FCS Playoffs

[wheelsup]

50 minutes ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

FCS playoff committee chair Jermaine Truax explains why Montana Grizzlies made the field

https://406mtsports.com/college/big-sky-conference/university-of-montana/fcs-playoff-committee-chair-jermaine-truax-explains-why-montana-grizzlies-made-the-field/article_648e48aa-69ee-11ed-a05a-5b8c74acc4e0.html

So let me get this straight.  Here are the reasons Montana made it into the playoff field:

- "Quality loses" against the best teams in the Big Sky

-  Loses were when their QB was out, so....MAYBE they would have won

-  "Success" against MVFC teams (even though those teams finished 9th and 10th in the conference standings"

-  "Success" against a Southland team that finished the season 4-7

- "Student athlete experience" 

-  The finanacial bid wasn't a factor.  

 

Got it.  Makes perfect sense.  Well deserved Montana!!

The big sky conference rep was clearly the best prepared negotiator in the room.. Im guessing the MVFC rep spent all of his negotiating skills getting the Bison up to the 3rd seed in order to get NDSU and SDSU on opposite sides of the bracket.  I would really like to hear how all of the conversations went..

• Big sky rep: - Hey.. Montana needs to get in based on their quality losses and no wins against teams with winning records..  Rest of the committee - Yep sounds good

Field is set based on regionalization etc.. other than noticeable outliers like Southeast Missouri State playing against Montana and Idaho playing against Southeastern Louisiana (seems like a long bus ride).. really nice matchups for the Big Sky.. Im a little surprised Idaho didnt end up with a home game.

• Big Sky rep: - time to open up those financial bids.. looks like Montana deserves a home game - Rest of the committee - Yep.. based on decades of precedence I agree
• Big Sky rep: - hey about that Weber state/UND game.. it seems like there are some other factors we should consider.. they were basically the 9th seed they need a home game we should ignore the financial component - Rest of committee - thats a great point.. I agree

Seems like at some point the MVFC rep should have opened his big yap and said... but.. but.. but.. what about what we just decided about the Montana game or maybe even throw out a.. but.. but.. but.. the way we currently have Weber state seed they are more like the 13th seed.. why are we calling them basically a 9 seed seems like we are screwing montana state if that is the case (oh regionalization).  The MVFC rep seems like the worst negotiator on the planet or just not focused on the MVFC as a whole.

Another year of.. the rules only matter until they dont.. and the precedents only matter until they dont.

All of that said.. Im super excited about the game on Saturday.. it will be tough but I think the fellas will bounce back.  Im also disappointed its not a home game as it should have been based on decades of precedents.

[JohnboyND7]

I don't think its probably very hard to get the committee on board with Montana.

- Nice stadium.  Looks good on TV.  Probably a decent number of fans will be there.

Big Sky is a prime conference to set up with non-bus games, there are basically none available. Isn't everyone west of  Grand Forks (other than some TX schools) in the Big Sky?  No opportunity for bus games in the west.

[Nodak78]

26 minutes ago, wheelsup said:

The big sky conference rep was clearly the best prepared negotiator in the room.. Im guessing the MVFC rep spent all of his negotiating skills getting the Bison up to the 3rd seed in order to get NDSU and SDSU on opposite sides of the bracket.  I would really like to hear how all of the conversations went..

• Big sky rep: - Hey.. Montana needs to get in based on their quality losses and no wins against teams with winning records..  Rest of the committee - Yep sounds good

Field is set based on regionalization etc.. other than noticeable outliers like Southeast Missouri State playing against Montana and Idaho playing against Southeastern Louisiana (seems like a long bus ride).. really nice matchups for the Big Sky.. Im a little surprised Idaho didnt end up with a home game.

