Our Playoff Future

[The Jackal]

This would give us a bye, home game, and likely a trip to Missoula, Montana.

[FurmAlum]

APSU deserves that last seed. Only 1 FCS loss. 1st game to So. Illinois. Gave SEC UT all they wanted. Then won 9 straight.

[Affirm]

A lot of the games nationally to this point are breaking our way.

Montana State is getting hammered by Montana.

Delaware lost

Austin Peay is losing.

Even with the bad loss, we are still 9-2, an outright conference champ, with 3 ranked wins, which puts us ahead of a lot of teams in the seed conversation.

It will not matter that "a lot of the games nationally to this point are breaking our way". It just makes it worse! It absolutely would have mattered if we had won today as we should have.

I'm not sure I understand your point.

Furman wants to stay seeded. The games nationally that we needed to go our way to have a good argument for that seed are going our way.

If we had won, then the only conversation would have been whether Montana would have jumped us at #2, which they likely would have.

I think his point is we could have gotten a number 2 seed but we will get a seed regardless of what happens nationally now. Really doesn’t matter if we are a 6, 7 or 8 seed. We totally blew it today.

The truest statement on this entire UFFP today was written by apaladin: "We totally blew it today."
All the other commentary by everyone writing about "playoff this and playoff that" seems pretty hollow and pointless.
The season will end.
We will have our SoCon Championship to remember the season by. That will have to be good enough.

[The Jackal]

I mean, it's not demonstrably different than 2005 where we lost to Western Carolina in Week 2. This year, we just suffered our head scratching loss late instead of early.

We were always likely to head to the Dakotas/Montana to make the title game. That's still the case.

If we can get Huff back, Roberto, and a bye week to heal up and let other teams bang around a bit, I think we'll have a good chance to make a run. We're built to win physical defensive games, which is what the playoffs will give us in December.

[apaladin]

I mean, it's not demonstrably different than 2005 where we lost to Western Carolina in Week 2. This year, we just suffered our head scratching loss late instead of early.

We were always likely to head to the Dakotas/Montana to make the title game. That's still the case.

If we can get Huff back, Roberto, and a bye week to heal up and let other teams bang around a bit, I think we'll have a good chance to make a run. We're built to win physical defensive games, which is what the playoffs will give us in December.

But instead of one trip to Montana or the Dakotas it will be two if we last that long. Only one home game then on to the road.

[The Jackal]

I mean, it's not demonstrably different than 2005 where we lost to Western Carolina in Week 2. This year, we just suffered our head scratching loss late instead of early.

We were always likely to head to the Dakotas/Montana to make the title game. That's still the case.

If we can get Huff back, Roberto, and a bye week to heal up and let other teams bang around a bit, I think we'll have a good chance to make a run. We're built to win physical defensive games, which is what the playoffs will give us in December.

But instead of one trip to Montana or the Dakotas it will be two if we last that long. Only one home game then on to the road.

Yeah, i mean, ideally we wouldn't have lost, but we were always likely to have to beat someone on the road.

It's the playoffs. We're going to have to beat some good teams.

[apaladin]

Taking a step back, and taking a deep breath we probably should be countung our blessings. We were lucky to beat UTC with a QB that really had no experience and get the auto bid. Then last week VMI had to play a freshman qb instead of Ironside who looked great aganst WCU today. Then we had our inexperienced qb look like he was ready to take over at QB. Then today he looked like the freshman he is. So we are lucky so to speak to be where we are despite the loss today.

[jesse174]

Hard to understand what happened to our once powerful offense..that was why we were able to dominate with ball possession..very disturbing

[FurmAlum]

Hard to understand what happened to our once powerful offense..that was why we were able to dominate with ball possession..very disturbing

What happened to our once powerful offense dominating with ball control is Huff and Roberto were out. So was Petit. Add in a freshman QB who had a bad game and there you have it.

I thought we would still be good enough to beat Woffy though. Sometimes things don't happen the way we think or the way we wish they would.

I'm not giving up on this team. We get Huff and Roberto back and we'll be a tough game for anyone.

[FUeveryday]

Hard to understand what happened to our once powerful offense..that was why we were able to dominate with ball possession..very disturbing

What happened to our once powerful offense dominating with ball control is Huff and Roberto were out. So was Petit. Add in a freshman QB who had a bad game and there you have it.

I thought we would still be good enough to beat Woffy though. Sometimes things don't happen the way we think or the way we wish they would.

I'm not giving up on this team. We get Huff and Roberto back and we'll be a tough game for anyone.

