My take on the playoffs (11/7)

[GSU Eagle]

By conference:

A-10: Right now I say the A-10 gets 2 teams-- New Hampshire as a top 4 seed and UMass

Big Sky: 1 bid. Montana gets the automatic and a top 4 seed. Montana St. I am assuming loses to Montana in the season finale

Big South: 1 bid. Coastal Carolina if they win out and I believe they will gets in.

Gateway: 3 bids: Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Youngstown St. WKU loses 1 of last 2 vs. YSU or FIU.

Great West: Cal Poly gets in this year

MEAC: 1 bid-- Hampton. SC St. is close at 9-2 but 9-2 MEAC teams have been left out before. I think Coastal takes S.C. St's spot.

OVC-- 1 bid. Eastern Illinois auto bid

Patriot-- 1 bid. Lehigh gets the auto bid.

Southern -- 3 bids. Appalachian, Furman and GSU all get in. There is no way if they all win out to keep any of them out.

Southland-- 2 bids. Nicholls St. gets the auto bid and Texas St. gets an at-large.

So my 16 team field is:
UNH, UMass, Montana, Coastal Carolina, Southern Ill., Northern Iowa, Youngstown St., Cal Poly, Hampton, Eastern Illinois, Lehigh, Appalachian St, Ga. Southern, Furman, Nicholls St., and Texas St.

The first few teams out: Richmond, South Carolina St., Colgate.

This would be my pairings at this point:
#1 New Hampshine (home)vs. Lehigh
UMass (home) vs. Youngstown St.

#2 Hampton (home)vs. Eastern Illinois
Georgia Southern (home) vs. Northern Iowa

#3 Montana (home) vs. Nicholls St.
Texas St. (home) vs. Cal Poly

#4 Appalachian St. (home) vs. Southern Illinois
Furman (home) vs. Coastal Carolina

Those who don't believe Hampton gets a seed are not facing reality. An 11-0 Hampton team will be seeded. It is possible they may be a #3 or a #4 rather than the #2 I have them, but they will be seeded. Remember several years ago an undefeated Tennessee St. team was seeded #1.

The NCAA is about money. Other they the 4 seeded teams the NCAA goes where they feel they will get the most money. Also my pairings reduce the travel distance between schools to a great extent.

[rokamortis]

Pretty good - anyone that includes CCU i think is pretty good ;)

Why is it CCU taking SC State's spot? :confused: ;)

The only things that I see differently are:

Big Sky might get 2
Gateway I think get 2
A10 I think gets 3
Southland gets 1
Not sure the SoCon gets 3 home teams

[AppGuy04]

what is the point of seeding if the seeds get a tougher 1st round match than other teams, you've got Furman and GSu both playing teams they should easily beat, while App plays SIU? explain that one

[rokamortis]

what is the point of seeding if the seeds get a tougher 1st round match than other teams, you've got Furman and GSu both playing teams they should easily beat, while App plays SIU? explain that one

They only seed the first 4 - my understanding for homefield advantage. The last 4 home teams get assigned based on bids stadium capacity - the 8 others are considered 'equal' since they don't seed all 16 and are assigned based on region.

[GSU Eagle]

After the top 4 teams are seeded the NCAA makes no effort to have them play the bottom 4 teams. Last year we (GSU) were #4 and UNH by almost any rationale was #5, yet we played them in the first round.

Also I was trying to regionalize to a great degree as the NCAA tries to.

I hate this regionalization crap. At the very least the top 8 should be seeded, but just the top 4.

[Cincy App]

what is the point of seeding if the seeds get a tougher 1st round match than other teams, you've got Furman and GSu both playing teams they should easily beat, while App plays SIU? explain that one

Only 4 teams are seeded. The remaining 12 slots are placed based on regionalization. Seeding 4 teams does prevent the #1 and #2 teams from meeting in an early round.

[SuperEagle]

I like the matchups of course. I would not mind at all being paired up in Hampton's bracket.

[AppGuy04]

i guess i just feel that if you are gonna seed, you should seed all 16, and the bracket should go as is does in basketball

[PantherMan]

I like the matchups of course. I would not mind at all being paired up in Hampton's bracket.

If I were an Eagle fan, I wouldn't like that bracket, IF UNI makes the playoffs it will take a monumental game to beat us... ;) The Hampton part is reasonable though! :eek:

[PantherMan]

what is the point of seeding if the seeds get a tougher 1st round match than other teams, you've got Furman and GSu both playing teams they should easily beat, while App plays SIU? explain that one

App. would play SIU, because this particular bracket assumes that they lose this week at UNI. UNI will not be an easy first round opponent.

[GSU Eagle]

Any team we play in the playoffs would be vs. a worthy opponent. Frankly, this year's GSU team is IMO not as strong as some previous years. That being said we could do anything from 1 and out to making it to Chattanooga. Northern Iowa seems a logical opponent in Round 1 to me.

