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It’s Been a While: A first look at the playoffs

By on October 4, 2010 in FCS Update

Five weeks into the 2010 season we’ve seen a lot of surprises. Quite a few regulars have faltered: Montana, Southern Illinois, and New Hampshire to name a few.

Now seems like a good time to take a shot at prognosticating what this years playoff field will look like in the end. Let’s start with the automatic bids:

Big Sky- With the way things have started in the Big Sky, it’s obvious that this could change quite a bit over the next month or two. If I had to pick a winner today (and I do), it would be Montana State.  The Bobcats could easily be at 5-0 right now, and although they faltered a bit this past weekend, their destiny is definitely in their hands.

Big South- As of today, the front runner in the Big South has to be Liberty. Although the loss to Robert Morris looks a little shaky, we may find that the Colonials were a better team than we might have expected. No one else in the conference even deserves a look right now. Gardner-Webb fell apart after the win at Akron.

CAA- Today’s winner of the CAA autobid is Massachusetts. The Minutemen are off to a strong start and if they can avoid a collapse they should be one of several CAA teams in the playoffs this year. Delaware is running neck and neck with them at this point.

MEAC- South Carolina State is the easy pick at this point. They’ve gone undefeated through the conference for quite some time and haven’t shown any intentions of ending that trend.

MVFC- The Valley is almost a pick’em at this point. As of today I would rule out North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Indiana State. Northern Iowa has one of the best defenses in the nation through four games. If they can get points out of their offense they should come out of the battle as the last one standing.  Any of the top six teams in the league could easily be argued for, but with the exception of going to Southern Illinois this weekend, UNI’s schedule is very favorable. A loss in Carbondale would definitely change my pick.

NEC- You have to go with Robert Morris. The Colonials have been up to snuff so far. Three of the four wins have come on the road. I like that in a team. It’s still early enough for a lot of change, but I really like the Colonials to earn the leagues first automatic bid to the playoffs.

OVC- Every week I keep expecting the top teams of the OVC to fall apart like usual. But so far Southeast Missouri State and Jacksonville State have shown the toughness they need to stay undefeated in conference. The two teams meet in the last game of the season and I expect the home team, Jacksonville State to take home the autobid. If both teams can win out to that point then we should expect the loser to give the OVC a second bid.

Patriot- Until last weekend I think we all thought Georgetown was going to do the unexpected, but after a 31-3 drubbing, the Hoyas expectations have been lowered. We’ve seen very little in league play from the PL, so anything at this point would be pure speculation.  Georgetown may still be in play, but at this point Colgate is my front runner.

Southern- Appalachian State….no devils advocate to play here at this point.

Southland- Stephen F. Austin may be the most disliked team in the nation at this point. While fans of the SLC have disliked them for years, fans from around the country have seen the Texas A&M video or had other complaints of their own. “Just win, baby”: The Jacks do it. Look for them to make a strong post season run….unless the Montana fans get to them on Friday night.

That gives us the ten autobids:

Montana State, Liberty, Massachusetts, South Carolina St, Northern Iowa, Robert Morris, Jacksonville State, Colgate, Appalachian State, and Stephen F Austin.

Now let’s get down to the at-large canidates (teams I put in the bracket in bold) :

Big Sky: Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington, Montana

Big South: none

CAA: Delaware, Villanova, William and Mary, and James Madison

MEAC: none

MVFC: Western Illinois, Illinois State, Youngstown State, and Southern Illinois

NEC: none

OVC: Southeast Missouri State

Patriot: none

Southern: Georgia Southern, Wofford, and Chattanooga

Southland: McNeese State, Central Arkansas, and Texas State

The 5 seeds:

Delaware, Massachusetts, Jacksonville State, Appalachian State, and Stephen F. Austin

Last Four Out:
Western Illinois
Illinois State
Youngstown State
Chattanooga

First Round:

Robert Morris
@Liberty

Wofford
@South Carolina State

Eastern Washington
@Texas State

Colgate
@Montana

Second Round:

Robert Morris/Liberty
@ #1 Massachusetts

Villanova
@ Georgia Southern

Montana State
@ #5 Delaware
Colgate/Montana
@ #4 Stephen F. Austin

Wofford/South Carolina State
@ #2 Appalachian State

Southeast Missouri State
@ William and Mary

James Madison  
@ Northern Iowa

Eastern Washington/Texas State
@ #3 Jacksonville State

(please let me know if you see any errors…..I’m sure you will)

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CS: FCS Top 25 Football Poll Week 5 (10/4/2010)

By on October 4, 2010 in CS Poll

2010 CS Top 25 Football Poll

Week 5 | 10/4/2010
1. Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.
2. Appalachian State Mountaineers.
3. Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
4. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
5. Massachusetts Minutemen.
6. James Madison Dukes.
7. William & Mary Tribe.
8. Villanova Wildcats.
9. Montana State Bobcats.
10. Texas State Bobcats.
11. South Carolina State Bulldogs.
12. Georgia Southern Eagles.
13. Cal Poly Mustangs.
14. Northern Iowa Panthers.
15. Richmond Spiders.
16. Eastern Washington Eagles.
17. Western Illinois Leathernecks.
18. Montana Grizzlies.
19. Wofford Terriers.
20. Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
21. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
22. Central Arkansas Bears.
23. Youngstown State Penguins.
24. North Dakota State Bison.
25. Liberty Flames.

Next 10 receiving points
South Dakota Coyotes, Elon Phoenix, Furman Paladins, Robert Morris Colonials, New Hampshire Wildcats, Southern Illinois Salukis, Missouri State Bears, Grambling State Tigers, Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, Illinois State Redbirds.

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Q & A with TSN’s Craig Haley

By on September 29, 2010 in FCS News

Some of you may have noticed the thread a week or so ago asking you what questions you would like to ask TSN’s Craig Haley about the FCS.  I gathered up some of those questions and asked Craig and he delightfully answered them to give us more of  an insight into the FCS.  Thanks Craig for taking the time to answer these questions.

What was with the lack of coverage of the biggest story from week 2, the JMU upset of Virginia Tech?
Craig: Indeed, we could have done more. I’m offering the reason, not an excuse. Our two writers (Craig Haley and Andrew Gaddess) were on the road that day. The story was on our FBS pages, however. The JMU win would have led our FCS review column, but the No. 1 team in the nation (Montana) lost later that day. Whichever way we went, it was going to leave half the readers unhappy.

What is your opinion on the MEAC’s struggles in the playoffs over the years?
Craig: The MEAC has been behind other conference in the level of talent. Without enough of it, you’re not going to go far in the playoffs, especially when you don’t draw home games. I think South Carolina State can win a playoff game this season.

Thoughts on publishing an FCS magazine?
Craig: Sorry to disappoint, but not in this economic climate. It takes a lot of resources and staff to do it right.

Where do you see the division in 5 years? 10 years?
Craig: I can see more regional television coverage. Some of the conferences are making it happen as technology (like internet broadcasting) expands so quickly. I think a lot of fans who want to have their school move up to the FBS will realize we have it pretty good on the FCS level.

What, if any, unusual experiences have you had to date in dealing with Coaches, AD’s, SID’s or Conference officials??
Craig: Nothing big comes to mind. Most of the people on the FCS level are terrific people and accessible. One conference media relations director had a terrific story a few months ago about his days as an SID a couple years ago. He had to umpire a conference baseball game and his one student intern was a player on the school’s team. It all happened at the last minute. The SID had to update the visiting team’s statistics between innnings and the student intern (on the home team) had to update the visitor’s information when he was in his dugout. All in a day’s work.

Now that you’ve had a chance to view other teams from other conferences, what are some of biggest differences between “A” conference and “B” conference, etc?
Craig: Resources at the schools. That’s what makes conferences like CAA Football, the Big Sky, Southern, MVFC bigger and better than some of the smaller conferences. Even within conferences, there are differences. Within the CAA, schools like Richmond and James Madison have more resources than New Hampshire and Maine.