Also going to need much more physicality up front to run the ball.

[FurmAlum]

Hard to understand what happened to our once powerful offense..that was why we were able to dominate with ball possession..very disturbing

What happened to our once powerful offense dominating with ball control is Huff and Roberto were out. So was Petit. Add in a freshman QB who had a bad game and there you have it.

I thought we would still be good enough to beat Woffy though. Sometimes things don't happen the way we think or the way we wish they would.

I'm not giving up on this team. We get Huff and Roberto back and we'll be a tough game for anyone.

Also going to need much more physicality up front to run the ball.

Yes sir. You would think we could do that with 3 RS seniors and 2 grad students on the OL??? They are not young players and should have the physicality.

[purplehorse123]

Most everybody on offense should be pissed with how we played today. They should use that to increase their intensity, focus etc. moving forward.

Montana is a good team but many think SDSU is the team loaded with many NFL prospects.

I would take bye, home game and Montana. Maybe it will be warm in Montana.

[palafan]

We were totally humiliated by a 1-9 team, and damn Wofford at that. We are the joke of the FCS. CCLOT

[FUBeAR]

Just a few 'mechanical' comments...most of you know, but it seems some don't

* ONLY 8 of the 24 Teams are seeded

* 8 seeded Teams have a bye in Round 1

* 8 seeded Teams have a Home Game in Round 2

* The 16 unseeded Teams are paired, as much as possible, by geographical proximity (see next bullet) without regard to their 'quality.' Among these 16 Teams, they all, essentially, would carry a #9 seed throughout their Playoffs

* There is a litany of 'rules' around "geographic proximity" flying/driving/same conf/did/didn't play during season, etc. (outside the scope of this post)

* Home games in Round 1 are determined by the Committee, based upon their assessment of the better "Bid" of the already-paired Teams, as they review the 2 bids AFTER pairing the 1st round Teams. Each Playoff Participant will have already submitted their bids. Bids include Financial 'guarantees' TO the NCAA, along with info about facilities, communications, infrastructure, etc. (Some doubt that the brackets / pairings are actually done before bids are opened. All KNOW that the Committee KNOWS that Montana, Delaware, etc can afford, due to higher attendance, to make higher bids)

* After Round 2, except for the neutral site Championship game in Frisco, Tx, the 'better' seeded Team of the 2 Teams advancing in the bracket to face each other will host.

* If 2 unseeded Teams are to meet after Round 2, they will have included in their original bids, their bids for each subsequent round of possible games and the Committee will award the Home game to the Team with the bid that they view as 'better'....Don't really need to worry about that though - Unseeded Teams almost never advance past Round 2 even.

Think that's about it...

FUBeAR thinks FU will retain a Seed, but it will not be higher than #6, with #7 more likely than #6 and , #8 more likely than #6 or #7. That said, based on the Ghosts of Committees Past ... FUBeAR could easily see Furman unseeded and the SoCon as an AutoBid Only League....don't think so, but he won't be shocked. He would be VERY ANGRY though!!!!

IF FU is not seeded ... NO IDEA what we HAVE done - but FUBeAR could see us, expecting to get a Seed, and so not making an aggressive 1st round bid (that we will have already submitted)....doesn't sound like something JDADVP's shop would do AT ALL, but it IS possible.

So...anywhere from, say, the #6 or #7 Seed and playing the winner of, say, Richmond/Gardner-Webb on 12/2 and then going to Montana ... or on the Road to, say, Austin Peay, in Round 1 (Please FOOTBALL GODS...NOOOOOOO!!!!)


Hey - LOL - FUBeAR asked Mr. Google to show him a bracket and Mr. GoogleAI responded with this .....

The 2023 FCS Playoff bracket has the following seeds:
South Dakota State: 11-0, 8-0 MVFC
Montana: 10-1, 7-1 Big Sky
South Dakota: 9-2, 7-1 MVFC
UAlbany: 9-3, 7-1 CAA
Idaho: 8-3, 6-2 Big Sky
Villanova: 9-2, 7-1 CAA
Furman: 9-2, 7-1 SoCon
North Dakota State: 8-3, 5-3 MVFC

The top eight teams receive first-round byes. The remaining 16 teams are paired based on geographic proximity and placed in the bracket based on proximity to the top eight seeds

....so there you have it - THE ANSWER - just as FUBeAR predicts....we get the #7 - everyone can skip the Selection Show tomorrow.

[The Jackal]

There’s one really good team in the FCS. Everyone else has shown they are beatable. We’ve got a decent shot as anyone to make a run.