Playoffs

[Gil Dobie]

10 years ago yes. But you forget I'm a Terps fan now. I just got off the phone with my ticket rep re-upping my basketball season tix.

That’s where Len Dawson went to school, right?

Unless I'm missing some humor, I just sold 3 Purdue programs with Dawson in them.

[houndawg]

I think normal size will do.

So you don't think that winning a Natty this year is a little watered down? Kind of like winning the I-AA Natty in 1979?

Playoffs just aren't the same without a UNI choke job for comedy relief.

[houndawg]

They keep saying that JMU has a chip on their shoulder. But honestly the real team with a chip is Weber. They had one of the hardest SoS' and they didnt even get a seed despite being undefeated. I watched the reaction of the Weber players and you could tell they were pissed. I hope they use this as motivation.

How do you figure Weber's SoS was "one of the hardest"?

[houndawg]

1. Weber should have had a seed.

2. SIU?!? Are you kidding me? I would have gone for Murray State first....

7 of 8 games against ranked opponents 4-3 against the AGS Top 25. SIU earned it.

Unlike JMU trying to avoid playing decent competition.

[houndawg]

Someone named ‘Lakesbison’ has already come onto the JMU board and started a ‘NDSU @ JMU Semifinal’ thread..

Lakes is hilarious!

How come he never visits the political forum anymore?

[clenz]

Huwhat? Did I see someone trying to make a save that Weber had the toughest SOS in the nation?

Played Idaho State twice and most recently struggled with them with a 5 point win

Idaho State was 2-2 outside of the Weber games. Wins over SUU and a 2 point win over Idaho.

Davis who had wins over a Poly team that got beat 78-10 in the games they played before shutting it down and Idaho State

NAU who's wins were SUU twice and Idaho

And

SUU who's only win was winless Poly.


His the fuck is that anywhere close to the hardest SoS out there?

WSU managed to win just one of those games by more than 5 points - the very first game of the spring against Idaho State

18-13 over Davis
28-23 over NAU
19-16 over SUU
20-15 over IdSU

That's an insanely weak schedule and honestly pretty fucking weak results against that schedule.


Massey had 28th in SoS. I guess compared to JMU that's an insane schedule. JMU clocks in at 71

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[kalm]

Huwhat? Did I see someone trying to make a save that Weber had the toughest SOS in the nation?

Played Idaho State twice and most recently struggled with them with a 5 point win

Idaho State was 2-2 outside of the Weber games. Wins over SUU and a 2 point win over Idaho.

Davis who had wins over a Poly team that got beat 78-10 in the games they played before shutting it down and Idaho State

NAU who's wins were SUU twice and Idaho

And

SUU who's only win was winless Poly.


His the fuck is that anywhere close to the hardest SoS out there?

WSU managed to win just one of those games by more than 5 points - the very first game of the spring against Idaho State

18-13 over Davis
28-23 over NAU
19-16 over SUU
20-15 over IdSU

That's an insanely weak schedule and honestly pretty fucking weak results against that schedule.


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Agreed. Not much to learn from Weber, JMU, Richmond, VMI...

Wins over ranked teams this season have way less meaning.

FWIW, ISU looks pretty damn close to being good. They’ll at least put a scare into some quality teams this fall.

[Wildcat Ryan]

They keep saying that JMU has a chip on their shoulder. But honestly the real team with a chip is Weber. They had one of the hardest SoS' and they didnt even get a seed despite being undefeated. I watched the reaction of the Weber players and you could tell they were pissed. I hope they use this as motivation.

How do you figure Weber's SoS was "one of the hardest"?

Massey had Weber's schedule ranked #28 in FCS. In comparison JMU had the 71st hardest schedule.

Of the undefeated teams in the playoffs Weber had the highest strength of schedule. This is not me guessing, that is what we are seeing from the "experts".

Besides in a season with very, very few ooc games how do we really know who's good and who's not?

Weber deserved a seed. Nobody can convince me otherwise that a team ranked in the top 3, undefeated with the 28th sos didnt deserve one.

[89Hen]

Massey

The same Massey that has 2-0 Montana with the 76th SOS at #2 in the country? And UC Davis #10?

Massey.

[Wildcat Ryan]

Huwhat? Did I see someone trying to make a save that Weber had the toughest SOS in the nation?

Played Idaho State twice and most recently struggled with them with a 5 point win

Idaho State was 2-2 outside of the Weber games. Wins over SUU and a 2 point win over Idaho.