• Big Sky rep: - time to open up those financial bids.. looks like Montana deserves a home game - Rest of the committee - Yep.. based on decades of precedence I agree
• Big Sky rep: - hey about that Weber state/UND game.. it seems like there are some other factors we should consider.. they were basically the 9th seed they need a home game we should ignore the financial component - Rest of committee - thats a great point.. I agree

Seems like at some point the MVFC rep should have opened his big yap and said... but.. but.. but.. what about what we just decided about the Montana game or maybe even throw out a.. but.. but.. but.. the way we currently have Weber state seed they are more like the 13th seed.. why are we calling them basically a 9 seed seems like we are screwing montana state if that is the case (oh regionalization).  The MVFC rep seems like the worst negotiator on the planet or just not focused on the MVFC as a whole.

Another year of.. the rules only matter until they dont.. and the precedents only matter until they dont.

All of that said.. Im super excited about the game on Saturday.. it will be tough but I think the fellas will bounce back.  Im also disappointed its not a home game as it should have been based on decades of precedents.

MVFC didn't negotiate for MVFC.  He neg. For NDSU.

[bison73]

On 11/21/2022 at 8:43 AM, jdub27 said:

No, the MVFC does not kick in any money. And that was something that hadn't been done before.
If the committee decides to award a home game to a team regardless of bid, then how exactly would you propose to combat that? Earning a seed is the obvious answer but that isn't going to happen every year (or be awarded even if deserved I guess). If UND puts out a bid that beats everyone (outside of Montana) and still doesn't get selected, what can they actually do?

Absolutely get the frustration. But if what everyone is reading between the lines on is close to accurate, there is some real BS going on with the committee. 

Could be part of regionalization?  Having two playoff games 90 miles apart might not be what they are looking for?

[jdub27]

42 minutes ago, wheelsup said:

Im a little surprised Idaho didnt end up with a home game.

Probably would have if they would have bothered to put a bid in.

 

43 minutes ago, wheelsup said:

• Big Sky rep: - hey about that Weber state/UND game.. it seems like there are some other factors we should consider.. they were basically the 9th seed they need a home game we should ignore the financial component - Rest of committee - thats a great point.. I agree

This was negotiated before the matchup was even set.

 

4 minutes ago, bison73 said:

Could be part of regionalization?  Having two playoff games 90 miles apart might not be what they are looking for?

Regionalization isn't about spreading games out, its about reducing travel costs and making them bus rides if possible. 

[The Sicatoka]

2 hours ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

-  Loses were when their QB was out, so....MAYBE they would have won

So now the FCS committee is at BIll Swerski's in Chicago and running hypotheticals to make decisions? 

"Now, gentlemen, let me ask you this: What if Da Bears were all 14 inches tall, you know, about so high? Now, what’s your score of today’s game?"

[AJS]

48 minutes ago, wheelsup said:

The big sky conference rep was clearly the best prepared negotiator in the room.. Im guessing the MVFC rep spent all of his negotiating skills getting the Bison up to the 3rd seed in order to get NDSU and SDSU on opposite sides of the bracket.  I would really like to hear how all of the conversations went..

Given everything that came out yesterday, I completely agree with this. If you are Youngstown / UND, you want answers from Larson. Given the projections, nobody had NDSU higher than a #4 seed. Then Weber hosts while bidding less $. Youngstown is left out. 

[nd1sufan]

11 minutes ago, AJS said:

Given everything that came out yesterday, I completely agree with this. If you are Youngstown / UND, you want answers from Larson. Given the projections, nobody had NDSU higher than a #4 seed. Then Weber hosts while bidding less $. Youngstown is left out. 

Other than the fact that AD’s with teams in the discussion have to leave the room you are 100% correct in your blaming of UND getting screwed and NDSU getting the #3 seed.  

In case you aren’t following along, NDSU lost by 2 to the #1 seed and by a FG to an FBS team that just beat the #9 team in the country and lost by a score to the #10 team in the country. Oh, and they kicked the s%#t out of Montana State in the championship last year. 

[SIOUXFAN97]

59 minutes ago, JohnboyND7 said:

I don't think its probably very hard to get the committee on board with Montana.

