2014 NCAA Football Tournaments

[4_tattoos]

ATTENTION: THIS THREAD IS DEDICATED TO THE LOWER DIVISION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS. IF YOU WISH TO KEEP UP WITH THE FBS "COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF" YOU SHOULD FOLLOW THE MEGA THREAD.

The FCS, DII and DIII football seasons are wrapping up this week, and tournament play is set to begin next weekend. Tournament selection is set for tomorrow.

Will North Dakota State Four-peat in FCS?

Who'll be the first team to win the D2 championship in Kansas City?

Will Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater be heading back to the Stagg Bowl?

[Seadragon76]

Technically, the FCS playoffs begin on Thanksgiving weekend, so you're early with that one.

D-II and D-III begin next weekend, and as a primer, here's how each of those levels work...

Division II

-24 teams are placed into 4 6-team 'Super Regions'

-The top six in each of the final Regional Rankings get into the playoffs.

-If a conference champion finishes outside of the top 6 but finishes in the top 8 of the final regional ranking, they get 'earned access' to the playoffs

-Super Regions are as follows:

• SR 1: CIAA, Mountain East, Northeast-10 and PSAC
• SR 2: Gulf South, South Atlantic and SIAC (plus independent programs Limestone, North Greenville and UNC Pembroke)
• SR 3: Great American, Great Northwest, Northern Sun and MIAA
• SR 4: GLIAC, Great Lakes Valley, Lone Star and RMAC (plus independent programs Alderson-Broaddus, Kentucky Wesleyan and Oklahoma Panhandle State)

Division III

-32 teams placed into 4 8-team regions.

-24 bids are given to conference champions while the remaining eight are split up. Two bids are given to 'Pool B' teams (Independents and conferences without automatic bids) and six bids are given to 'Pool C' teams (everyone else)

[4_tattoos]

So basically when a Division II conference champ finishes outside the top 6, they get to steal a spot from a (non-conference champion) team that earned a top 6 finish?

If so, I think Virginia State may have got themselves into the playoffs. They were not in the top 6 of the rankings released on 11-10-2014, but they won the CIAA championship game earlier today over Winston-Salem State.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

I'm glad a thread was created more specifically for non-FBS.

I think NDSU has a great shot at getting a 4-peat, and I like NDSU, but I'd also like to see someone else like Coastal Carolina win, or even more-so, I'd like to see Eastern Washington win it all. I'm not big into DII or DIII, but I do watch the Stagg Bowl every year, and Mount Union vs Wisconsin-Whitewater has to be the most underrated rivalry (if you'll call it that) in the nation.

[Seadragon76]

So basically when a Division II conference champ finishes outside the top 6, they get to steal a spot from a (non-conference champion) team that earned a top 6 finish?

If so, I think Virginia State may have got themselves into the playoffs. They were not in the top 6 of the rankings released on 11-10-2014, but they won the CIAA championship game earlier today over Winston-Salem State.

I believe that is the gist of it... except for the fact that Virginia State was ranked 7th in the regional ranking heading into this weekend. Throw in a loss by Shepard and you would likely see Virginia State in the playoffs.

[4_tattoos]

Slippery Rock also won their conference championship Saturday (PSAC) out of Super Region 1. They were number 8 in the latest rankings right behind Virginia State. Guess two top six teams from that Super Region are getting ousted from a playoff spot.

[Seadragon76]

Well, we will find out today as both D-II and D-III brackets are announced today.

[4_tattoos]

Division 2 First Round: 11/22/2014

Region1

• (4) West Chester vs (5) Slippery Rock
• (3) Virginia State vs (6) LIU Post
• BYE: (1) Concord & (2) Bloomsburg

Region 3

• (4) Minnesota-Duluth vs (5) Northwest Missouri State
• (3) Pittsburg State vs (6) Harding
• BYE: (1) Ouachita Baptist & (2) Minnesota State Mankato

Region 2

• (4) North Alabama vs (5) Valdosta State
• (3) Tuskegee vs (6) West Georgia
• BYE: (1) Lenoir-Rhyne & (2) Delta State

Region 4

• (4) Colorado Mines vs (5) Ohio Dominican
• (3) Michigan Tech vs (6) Angelo State
• BYE: (1) Ferris State & (2) Colorado State Pueblo

SN: Division II semifinals will be the winners out of region 1 vs region 3, and region 2 vs region 4.

