College Sports Journal Sagarin FCS Playoff Predictions–Nov. 13

NCAA FCS 2013

Using the Sagarin ratings from this week alone to project the FCS playoffs, along with the automatic bid for the conferences that receive a bid, the following would be the playoff teams. These teams are seeded 1 through 24 for the 24 teams that make the FCS playoffs.

As a reminder, the following conferences receive an automatic bid, while 14 teams are selected as at-large picks.

Big Sky Conference
Big South Conference
Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA)
Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC)
Northeast Conference (NEC)
Ohio Valley Conference (OVC)
Patriot League
Pioneer Football League 
Southern Conference
Southland Conference

Top 24 Rankings with playoff spot with the conference name indicating the automatic spot for its conference and then the 14 at-large spots also listed. See the full Top 25 with the hyperlink:

1 North Dakota State MVFC
2 James Madison CAA
3 Montana Big Sky
4 Weber State At-Large 1
5 South Dakota State At-Large 2
6 Sacramento State At-Large 3
7 Northern Iowa At-Large 4
8 Illinois State At-Large 5
9 Eastern Washington At-Large 6
10 Montana State At-Large 7
11 Furman SoCon
12 UC Davis At-Large 8
13 Towson At-Large 9
14 Villanova At-Large 10
15 Southern Illinois At-Large 11
16 SE Louisiana Southland
17 Maine At-Large 12
18 Wofford At-Large 13
19 Sam Houston State At-Large 14
20 SE Missouri State OVC
21 Monmouth Big South
22 Central Connecticut St. NEC
23 San Diego Pioneer
24 Holy Cross Patriot
Note that Southeast Missouri State, Monmouth, Central Connecticut State, San Diego, and Holy Cross are currently leading the OVC, Big South, NEC, Pioneer League, and Patriot League in the Sagarin rankings and would be the last five schools into the field as those conference champions.
Also note that the Ivy League, MEAC, and SWAC do not have autobids. The MEAC and SWAC champions play in the Celebration Bowl. The SWAC also plays a championship game so both division champions would not be able to participate but any second place or lower team in either conference would be eligible. And the Ivy League as a whole has elected not to participate in the playoffs.
For this week, no MEAC or SWAC schools are in the Top 20 of the standings. But Princeton and Dartmouth from the Ivy League, who are in the this Top 20 are not eligible for the playoffs due to the Ivy League rule of no postseason play so these two were left off. I kept the five loss teams (Eastern Washington, UC Davis, and Maine) in this ranking this week as they could still get to seven-wins. If each win out, they each will have a chance to get a spot.