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Important DatesUnderstanding the Process2016-17 Division II Football Pre-Championship Manual.

The D2 playoff field consists of 28 teams. The participating teams are selected by four regional committees, with each region selecting seven teams. The top seed will earn a bye week in the first round.

The PSAC is in Super Region 1 along with all teams from the MEC, CIAA and Northeast 10. The committee members for Super Region 1 are listed below. These individuals will meet via conference call late Saturday night or early Sunday morning for the next couple of weeks to discuss the contenders, compile a rankings list and submit it to the national committee.

Super Region 1 Committee

Reid Amos - Commissioner, Mountain East Conference, MEC
Jon Anderson - Head Coach, West Virginia State, MEC
Bryan Collins - Head Coach, LIU Post, Northeast-10
Nick Smith - AD, Assumption, Northeast-10
Brad Ryzczyki - Head Coach, Gannon, PSAC
Dave Taynor - Head Coach, Lock Haven, PSAC
Eddie Weatherington, Assoc. Commissioner CIAA CIAA
Damon Wilson - Head Coach, Bowie State, CIAA

From this group, Reid Amos and Nick Smith are on the national committee, which includes two members from each regional committee.

Selection Criteria

When it comes to qualification and selection criteria, the first thing to know is that there are NO automatic bids. Many other NCAA sports offer automatic qualifying bids to conference champions. There is no such thing in the D2 Football championship, all teams are selected at-large. Conference championships are not part of the selection criteria in any way.

To qualify for consideration a team must satisfy the following basic criteria:
1) Have an overall win-loss record of .500 or better against Division II opponents
2) Play a minimum of 8 Division II opponents during the regular season
3) Play a minimum of 10 total opponents during the regular season

Exceptions can be made in extenuating circumstances and there actually has been an occurrence this season. North Alabama will contest only nine games this year due to a cancellation because of Hurricane Matthew. UNA was scheduled to play Florida Tech on October 8. They applied for and have already been granted a waiver to this requirement.

For teams that meet the above qualifications, the NCAA committees will evaluate them on the following criteria, but not necessarily in this order.


Summing it up
  • Record against Division II competition
  • Strength of schedule
  • Head to Head competition
1. LIU Post (8-0): The Pioneers currently have the best OWP among the four undefeated teams, and they have one more win than the closest pursuers, making them the obvious choice at #1. The next two games are winless Pace and 2-5 Merrimack, so OWP will go down a bit. It is likely that they will meet with Assumption in the conference championship game on November 12. Post defeated Assumption 19-18 on October 1.

2. California (7-0): The Vulcans won the critical meeting with IUP and followed up with a win over Slippery Rock. The biggest hurdle remaining is a meeting with Edinboro in week 10. If Cal wins the next two games, they will win the PSAC West division outright and the. The West champion has hosting rights for the PSAC Championship game this year.

3. Shepherd (7-0):4. IUP (6-1):5. Edinboro (7-1): Their only loss is to IUP and they have decent OWP at .547. Remember, this team was 0-11 last year, now they are a legit contender. They got blown out by IUP but prevailed against Slippery Rock this past week and have an opportunity against Cal in week 10. I think they have a decent chance at the playoffs even with a loss to Cal, BUT they would lack head to head against both Cal and IUP which would leave them very vulnerable. They should have strong OWP though and would still be in the picture.

6. Fairmont State (8-0):7. Assumption (7-1): They lost by a single point to LIU Post but the defending NE10 champs look like they will get another shot at the Pioneers in the final week of the regular season.

8. Notre Dame College (7-1): 9. Bowie State (5-2): The Bulldogs lost to Virginia Union this past weekend but remain at 5-2 overall against D2 and have head to head over Chowan, so I placed them as the first CIAA team.

10. Chowan (5-2): OWP is better than Bowie State, but as mentioned above, BSU has the head to head win.

11. Virginia Union (5-3): They have the highest OWP among the top 15 and would possibly be around 7th if not for the 3 losses. But, they split with Bowie State and Chowan and have the additional loss so I placed them behind their two conference rivals.

12: Slippery Rock (5-3): Like Virginia Union, they have very high OWP but will not be able to overcome the three losses, especially with all three coming to teams ranked much higher in the region.

13. Winston-Salem State (6-2): The week CIAA south division schedule hurts OWP, but the Rams should be in the CIAA Championship game with an excellent chance to play their way into playoff contention. When its all said and done, I expect to see WSSU win-out and be in the playoff field.

14. Virginia State (6-2): The out of conference schedule ended up being extremely week and its hurting OWP. But the Trojans still have a chance at the winning the north and would love to have a shot at avenging their regular season performance at WSSU.

15. Shippensburg (6-2):[email protected] and you can follow me on Twitter @D2Chuck