Opinion on bracket

[MrCorso]

Anyone that knows the level of Benedict’s “competition” would know that Benedict might just be the worst team in the entire playoff field. The fact that D2 refuses to acknowledge strength of conference and TRUE strength of schedule is laughable.

They are a guaranteed 1st game exit yet they turn a blind eye to the clear imbalance of the field year after year after year.

This is like putting JMU in the college football playoff because they are undefeated.

MAKE THEM schedule heavy hitters in the South to get in. There’s enough local teams to prove it if they really deserve it. Newberry, Limestone, NGU, LR, Wingate, and Valdosta are all within 3 hours. Instead you play Shaw, Edward Waters, and Chowan. What a joke.

Last year this mistake helped leave Newberry, UWG, and a couple much better teams home. This year, it sucks for Wingate and Mars Hill who would both curb stomp Benedict. Hell, even 6-4 UWG would get the job done.

Everybody just go make the easiest schedule possible! Easy to “trick” the NCAA.

[GriffUp]

Whoa, hold your horses. Nobody "waxes" the GSC. Since Valdosta won their first in 2004 the GSC has a winning record in NC games (5-4) Valdosta is actually 4-2 in NC games.

Agree with you here. SR1 is not competitive in the semis. Shepherd once got through? Valdosta is tough in the NC.

In SR3, having Harding seeded 1 will be interesting to see the result against UCM. No matter the winner of that game, the winner loses to the “bottom” half winner.

[NWFanatic]

Well it appears the Natty will be decided next weekend in Allendale. Regions are a joke - every year region 1 and 2 make semifinals and get waxed by SR3. GVSU goes home early last year, Pitt State…travesty… how has Shepard done in the last 2 semifinals? All you silo conferences afraid to branch out…defending 2 time champion is behind Henderson and Indy laughable.

Shepard also got beat bad 34-7 vs NW in the ‘15 title game

[Ram Tough]

Shepard also got beat bad 34-7 vs NW in the ‘15 title game

I'll defend that 2015 team. Anyone would've been blown out that day against NWMSU. Also, remember that Shepherd beat GVSU to get there.

[boyblue]

I'll defend that 2015 team. Anyone would've been blown out that day against NWMSU. Also, remember that Shepherd beat GVSU to get there.

Same is true about the 2021 Bulldogs, their closest game was probably the Bi Week.

[Ram Tough]

Same is true about the 2021 Bulldogs, their closest game was probably the Bi Week.

I don't want to hijack this thread too much, but the Bagent teams at Shepherd were simply not as good or complete as the 2010, 2015 or 2016 teams Shepherd had that won SR1. They had always been competitive in the semifinals, including that one win. However, the defenses were much better for the other teams that advanced out of SR1 from Shepherd.

[Brandon]

HTH is completely moot in the GAC situation.
OBU has the hth over SAU, so someone would be on here saying OBU got screwed if SAU got in.

My guess is that this one came down to the human element. Hendy was.the only team who gave Harding a game all year that's what got them in, imo.

All data exactly equal minus......

	PI	v. RR
Henderson State	25.273	1-2 (.333)
Southern Arkansas	25.182	0-2 (.000)
Ouachita Baptist	25.182	1-1 (.500)

[Turbonium]

Same is true about the 2021 Bulldogs, their closest game was probably the Bi Week.

I heard bi week was exceptionally hard but they took it surprisingly well.

[Turbonium]

Anyone that knows the level of Benedict’s “competition” would know that Benedict might just be the worst team in the entire playoff field. The fact that D2 refuses to acknowledge strength of conference and TRUE strength of schedule is laughable.

They are a guaranteed 1st game exit yet they turn a blind eye to the clear imbalance of the field year after year after year.

This is like putting JMU in the college football playoff because they are undefeated.

MAKE THEM schedule heavy hitters in the South to get in. There’s enough local teams to prove it if they really deserve it. Newberry, Limestone, NGU, LR, Wingate, and Valdosta are all within 3 hours. Instead you play Shaw, Edward Waters, and Chowan. What a joke.

Last year this mistake helped leave Newberry, UWG, and a couple much better teams home. This year, it sucks for Wingate and Mars Hill who would both curb stomp Benedict. Hell, even 6-4 UWG would get the job done.

Everybody just go make the easiest schedule possible! Easy to “trick” the NCAA.

Yep. Pueblo possibly (likely) gets in if they lose to a D3 or NAIA team instead of losing in 2OT @ Grand Valley. It is all a bit silly for sure but I don't think we can expect the format to improve.

[Predatory Primates]

Yep. Pueblo possibly (likely) gets in if they lose to a D3 or NAIA team instead of losing in 2OT @ Grand Valley. It is all a bit silly for sure but I don't think we can expect the format to improve.

A lot of conf. Presidents are pushing for change.

[Turbonium]

A lot of conf. Presidents are pushing for change.

I'm sure, but it isn't a new issue so I'm not expecting some big overhaul. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Pueblo (or Angelo who is in a similar situation) should be in over team X, Y, or Z as they didn't do what they needed to get in based on the current criteria. They were just an easy example this year based on their 3 losses being against teams with a combined 30-2 record or something crazy.

[Predatory Primates]

MAKE THEM schedule heavy hitters in the South to get in. There’s enough local teams to prove it if they really deserve it. Newberry, Limestone, NGU, LR, Wingate, and Valdosta are all within 3 hours. Instead you play Shaw, Edward Waters, and Chowan. What a joke.

Last year this mistake helped leave Newberry, UWG, and a couple much better teams home. This year, it sucks for Wingate and Mars Hill who would both curb stomp Benedict. Hell, even 6-4 UWG would get the job done.

Everybody just go make the easiest schedule possible! Easy to “trick” the NCAA.

This will never happen, but the current setup actually does the opposite. It is set up to allow, some would even say encourage, teams and whole conferences to game the system.

Maybe we could at least get to system that wasn't set up so the smart play was to beat someone with a good record against bad teams.

Without a human element, we'll never get there. More metrics just creates more paper tigers.

[boyblue]

I heard bi week was exceptionally hard but they took it surprisingly well.

LOL! Yea in 2018 we had Coach Kerwin Bell's offense that could stick with them but he left that year so 2021 we were not competitive.

[boyblue]

We get on silo conferences because that OC data point is so helpful, but the truth is, distance is the biggest problem. I now believe the ideas that will fix the problem are not football related. We need to come up with ideas that will give the regional committees the additional funds and/or rule adjustments, necessary to make things more fair.

What if...

• The NCAA accepted Airline points donated by Alumni to help fund travel
• A promotional deal with an airline could be negotiated to bring the cost of travel down
• A promotional deal with a hotel chain could be negotiated for extended stays, so that a team would not have to return home. Classes could be done online.
• Teams are given an option to bus past the current limit
• The committee was allowed to discount unlikely outcomes when calculating cost impact on future rounds
• The avoidance of rematches was made a higher priority
• The likelihood of losing a finalist in the first round was given an exception to budgetary constraints

[Packfootball]

I'm just glad CWU is in as an "unseeded 7th seed." Heckuva opening round game traveling to Western Colo.

Having said that, there's never a perfect bracket. And..........great opinion and breakdown of thought chapmaja

Chance of snow in the forecast for Gunnison, CO. Still very early forcast for weather in Colorado.