Davis who had wins over a Poly team that got beat 78-10 in the games they played before shutting it down and Idaho State

NAU who's wins were SUU twice and Idaho

And

SUU who's only win was winless Poly.


His the fuck is that anywhere close to the hardest SoS out there?

WSU managed to win just one of those games by more than 5 points - the very first game of the spring against Idaho State

18-13 over Davis
28-23 over NAU
19-16 over SUU
20-15 over IdSU

That's an insanely weak schedule and honestly pretty fucking weak results against that schedule.


Massey had 28th in SoS. I guess compared to JMU that's an insane schedule. JMU clocks in at 71

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For starters I didnt say they had the toughest in the nation. But at #28 it's definitely not the worst. And it's the highest of the undefeated teams in the playoffs.

Idaho State's 4 losses came at the hands of ranked Weber twice, ranked Eastern Washington and Ranked Davis. And all three needed last minute drives to beat ISU.

UC Davis lost 2. To Weber and Eastern. But had 3 wins, Poly by a million, Idaho State and beat Idaho in the Kibbie one week removed from Idaho beating Eastern.

Had it not been for a Hail Mary prayer NAU would have been Co-champs this year.

SUU lost 4 games by a combined 7 points. And the other by 8. SUU was a few plays away from being undefeated.

Cal Poly sucked, but Weber never played them. Which is too bad because a 6th win might have gotten them that seed.

In a year with No OOC games whos to say who played good teams and who didnt?

[BDKJMU]

1. Weber should have had a seed.

2. SIU?!? Are you kidding me? I would have gone for Murray State first....

7 of 8 games against ranked opponents 4-3 against the AGS Top 25. SIU earned it.

Unlike JMU trying to avoid playing decent competition.

Oh baloney. Its not JMU’s fault the CAA came up with their convoluted North/South divisions. Blame Towson. Otherwise JMU would have played the 3 South teams, plus Delaware, Villanova, and Towson. The 2 tune up OOC were scheduled with those 6 CAA opponents in mind.

[Gil Dobie]

7 of 8 games against ranked opponents 4-3 against the AGS Top 25. SIU earned it.

Unlike JMU trying to avoid playing decent competition.

Spot on Houndy. Did SIU offer a game to JMU?

[houndawg]

7 of 8 games against ranked opponents 4-3 against the AGS Top 25. SIU earned it.

Unlike JMU trying to avoid playing decent competition.

Spot on Houndy. Did SIU offer a game to JMU?

Twice.

[Gil Dobie]

Spot on Houndy. Did SIU offer a game to JMU?

Twice.

So JMU did avoid playing better competition

[SuperHornet]

Just looking at tomorrow's schedule on ESPN3. There's a key on each line with a game. Does that mean that it's some sort of PPV? If so, that's disgusting. These games should be free on a major network. SMH....

[Gil Dobie]

Just looking at tomorrow's schedule on ESPN3. There's a key on each line with a game. Does that mean that it's some sort of PPV? If so, that's disgusting. These games should be free on a major network. SMH....

Yes, ESPN3 is PPV. Bison fans outside of North Dakota, have been subscribing for the last few years. $5.99 per month isn't too bad.

[UNI88]

Just looking at tomorrow's schedule on ESPN3. There's a key on each line with a game. Does that mean that it's some sort of PPV? If so, that's disgusting. These games should be free on a major network. SMH....

Yes, ESPN3 is PPV. Bison fans outside of North Dakota, have been subscribing for the last few years. $5.99 per month isn't too bad.

Is ESPN3 PPV or just streaming only? I think ESPN+ is $5.99/month in addition to free ESPN3

Bigger question - why aren't any games on the Deuce or at least ESPNU?

From what I can tell that's on at the same time as the FCS games:

• SHSU vs. Monmouth - Syracuse vs. Virginia (lax) on ESPN2 and Northwestern vs. Michigan (softball) on ESPNU
• JMU vs. VMI and JSU vs. Davidson - Georgia vs. Tennessee (softball) on ESPN 2 and Maryland vs Johns Hopkins (lax) on ESPNU
• UND vs. MSU and WSU vs. SIU - LSU vs. Kentucky (softball) on ESPN2 and Penn State vs. Ohio State (lax) on ESPNU
• UD vs. Sacred Heart - UFC / Texas vs. Kentucky (volleyball national championship) on ESPN2 and South Carolina vs. Florida (softball) / Mississippi State vs. Vanderbilt (baseball) on ESPNU

SDSU vs. Holy Cross and NDSU vs. EWU fall between the 2nd and 3rd bullets.