[ngineer]

By conference:

A-10: Right now I say the A-10 gets 2 teams-- New Hampshire as a top 4 seed and UMass

Big Sky: 1 bid. Montana gets the automatic and a top 4 seed. Montana St. I am assuming loses to Montana in the season finale

Big South: 1 bid. Coastal Carolina if they win out and I believe they will gets in.

Gateway: 3 bids: Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Youngstown St. WKU loses 1 of last 2 vs. YSU or FIU.

Great West: Cal Poly gets in this year

MEAC: 1 bid-- Hampton. SC St. is close at 9-2 but 9-2 MEAC teams have been left out before. I think Coastal takes S.C. St's spot.

OVC-- 1 bid. Eastern Illinois auto bid

Patriot-- 1 bid. Lehigh gets the auto bid.

Southern -- 3 bids. Appalachian, Furman and GSU all get in. There is no way if they all win out to keep any of them out.

Southland-- 2 bids. Nicholls St. gets the auto bid and Texas St. gets an at-large.

So my 16 team field is:
UNH, UMass, Montana, Coastal Carolina, Southern Ill., Northern Iowa, Youngstown St., Cal Poly, Hampton, Eastern Illinois, Lehigh, Appalachian St, Ga. Southern, Furman, Nicholls St., and Texas St.

The first few teams out: Richmond, South Carolina St., Colgate.

This would be my pairings at this point:
#1 New Hampshine (home)vs. Lehigh
UMass (home) vs. Youngstown St.

#2 Hampton (home)vs. Eastern Illinois
Georgia Southern (home) vs. Northern Iowa

#3 Montana (home) vs. Nicholls St.
Texas St. (home) vs. Cal Poly

#4 Appalachian St. (home) vs. Southern Illinois
Furman (home) vs. Coastal Carolina

Those who don't believe Hampton gets a seed are not facing reality. An 11-0 Hampton team will be seeded. It is possible they may be a #3 or a #4 rather than the #2 I have them, but they will be seeded. Remember several years ago an undefeated Tennessee St. team was seeded #1.

The NCAA is about money. Other they the 4 seeded teams the NCAA goes where they feel they will get the most money. Also my pairings reduce the travel distance between schools to a great extent.

Don't really disagree with the selections, but I question whether UNH gets home game. First will they bid? Second, they have not been known for very good attendance. I wouldn't be suprised if Lehigh got a home game like last year.

[rokamortis]

UNH better bid - they just did $30,000 worth of work on their field for the playoffs

[ngineer]

UNH better bid - they just did $30,000 worth of work on their field for the playoffs

When you think about it, that's not an awful lot of money. What did they do?

[rokamortis]

When you think about it, that's not an awful lot of money. What did they do?

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=62650

New Sod, fix the subsurface, and fix the drainage.

“Frankly, the playoffs had a lot to do with it,” Scarano said. “I wanted to give us the best possible opportunity to host.”

[ngineer]

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=62650

New Sod, fix the subsurface, and fix the drainage.

“Frankly, the playoffs had a lot to do with it,” Scarano said. “I wanted to give us the best possible opportunity to host.”

Boy, if they did the entire field for that they got a steal, or ....crap. I cringe when I hear about 'low bidders'....

[Eaglegus2]

Boy, if they did the entire field for that they got a steal, or ....crap. I cringe when I hear about 'low bidders'....

They did the work themselves instead of hiring a contractor.

Should UNI play GSU in a 1st round game.........can we expect Cap'n Cat to make another appearance?

[Tailbone]

When you think about it, that's not an awful lot of money. What did they do?

Same thing Chatty did for the NC game. :eek:

[straightshooter]

If UNH put in new sod, lets hope that it seats in better than the new sod last year in Chattanooga. What a mess. Chunks of sod coming up everywhere and lots of player slippage. Not sure that this is the best time to be laying new sod in the frozen tundra, but what do I know

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

Don't really disagree with the selections, but I question whether UNH gets home game. First will they bid? Second, they have not been known for very good attendance. I wouldn't be suprised if Lehigh got a home game like last year.

Our AD has already been quoted that he will bid for playoff games. If we are a top four seed and bid, then my understanding is that we get the home game regardless of whether it is the high bid.

Second, other than the URI game played in a monsoon, UNH has been OVER capacity for their home games this year. The monsoon game was 1,000 under capacity. I believe for the season, UNH is over 100% capacity attendance.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

If UNH doesn't get a home playoff game it would be a travesty. They've earned it on the field and that's the only thing that matters. Players bust their butt year round for everything they've accomplished this year. If the NCAA wouldn't let them host because of money $$, UNH should hire the best lawyer money can buy and go after the NCAA. I just hope they're not hosting Lehigh in the first round which i'm cautiously believe they won't. I'd be more than happy though with a second round matchup in Durham.

