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BwareDWare94

Bware's FCS Playoff Guide

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http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/football/fcs

 

Teams to watch:

 

#1 North Dakota State

This much is obvious. That being said, their defense is missing their two best players for the year (LB Nick Deluca, DT Nate Tanguay) and is not as good as what the Bison are accustomed to. It's still quite dominant but I worry that the missing pieces will show up at some point. Offensively they can score in a hurry or they can disappear for quarters at a time. I firmly believe the Bison coaching staff has to be more aggressive on offense in order to win a 6th consecutive National Championship. Is QB Easton Stick up to the task?

 

#2 Eastern Washington

This is the only Big Sky Conference team with a chance to win it all, in my opinion, but they'll have to outscore everybody. My guess is they run into somebody who can play defense and lose unexpectedly.

 

#3 Jacksonville State

They've been a great team over the past 3 seasons. They're not in the same class as the Missouri Valley teams but they're probably getting some prospects out of the South that other FCS schools don't have access to.

 

#5 Sam Houston State

The only undefeated team in the bracket (that I'm aware of) but, like Jacksonville State, they're in a lesser conference than other top teams and that's why they were only given the 5 seed despite their record.

 

#7 North Dakota

I think they're a year ahead of when they'll actually be contenders but North Dakota is my alma mater and they play their home games at the Alerus Center, one of my places of employment. I have every intention of working their first home playoff game on December 3rd and cheering on the Fighting Hawks. That is, unless I can get Bison tickets. North Dakota has a great defense and a balanced offense with a two headed backfield with John Santiago and Brady Oliveira. Quarterback Keaton Studsrud has progressed far beyond anything I ever expected. Like I said, I think the Fighting Hawks are a year away, but with how balanced they are, they are certainly dangerous.

 

#8 South Dakota State

The Jacks are loaded in the passing game with a good QB who can throw and run and some big targets. Defensively they're solid if unspectacular. They're in North Dakota State's bracket, so expect a rematch of the Bison's lone loss.

 

Charleston Southern

I don't believe in their style of offense in a playoff setting but they are big and physical and play a nasty brand of defensive football.

 

Youngstown State

Remember Bo Pelini? He's coaching the Penguins, now. Their offense blows but their defense is fucking nasty. If they can find a way to score some damn points, they'll be dangerous.

 

Illinois State

The Redbirds had no business in the playoff discussion 6 weeks ago but have rallied off a bunch of impressive wins, including a win against South Dakota State. Let's see what they can make of it.

 

 

You heard it here, first: I don't think North Dakota State repeats. There's such a drop off on defense and at the QB position that I think someone will capitalize on an unexpected mistake. Don't be surprise if South Dakota State knocks them out in what seems an inevitable rematch.

 

 

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North Dakota State until proven otherwise.

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If you want to know what the college football playoff should look like, the FCS bracket and selection system is fucking perfect. That's how it should be.

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Not a CAA fan I see

 

Not particularly, no. Let's be real for a minute, though--the MVFC is the only great conference in FCS football. The Big Sky is catching up, but in every other FCS conference there's just a bunch of garbage teams and maybe one team that sneaks out every year. Who in the CAA might actually win a National Championship? I'm sure you're as baffled as I am by James Madison's seeding.

 

I mean, look at these conferences:

 

CAA has New Hampshire as something of a perennial power. James Madison has been to the FCS playoffs before. Richmond recently pulled off a crazy upset at Illinois State only to go to North Dakota State and get kicked around by a team that didn't even have Wentz at the time. Villanova is hit or miss, but certainly no threat to retake the title any time soon.

 

The Big South has Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina. After that it's one LOL case after another.

 

There is no notable team in either the Ivy League or the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

 

The Northeast Conference blows.

 

The Ohio Valley conference has Jacksonville State. Yippee.

 

The Patriot and Pioneer Leagues both suck.

 

In the Southern conference it's the Citadel and Wofford, neither of which is a real threat.

 

Then of course we have the Southland Conference, the complete joke of a division that didn't allow Sam Houston State to have a higher ranking as an undefeated team.

 

No teams of note in either side of the SAC

 

Anyway, let's just call a spade a spade. FCS Football is essentially the Missouri Valley and the Big Sky, and after that one or two teams that are usually good out of shitty conferences in other parts of the country.

Edited by BwareDWare94

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If you want to know what the college football playoff should look like, the FCS bracket and selection system is fucking perfect. That's how it should be.

 

 

I tried looking up on Wikipedia and got confused. Is it a 24-team playoff where the top 8 get first-round byes? Because that's what it looks like.

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I tried looking up on Wikipedia and got confused. Is it a 24-team playoff where the top 8 get first-round byes? Because that's what it looks like.

 

Yup. A committee selects the top 8 seeds and the remaining 16 teams.

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The 3rd round has some great matchups, folks. Keep an eye out for any games broadcast in your area.

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Well this is off topic... I have a question for you Bware: I remember you talking about Ryan Kesler, why or how did you become a fan again? I've been watching alot of Ducks games lately and it made me think of this.

