College Sports Journal Sagarin FCS Playoff Predictions–Nov. 20

On By Kent Schmidt

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.

The following are the 10 automatic bid conferences with the ones that have already clinched their conferences in bold.

Big Sky Conference
Big South Conference -- Monmouth
Colonial Athletic Conference (CAA) -- James Madison
Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) -- North Dakota State
Northeast Conference (NEC) -- Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley Conference (OVC)
Patriot League
Pioneer Football League -- San Diego
Southern Conference -- Wofford
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 South Dakota State At-Large 1
4 Montana Big Sky
5 Weber State At-Large 2
6 Sacramento State At-Large 3
7 Northern Iowa At-Large 4
8 Montana State At-Large 5
9 Illinois State At-Large 6
10 Towson At-Large 7
11 Eastern Washington At-Large 8
12 Wofford SoCon
13 Southern Illinois At-Large 9
14 Villanova At-Large 10
15 SE Louisiana Southland
16 Furman At-Large 11
17 Maine At-Large 12
18 Monmouth Big South
19 Austin Peay OVC
20 Kennesaw State At-Large 13
21 SE Missouri State At-Large 14
22 C. 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 Yale 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 and Maine) in this ranking this week as they likely will get to seven-wins this week. NOTE: UC Davis is still in the Top 20 but has six losses and no chance at the required seven-win mark.
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