- Nice stadium.  Looks good on TV.  Probably a decent number of fans will be there.

Big Sky is a prime conference to set up with non-bus games, there are basically none available. Isn't everyone west of  Grand Forks (other than some TX schools) in the Big Sky?  No opportunity for bus games in the west.

doesn't matter ...shouldn't matter....

 

[JohnboyND7]

Just now, SIOUXFAN97 said:

doesn't matter ...shouldn't matter....

 

Oh it almost certainly matters.  Agreed though that it shouldn't matter.

[Gothmog]

Honestly,  how would UND fans be reacting if they were 9-2 with an FBS win and the commiteee had put them on the road at a 7-4 Weber State.

[UNDBIZ]

3 minutes ago, Gothmog said:

Honestly,  how would UND fans be reacting if they were 9-2 with an FBS win and the commiteee had put them on the road at a 7-4 Weber State.

We'd be very angry with our AD for getting outbid and also angry with the committee for not seeding us with a bye.

[AJS]

17 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

Other than the fact that AD’s with teams in the discussion have to leave the room you are 100% correct in your blaming of UND getting screwed and NDSU getting the #3 seed.  

In case you aren’t following along, NDSU lost by 2 to the #1 seed and by a FG to an FBS team that just beat the #9 team in the country and lost by a score to the #10 team in the country. Oh, and they kicked the s%#t out of Montana State in the championship last year. 

So, you are telling me that having an AD on the committee isn't a benefit? Doesn't carry any weight? Are all committee members locked in their hotel rooms, no contact before they meet for the selection? At the very least bad optics? 

Or let me guess, none of the above?

[AJS]

5 minutes ago, Gothmog said:

Honestly, how would UND fans be reacting if they were 9-2 with an FBS win and the commiteee had put them on the road at a 7-4 Weber State.

Really? You don't see what the issue is?

[Kab]

Chaves had better bet having conversations with the jerk AD south of here 

[iramurphy]

5 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

We'd be very angry with our AD for getting outbid and also angry with the committee for not seeding us with a bye.

Hell, a lot of folks were angry with our AD when we didn’t get outbid. They made the wrong assumptions. 
We have no idea what Larson did or didn’t do. NDSU certainly deserves a 4 seed. Their record speaks for itself and they are defending Champs. He may have lobbied hard for both UND and Youngstown who knows. If you are 7-4 and don’t get in then you needed to play better during the season. If we would have been left out we could look to our collapse against SDSU and Nebraska or loss to SIU.  We are in. The rest is noise that is no longer relevant. 
 

[iramurphy]

1 minute ago, Kab said:

Chaves had better bet having conversations with the jerk AD south of here 

Why? We don’t know what he did or didn’t do. They normally don’t help us but we don’t know. 

[wheelsup]

9 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

We'd be very angry with our AD for getting outbid and also angry with the committee for not seeding us with a bye.

what UND Biz said.. and I think we would likely feel roughly the same as Southeastern Mo State .

The precedents only matter until they dont.

Personally I have no problem with us being on the road against weber state if all teams were treated equally.  IF you seeded the top 16 teams and the other teams were on the road then it would have made perfect sense.  The reason we are all complaining is that the process completely sucks and the committee made up rules as they went along this year.  There was clear favoritism towards Montana and clear ignoring of precedence towards UND.  The committee somehow made two different interpretations of the rules in the same session.  They allowed Montana to host based on financial bid (clearly ignored performance) and they allowed Weber State to host based on performance (ignored financial bid). 

Take NDSU getting the #3 seed out of it.. (which even the local fargo media was a bit surprised at, NDSU could have easily been the 4th seed although i have no problem with them being the 3rd seed) and its still clear that the Big Sky conference got everything they wanted and the MVFC took it in the shorts.  I believe that is the whole reason there are reps from each conference on the committee.. Our representative clearly didnt do his job.  A conspiracy theorist might argue this was purposeful.. another viewpoint might be that it was just negligent, and he was too busy popping the champagne after NDSU got the 3rd seed.  Again.. UND and Youngtown should be very annoyed with his efforts.. Youngstown had a similar and even better resume than Montana.. and somehow Montana is not only in the playoffs but hosting the first round.