Why are the Ivies ducking the playoffs? They say academics, however, the basketball team misses way more class time than the football team participating in the playoffs for a couple of weeks.
Craig: It’s an archaic rule mandated by the school presidents. They say they don’t want football players missing classes. That is a hollow reason. The first round of the playoffs are over Thanksgiving and the Ivy champion wouldn’t miss class time. Even if the Ivy champion advances to the second weekend of the players, it would only be a plus for the school. No person within the football programs support the presidents’ rule.

How can the Griz beat a team that runs the option?
Craig: Maybe schedule a Cal Poly or an option team in the first game. Seriously because then the Griz could work on defending it all preseason. It takes a lot of preparation and experience. I saw Rutgers struggle with defending option teams for years and eventually got over it. Montana can do the same.

I took this time to also ask a couple questions that I (Chris Lynn) had about the FCS and the support us fans can provide to help increase the exposure of the FCS.

What would it take to make the FCS more successful in the media and revenue opportunities?
Craig: Certainly more television exposure. Networks need to discover the talent on the FCS level, and it starts on the regional and conference level. High-profile upsets and great games help, and Appalachian State-Montana and Montana-Villanova drew strong ratings for ESPN last year. Most sports aren’t revenue generators for the schools. It would help as the NCAA pushes the great product of FCS even more.

What is the importance of fan sites such as ChampionshipSubdivision.com and eGriz.com to FCS Football?
Craig: The sites are terrific. They give the fans a forum and a chance to promote so many schools. There should be camaradarie on these sites, not division.

Throwing the polls out of the thought process, who do you feel is the most well-rounded team in the FCS this year?
Craig: It’s hard to argue with Villanova. To have all that veteran talent returning from a national championship squad, it’s hard to argue against the Wildcats. And that’s why voters have them ranked No. 1.

What can I (Chris Lynn) do or continue to do to help increase the exposure/success of the FCS?
Craig: I like items like topic of the week or game of the week. Maybe putting more news items on the sites. Getting fans involved from some conferences that haven’t participated as much as others would help.

Thanks again Craig for taking the time to answer these questions with your busy schedule and thanks for doing what you do to cover the FCS.

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CS: FCS Top 25 Football Poll Week 4 (9/27/2010)

By on September 27, 2010 in CS Poll

2010 CS Top 25 Football Poll

Week 4 | 9/27/2010
1. Appalachian State Mountaineers
2. Villanova Wildcats
3. James Madison Dukes
4. Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens
5. Jacksonville State Gamecocks
6. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
7. Massachusetts Minutemen
8. William & Mary Tribe
9. Texas State Bobcats
10. Montana State Bobcats
11. South Carolina State Bulldogs
12. Cal Poly Mustangs
13. Georgia Southern Eagles
14. Youngstown State Penguins
15. Richmond Spiders
16. Furman Paladins
17. North Dakota State Bison
18. Northern Iowa Panthers
19. Eastern Washington Eagles
20. New Hampshire Wildcats
21. Montana Grizzlies
22. Illinois State Redbirds
23. Western Illinois Leathernecks
24. Liberty Flames
25. Central Arkansas Bears

Next 10 receiving points
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, Elon Phoenix, South Dakota Coyotes, Wofford Terriers, Sacramento State Hornets, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Robert Morris Colonials, Southern Illinois Salukis, Chattanooga Mocs

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CS: FCS Top 25 Football Poll Week 3 (9/20/2010)

By on September 20, 2010 in CS Poll

The Championship Subdivision Poll has been released for the first time of the season. Our poll is released after week 3 giving our voters a chance to see what the teams are actually doing this year rather than ranked based on the previous year.

