Can we quit playing the Big Sky in the playoffs?

[JohnStOnge]

I alluded to this in another thread. I just updated my I-AA playoff database and here is how the Southland Conference has done historically in head to head playoff games against various other conferences (W-L):

Yankee/A-10/CAA 6 - 5
Big Sky 9 - 23
Gateway/MVC 6 - 5
Great West 1 - 0
MEAC 2 - 2
OVC 4 - 1
Southern 7 - 5
SWAC 7 - 0

Anything...say like something in red...stand out?

[Reign of Terrier]

It's very cold in Montana....

[spdram]

Since geographics have alot to do with who you play, move all of your schools to the east then you can play the Southern and CAA schools more often.

[Screamin_Eagle174]

xnodx

[Screamin_Eagle174]

It's very cold in Montana....

Not so cold in Lake Charles... just rainy. xsmiley_wixxthumbsupx

[JohnStOnge]

Not so cold in Lake Charles... just rainy. xsmiley_wixxthumbsupx

It was cold to US when EWU came down there. In fact that's one thing that is unavoidable but unfortunate for a team in a place like South Louisiana. By the time playoff time rolls around and they get a home game, the teams from other parts of the country are often more accustomed to the conditions they're playing in than the home team is. Of course Georgia Southern had to deal with that too when they were winning something like 30 consecutive home playoff games back in the day.

[MaximumBobcat]

Hey John, how many of those 23 losses are @ Montana?

[Grizzaholic]

Since geographics have alot to do with who you play, move all of your schools to the east then you can play the Southern and CAA schools more often.

xeyebrowx

[Silenoz]

Hey John, how many of those 23 losses are @ Montana?

0-11

[mtgrizfan4life]

Believe me the BSC would love to play other conferences in the playoffs in the 1st and 2nd rounds. The 08 playoffs were a travesty for Poly, Weber State and Montana. Both Montana and Weber State had great years, and if common sense prevailed should have been on the opposite of the bracket.

[JohnStOnge]

Believe me the BSC would love to play other conferences in the playoffs in the 1st and 2nd rounds. The 08 playoffs were a travesty for Poly, Weber State and Montana. Both Montana and Weber State had great years, and if common sense prevailed should have been on the opposite of the bracket.

Yes. Ideally there should be 1 - 16 seeding (as others have noted) with the initial games being 16 vs. 1 down through 9 vs. 8 then a bracket that proceeds accordingly. They tried that, though, and I guess it was too expensive. Too bad though.

[Squealofthepig]

It would be nice to have 16 seeds, but that's just not something that's gonna happen unless FBS adds an additional week and FCS takes that week to serve up as a lucrative punching bag.

It's not great to be out west, as the geographic seeding means any non-seeded western team is going to be traveling a lot, and power programs out west will often be seeing each other routinely in the playoffs, much more so than the east. On the other hand, if you're the Griz, it's not a bad deal, as your home team advantage is amplified if you're someone like the Griz (though I always love welcoming other teams to Missoula - great meeting fans from Wofford and the like!)

Ultimately, this is just a matter of where people live, and there are more people in the east, therefore more colleges, therefore more FCS teams in the East (overly simplified but generally true).

[DG Cowboy]

I don't think Montana has ever won in Lake Charles and McNeese has never won in Missoula. Montana State lost in LC also. Montana even lost in two different uniform colors. I think the September humidity did them in once in the old scarlet and yellow uniforms. They get us back with the snow and Alberta Express.

[srgrizizen]

It would be nice to have 16 seeds, but that's just not something that's gonna happen unless FBS adds an additional week and FCS takes that week to serve up as a lucrative punching bag.

It's not great to be out west, as the geographic seeding means any non-seeded western team is going to be traveling a lot, and power programs out west will often be seeing each other routinely in the playoffs, much more so than the east. On the other hand, if you're the Griz, it's not a bad deal, as your home team advantage is amplified if you're someone like the Griz (though I always love welcoming other teams to Missoula - great meeting fans from Wofford and the like!)

Ultimately, this is just a matter of where people live, and there are more people in the east, therefore more colleges, therefore more FCS teams in the East (overly simplified but generally true).

Geography is destiny! It also plays a big part in regular season scheduling, for which UM in particular is so often trashed, although they could certainly do better even while staying in the West. At least there's the App State series in a few years.xpeacex