FUBeAR wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 1:07 pm
HKB60 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:32 am
We win the conference it doesn't matter who we play OOC!
Sounds good, 60…but not true.
Seeding matters. If we win the SoCon - let’s say we go 7-1 (as ETSU did in 2021) … and we give Clemson a decent game…let’s say it’s a 35-17 loss. OK, we’re 8-2. Now, if we play PC and win (even if the score is 14-13), that gives us a 9-2 record and, most likely…a seed…a bye…a 2nd round home playoff game…all those things matter…don’t they?
But…what if we play D2 National Finalist/Runner-Up, Valdosta State (instead of PC), and beat them 69-0. Know what the Playoff Selection Committee thinks of that? Nothing…absolutely nothing. To them, our record is still 8-2 with no FBS wins and that nagging loss to whichever SoCon beat us….Sorry…not quite worthy of a seed, Paladins…and, sorry, but Richmond outbid you for your 1st round matchup. If you’re able to overcome the Spiders (be good to see Udinski & Herres again, huh?), then you get to go to Fargo to play #1 Seed NDSU in your 2nd round game….which would have been at Furman vs. Davidson (who beat Elon in Rd1)…if only you would have played and beaten D1 PC by 1 point…instead of blowing out D2 Valdosta.
The system sux…but it is what it is…and who we play does matter…way more than it should .
I sort of agree with you, but sort of not.
I do agree that who you play matters insofar as it really needs to be D1 competition. I do not really believe it matters who you play inside that D1 category.
In FBS football, there is incentives for the top programs to play one another. That really isn't the case in the FCS. Most programs would be better off playing the weakest non-conference FCS teams they can find as it adds a tally to the "D1 win" category.
The issue with scheduling, as I see it, is that every team wants (1) ease of travel (2) beatable FCS opponent. There are only so many such programs, and every other playoff-hungry FCS team is trying to schedule the same opponents.
Even without trying, you'll eventually get back around where you have to schedule a D2 or an NAIA. The alternative, I guess, is to go the route where the same two or three teams pop up on the schedule nearly every season (Elon, Gardner Webb, etc.)