Week 3 | 9/20/2010
1. Villanova Wildcats
2. Appalachian State Mountaineers
3. James Madison Dukes
4. Jacksonville State Gamecocks
5. Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens
6. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
7. Massachusetts Minutemen
8. Richmond Spiders
9. Eastern Washington Eagles
10. William & Mary Tribe
11. South Carolina State Bulldogs
12. Northern Iowa Panthers
13. Elon Phoenix
14. Montana State Bobcats
15. Texas State Bobcats
16. Cal Poly Mustangs
17. South Dakota Coyotes
18. North Dakota State Bison
19. Montana Grizzlies
20. Furman Paladins
21. Central Arkansas Bears
22. Liberty Flames
23. New Hampshire Wildcats
24. Southern Illinois Salukis
25. McNeese State Cowboys

Next 10 receiving points
Georgia Southern Eagles, Youngstown State Penguins, Illinois State Redbirds, Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Sacramento State Hornets, Western Illinois Leathernecks, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Wofford Terriers, Robert Morris Colonials

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CAA Preseason Breakdown

By on August 3, 2010 in Blog, FCS Update

8/3/2010

X Delaware 10-1  7-1 – I’m not even going to try to work out tiebreakers. Delaware comes back strong.

X William and Mary 9-2 7-1 – The Tribe have another great season.

X New Hampshire 9-2  7-1 – UNH continues to stretch its playoff appearances.

Y Villanova 9-2  6-2 – Defending champion returns to defend the throne.

UMass 5-6  4-4 – Things just aren’t right in Amherst.

Richmond 5-6 4-4 – CAA is tough and the Spiders just have to get things back on course.

James Madison 5-6  3-5 – The Dukes just can’t turn the corner.

Towson 2-9 1-7 – Same old for the Tigers.

Maine 3-8  1-7 – Another rough year for Maine.  Tough schedule and the CAA is strong.

Rhode Island 1-10 0-8 – Maybe the PL or NEC would be a better fit?

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MVFC Preseason synapsis

By on August 3, 2010 in Blog, FCS Update

8/3/2010

With the season right around the corner, I decided it was time to start the conference by conference breakdowns.

X Southern Illinois 9-2 7-1 – Only slipping up once in conference and owning a win over UNI, SIU earns the MVFC auto-bid.

Y  Northern Iowa  9-2  7-1 – Northern Iowa returns to the playoffs with an at-large bid.

Y  Illinois State 9-2 6-2 – Illinois State makes their return to the playoffs with at at-large bid.

Z  North Dakota State 7-4 5-3 – NDSU is a bubble candidate for their first playoff appearance.

South Dakota State 6-5 5-3 – The Jacks fall a little short this year.

Youngstown State 6-5  4-4 – The Penguins are rebuilding, just a year away from contention.

Indiana State 3-8 1-7 – The Sycamores take a step in the right direction.

Western Illinois 2-9 1-7 – Bad situations in Macomb carry over to 2010. Maybe the healing can begin.

Missouri State 1-10 1-7 – Terry Allen says his goodbyes and cleans out his office.

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Is it September yet?

By on June 22, 2010 in Blog, FCS Update

The off season is killing me.  If it weren’t for school, moving, and playing semi-pro football I would have lost it by now.  It seems like spring football was already a year ago. 

We’re all excited for the kick-off of the 2010 season, so I thought I would give a rundown of some of the games I’m most excited about in the first week.

9/4/2010:

Weber State at Boston College-  If the Wildcats can keep up the offensive attack they’ve had for the last couple of years, this could be a very interesting game.  I’m always looking out for the FCS over FBS upsets, and this one has an outside shot.

Elon at Duke-  I think the Phoenix have a great shot at taking down the Blue Devils.  Not neccesarily a earth shaking prediction, but FCS over FBS nonetheless.

Richmond at Virginia- This will be a game of interest.  While I might normally predict a Richmond win, Coach Mike London left the Spiders for UVa at the end of the 2009 season.  It will be interesting to see how these two coaches staffs approach this game.  Richmond also has former USC backup, Aaron Corp.

(Edit: Thanks to Ursus!) William and Mary at UMass- What better way to start the season than to see where two CAA teams are at?  This should be a great test for both teams.  Can’t hurt to get an early lead in the CAA standings.

What games are you guys looking forward to?