[ngineer]

If UNH put in new sod, lets hope that it seats in better than the new sod last year in Chattanooga. What a mess. Chunks of sod coming up everywhere and lots of player slippage. Not sure that this is the best time to be laying new sod in the frozen tundra, but what do I know

Agreed, as I posted on separate thread. Seems to be pretty late in the season to get root structure started.

[ngineer]

If UNH doesn't get a home playoff game it would be a travesty. They've earned it on the field and that's the only thing that matters. Players bust their butt year round for everything they've accomplished this year. If the NCAA wouldn't let them host because of money $$, UNH should hire the best lawyer money can buy and go after the NCAA. I just hope they're not hosting Lehigh in the first round which i'm cautiously believe they won't. I'd be more than happy though with a second round matchup in Durham.

Don't disagree with you, but can only think back to last year and Lehigh getting to host JMU--when we were just thankful to get into the playoffs. Never sure what moves "the Committee" in their decision making. Even at 100% capacity, I understand UNH only seats 6500..The only saving grace for the first round of the playoffs is that attendance is generally depressed because of the holiday weekend with a lot of students being off campus.

[New CCU Fan]

Does anyone have the stats on attendance for first round games of recent years? Attendance figures for the games vs actual capacity would be nice to see.

[AppGuy04]

Here are the attendance figures for last year, you guys can look up the capacity for each stadium

2004
First Round (11/27): Site Attendance
Eastern Wash. 35, Southern Ill. 31 Carbondale, Ill. 7,062
Sam Houston St. 54, Western Ky. 24 Huntsville, Tex. 3,767
Montana 56, Northwestern St. 7 Missoula, Mont. 15,507
New Hampshire 27, Ga. Southern 23 Statesboro, Ga. 5,541
William & Mary 42, Hampton 35 Williamsburg, Va. 7,144
Delaware 28, Lafayette 14 Newark, Del. 13,757
James Madison 14, Lehigh 13 Bethlehem, Pa. 5,568
Furman 49, Jacksonville St. 7 Greenville, S.C. 4,892
Quarterfinals (12/4):
Sam Houston St. 35, Eastern Wash. 34 Cheney, Wash. 6,817
Montana 47, New Hampshire 17 Missoula, Mont. 20,055
William & Mary 44, Delaware 38 (2 ot) Williamsburg, Va. 8,715
James Madison 14, Furman 13 Greenville, S.C. 6,260
Semifinals (12/11):
Montana 34, Sam Houston St. 13 Missoula, Mont. 22,583
James Madison 48, William & Mary 34 Williamsburg, Va. 11,291
Championship (12/17):
James Madison 31, Montana 21 Chattanooga, Tenn. 15,599

[OL FU]

Here are the attendance figures for last year, you guys can look up the capacity for each stadium

2004
First Round (11/27): Site Attendance
Eastern Wash. 35, Southern Ill. 31 Carbondale, Ill. 7,062
Sam Houston St. 54, Western Ky. 24 Huntsville, Tex. 3,767
Montana 56, Northwestern St. 7 Missoula, Mont. 15,507
New Hampshire 27, Ga. Southern 23 Statesboro, Ga. 5,541
William & Mary 42, Hampton 35 Williamsburg, Va. 7,144
Delaware 28, Lafayette 14 Newark, Del. 13,757
James Madison 14, Lehigh 13 Bethlehem, Pa. 5,568
Furman 49, Jacksonville St. 7 Greenville, S.C. 4,892
Quarterfinals (12/4):
Sam Houston St. 35, Eastern Wash. 34 Cheney, Wash. 6,817
Montana 47, New Hampshire 17 Missoula, Mont. 20,055
William & Mary 44, Delaware 38 (2 ot) Williamsburg, Va. 8,715
James Madison 14, Furman 13 Greenville, S.C. 6,260
Semifinals (12/11):
Montana 34, Sam Houston St. 13 Missoula, Mont. 22,583
James Madison 48, William & Mary 34 Williamsburg, Va. 11,291
Championship (12/17):
James Madison 31, Montana 21 Chattanooga, Tenn. 15,599

Where did the numbers come from. Furman reported 8800 at the JMU game. not much better but... Certainly looked closer to 8800.