Is ESPN showing lax and softball rather than the FCS playoffs on its mainstream channels because they'll pull in more viewers?

[89Hen]

Around here the lax games would be a bigger draw.

[Gil Dobie]

Yes, ESPN3 is PPV. Bison fans outside of North Dakota, have been subscribing for the last few years. $5.99 per month isn't too bad.

Is ESPN3 PPV or just streaming only? I think ESPN+ is $5.99/month in addition to free ESPN3

Bigger question - why aren't any games on the Deuce or at least ESPNU?

From what I can tell that's on at the same time as the FCS games:

• SHSU vs. Monmouth - Syracuse vs. Virginia (lax) on ESPN2 and Northwestern vs. Michigan (softball) on ESPNU
• JMU vs. VMI and JSU vs. Davidson - Georgia vs. Tennessee (softball) on ESPN 2 and Maryland vs Johns Hopkins (lax) on ESPNU
• UND vs. MSU and WSU vs. SIU - LSU vs. Kentucky (softball) on ESPN2 and Penn State vs. Ohio State (lax) on ESPNU
• UD vs. Sacred Heart - UFC / Texas vs. Kentucky (volleyball national championship) on ESPN2 and South Carolina vs. Florida (softball) / Mississippi State vs. Vanderbilt (baseball) on ESPNU

SDSU vs. Holy Cross and NDSU vs. EWU fall between the 2nd and 3rd bullets.

Is ESPN showing lax and softball rather than the FCS playoffs on its mainstream channels because they'll pull in more viewers?

Sorry, mixed up 3 and +

[UNI88]

Around here the lax games would be a bigger draw.

Lax is becoming more and more popular but my gut tells me that as you move west or south, lax isn't as popular and your average sports fan is more likely to watch a spring college football game than a lax or softball game.

[clenz]

How is it 2021 and people still bitch about ESPN+ and don't understand the concept of ESPN3/ESPN+?

ESPN3 has been a thing for 16 years at this point and ESPN+ has been around for 3.

Also, ESPN3 isn't "free" it's an extra fee that has been added to cable subscriptions for the last 16 years, so you pay for it you just don't realize it.


As for why these games aren't on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: no one will watch them. It's entirely likely Northwestern/Michigan softball outdraws SHSU/Monmouth nationally. In our bubble? No. What the FCS bubble doesn't realize is damn near no one that isn't attached to these schools, and a handful of people nationally, actually watches these games.

For reference - the womens NCAA gymanstics event last week had 808,000 viewers and the FCS KickOff game between Austin Peay and Central Arkansas had about half of that, and only one of those games has beaten the gymnastics event in ratings since it started: Montana/NDSU in 2015

A high school football game that was on just before that game had 425,000 viewers.

Hell, IIRC, there are only a handful games ever played that had a higher rating than the gymnastics -
NDSU/JMU title game in 19 had 2.5m
JMU/YSU title game had 1.6m
NDSU/JMU title in 16 game had 1.5
NDSU ISUr title game had 1.4
NDSU/JSU title game had 1.3
UNI/NDSU regular-season game a few years backhad 1.2
Montana/App State semis in 08 had something like 1.1
Maybe a couple more I can't find hit the 1m mark but not many.


Basically, unless it's a title game and/or has someone like top 3 ranked NDSU, JMU, Montana, App State, UNI playing against each other no one nationally gives a fuck. Looking at ratings from last week there is a 99.9999% chance of the Champions Tour or LPGA Tour outdrawing every playoff game outside of NDSU/EWU. Between 4/12 and 4/18 ESPN had multiple softball, volleyball, etc. events draw 300k+ viewers. 300k people aren't watching SHSU/Monmouth or UD/Sacred Heart or UND/MSU or WSU/SIU or JSU/Davidson. The only games with a chance to reach even 200-250k is NDSU/EWU and then a REAL long shot at JMU/VMI and SDSU/Holy Cross and I mean LOOOONG shot.

I know the FCS world is like "Why wouldn't you put it on TV?" because it's our niche and it's in our bubble so it seems massive to us. Realistically no one cares.Want proof of that? There has been little to no competition for the FCS this spring. Started in Feb when CBB was still in the "is the regular season over yet", played past the NCAA tournament and is in the "There's nothing on because baseball on TV is boring" time period and networks still won't put it on air because no one will watch it.

Hell, the a random PBA Tour event (not even a major) had 600k viewers. It takes it being a semifinal for any FCS game to draw that outside of very specific cases

[clenz]

How is it 2021 and people still bitch about ESPN+ and don't understand the concept of ESPN3/ESPN+?

