Here I am back again...did promise you more. My thoughts on the field of 24 and ranking them 24-1 from least likely to win to most likely to celebrate in Frisco, TX
Playoff Selection Thoughts
- Look, I know, with me writing this I'm playing a "Monday Morning QB" deal but the committee of 10 had one hell of a time picking 24 teams to get in the playoffs. Not everyone will be happy but hey, that's part of the job
- So getting the nice nice out of the way...the fact that Nicholls, New Hampshire, and S. Dakota made the playoffs is just mind blogging. All three lost their last game, Nicholls lost on the road to SE Louisiana and New Hampshire got shutout by 4-7 Albany. But even while those are bad, the worst entry was S. Dakota...ending a season at 1-4 shouldn't give you a playoff team. But the weirdest twist, all three have a chance at deep runs and two host a playoff game
- The team with the loudest beef should be Austin Peay. Good story aside, to go 7-1 versus FCS teams, win the last game of the season, and to not get in is rough. And forgive me, but the reasoning given by selection committee chair Richard Johnson for the Governors not to make it was just rough and hard for me to buy. AP had to play three FBS schools and it was basically a huge negative since they weren't able to play any cross conference games. "If I'm going to ask these kids to respond in the correct way, I've got to do it myself," Austin Peay coach Will Healy said. "It is a very tough day; I know there are some very tough decisions."
- Another team that has some beef is McNesse St. The Cowboys not only became the team with the most wins not to make the playoffs since the field expanded but they finished with a better conference record than Nicholls. Having one of the last games of the day, I can imagine the coaches and players thought all they had to do was beat Lamar and in they go. Just unfortunate how they got left out the pile.
- Ok something positive...I think the Top 8 is damn near perfect. Yes I know, fans of both W. Illinois and Kennesaw St have a good argument, but at the end of the day they committee got it right. Even the seeding of the Top 8 is dead on, only thing I would have done different is flip C. Arkansas and Jacksonville St but that's being picky
- Of the unranked teams, the Leathernecks and Owls both are the picks for me to make deep runs. Both teams has solid defenses that take the ball away and the Owls have that triple option that is no fun to deal with. As for Western, they are 6-0 on the road this year anyway so they are comfy outside the confines of Hanson Field
- We do have one rematch this first round and its a pretty good one...Samford/Kennesaw St. These guys meet all the way back in Week 1 and it was a really good game that had some weather issues but Samford managed to pull out 28-23 victory at home. This time they go on the road and hopefully its just as good, without the three hour weather delay
- I would love to see in the future for teams who win their conference to get a home game. No reason for CCSU, Lehigh, and San Diego to have to go on the road after taking care of business in their conferences.
- During the ESPNU selection show, analyst Jay Walker said something very interesting...saying that too much weight is placed on the conference you play in and not the overall resume. You know what, couldn't agree with him more. Yes we had two Big South teams make it but four from the CAA and five Missouri Valley teams with a field this deep puts the impression that those conferences hold more weight than others. While true to a point winning 7 conference games has to mean something
- Speaking of the ESPNU selection show, I thought it was really cool to get the reactions of the teams as they got selected. Could we have seen more excitement, yea it would have been nice but we did get Nicholls' reaction that was about as surprised as anyone else's
Part 3 of this to come...man writing all of this sucks
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