[AppGuy04]

Where did the numbers come from. Furman reported 8800 at the JMU game. not much better but... Certainly looked closer to 8800.

official NCAA record book
http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/football_records_book/2005/2005_d1_football_records.pdf
page 414

[Proud Griz Man]

Here are the attendance figures for last year, you guys can look up the capacity for each stadium

2004
First Round (11/27): Site Attendance
Eastern Wash. 35, Southern Ill. 31 Carbondale, Ill. 7,062
Sam Houston St. 54, Western Ky. 24 Huntsville, Tex. 3,767
Montana 56, Northwestern St. 7 Missoula, Mont. 15,507
New Hampshire 27, Ga. Southern 23 Statesboro, Ga. 5,541
William & Mary 42, Hampton 35 Williamsburg, Va. 7,144
Delaware 28, Lafayette 14 Newark, Del. 13,757
James Madison 14, Lehigh 13 Bethlehem, Pa. 5,568
Furman 49, Jacksonville St. 7 Greenville, S.C. 4,892
Quarterfinals (12/4):
Sam Houston St. 35, Eastern Wash. 34 Cheney, Wash. 6,817
Montana 47, New Hampshire 17 Missoula, Mont. 20,055
William & Mary 44, Delaware 38 (2 ot) Williamsburg, Va. 8,715
James Madison 14, Furman 13 Greenville, S.C. 6,260
Semifinals (12/11):
Montana 34, Sam Houston St. 13 Missoula, Mont. 22,583
James Madison 48, William & Mary 34 Williamsburg, Va. 11,291
Championship (12/17):
James Madison 31, Montana 21 Chattanooga, Tenn. 15,599

First round bidding is very tricky. Thanksgiving weekend is tough to attract big crowds for 1-AA first round playoff games (notice the 4,500/7,000 reduction in Missoula).

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Lehigh's attendance was severely under-reported, i think any JMU fan that was there will vouch for that. JMu brought aboutt 2-3k of their own fans to the game and the Lehigh home side was full. There was atleast 10k people at the game.

[AppGuy04]

Lehigh's attendance was severely under-reported, i think any JMU fan that was there will vouch for that. JMu brought aboutt 2-3k of their own fans to the game and the Lehigh home side was full. There was atleast 10k people at the game.

well, other than the schools reporting attendance, how else would the NCAA get the numbers?

[ngineer]

well, other than the schools reporting attendance, how else would the NCAA get the numbers?

the under-reporting was done by the schools in reporting to the NCAA.

[ngineer]

well, other than the schools reporting attendance, how else would the NCAA get the numbers?

the under-reporting was done by the schools to the NCAA

[AppGuy04]

the under-reporting was done by the schools to the NCAA

thats what i thought

[charliej]

By conference:

A-10: Right now I say the A-10 gets 2 teams-- New Hampshire as a top 4 seed and UMass

Big Sky: 1 bid. Montana gets the automatic and a top 4 seed. Montana St. I am assuming loses to Montana in the season finale

Big South: 1 bid. Coastal Carolina if they win out and I believe they will gets in.

Gateway: 3 bids: Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Youngstown St. WKU loses 1 of last 2 vs. YSU or FIU.

Great West: Cal Poly gets in this year

MEAC: 1 bid-- Hampton. SC St. is close at 9-2 but 9-2 MEAC teams have been left out before. I think Coastal takes S.C. St's spot.

OVC-- 1 bid. Eastern Illinois auto bid

Patriot-- 1 bid. Lehigh gets the auto bid.

Southern -- 3 bids. Appalachian, Furman and GSU all get in. There is no way if they all win out to keep any of them out.

Southland-- 2 bids. Nicholls St. gets the auto bid and Texas St. gets an at-large.

So my 16 team field is:
UNH, UMass, Montana, Coastal Carolina, Southern Ill., Northern Iowa, Youngstown St., Cal Poly, Hampton, Eastern Illinois, Lehigh, Appalachian St, Ga. Southern, Furman, Nicholls St., and Texas St.

The first few teams out: Richmond, South Carolina St., Colgate.

This would be my pairings at this point:
#1 New Hampshine (home)vs. Lehigh
UMass (home) vs. Youngstown St.

#2 Hampton (home)vs. Eastern Illinois
Georgia Southern (home) vs. Northern Iowa

#3 Montana (home) vs. Nicholls St.
Texas St. (home) vs. Cal Poly

#4 Appalachian St. (home) vs. Southern Illinois
Furman (home) vs. Coastal Carolina

Those who don't believe Hampton gets a seed are not facing reality. An 11-0 Hampton team will be seeded. It is possible they may be a #3 or a #4 rather than the #2 I have them, but they will be seeded. Remember several years ago an undefeated Tennessee St. team was seeded #1.

The NCAA is about money. Other they the 4 seeded teams the NCAA goes where they feel they will get the most money. Also my pairings reduce the travel distance between schools to a great extent.

A what if...

What if App. St. were to lose to Western Carolina this week? Would that open the door for the Catamounts or do you think it would benefit another A10 ,or maybe Patriot team? Any Thoughts?

[AppGuy04]

A what if...

What if App. St. were to lose to Western Carolina this week? Would that open the door for the Catamounts or do you think it would benefit another A10 ,or maybe Patriot team? Any Thoughts?


if we lose, then only 2 go IMO