ESPN3 has been a thing for 16 years at this point and ESPN+ has been around for 3.

Also, ESPN3 isn't "free" it's an extra fee that has been added to cable subscriptions for the last 16 years, so you pay for it you just don't realize it.


As for why these games aren't on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: no one will watch them. It's entirely likely Northwestern/Michigan softball outdraws SHSU/Monmouth nationally. In our bubble? No. What the FCS bubble doesn't realize is damn near no one that isn't attached to these schools, and a handful of people nationally, actually watches these games.

For reference - the womens NCAA gymanstics event last week had 808,000 viewers and the FCS KickOff game between Austin Peay and Central Arkansas had about half of that, and only one of those games has beaten the gymnastics event in ratings since it started: Montana/NDSU in 2015

A high school football game that was on just before that game had 425,000 viewers.

Hell, IIRC, there are only a handful games ever played that had a higher rating than the gymnastics -
NDSU/JMU title game in 19 had 2.5m
JMU/YSU title game had 1.6m
NDSU/JMU title in 16 game had 1.5
NDSU ISUr title game had 1.4
NDSU/JSU title game had 1.3
UNI/NDSU regular-season game a few years backhad 1.2
Montana/App State semis in 08 had something like 1.1
Maybe a couple more I can't find hit the 1m mark but not many.


Basically, unless it's a title game and/or has someone like top 3 ranked NDSU, JMU, Montana, App State, UNI playing against each other no one nationally gives a fuck. Looking at ratings from last week there is a 99.9999% chance of the Champions Tour or LPGA Tour outdrawing every playoff game outside of NDSU/EWU. Between 4/12 and 4/18 ESPN had multiple softball, volleyball, etc. events draw 300k+ viewers. 300k people aren't watching SHSU/Monmouth or UD/Sacred Heart or UND/MSU or WSU/SIU or JSU/Davidson. The only games with a chance to reach even 200-250k is NDSU/EWU and then a REAL long shot at JMU/VMI and SDSU/Holy Cross and I mean LOOOONG shot.

I know the FCS world is like "Why wouldn't you put it on TV?" because it's our niche and it's in our bubble so it seems massive to us. Realistically no one cares.Want proof of that? There has been little to no competition for the FCS this spring. Started in Feb when CBB was still in the "is the regular season over yet", played past the NCAA tournament and is in the "There's nothing on because baseball on TV is boring" time period and networks still won't put it on air because no one will watch it.

Hell, the a random PBA Tour event (not even a major) had 600k viewers. It takes it being a semifinal for any FCS game to draw that outside of very specific cases

[Gil Dobie]

How is it 2021 and people still bitch about ESPN+ and don't understand the concept of ESPN3/ESPN+?

ESPN3 has been a thing for 16 years at this point and ESPN+ has been around for 3.

Also, ESPN3 isn't "free" it's an extra fee that has been added to cable subscriptions for the last 16 years, so you pay for it you just don't realize it.


As for why these games aren't on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: no one will watch them. It's entirely likely Northwestern/Michigan softball outdraws SHSU/Monmouth nationally. In our bubble? No. What the FCS bubble doesn't realize is damn near no one that isn't attached to these schools, and a handful of people nationally, actually watches these games.

For reference - the womens NCAA gymanstics event last week had 808,000 viewers and the FCS KickOff game between Austin Peay and Central Arkansas had about half of that, and only one of those games has beaten the gymnastics event in ratings since it started: Montana/NDSU in 2015

A high school football game that was on just before that game had 425,000 viewers.

Hell, IIRC, there are only a handful games ever played that had a higher rating than the gymnastics -
NDSU/JMU title game in 19 had 2.5m
JMU/YSU title game had 1.6m
NDSU/JMU title in 16 game had 1.5
NDSU ISUr title game had 1.4
NDSU/JSU title game had 1.3
UNI/NDSU regular-season game a few years backhad 1.2
Montana/App State semis in 08 had something like 1.1
Maybe a couple more I can't find hit the 1m mark but not many.


Basically, unless it's a title game and/or has someone like top 3 ranked NDSU, JMU, Montana, App State, UNI playing against each other no one nationally gives a fuck. Looking at ratings from last week there is a 99.9999% chance of the Champions Tour or LPGA Tour outdrawing every playoff game outside of NDSU/EWU. Between 4/12 and 4/18 ESPN had multiple softball, volleyball, etc. events draw 300k+ viewers. 300k people aren't watching SHSU/Monmouth or UD/Sacred Heart or UND/MSU or WSU/SIU or JSU/Davidson. The only games with a chance to reach even 200-250k is NDSU/EWU and then a REAL long shot at JMU/VMI and SDSU/Holy Cross and I mean LOOOONG shot.