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the chronicles of the unmentioned…

By on June 4, 2010 in CS Weekly Update

CS Weekly Update: Issue #6

It’s been another two weeks since the last update and what a wonderful two weeks it has been.  You may be asking why I didn’t do the CS Weekly Update last week (honestly I’m surprised no one asked about it).  The reasoning is that I honestly wasn’t feeling all that great on Friday after my Thursday night shenanigans!

I’m going to start off this week with a summary of what happened the last two weeks not pointing to any threads but mentioning things that happened so you can go find them yourselves!  A lot of pre-season polls were released for the FCS, giving conversational topics to every fan trying to justify why their team should be ranked, or ranked higher.   There really is no way of knowing how the season will be until we see a couple games so they are quite amusing to follow.  AGS transfered servers and the new owner has taken full control.   LSAs have returned so the unmentioned can be happy, Willie has seen a lot of animals and a Tigers pitcher got screwed but lived to tell about it in a very classy way.

Now for the featured posts of the week that I will discuss it GREAT detail…

Our friend AZGrizFan played golf with a former Griz Football player yesterday.  I’m assuming that he really means golf and not some other form of whacking balls around so I am going to give him the benefit of doubt.  Hope you had fun, got some great stories and learned the insight of the new Montana head coach.  This thread also turned into a namedropping game of who has done what with whom, quite interesting if you ask me.  I did not participate in this as I didn’t want to put everyone else to shame.

Those Eastern Washington fans are up to their hopes and dream shenanigans again as witnessed in this thread.  Most of you probably don’t think anything of these types of threads because they arrive every summer to only disappear into the great darkness known as page 137.  It is quite the funny read though, seeing all the predictions that those EWU fans have.  I say bring it, and I’ll be there in person to take pictures of you taking pictures of the Griz fans celebrating yet another win in Washington’s Grizzly Stadium.

A local moderator had his eyes opened to some interesting ways of life in his drive through northern Idaho last weekend.  He was upset and rightfully so.  This created some very interesting points as to who deserves what, what is free speach, and what people have the right to do, etc.  It is a somewhat controversial topic but thought it was worth a mention… after all, Mr.T is trying to ban people once again… this time off the forums.

I asked a question last week about what people’s dream job was and what was preventing them from going after it.  Some said they already had it, some had dream jobs that were so far out there and other were on their way.  If you missed this topic, check it out and tell us your dream job. This is something I have really been focusing on lately… following my dreams and making them a reality.  Note: this was way to serious of a topic to include in this recap but what the hell… ummm… I love Bacon?

Thanks for reading yet another CS Weekly Update and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, especially the… unmentioned.  I am driving to Lake Chelan, WA for a bachelor party weekend so if I end up in jail, dead or lost… send the search party!

This has been your CS Weekly Update, Enjoy!

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Tony Moss discusses his Lindy’s FCS preview

By on June 3, 2010 in FCS News

From Tony Moss – Senior Editor/NFL Editor (The Sports Network)

First of all, thanks to my friend Chris Lynn for hooking this up. I’ve had a few email inquiries about the FCS preview I did for Lindy’s, which was recently published, and am anticipating a few more so I thought it might be efficient to address those questions here. I’ll try to encapsulate the questions people had of me.

Readers: Why is there no No. 9 listed on your national rankings?

Me: Well, there was. It was Colgate – who I have winning the Patriot League – but the No. 9 line must have gotten accidentally wiped when the magazine was laid out. It’s a shame, but typos happen unfortunately. Overall it’s a pretty impressive book in my opinion.

Readers: Why did you even write this preview? Don’t you cover the NFL?

Me: Yes, I do. My friend Otto Fad, who normally writes the Lindy’s FCS preview, had a conflict this year and contacted me looking for a potential replacement. We were between FCS Coordinators at The Sports Network, and so I volunteered my services. Though I haven’t covered FCS full-time since 2004, the thought at Lindy’s was apparently that I was a professional, with a body of work on the subject, and that I would take the assignment seriously and do a credible job. I definitely did the former, whether I achieved the latter is not up to me to decide, though I think Lindy’s liked what I turned in.

Readers: How did you select your Top 25/conference standings?

