Tonight the Delaware Blue Hens will take on the Eastern Washington Eagles for the right to be called the 2011 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Champions. The game will pit two former Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Quarterbacks against one another as Pat Devlin (UD) takes on Bo Levi Mitchell (EWU). However, these two are not the only prospects or the only playmakers to watch for in tonight’s game.
With almost the entire FBS having the week off before Bowls start up next weekend, many of you will get to see some of the D2 and FCS playoffs for the first time this season. The Division II playoffs currently sit in their semifinal round and their games will air at 2 and 6 pm live on CBS College Sports. Delta State takes on Shepherd in the first semifinal followed by Minnesota-Duluth vs. the defending national champion, Northwest Missouri State. The FCS playoffs are currently in their quarterfinals and will only have one game nationally televised this weekend when two powerhouses take the field in Boone, NC as Villanova pays a visit to Appalachian State on ESPN. Villanova is the defending national champions, but Appalachian State has won the title three of the last five years. The other quarterfinal battles will see North Dakota State take on Eastern Washington, Wofford take on Georgia Southern, and Delaware take on New Hampshire. With three games on nationally, I wanted to give you a primer on those games so you know who to watch on Saturday and whose names you may hear in April.
This weekend’s SWAC Championship game will make history regardless of the outcome, as the Tigers of Texas Southern will make the school’s first appearance in the historic event. The team has won seven games in a row, and started the streak versus their opponent in this weekend’s game, Alabama State. Their success has not gone unnoticed, as they are ranked #4 in this week’s SBN Black College Football poll.
Division II has a unique selection process for its playoff teams. They take all of their conferences and divide them into 4 geographical super regions. They then rank the top teams in each region and pick the top 6 as playoff teams. There is a catch though as the DII selection committee has an earned access spot that they can give out. The earned access spot says that if your conference is not currently ranked in the top 6 of the regional rankings, and that you are ranked 7th or 8th in the regional rankings, then it can bump one of the repeat conference members out and take its place. The conferences that represent Super Region 1 are; the Lone Star Conference (LSC), the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), and the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association. This year’s super region is represented by 3 LSC schools, and 3 MIAA schools. The two schools that earned first round byes are (1) Abilene Christian and (2) Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Division II has a unique selection process for its playoff teams. They take all of their conferences and divide them into 4 geographical super regions. They then rank the top teams in each region and pick the top 6 as playoff teams. There is a catch though as the DII selection committee has an earned access spot that they can give out. The earned access spot says that if your conference is not currently ranked in the top 6 of the regional rankings, and that you are ranked 7th or 8th in the regional rankings, then it can bump one of the repeat conference members out and take its place. The conferences that represent Super Region 3 are; the Gran Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). This year’s super region is represented by 3 NSIC schools, 2 GLIAC schools, and 1 RMAC school. The two schools that earned first round byes are: (1) Minnesota-Duluth and (2) Augustana.
Division II has a unique selection process for its playoff teams. They take all of their conferences and divide them into 4 geographical super regions. They then rank the top teams in each region and pick the top 6 as playoff teams. There is a catch though as the DII selection committee has an earned access spot that they can give out. The earned access spot says that if your conference is not currently ranked in the top 6 of the regional rankings, and that you are ranked 7th or 8th in the regional rankings, then it can bump one of the repeat conference members out and take its place. The conferences that represent Super Region 1 are; the Gulf South Conference (GSC), the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), and the Southern Atlantic Conference (SAC). This year’s super region is represented by 3 GSC schools, 2 SIAC schools, and 1 SAC school. The two schools that earned first round byes are: (1) Albany State and (2) Delta State.
Division II has a unique selection process for its playoff teams. They take all of their conferences and divide them into 4 geographical super regions. They then rank the top teams in each region and pick the top 6 as playoff teams. There is a catch though as the DII selection committee has an earned access spot that they can give out. The earned access spot says that if your conference is not currently ranked in the top 6 of the regional rankings, and that you are ranked 7th or 8th in the regional rankings, then it can bump one of the repeat conference members out and take its place. The conferences that represent Super Region 1 are; the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), the Northeast-10 (NE-10), the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), and the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). This year’s super region is represented by 4 PSAC schools, 1 CIAA, and 1 WVIAC. The two schools that earned first round byes are (1) Kutztown and (2) Mercyhurst.
Ok, technically yes I know this isn’t week one for Division II. I know last week you guys kicked off, but let’s just play along for fun. As we enter Week One, there are a lot of story lines to look at amongst the small schools as we have all of our defending national champions kicking off, former FBS transfers getting fresh starts with lower division teams, and players jockeying for position to try and just get noticed by the NFL. As we move forward over the coming weeks, this weekly article will touch on specific games, players, teams and trends that are occurring throughout the lower levels of college football.
