Who Gets In

[BleedingBLue]

Because the CAA is really beating up on each other, I think the door is open for a 5th BSC team this year. I wouldn't be surprised if 5 BSC and 5 MVFC teams get in if we have 4 8-3 or better teams and 1 7-4 team.

[The MICKSTER]

A ? about the playoffs......this is my understanding of how the FCS playoffs work....

• The top 24 teams are selected

• The top 8 teams are seeded (these 8 teams get a 'bye' in the 1st round)

• The remaining 16 teams play each other in the 1st round. Which team hosts these 1st round games is 100% determined by which of those matched teams put in the highest bid to the NCAA for the right to host. It has absolutely nothing to do with ranking or record.

• The winners of the 1st round games travel to the seeded teams in the 2nd round.

• The quarterfinal & semifinal games are hosted by the highest seed (or highest bidder if neither team is seeded)

IS THIS CORRECT?

I believe this to be the case but I'm not sure. IF it is, there will essentially never be a scenario where the CATS, um, or JMU will ever 'not host' a 1st round game (if in a 1st round game) because each of our schools could 'out bid' any other school that we played, and there wouldn't be a scenario where we played each other in the first round (due to proximity scheduling)

[Catsrgrood]

A ? about the playoffs......this is my understanding of how the FCS playoffs work....

• The top 24 teams are selected

• The top 8 teams are seeded (these 8 teams get a 'bye' in the 1st round)

• The remaining 16 teams play each other in the 1st round. Which team hosts these 1st round games is 100% determined by which of those matched teams put in the highest bid to the NCAA for the right to host. It has absolutely nothing to do with ranking or record.

• The winners of the 1st round games travel to the seeded teams in the 2nd round.

• The quarterfinal & semifinal games are hosted by the highest seed (or highest bidder if neither team is seeded)

IS THIS CORRECT?

I believe this to be the case but I'm not sure. IF it is, there will essentially never be a scenario where the CATS, um, or JMU will ever 'not host' a 1st round game (if in a 1st round game) because each of our schools could 'out bid' any other school that we played, and there wouldn't be a scenario where we played each other in the first round (due to proximity scheduling)

Yes, that Cats will essentially always play their first playoff game at home. Whether that’s because they earned it through a top 8 seed and it’s in the 2nd round or if it’s a first round game they get via a bid, like you lined out above.

[BleedingBLue]

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-202 ... ns-8-bzbz/

Nice breakdown by Sam.

[BelligerentBobcat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

[MSU01]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The good news is that next year, MSU gets Davis, Weber, and UM in Bozeman. The bad news is they have to play at EWU for the second year in a row for some reason.

[Montanabob]

Road to Frisco says you have to win away games all the way to Texas.

[onceacat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The good news is that next year, MSU gets Davis, Weber, and UM in Bozeman. The bad news is they have to play at EWU for the second year in a row for some reason.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

[Catsrgrood]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The good news is that next year, MSU gets Davis, Weber, and UM in Bozeman. The bad news is they have to play at EWU for the second year in a row for some reason.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

Covid

Everything was just pushed back a year. They used 2020’s conference schedule for this year.

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The good news is that next year, MSU gets Davis, Weber, and UM in Bozeman. The bad news is they have to play at EWU for the second year in a row for some reason.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

Covid

Everything was just pushed back a year. They used 2020’s conference schedule for this year.

I was actually glad they did this with the Brawl. If they hadn’t and we won at home for the SECOND consecutive time, dUMb would never shut up about it.

[catatac]

Road to Frisco says you have to win away games all the way to Texas.

Yep, but to BB's point... our road schedule in the brutal Big Sky makes it super tough to win all the away games and end up with a #1 or #2 seed. Whereas (not necessarily this year but several years in the past) an NDSU has a season of road games against weak teams, get the #1 seed, play at home all through the playoffs, and play one game away, in Frisco for the chipper. Granted, they almost always close the deal and win that game, not taking anything away from that.

[Catprint]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

I would argue Weber got a way worse deal from the schedule gods than we did. Weber played their tough games early - no patsies to pad their ranking. They played UCD, MSU and EWU in the first four games. Brutal. Up to this point, Weber has played BSC teams with a 71% winning record. The other top four teams (MSU, UCD, EWU and Sac) have played teams with an average of 32% win percentage. So instead of climbing up in the polls and building a strong resume , Weber took the hits early and has to climb back. Whether a sixth team gets in at 7-4 really depends on how badly MVFC and CAA teams beat up on each other. Weber should win out as I will out line in my revised Path to the Playoffs Post.

