2011 FCS/1AA Playoffs

[Burkell007]

umaine is better then people think....just saying

[crashcarson15]

The CAA is worse than people think... just saying.

[Burkell007]

every year the CAA is better then most conferences, the one down year and people slam it?? come on....New Hampshire, Townson, Maine, Old Dominion, James Madison...any conference have more then 3 in the playoffs?? dont think so.

[Thad]

Time for a new offensive line coach and an actual offensive coordinator. No other college program has a 3 man committee to call plays and that leads to confusion on the field. One person needs the job. An offensive line coach that doesn't drive 2 starters to quit the team mid-season and have a whole OL roster of 7 players at the end of the season would be nice. I don't usually call for people's jobs, but he did a horrific job this last season.

All the congrats to Maine - you kicked App's ass yesterday. Glad I didn't waste $40 to get a couple tickets.

[Burkell007]

Time for a new offensive line coach and an actual offensive coordinator. No other college program has a 3 man committee to call plays and that leads to confusion on the field. One person needs the job. An offensive line coach that doesn't drive 2 starters to quit the team mid-season and have a whole OL roster of 7 players at the end of the season would be nice. I don't usually call for people's jobs, but he did a horrific job this last season.

All the congrats to Maine - you kicked App's ass yesterday. Glad I didn't waste $40 to get a couple tickets.

thanks but i cant seem to think its 2002 again lets hope history dont repeat next weekend....funny thing i live in asheville area now not too far from boone, so go figure right??

[crashcarson15]

every year the CAA is better then most conferences, the one down year and people slam it?? come on....New Hampshire, Townson, Maine, Old Dominion, James Madison...any conference have more then 3 in the playoffs?? dont think so.

Yeah, I'm slamming it because they haven't gotten the job done this year, and didn't deserve 5 teams.

The CAA will continue to get this stupid number of bids as long as the whole league doesn't play everyone else... JMU didn't deserve to be in.

[webdav]

The CAA is what other conferences want to be. However, this year they may have gotten five bids because of the history.

I'm hoping the Bobcats get another shot at the Griz. The Big Sky Country would be insane.

My picks are in bold:

Montana State at Sam Houston State

Northern Iowa at Montana

Maine at Georgia Southern

Lehigh at North Dakota State

The best matchup this week I think is Maine/Georgia Southern. Should be a really good game.

I think UNI will give a better game to the Griz than Central Arkansas did, but the Griz at Wa-Griz in December are very hard to beat. If UNI can stay close early, they'll have a good shot. If they fall behind by more than two scores early, it's going to get ugly. Wa-Griz gets LOUD and hostile, so they need to keep the crowd out of it.

North Dakota State is another hostile place to play. And they are a very good team. Lehigh can't make any mistakes in that one.

Montana State is my homer pick, but I think they match up really well with Sam Houston State. The Bobcats have a very balanced attack and a stout defense.

They lost the last game of the season to the Griz, losing the #1 ranking and falling out of the seeds, but they are not the team that showed up on November 19. They only beat UNH by a missed extra point, but overcame four turnovers to do so. The defense dominated UNH, who scored 16 of their 25 points on turnovers, and another six after a shanked punt where they only had to move 29 yards.

The Cat-Griz game was the only game all season, including Utah, where the Cats didn't look like the better team in the second half. I think they go to Texas and hand Sam Houston State their first loss of the season.

[Seadragon76]

Don't count out UNI, man. The Panthers are Co-Gateway champs alongside a damn good North Dakota State team. Heading to Montana may seem a bit tough, but it's not like it can't be done. You could go into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and walk out with a win.

Division II and Division III are at the semifinal round as well, and since there is no topic for that, I'll put my previews here.

Division II - National Semifinals

Pittsburg State Gorillas at Delta State Statemen

There was a time when Pittsburg State was considered a D-II juggernaut. Nothing could stand in the way of the Gorillas... But, time hasn't been all that kind to them, along side the rise of archrival Northwest Missouri State. You can only imagine how sweet it was when the Gorillas took down the Bearcats in the Quarterfinals. Standing in the way of the road to past glory is the defending national runner up, the Delta State Statesmen. Despite playing in the newly watered down Gulf South Conference, it didn't deter the Stateman from getting back to the National Championship Game and winning it all. A win over a gutsy North Greenville team gave the Statesmen a home clash with the Gorillas. Can the Statesmen return to the scene of last season's heartbreaker or will the Gorillas return to their past glory?

Wayne State (MI) Warriors at Winston-Salem State Rams

A David and Goliath matchup if there was one, but how this came to be is another story. Just two seasons ago, WSSU was mired in the muck and wasn't going anywhere in the MEAC and as a Division I member. A decision was made: WSSU would drop back down to Division II and return to it's old home, the CIAA. Things have been looking up for them ever since. They missed out on the playoffs last season and this season, they are the only unbeaten team left in Division II after a win over equally surprising New Haven. The Rams are the Goliath in this story... The role of David is played by the Wayne State Warriors. The lowest remaining seed left in the tourny, the Warriors won at St. Cloud State, at a very dangerous Nebraska-Kearney squad and then stunned the defending champion Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs last weekend. Can the Cinderella run continue for Wayne State or do they fall against Division II's only unbeaten team?

Division III - National Semifinals

Wesley Wolverines at Mount Union Purple Raiders

St. Thomas (MN) Tommies at Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks

Game 7. For many people, it's the final showdown to see which team is the best. For Mt. Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater, it's a chance to finally meet once again in the National Championship Game. The two have met six times in a row with each school taking three games apiece. In order for that Game 7 to appear, both teams need to win... The job for both Wesley and St. Thomas is to prevent Game 7 from happening. Can either one pull off the upset, or will there be a final and decisive Game 7?