[4_tattoos]

I'll be officially supporting Johns Hopkins in the D3 playoffs since they're from my home state (Maryland).

Is it wrong that I don't want either Mount Union or Wisconsin-Whitewater to make it to the Stagg Bowl? I'd hate to be one of those guys that blast a team for their past success, but geez! The host of the selection show said Mt Union has advanced to the semifinals every season since 1995. I'd just like to see some new blood make a deep run.

[Seadragon76]

Division III bracket is set... here's the first round match-ups:

Bracket 1

-Macalester (9-1) at Wisconsin-Whitewater (10-0)

-Franklin (8-2) at Wabash (9-1)

-St. Scholastica (10-0) at St. John's [Minnesota] (9-1)

-St. Thomas [Minnesota] (8-2) at Wartburg (10-0)

Bracket 2

-Muhlenberg (9-1) at Widener (10-0)

-Christopher Newport (7-3) at Delaware Valley (9-1)

-Chapman (8-1) at Linfield (8-1)

-Texas Lutheran (9-1) at Mary-Hardin Baylor (10-0)

Bracket 3

-Hampden-Sydney (7-3) at Wesley (9-1)

-MIT (8-0) at Husson (8-1)

-Rowan (7-3) at John Hopkins (10-0)

-Ithaca (7-3) at Hobart (10-0)

Bracket 4

-Benedictine [illinois] (6-4) at Wheaton [illinois] (10-0)

-Centre (10-0) at John Carroll (9-1)

-Washington & Jefferson (9-1) at Wittenberg (9-1)

-Adrian (8-2) at Mount Union (10-0)

[DarkJourney]

I'm supporting Macalester since my cousin is an alumni but they'll probably get thumped by UW-Whitewater.

[Seadragon76]

In Division III, I'll support Wartburg (former Iowan and all) and Linfield (nearest college to where I live, plus the emotion of what happened to Parker Moore should fuel them)

[JayMac]

D-III - I'm rooting for Rowan all the way! I just received my MBA there recently. Go Profs!

[4_tattoos]

Are any of the first round games in D2 or D3 going to be livestreamed anywhere?

[Seadragon76]

Are any of the first round games in D2 or D3 going to be livestreamed anywhere?

If you go to http://www.d2football.com or http://www.d3football.com, you'll find links for live streams, audio and what not for just about each game today.

[4_tattoos]

Thanks!

At the end of first quarter Virginia State 7, LIU-Post 0

UPDATE: At halftime LIU is up 17-14

FINAL SCORE: Virginia State beats LIU-Post 28-17

[4_tattoos]

Some more scores from the early Division II games.

• West Chester beat Slipper Rock 48-20
• Valdosta State beat North Alabama 33-31
• West Georgia beat Tuskegee 20-17
• Angelo State beat Michigan Tech 42-41

[4_tattoos]

Johns Hopkins beat Rowan 24-18 to advance. Blue Jays will play Hobart in the 2nd round.

[WizKid]

The Bears are dancing baby!!

Congrats to my, Morgan State Bears on winning the MEAC!!!

Not only did we give Delaware State a Baltimore Beatdown (69-7 Yes, you're reading that correctly!), South Carolina State helped us clinch the tiebreaker win by beating Norfolk State 30-20.

Coach Hull left Maryland last year as a Defensive Coordinator to be our head ball coach. This would not have been possible without him and his staff.

Not North Carolina A&T, Not Bethune-Cookman, Not SC State, We proved everybody wrong.

We won the MEAC baby!!!

UP NEXT: FCS Playoffs.

[4_tattoos]

No offense WizKid, I usually support the HBCU's in the FCS & Division II playoffs. But I just can't get excited over a 7-5 team getting an automatic bid. I went to Morgan State so I have some fondness to the school (transferred to Howard after one year), but I seriously hope the MEAC gets a second team in this year. Having Bethune-Cookman or North Carolina A&T with 9-3 records also in the tourney just makes the conference look a little better.

Side note: Savannah State University seriously needs to drop back down to Division II. Moving up to D1 has been a total disaster. Their football and basketball programs ("the money makers") have been whipping boys since moving up. Not to mention a reliable little birdy has told me that SSU was never financially ready for D1 athletics and still struggling to keep up on the financial side of things.