Me: I used the same method as when I made predictions while covering the FCS beat. I drew up all of the conference predictions first, then contacted every conference SID in FCS (except the SWAC, who didn’t have one at that moment) to get their feedback before I finalized them. I always involved the conference SIDs in the process when I covered the beat because I felt they would give me an objective portrayal of where their teams stood. I made a few changes to my conference predicted order of finish based on their thoughts. I also enlisted their help in coming up with a group of top players.

From there, I devised the Top 25, which seems to have elicited some discussion questioning my sanity. That’s a bit surprising to me, since 13 of my Top 17 were 2009 playoff teams, three others in that group (9-2 Colgate, 7-4 Montana State, and 7-4 Texas State) were close, and the other was Prairie View, which won the SWAC and whose only loss was to a FBS team. The ’09 playoff teams I didn’t have in “the playoff zone” in my Top 25 were No. 22 New Hampshire (lost seven of eight all-conference picks in a league we all know is really competitive), No. 24 Holy Cross (lost the QB and 80 percent of their o-line) and unranked Weber State (who I simply felt might have lost some ground after losing eight first- or second-team All-Big Sky choices from a 7-5 team that had a bad first-round playoff loss).

The point for me with the Top 25 exercise has always been to vaguely predict what the poll will look like heading into the playoffs (before regional bracketing knocks some really good teams out early and skews the final rankings a bit), not to mirror The Sports Network preseason poll or any others. I think the way I did it is more useful than a traditional “power ranking,” since the race to the playoffs is such a meaningful goal for much of the sub-division. Am I saying that Colgate will be better than William & Mary? Not necessarily, but I am willing to wager based on experience that the champion of the Patriot League is going to be ranked higher, entering the playoffs, than the third-place team in the CAA. Maybe that will turn out to be incorrect, but it’s the nature of predictions.

The only predicted conf. champ with an automatic NCAA bid in the expanded bracket that I didn’t include in my preseason Top 25 was my NEC pick, Robert Morris, although RMU finished ’09 on a five-game win streak in the NEC and outscored opponents 110-36 in those games.

Readers: Why did you pick Villanova’s Matt Szczur as your national player of the year when he’s uncertain to return?

Me: I weighed it, discussed with Coach Talley and Villanova Assistant AD Dean Kenefick as well as my editor at Lindy’s, and determined that it was worth the risk to include a guy that played so well when it mattered last season. If Szczur decides to sign a MLB contract, which would seem to be about 50-50, I think reasonable people will understand why his name appears in the book. I detailed the situation in the feature I wrote as part of the preview. I really hope he comes back, he’s fun to watch.

Readers: Why did you pick Aaron Corp as your newcomer of the year when he is uncertain to start at Richmond?

Me: Please note that my deadline came before Richmond’s spring practice, so I was flying blind a little bit there. My judgment was that Corp didn’t transfer from USC to be a No. 2 at Richmond, but of course we’ll have to see how it shakes out. For the record, my second choice was Bo Levi Mitchell from Eastern Washington, and had he been confirmed as the starter before my deadline, there’s a good chance I would have picked him over Corp.

Readers: What do you make of the criticism of your Lindy’s work on various Internet forums?

Me: It takes me back to when I covered the beat :-) The reality is that the four-page spread of 2010 FCS predictions amounts to no more than someone’s take, and forums like this one exist to debate the same topics that are in Lindy’s or any other magazine.

The goal is to be objective and reasonable given the data you have in front of you, and if people want to say I’m off base, then that’s fine. It comes with the territory. I would add that some of the most ardent criticism of me (not on the CS board) comes with an agenda that is pretty easy to size up if you look hard enough. Overall though, it’s clear that there are many more FCS fans who are educated about the sub-division from a national standpoint than there were six years ago, and that’s great to see.

If you have any more questions about my Lindy’s preview, our FCS or NFL coverage, or just want to say hey, please feel free to drop me a line at tmoss@sportsnetwork.com.

Tony Moss
Senior Editor/NFL Editor
The Sports Network

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