11/11 Regional Rankings

[Horror Child]

Here's a random question that Brandon or someone might know. If the season ended today, two teams would be in the playoffs via earned access (Tiffin and Albany State). What is the highest number of teams that have made the playoffs via earned access in a single year?

2016 Winston Salem St in SR1 and Tuskegee in SR2
2011 Concord in SR1 and Albany St in SR2

[canadarican]

2016 Winston Salem St in SR1 and Tuskegee in SR2
2011 Concord in SR1 and Albany St in SR2

Thanks! I was curious if theres ever been more than 2

[Inkblot]

2016 Winston Salem St in SR1 and Tuskegee in SR2
2011 Concord in SR1 and Albany St in SR2

[Horror Child]

Earned access in past seasons is something about which there isn't a lot of information to be found online. I've tried to identify all the EA teams, but I'm not quite sure of some. Here are the ones that could have been based on their seed and conference:

2017 CSU Pueblo
2016 (both confirmed by quoted post)
2014 LIU Post, Angelo State
2013 American International, West Texas A&M
2012 Shepherd
2011 Concord, Albany State (both confirmed by quoted post)
2010 Colorado Mines
2009 Fayetteville State
2008 Seton Hill
2007 Albany State, Shaw (both common knowledge), Winona State
2006 Albany State, Winona State
2004 Fayetteville State

Can those who remember confirm which of these were in by EA?

It's actually harder to find now since the NCAA doesn't publish the final rankings and simply state that the playoff brackets ARE the final regional rankings. Bold above were certainly earned access.

2012 As far as I can tell, Shepherd was legit #6. As of the last full regional rankings, they were #6 ahead of fellow WVIAC member Charleston and won the final week of the season

2013 American International - maybe. As of the last full regional rankings, they were #7 with a record of 8-2, behind Virginia St (9-1). American International defeated Stonehill (8-3) to finish 9-2 and a SOS boost while Virginia St sat idle due to the CIAA championship getting cancelled after VSU players attacked the Winston-Salem QB during the pre-game luncheon on Friday. The CIAA ruled VSU ineligible for postseason play, although it's not clear they had the authority to do so. The NCAA never made a statement on if it was a factor in their final ranking.

2013 WTAM was probably legit. #6 Tarleton was 7-2 and #7 WTAM was 8-2 headed into the final week, but Tarleton owned the H2H over WTAM. Tarleton lost to North Alabama (8-2) and WTAM beat Midwestern St (7-3).

[Runnin' Cat]

It's actually harder to find now since the NCAA doesn't publish the final rankings and simply state that the playoff brackets ARE the final regional rankings. Bold above were certainly earned access.

2012 As far as I can tell, Shepherd was legit #6. As of the last full regional rankings, they were #6 ahead of fellow WVIAC member Charleston and won the final week of the season

2013 American International - maybe. As of the last full regional rankings, they were #7 with a record of 8-2, behind Virginia St (9-1). American International defeated Stonehill (8-3) to finish 9-2 and a SOS boost while Virginia St sat idle due to the CIAA championship getting cancelled after VSU players attacked the Winston-Salem QB during the pre-game luncheon on Friday. The CIAA ruled VSU ineligible for postseason play, although it's not clear they had the authority to do so. The NCAA never made a statement on if it was a factor in their final ranking.

2013 WTAM was probably legit. #6 Tarleton was 7-2 and #7 WTAM was 8-2 headed into the final week, but Tarleton owned the H2H over WTAM. Tarleton lost to North Alabama (8-2) and WTAM beat Midwestern St (7-3).

Any time there were two teams from a conference that got into the playoffs, neither team would have been EA. What I understand is that EA only applies when you a conference does not have a team make it into the top 6/7 seedings, the highest ranked conference team gets EA.

[Turbonium]

Earned access in past seasons is something about which there isn't a lot of information to be found online. I've tried to identify all the EA teams, but I'm not quite sure of some. Here are the ones that could have been based on their seed and conference:

2017 CSU Pueblo

This was EA for Pueblo, the 3 teams in front of them all lost the final day I believe. Mesa finished a spot ahead of them so Pueblo bumped Mesa due to H2H and then flipped with Duluth for EA. One of the crazier playoff scenarios that I've seen.

[Horror Child]

Any time there were two teams from a conference that got into the playoffs, neither team would have been EA. What I understand is that EA only applies when you a conference does not have a team make it into the top 6/7 seedings, the highest ranked conference team gets EA.

Completely agree. Does that situation apply to any of the years/teams that Inkblot listed?