In addition, Eastern got UM, Weber and MSU at home. Now that is a crime. Plus they got 3 out of 4 home games in mid season. Schedules are what they are. But they still couldn't pull off the sweep. Home field is not everything.

[onceacat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

I would argue Weber got a way worse deal from the schedule gods than we did. Weber played their tough games early - no patsies to pad their ranking. They played UCD, MSU and EWU in the first four games. Brutal. Up to this point, Weber has played BSC teams with a 71% winning record. The other top four teams (MSU, UCD, EWU and Sac) have played teams with an average of 32% win percentage. So instead of climbing up in the polls and building a strong resume , Weber took the hits early and has to climb back. Whether a sixth team gets in at 7-4 really depends on how badly MVFC and CAA teams beat up on each other. Weber should win out as I will out line in my revised Path to the Playoffs Post.

In addition, Eastern got UM, Weber and MSU at home. Now that is a crime. Plus they got 3 out of 4 home games in mid season. Schedules are what they are. But they still couldn't pull off the sweep. Home field is not everything.

Indeed, home field is not. Look at Webers home field record.

And, in fairness, Weber has played Poly & Dixie St. So, not as though there are "no patsies" to pad their record.

Big Sky needs to fix the unbalanced schedule. Its a pretty easy fix...just takes enough guts to make sure that the top teams play each other week in & out so we don't get into these silly conversations:

You don't announce schedules in advance after the preseason...you announce Home dates & Away dates. Everyone with a winning record in the preseason gets put into the winners bracket, then you pair the homes teams and away teams. Sort of like doing playoffs for the entire conference season. Winners play winners, losers play losers, and nobody gets to complain about soft of hard schedules.

The only people its tough on are fans that might want to plan Away games more than a week in advance. But since really only Cat & Griz fans travel, its not really impacting very many people.

Makes too much sense. BSC will never take action to fix it.

[Joe Bobcat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

This has probably been discussed at some point in the past, but The Brawl is supposed to be in Bozeman in odd numbered years. What happened?

I would argue Weber got a way worse deal from the schedule gods than we did. Weber played their tough games early - no patsies to pad their ranking. They played UCD, MSU and EWU in the first four games. Brutal. Up to this point, Weber has played BSC teams with a 71% winning record. The other top four teams (MSU, UCD, EWU and Sac) have played teams with an average of 32% win percentage. So instead of climbing up in the polls and building a strong resume , Weber took the hits early and has to climb back. Whether a sixth team gets in at 7-4 really depends on how badly MVFC and CAA teams beat up on each other. Weber should win out as I will out line in my revised Path to the Playoffs Post.

In addition, Eastern got UM, Weber and MSU at home. Now that is a crime. Plus they got 3 out of 4 home games in mid season. Schedules are what they are. But they still couldn't pull off the sweep. Home field is not everything.

Indeed, home field is not. Look at Webers home field record.

And, in fairness, Weber has played Poly & Dixie St. So, not as though there are "no patsies" to pad their record.

Big Sky needs to fix the unbalanced schedule. Its a pretty easy fix...just takes enough guts to make sure that the top teams play each other week in & out so we don't get into these silly conversations:

You don't announce schedules in advance after the preseason...you announce Home dates & Away dates. Everyone with a winning record in the preseason gets put into the winners bracket, then you pair the homes teams and away teams. Sort of like doing playoffs for the entire conference season. Winners play winners, losers play losers, and nobody gets to complain about soft of hard schedules.

The only people its tough on are fans that might want to plan Away games more than a week in advance. But since really only Cat & Griz fans travel, its not really impacting very many people.

Makes too much sense. BSC will never take action to fix it.

There is so much about your idea that is unworkable that it's hardly worth talking about. Here's a tip of just one iceberg.
In this year's pre season UNC ended with a 2 win 1 loss record while Sac state ended with a 1 win 2 loss record. Both would have been in the wrong pool for their conference games. So what's an AD to do? Load your preseason with sure win games to get yourself into the winner pool or load with very tough games to get yourself into the lower pool where you stand a better chance of running the table in conference play.
Knowing that you're traveling on a certain weekend is nice, but knowing where your traveling far in advance is money for both teams and fans.

[Marana CAT]

It’s looking good for Weber if they win out at 7-4. UM will struggle to get to 7-4 and won’t make playoffs. Following teams in the MVC and BSC make it:
MVC
1. NDSU
2. Southern Illinois
3. SDSU
4. UNI

BSC
1. MSU
2. EWU
3. UC Davis
4. Sac State
5. Weber State

[91catAlum]

It’s looking good for Weber if they win out at 7-4. UM will struggle to get to 7-4 and won’t make playoffs. Following teams in the MVC and BSC make it:
MVC
1. NDSU
2. Southern Illinois
3. SDSU
4. UNI

BSC
1. MSU
2. EWU
3. UC Davis
4. Sac State
5. Weber State

That would be funny, but a 7-4 Weber team will not get in over a 7-4 griz team. Say what you want about the Huskies, but the selection committee counts FBS wins more than regular wins. Especially a win over a P5 team.