 

I can't really follow any college football anymore because of work.

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#5 Sam Houston State

The only undefeated team in the bracket (that I'm aware of) but, like Jacksonville State, they're in a lesser conference than other top teams and that's why they were only given the 5 seed despite their record.

just got their shit pushed in by JMU, but yeah, the CAA doesn't have any worthwhile teams :coffee:

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Well this is off topic... I have a question for you Bware: I remember you talking about Ryan Kesler, why or how did you become a fan again? I've been watching alot of Ducks games lately and it made me think of this.

 

I can't really follow any college football anymore because of work.

I became a fan during Vancouver's run to the Stanley Cup Finals a few years back. He was playing hurt but still was a boss.

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just got their shit pushed in by JMU, but yeah, the CAA doesn't have any worthwhile teams :coffee:

Just wait til you play a Missouri Valley team.

 

One thing I hate about FCS playoffs is they send officiating crews across conferences so teams end up dealing with things they haven't had issues with all year. Some conferences call more PI, call more tacky shit, etc. For example, the Bison just had to score twice on their drive because they had a 70-80 yard TD taken away for an ineligible player downfield. The player in question wasn't even two yards past the LOS. The officials reacted to where the pocket dropped back to. A good officiating crew doesn't worry about calls like that unless it's obvious or completely egregious. This player wasn't even down field lol.

 

Send conference officials to conference home games in the playoffs. Common sense

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Just wait til you play a Missouri Valley team.

You mean like Villanova giving South Dakota State a hard push in the second round? To be clear, I'm not saying that the CAA is the best conference, we're definitely having a down season, I'm just saying that they're not teams to be overlooked the way you are.

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I'm not saying the top teams in other conferences are necessarily bad teams. I'm just saying that from top to bottom, the Big Sky and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are significantly better than every other conference. And the Missouri Valley is much better than the Big Sky. Of course the best teams in other conferences are good. But you line up the CAA vs the Missouri Valley one Saturday, and Missouri Valley probably wins 75% or more of the games

Edited by BwareDWare94

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Why is NDSU only favored by 7 tonight? Seems like a good bet.

Edited by Sparty

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JMU has been smoking everybody, albeit in a signicantly lesser conference.

 

This JMU offense is fire, man. Great playcalling and misdirection. Abdullah is an NFL back. Goddamn.

 

NDSU's offense is not impressive, and hasn't been all season. Stick is too young and makes shitty decisions all game long. For some reason, they don't have any good WRs despite all their success. I'm just going to enjoy Frazier, Morlock, and Stumpf's last game. Three baddases, right there.

Edited by BwareDWare94

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Congrats to James Madison. What an offense, and what a team. Now go win it. Neither EWU or Youngstown can hold their jock strap. All they have to do is show up in Frisco and they'll win.

 

First things first, time to roast senior DE Brad Ambrosius for lining up offsides on a critical fourth down play and putting JMU in FG range. This put JMU up 20-17 on their kicker's first made FG of over 40 yards on the season. How does a senior make such a critical mistake?

 

Time to roast NDSU's OC for being so goddamn conservative. I don't care how good your defense an ST are--you beat the other team by scoring more points than them.

 

Time to roast NDSU's recruiting team for not getting any legitimate WR recruits. Seriously, 5 straight national championships and their best WR is like 5'10. What a fucking joke.

 

Time to roast Chris Klieman for never overrulling the stupid RB rotation that repeatedly left King Frazier off the field on critical 3rd and short plays. Wow, was that dumb. And unexplainable.

 

I'm grateful for the run, but angry about the ridiculous issues that ended it.

Edited by BwareDWare94

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It's now or never. Send NDSU up to the Big Ten and let them play real teams. Replace them with Buttgers or something.

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NDSU to the Big 10 will never happen for numerous reasons:

 

1) They'd need a new stadium. The Fargo Dome seats 18k. I believe the minimum for FBS is 30k. The smallest Big 10 Stadium is 50k. Given that they probably need a dome for their football games to be tolerable to go to, thats a few hundred million NDSU needs to invest right at the start.

 

2) The TV market is small. The entire state of North Dakota has less than a million people. The point of the Big 10 expansion was to get the Big 10 network into cable packages in DC and New York. No one is worried about locking down that lucrative Fargo market.

 

3) They wouldn't do well. I know that they've done well against Big 10 teams, but once they move to the Big 10, they'd be the least desirable school to go to in all P5 (and would be worse than a good amount of G5 schools). They wouldn't go winless every year, but longterm they'd be more like Rutgers. Right now they can use their position as a constant National Title contender as an advantage in recruiting at the FCS level. Once they're in the Big 10, they'd be nothing more than Purdue or Rutgers.

 

4) Every other sport will nosedive. While this isn't generally the top priority for schools, without a doubt every other sport will be a dumpster fire in the big 10. I'm guessing this isn't hard for anyone to understand so I'll move on.

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I hate that I was right and they didn't win it all again, but if losing this year forces NDSU to recruit actual receivers, it'll be worth it. I'm tired of watching them play big fast receivers each week while they trot out trash at the position.

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