[webdav]

Don't count out UNI, man. The Panthers are Co-Gateway champs alongside a damn good North Dakota State team. Heading to Montana may seem a bit tough, but it's not like it can't be done. You could go into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and walk out with a win.

I'm not counting UNI out. I hope they give the Griz a battle. But Wa-Griz is a tough place to walk out as a winner. They are 30-1 there in the last 4 seasons.

And I do take a certain satisfaction knowing that it was my Bobcats who handed them the one loss!

[DarkJourney]

Don't count out UNI, man. The Panthers are Co-Gateway champs alongside a damn good North Dakota State team. Heading to Montana may seem a bit tough, but it's not like it can't be done. You could go into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and walk out with a win.

I'm not counting UNI out. I hope they give the Griz a battle. But Wa-Griz is a tough place to walk out as a winner. They are 30-1 there in the last 4 seasons.

And I do take a certain satisfaction knowing that it was my Bobcats who handed them the one loss!

Montana 48, Northern Iowa 10.....Um yeah

[raysox]

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/12/10/2626168/elvis-akpla-montana-state-one-handed-catch-video

That is the best catch I've ever seen.

[Seadragon76]

Don't count out UNI, man. The Panthers are Co-Gateway champs alongside a damn good North Dakota State team. Heading to Montana may seem a bit tough, but it's not like it can't be done. You could go into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and walk out with a win.

I'm not counting UNI out. I hope they give the Griz a battle. But Wa-Griz is a tough place to walk out as a winner. They are 30-1 there in the last 4 seasons.

And I do take a certain satisfaction knowing that it was my Bobcats who handed them the one loss!

Montana 48, Northern Iowa 10.....Um yeah

Yeah. Looks like I was wrong about UNI going into Wa-Griz and walking out with a win. They came out with a big ass Grizzly footprint upside their rears! Looks like Montana would be the team to beat... If it wasn't for the impressive showing by Sam Houston State so far today.

[DarkJourney]

Don't count out UNI, man. The Panthers are Co-Gateway champs alongside a damn good North Dakota State team. Heading to Montana may seem a bit tough, but it's not like it can't be done. You could go into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and walk out with a win.

I'm not counting UNI out. I hope they give the Griz a battle. But Wa-Griz is a tough place to walk out as a winner. They are 30-1 there in the last 4 seasons.

And I do take a certain satisfaction knowing that it was my Bobcats who handed them the one loss!

Montana 48, Northern Iowa 10.....Um yeah

Yeah. Looks like I was wrong about UNI going into Wa-Griz and walking out with a win. They came out with a big ass Grizzly footprint upside their rears! Looks like Montana would be the team to beat... If it wasn't for the impressive showing by Sam Houston State so far today.

That SHS defense is pretty darn good. With the game being in Hunstville I think the Bearkats beat Montana in a close one.

[DarkJourney]

One thing I find odd is that North Dakota will be joining the Big Sky but it's main rivals North Dakota State, South Dakota & South Dakota State will all be in the Missouri Valley. I'm assuming this might have to do with the Fighting Sioux nickname?

[winghaz]

One thing I find odd is that North Dakota will be joining the Big Sky but it's main rivals North Dakota State, South Dakota & South Dakota State will all be in the Missouri Valley. I'm assuming this might have to do with the Fighting Sioux nickname?

It's partly due to the Fighting Sioux nickname. The Missouri Valley made it very clear that it wanted the Sioux nickname controversy settled before UND could join that conference.

The biggest problem was UND (and South Dakota) made a big mistake by not going Division I the same time NDSU and South Dakota State did. I've still never heard a good reason why UND decided to stay Division II for a few years. It could have been the athletic director at the time, Roger Thomas. It could have been the folks in Grand Forks didn't think they could compete in Division I. It could be they thought it would cost too much. Maybe some other reason, or a combination of reasons.

Personally, I hope the Big Sky denies UND membership and forces UND to try and get in the Missouri Valley. Because let's face it, UND and NDSU belong in the same conference. And it would be good for the Missouri Valley, as well.

[Seadragon76]

Actually, North Dakota joins the Big Sky next season (Alongside Southern Utah, UC Davis and Cal Poly).

I've always felt that the move to get UND and SUU to the Big Sky was a measure done by the Big Sky, who feared that Montana and Montana State would be joing the WAC and the FBS level. Of course, that never happened. What you're getting is a 13 school league for football (UC Davis and Cal Poly are football only members) and 11 for other sports.

Had UND not settle the whole nickname issue, then the Big Sky would of booted UND and they may have landed in the Missouri Valley Football Conference alongside it's regional rivals in NDSU, USD and South Dakota State... Hell, it could of lead to a possible formation of a football version of the Summit League (UND, NDSU, USD, South Dakota State, Western Illinois and Nebraska-Omaha).

But, UNO dropped football in part of it's move to the Summit League and those other members are still in the MVFC. Oh, what could of been...

[DarkJourney]

NCAA Champions

Division I: Sam Houston State vs. North Dakota State-Georgia Southern winner

Division II: Pittsburg State Gorillas

Division III: Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks

[4_tattoos]

Why the heck is the FCS Championship being played on January 7th?

[Seadragon76]

Why the heck is the FCS Championship being played on January 7th?

Not totally sure here, but I assume they want it to be closer to the BCS Championship Game so both D-I champs can be crown in the same time frame.

[4_tattoos]

That 3 week gap between the semi-finals and championship seems rediculous to me. Don't even get me started on the break between FBS final week of the season to the BCS Championship game.

Anyways, Sam Houston should have somewhat of a home advantage with the game being played in Texas. Not to mentione that it's only about a 3 hour drive from Sam Houston's campus in Huntsville to the game site in Frisco.