[homer]

46 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

Other than the fact that AD’s with teams in the discussion have to leave the room you are 100% correct in your blaming of UND getting screwed and NDSU getting the #3 seed.  

In case you aren’t following along, NDSU lost by 2 to the #1 seed and by a FG to an FBS team that just beat the #9 team in the country and lost by a score to the #10 team in the country. Oh, and they kicked the s%#t out of Montana State in the championship last year. 

Quality losses……..

[AJS]

Also, I want to be clear. I don't blame Larson for advocating for his school #1 before the rest of the conference. I would think that would only be natural. I assume everyone in that position would do the same. That being said, having someone on the committee whose team is also in the playoff seems like a gigantic issue. Why aren't the commissioners of the league the reps? 

[siouxfan512]

Quick question on the playoff format. 

What would happen if UND were to beat Weber and Mont St and Gardner Webb were to pull two upsets to meet in the quarterfinals?

How does the FCS determine where that game would be played if both seeded teams were to get knocked out of the bracket? I know this is a highly improbable scenario, just curious what the process is in that scenario.

[UNDBIZ]

2 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

Quick question on the playoff format. 

What would happen if UND were to beat Weber and Mont St and Gardner Webb were to pull two upsets to meet in the quarterfinals?

How does the FCS determine where that game would be played if both seeded teams were to get knocked out of the bracket? I know this is a highly improbable scenario, just curious what the process is in that scenario.

I believe there's a bid for each round, all submitted already.  I know there's a minimum hosting requirement.

[UND1983]

1 hour ago, nd1sufan said:

Other than the fact that AD’s with teams in the discussion have to leave the room you are 100% correct in your blaming of UND getting screwed and NDSU getting the #3 seed.  

In case you aren’t following along, NDSU lost by 2 to the #1 seed and by a FG to an FBS team that just beat the #9 team in the country and lost by a score to the #10 team in the country. Oh, and they kicked the s%#t out of Montana State in the championship last year. 

Do those said AD's come back in the room for the decision shortly after?

[siouxfan512]

3 minutes ago, UNDBIZ said:

I believe there's a bid for each round, all submitted already.  I know there's a minimum hosting requirement.

Got it, looks like the last time it happened was 2016 when Youngstown beat (3)Jacksonville St and Wofford beat (6)The Citadel. Must be a pretty rare occurrence for that to happen but what a reward if you go claw your way back with two road playoff wins to then get a home game that you never expected.

This was the year Youngstown made it to the championship game with a win over EWU in the semis. 

[Sioux95]

4 hours ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

FCS playoff committee chair Jermaine Truax explains why Montana Grizzlies made the field

https://406mtsports.com/college/big-sky-conference/university-of-montana/fcs-playoff-committee-chair-jermaine-truax-explains-why-montana-grizzlies-made-the-field/article_648e48aa-69ee-11ed-a05a-5b8c74acc4e0.html

So let me get this straight.  Here are the reasons Montana made it into the playoff field:

- "Quality loses" against the best teams in the Big Sky

-  Loses were when their QB was out, so....MAYBE they would have won

-  "Success" against MVFC teams (even though those teams finished 9th and 10th in the conference standings"

-  "Success" against a Southland team that finished the season 4-7

- "Student athlete experience" 

-  The finanacial bid wasn't a factor. 

The selection committee has opened the door for backroom politics a little wider this year.  What are the odds there was no coercion between the NDSU and Montana ADs?  NDSU gets bumped up a seed and their rival gets screwed out of a home game.  Montana gets in without a quality win and gets a home game and their rival gets screwed.