I know the FCS world is like "Why wouldn't you put it on TV?" because it's our niche and it's in our bubble so it seems massive to us. Realistically no one cares.Want proof of that? There has been little to no competition for the FCS this spring. Started in Feb when CBB was still in the "is the regular season over yet", played past the NCAA tournament and is in the "There's nothing on because baseball on TV is boring" time period and networks still won't put it on air because no one will watch it.

Hell, the a random PBA Tour event (not even a major) had 600k viewers. It takes it being a semifinal for any FCS game to draw that outside of very specific cases

All of our games are on ESPN+, so very few outside of North Dakota and Bison fans watch or even know there is a spring season.

[UNI88]

How is it 2021 and people still bitch about ESPN+ and don't understand the concept of ESPN3/ESPN+?

ESPN3 has been a thing for 16 years at this point and ESPN+ has been around for 3.

Also, ESPN3 isn't "free" it's an extra fee that has been added to cable subscriptions for the last 16 years, so you pay for it you just don't realize it.


As for why these games aren't on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU: no one will watch them. It's entirely likely Northwestern/Michigan softball outdraws SHSU/Monmouth nationally. In our bubble? No. What the FCS bubble doesn't realize is damn near no one that isn't attached to these schools, and a handful of people nationally, actually watches these games.

For reference - the womens NCAA gymanstics event last week had 808,000 viewers and the FCS KickOff game between Austin Peay and Central Arkansas had about half of that, and only one of those games has beaten the gymnastics event in ratings since it started: Montana/NDSU in 2015

A high school football game that was on just before that game had 425,000 viewers.

Hell, IIRC, there are only a handful games ever played that had a higher rating than the gymnastics -
NDSU/JMU title game in 19 had 2.5m
JMU/YSU title game had 1.6m
NDSU/JMU title in 16 game had 1.5
NDSU ISUr title game had 1.4
NDSU/JSU title game had 1.3
UNI/NDSU regular-season game a few years backhad 1.2
Montana/App State semis in 08 had something like 1.1
Maybe a couple more I can't find hit the 1m mark but not many.


Basically, unless it's a title game and/or has someone like top 3 ranked NDSU, JMU, Montana, App State, UNI playing against each other no one nationally gives a fuck. Looking at ratings from last week there is a 99.9999% chance of the Champions Tour or LPGA Tour outdrawing every playoff game outside of NDSU/EWU. Between 4/12 and 4/18 ESPN had multiple softball, volleyball, etc. events draw 300k+ viewers. 300k people aren't watching SHSU/Monmouth or UD/Sacred Heart or UND/MSU or WSU/SIU or JSU/Davidson. The only games with a chance to reach even 200-250k is NDSU/EWU and then a REAL long shot at JMU/VMI and SDSU/Holy Cross and I mean LOOOONG shot.

I know the FCS world is like "Why wouldn't you put it on TV?" because it's our niche and it's in our bubble so it seems massive to us. Realistically no one cares.Want proof of that? There has been little to no competition for the FCS this spring. Started in Feb when CBB was still in the "is the regular season over yet", played past the NCAA tournament and is in the "There's nothing on because baseball on TV is boring" time period and networks still won't put it on air because no one will watch it.

Hell, the a random PBA Tour event (not even a major) had 600k viewers. It takes it being a semifinal for any FCS game to draw that outside of very specific cases

You're not wrong but this is a season like no other and maybe there's an opportunity here that ESPN missed. In the past, FCS playoff games were played around the same time as NFL games, FBS conference championships and bowl games. Football junkies and casual viewers had access to a plethora of football. Now we're playing in the spring and the only football available is Mel Kiper's 17th mock draft and other analysis. Would an FCS playoff game pull all of those junkies and casual fans away from draft prep? No, but it might pull more than you think and ESPN doesn't know if it doesn't put at least one game on the Deuce or ESPNU and give it a little promotion. The NDSU/EWU game would be a great showcase with ties to the draft prep (Trey Lance's school) plus the Carson Wentz & Cooper Kupp connections. Put that game on the Deuce and see if viewers who are starved for actual football tune in.

And to Gil's point, what has ESPN done to promote the fact that there is spring college football? Who knows how many football starved fans would have watched if they had known.

[clenz]

Football starved fans aren't starved for JSU Davidson or WSU SIU



They are starved for good football at schools. They've heard of.

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