FCS playoffs

2011 Bracket

We have the 2001 FCS bracket here.   I actually managed to correctly pick 26 of the 33 games I called last week. I also hit 15 of 20 playoff teams.  Stony Brook beat Liberty fair and square to take that spot.  Tennessee Tech gets the auto bid from the Ohio Valley conference; somehow, Eastern Kentucky still got a bid, despite the fact that they lost to the only playoff team they played, which was Tennessee Tech.  Delaware's wins against Towson and ODU were deemed not as impressive as JMU's seven to six lead in Division I wins, despite the fact that JMU lost to ODU, UNH, and Maine- in fact, the only winning team they beat all year was Liberty.  Illinois State's loss yesterday to Northern Iowa knocked them out of the mix, and Indiana State fell apart at the end.  Furman blew their tire last week against Elon, even though they fought a valiant battle against the Florida Gators yesterday.

So other than Delaware, who got screwed?  Because someone always gets "screwed" in choices like these.  Other than the JMU/Delaware debate, the one dubious spot is Eastern Kentucky.  I Think San Diego had a legit claim as Pioneer champs at 9-2;  North Dakota loses out because of 3 wins against cupcakes out of DI; for Bethune-Cookman, either the loss to S. Carolina St. or to N. Carolina A&T could be forgiven, but not both.  Duquesne and Georgetown are far outside thoughts.  Harvard wasn't screwed by the selection committee but by the Ivy League, who refuse to allow their teams to play postseason; probably you could put Jackson State into this category as well.  So, IMHO Delaware should be in JMU's spot and San Diego in EKY's, but over all a good bracket.

Instead of picking the whole thiong in one shot, like I did last year (with disastrous results), I'm going to pick this year one week at a time.  Despite the struggles in the top heavy CAA, I see no reason why "we're not worthy" JMU can't thromp fellow "WNW" Eastern KY.  ODU shopuldn't have a lot of problems with Norfolk State; When you consider the quality of their 3 losses (2 FBS teams and #1 seed Sam Houston), I think Central Arkansas should beat TennTech; And the real toss up, I have to give Stony Brook and all those points they score the edge over Albany.