teams in the country...xeekx xeekx

Gotcha - it's all in the spirit of fun and college football xthumbsupx

[dgreco]

Agreed. The whole Super Region thing just bugs me. Obviously I'm in Carson Newman land and last year opened a lot of people's eyes...

Well to overcome it they moved the CIAA up to the NE and now SR1. Luckily it didn't happen but 2 teams could of been knocked out due to Earned Access. Luckily only 1 team was knocked out, but it could of been worse. I think overall it would work in DI, but like this SR4 is a joke and the other 3 regions year in a year out will most likely be hell to get out of.

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

dgreco - yeah, I get the way technically that DII does it, and your bracket is probably more accurate from that standpoint. I guess I was just infusing GPI into it and trying to do a best 24 regionalization more the way the NCAA currently does FCS matchups.

Yeah, NWST @ McNeese was an oversight. Hey, I made this up pretty quickly, it's gonna be far from perfect. Just wanted to stimulate a different conversation than the typical playoff chatter we have day to day.

[danefan]

Here's what it would look like if it was 2010 and there was a 20-team playoff (using LFN's criteria)

First, the 10 Autobids
Big Sky-Weber State*
Big South - Liberty*
CAA-James Madison
MEAC-South Carolina State
MVFC-Northern Iowa-&
NEC - Albany*
OVC-Tennessee State-^
Patriot-Colgate-%
Southern-Appalachian State
Southland-Northwestern State-$

*-officially clinched
&-UNI gets the autobid because they have 6 wins, while SIU and SDSU have only 5. UNI gets credit for having won their extra game so far, though the winner of the SIU-SDSU game this weekend will determine a great deal more for the conference title
^-TSU holds the tiebreakers over UTM and EKU, with those two teams still needing to face one another
%-Colgate holds the tiebreaker over HC because the Raiders beat the higher ranked Lafayette, while HC faces the Leopards this weekend
$-NWState gets the tiebreaker over Texas St and McNeese. NWSt is 1-0 in games amongst the 3, TSU is 1-1, McNeese is 0-1

Now the At-Larges (based on GPI)
1-Montana
2-Villanova
3-Richmond
4-Cal Poly
5-Wofford
6-William & Mary
7-New Hampshire
8-Elon
9-Southern Illinois
10-Furman

Not using the +1 theory because that would include 6 CAA teams (either Maine or UMass would be the +1).

Here's your Field of 20
Albany
Appalachian State
Cal Poly
Colgate
Elon
Furman
James Madison
Liberty
Montana
New Hampshire
Northern Iowa
Northwestern State
Richmond
South Carolina State
Southern Illinois
Tennessee State
Villanova
Weber State
William & Mary
Wofford


Opening Round would likely include the following 8 teams:

Lower ranked AQ's
Albany
Colgate
Liberty
Northwestern State
South Carolina State
Tennessee State

Last in At-larges
Furman
Southern Illinois


I don't dare do the brackets, because it will get really dicey with regionalization.

Looks pretty good to me.