I thought it would be fun to start a season-long thread where we can discuss which CAA teams will get into into the playoffs and get seed(s). I think the CAA will most likely get 4 teams into the playoffs, but there are some scenarios, which I will give one example of below, that could result in the CAA getting 5 teams into the playoffs. This scenario could also result in 3 CAA teams being considered for playoff seeds! Now before all the east-coast bias and CAA haters come in here and flame me, I'm not saying that will or should happen. But it would be a very interesting proposition for the committee depending on what happens in the other conferences.
When mapping out specific scenarios, it will be important to keep in mind which teams do not play each other.
UNH - Delaware
Nova - UMass
JMU - URI
W&M - Towson
Richmond - Maine
The good news so far is that all of the top teams have taken care of their OOC FCS business. The bad news is that only 1 team has 1 FBS win, so every team except JMU (pending W&M's FBS game) will need 5 CAA wins to make the playoffs. That includes Delaware because they played a DII game.
At this point, I think there are 3 tiers in the CAA, with 4 teams fighting for a seed, 3 teams fighting for their playoff lives, and 3 teams looking to play spoiler:
Tier 1:
Nova
JMU
Delaware
UMass
Tier 2:
UNH
W&M
Richmond
Tier 3:
Maine
URI
Towson
There could be movement between those tiers as the season develops, but that's how I see things now.
As we saw with URI upsetting UNH, every team in the CAA is dangerous, so it will be very hard for teams to win every game that they should win, which makes it unlikely that 5 teams will make the playoffs. That being said, consider the following scenario, which isn't too far-fetched:
JMU 7-1 (10-1) - loses to Delaware
Delaware 7-1 (10-1) - loses to Nova
Nova 7-1 (9-2) - loses to JMU
UMass 5-3 (7-4) - loses to Delaware, JMU and UNH
UNH 5-3 (7-4) - loses to Nova, JMU and URI
Given the expanded playoffs, I think a 7-4 CAA team will (or at least should be) a lock for the playoffs. The more interesting question is what would the committee do with those three 7-1 CAA teams? I think JMU would obviously get a seed because of their record and FBS win. But how would you distinguish between Nova and Delaware? Nova would have the head-to-head win, but Delaware would have the better record, though no FBS opponent. Would it be possible for BOTH of them to get seeds if there is carnage in the other conferences. Remember, there will be 5 seeded teams this year.
Anyway, I hope this generates some good discussion throughout the season. Right now everything is very hypothetical, but that's part of the fun!
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