November 13th, 2007 12:00am
It wouldn't be mid-November without another playoff controversy, and do we ever have a major one on our hands this year.
Despite being 10-1 and being dominant for much of the season, traditional power Carson-Newman is left watching from home as we start post-season play this Saturday.
No matter how you go about selecting the teams for any playoff field-- especially in football-- there is always going to be someone feeling they were snubbed or left out. By the very nature of the sport, there aren't many games played, and thus not many opportunities to compare teams.
But the expansion from 16 to 24 teams in the D-II football playoffs was supposed to be the cure-all for problems such as this one. The new system was supposed to basically insure that the traditionally weaker conferences got a fair shot at being represented in the field, while also providing plenty of opportunities for multiple teams from the power conferences. In short, a 10-1 team from an above average league should not be left at home under any circumstances.
Instead the current system has brought us the evil known as earned access and a wildly fluctuating regional ranking system that leaves us scratching our heads each week.
To be fair, the blame for these problems does not fall squarely on the shoulders of the Division II Football Committee. Division II as a whole mandates the strict playoff regionalization and the move towards using a "pseudo RPI" to rank the teams.
But sooner or later, some of the powers that be in this division are going to have to come to the realization that a) our current playoff format is broken, and b) because football is such a visible sport, having a sound playoff format is important to the entire division.
Brandon Misener and I have come up with several ideas that we believe would greatly improve our current playoff format. Rather than write a book in this column trying to describe it all, we've elected to do a podcast on the subject that will be up on the front page of this site early next week.
Undeserving Champions
The Lone Star Conference's North Division crowned five champions last week… out of the six teams in the divisions. Only East Central (0-5 division record) failed to share a piece of the title. How pathetic was this division? Not a single team finished with a record better than .500 against D-II competition. Hopefully no one wastes money on championship banners for a title as tainted as this one.
Admission of Guilt
Earlier this week, Central Oklahoma announced that it agreed with the NCAA's finding of a lack of institutional control over its football program, related to the list of violations the NCAA accused the school of this summer.
The first casualty was the firing of head coach Chuck Langston by UCO president W. Roger Webb. Will he be the last casualty?
Nothing will surprise me regarding this situation.
Opening Round Playoff Games
Note: I spent a great deal of time this week working on a team-by-team analysis of the playoff field (due out by Thursday night), which goes into great detail on all of the teams. For that reason, I will keep the game previews short and sweet this week.
Northeast Region
Indiana (8-2) @ West Chester (8-2)
I believe the key to this game will be the play of WCU senior quarterback Bill Zwaan. If he is accurate throwing the football and the Rams can avoid turnovers (something that has been a problem all year), they should take care of the Crimson Hawks. If not, this will be a very good game. West Chester 28 IUP 24.
Bryant (9-1) @ Southern Connecticut State (8-3)
The Bulldogs get a shot at revenging their only loss of the season, a 56-28 loss to the Owls two weeks ago. The problem Bryant has is that Jerom Freeman set the D-II record with 418 rushing yards in that game, and even a good defensive performance last week against Bentley doesn't convince me that the Bulldogs now have what it takes to slow down Freeman and the Owls. Southern Connecticut 40 Bryant 27.
Southeast Region
Albany State (8-2) @ Catawba (10-1)
ASU is traditionally known as a solid defensive team, but the Rams have been anything but in the last three games, giving up 102 points. That will be a big problem when facing Indian quarterback Brad Roach and his talented supporting cast. Catawba 39 Albany State 20.
Shaw (8-3) @ Delta State (9-1)
Two good defenses will go at it in this game, but the major difference between these two teams is that the Statesmen can also play offense. Plus, the Bears' propensity to commit turnovers and complete lack of a passing game doesn't give warm fuzzies about their chances against DSU. Delta State 35 Shaw 16.
Northwest Region
Ashland (8-1) @ Central Washington (8-2)
This may end up being one of the more entertaining opening round games because the teams appear to be relatively evenly matched and both clubs have outstanding quarterbacks. CWU has to be a slight favorite based on home field and being stronger defensively. Central Washington 34 Ashland 29.
Winona State (10-1) @ North Dakota (9-1)
The Warriors are a much better offensive team that the one that failed to score a touchdown in two contests against the Fighting Sioux last season. The problem is, UND is also better offensively, and WSU won't fare well if it's a shootout. North Dakota 48 Winona State 24.
Southwest Region
Washburn (8-3) @ West Texas A&M (11-0)
If the Buffaloes are for real (and I believe they are), then they shouldn't have much trouble with a solid, but unspectacular Washburn team. The Ichabods best chance at an upset is to run the ball effectively and keep the WTAMU offense on the sidelines. I don't see it happening, at least not for all four quarters. West Texas 37 Washburn 21.
Mesa State (10-1) @ Abilene Christian (8-2)
This is a classic match up of great offense (ACU) against great defense (MSC). Despite the fact that the ACU can be porous defensively, I don't know if the Mavericks have the ability to take advantage of it. Abilene Christian 35 Mesa State 24.
Mailbag
[Q] How does Slippery Rock not make the playoffs, when in fact they gave California & IUP two of the best games this year?
Mike
[A] I won't share with you the rest of Mike's email, which was basically an expletive laced tirade accusing me (and PSAC Columnist Jim Milligan) of ruining Division II football.
I receive a few heated emails from people around this time of the year, and it's usually from those blowing off steam about their team not making the playoffs. I'm fine with criticism when it's warranted, but remember folks, I comment on what's going on in the world of D-II football, I don't make the rules.
Anyway, the short answer to Mike's question is this: Slippery Rock didn't get into the playoffs because Slippery Rock didn't deserve to be there. The reasons why:
-Slippery Rock's strength of schedule was terrible. Of the nine teams SRU beat, only one finished with a winning record (7-4 Edinboro) and those nine teams combined to go 28-68 this year.
-Most PSAC folks want to believe that their conference is vastly superior to the other two in the Northeast Region (the Northeast 10 and WVIAC) but this year the PSAC went just 5-5 combined against the other two conferences. Tough to argue that the PSAC deserved four of the six playoff spots based on that.
-Despite losing in the regular season finale, IUP got the sixth seed over Slippery Rock based on IUP winning when the two teams played. The two teams both had two losses, IUP had a better strength of schedule, and IUP won the battle head to head. Simple as that.
The bottom line is this: if you play a schedule of mostly bad teams, then you'd better win when you play the good teams to prove you are playoff worthy. Slippery Rock didn't do that this year.
Contact Me
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