Bracketology Breakdown
Six At-Large Bids: Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota State, Eastern Washington, Jacksonville State, Nicholls
First Five Out: Chattanooga, Richmond, UC-Davis, Maine, Incarnate Word
A couple of new leaders for automatic bids emerged this week; Murray State in the Ohio Valley and Virginia Military in the Southern. A nice breath of fresh air that doesn’t always come into the playoffs with the same old, same old contenders. Neither are clinched, but both now completely control their own destinies.
Within those landscapes, Jacksonville State and Chattanooga had hurtful losses. Considering they still have that fall Florida International FBS win in their pocket, Jacksonville State is still in much better shape. Not to mention a 7-2 record to 3-2, comparatively. Another team who lost this week and really hurt themselves was Southern Illinois. The loss to Missouri State probably dashes the Salukis chances, but opens the door for Missouri State.
Duquesne has finished their Northeast slate undefeated. Still waiting to see if the NEC plans on going through with a #1 vs. #2 championship game for their automatic. They’ve had some minor hiccups getting games in. Not nearly as badly as the Colonial, which is a whole other story to be told. Otherwise, Duquesne definitely looks like the best team in the conference. San Diego looks like they’re doing the same in the Pioneer, but with a little more trouble than year’s past. Still, right now, the Torero’s undefeated campaign has no appearance of ending any time soon. Holy Cross looks like they’re in control of a virus-plague Patriot League season. They may be one of the first to clinch soon, with all the scheduling issues.
This coming week, has a couple huge games as far as playoff positioning, seeding and qualifications go. South Dakota State matches up with North Dakota State. Eastern Washington travels to UC-Davis. James Madison travels to Richmond.We’ll, hopefully, have a clearer picture after next weekend.
Bids By Conference
Big Sky (2): *Weber State, Eastern Washington
Big South (1): *Kennesaw State
Colonial (2): *James Madison, Delaware
Missouri Valley (3): *North Dakota State, North Dakota, South Dakota State
Northeast (1): *Duquesne
Ohio Valley (2): *Murray State, Jacksonville State
Patriot (1): *Holy Cross
Pioneer (1): *San Diego
Southern (1): *Virginia Military
Southland (2): *Sam Houston State, Nicholls
* denotes predicted automatic qualifier