I think the griz go 8-3 anyway. It would be interesting to see what happens with a 7-4 Weber team. They would be deserving but it's unlikely 6 Big Sky teams get in.

[PapaG]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The only reason this schedule exists this year is because UM whined about missing a home game against MSU because of Covid and the Big Sky conference acquiesced to their crying. It’s that simple.

[iaafan]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The only reason this schedule exists this year is because UM whined about missing a home game against MSU because of Covid and the Big Sky conference acquiesced to their crying. It’s that simple.

I'm glad you brought this up. They're so good at that (whining). In 1982 they whined about MSU getting a share of the league title when Idaho, UM and MSU all tied at 5-2. So what did the league do? The took away MSU's share of the title and didn't recognize it until about 10 years ago when it was "reinstated." There were no other years prior to that or since that anyone that had the same record for first place wasn't recognized as a league champion. Joe Glenn, who was a UM asst. at the time, was the main person whining.

Cut to yesterday when the UM twitter feed said something about there being a rumor about the Cat-Griz game getting ESPN Game Day. Then the BSC Twitter feed goes along with that. Total bush league stuff. Everyone just puts up with it. Lame.

[BleedingBLue]

It’s looking good for Weber if they win out at 7-4. UM will struggle to get to 7-4 and won’t make playoffs. Following teams in the MVC and BSC make it:
MVC
1. NDSU
2. Southern Illinois
3. SDSU
4. UNI

BSC
1. MSU
2. EWU
3. UC Davis
4. Sac State
5. Weber State

That would be funny, but a 7-4 Weber team will not get in over a 7-4 griz team. Say what you want about the Huskies, but the selection committee counts FBS wins more than regular wins. Especially a win over a P5 team.

I think the griz go 8-3 anyway. It would be interesting to see what happens with a 7-4 Weber team. They would be deserving but it's unlikely 6 Big Sky teams get in.

I would disagree about both being being 7-4 and the Griz getting in over Weber. Weber would have lost to FBS Utah, 2 top 10 teams and a top 15 team. They would also have a top 10 win. The Griz would have most likely a top 15 loss, 2 top 10 losses and an FBS win. But they would also have a loss to a bottom 60ish team in UNC or NAU. Not to mention Weber would be on a 4 game winning streak. And the Griz would have lost 2 of their last 3. If they lose the next 2 and beat us they'd be in probably, but not if they drop 1 of the next 2 and lose to us. I also think 6 BSC is very possibly this year with a weak Southland and the CAA beating each other out of the playoffs.

[BelligerentBobcat]

The BSC really did not do us any favors this year.

All of our home games are against rather easy teams, where a home field advantage just doesn’t matter as much.

We also played away at Weber, on a short week, with them coming off of a bye. Distinct advantage to Weber. Playing away at EWU, which is tough. You might think we have a bit of a plus in our favor because we’re coming off of a bye, but so is EWU. I can’t remember ever seeing where two teams coming off of a bye are playing each other. Anyways, distinct advantage for EWU there Bc of home field. Playing away at UM. Despite recent appearances there for us, UM is always a difficult place to play. So our 3 best opponents, we are playing at their home field, and two of those opponents will have been coming off of a bye week. That’s just dramatically poor scheduling by the BSC for what is one of their premier teams in the conference.

The only reason this schedule exists this year is because UM whined about missing a home game against MSU because of Covid and the Big Sky conference acquiesced to their crying. It’s that simple.

I'm glad you brought this up. They're so good at that (whining). In 1982 they whined about MSU getting a share of the league title when Idaho, UM and MSU all tied at 5-2. So what did the league do? The took away MSU's share of the title and didn't recognize it until about 10 years ago when it was "reinstated." There were no other years prior to that or since that anyone that had the same record for first place wasn't recognized as a league champion. Joe Glenn, who was a UM asst. at the time, was the main person whining.

Cut to yesterday when the UM twitter feed said something about there being a rumor about the Cat-Griz game getting ESPN Game Day. Then the BSC Twitter feed goes along with that. Total bush league stuff. Everyone just puts up with it. Lame.

The Twitter stuff isn’t busy league at all. It’s good for the conference if they get Game Day. Not everything is a conspiracy my man.