Executive Board approves DII bracket expansion

[WarriorVoice]

https://www.d2football.com/executive...ket-expansion/

2 major changes...No Earned Access and no 1st round bye for top seeds. Discuss amongst yourselves...

[IUPNation]

https://www.d2football.com/executive...ket-expansion/

2 major changes...No Earned Access and no 1st round bye for top seeds. Discuss amongst yourselves...

Just more participation trophies for programs that have no shot but it’s nice to put on a post for the alumni.

[Ram040506]

Conference champs automatic now entry right? That's a big change, especially for the NE10 I'd think. Some year's where they beat up on each other with the round robin and they didn't have a playoff entry at the end of it, now they will regardless (not often but I seem to remember a couple of years that was the case).

Think there won't be any big changes for our region. I still think the PSAC grabs 2 at large spots each year, with an outside shot at a 3rd to have 3-4 teams make the show every year.

[WarriorVoice]

Just more participation trophies for programs that have no shot but it’s nice to put on a post for the alumni.

That's some real, in-depth analysis there Richard...

[TheROCK]

Taking the bye away from the top seed might help them. The week off has a way of making some teams a little stale.

[laker]

https://www.d2football.com/executive...ket-expansion/

2 major changes...No Earned Access and no 1st round bye for top seeds. Discuss amongst yourselves...

I think that this is a great idea. Not a big fan of byes. Now if they could just seed all the teams regardless of region- but they won't do that.

[Ram040506]

I think that this is a great idea. Not a big fan of byes. Now if they could just seed all the teams regardless of region- but they won't do that.

Most everyone agrees they wish it was more of a national tournament, rather than starting regionally to get there. But yes, I doubt they would do that because of $. It's fun to play teams from other areas of the country that we'd typically never see a matchup with.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Most everyone agrees they wish it was more of a national tournament, rather than starting regionally to get there. But yes, I doubt they would do that because of $. It's fun to play teams from other areas of the country that we'd typically never see a matchup with.

The outside world could care less about D2. The NCAA knows it. No chance in hell they spend that kind of travel money. Obviously.

[Fightingscot82]

I like awarding automatic bids to conference champions. That's about it for me.

[TheBigCat2192]

I don’t see the point of adding another team given how many thumpings we already see in the opening round. Rewarding conference champs with an autobids is fine; the only downside I can see is that there’s risk of getting a lesser team in if a weak division champ has an upset win in a conference championship game. I can go either way on the byes: for every fan that complains their favorite team lost because they had too long a layoff you’ll probably find another that was thankful for the extra week to get guys healthy.

[Fightingscot82]

I don’t see the point of adding another team given how many thumpings we already see in the opening round. Rewarding conference champs with an autobids is fine; the only downside I can see is that there’s risk of getting a lesser team in if a weak division champ has an upset win in a conference championship game. I can go either way on the byes: for every fan that complains their favorite team lost because they had too long a layoff you’ll probably find another that was thankful for the extra week to get guys healthy.

I think the regional seeding will take care of that, though. Look at Rock this past year - didn't win the championship (or play in it) but were able to make a deep run.

[IUPNation]

That's some real, in-depth analysis there Richard...

You would know since you add nothing to this forum. The comment wasn’t even directed at you but you still need to hate like a Trumper.

[IUP24]

The outside world could care less about D2. The NCAA knows it. No chance in hell they spend that kind of travel money. Obviously.

The outside world could not care less about the FCS either. But they do a national tournament and support the travel.

As we learned a few months ago, the outside world doesn't care about FBS football other than 2 conferences either.

D2 is managed as a cost saver to keep funds that are otherwise used to support NCAA sponsored national travel for the FBS and FCS playoffs (even though interest and television ratings prove that interest in those are very regionally driven, regardless of how anyone cares to look at it). I would love to see an open seeded D2 tournament for football and basketball, but I agree that we'll never see that.

[IUP24]

I don’t see the point of adding another team given how many thumpings we already see in the opening round. Rewarding conference champs with an autobids is fine; the only downside I can see is that there’s risk of getting a lesser team in if a weak division champ has an upset win in a conference championship game. I can go either way on the byes: for every fan that complains their favorite team lost because they had too long a layoff you’ll probably find another that was thankful for the extra week to get guys healthy.

I have no problem with autobids either (I have long discussed that regarding the newly expanded FBS tournament). If you want to clearly present that you have a "path" to win a championship, you can justify the statement if "all conference champions" are included." If the reward for winning your conference is a seat at the table, then every team legitimately has the same available path to get there. I prefer that methodology.

I hear you on the premise of a lesser team stealing a bid. But we often see that in march with regularity from mid-major leagues. A team totally deserving of reaching the tournament gets left out because they were upset in the conference tournament of an otherwise one-bid league. I see the harshness of that, but I can also respect and appreciate that's the uniqueness of the setup of the sport. I wouldn't mind if those mid-major leagues actually scrapped their conference tournaments altogether and awarded the NCAA bid to the regular season champ (but that's an entirely different topic and conversation).

There's two premises... There's the "just get the best helmets and most talented rosters in" vantage point (which you hear loudly at the FBS level). And then there's the "utilize actual qualifiers for paths of entry for a large chunk of the bids." I prefer the 2nd option because I value the process of the season, and believe winning your championship should matter. But I also understand why people don't prefer that approach.

[iupgroundhog]

I like it, overall. On the other hand, it doesn't matter that much. Somebody can fact-check me on the history but I don't think a lot of marginal teams, i.e. the earned access teams or low seeds, come through and win the region and the purpose is to determine a regional winner/representative, although granted "making the playoffs" has some value.

Dropping earned access is a no-brainer. Nobody liked earned access. Apparently, the first round bye wasn't that popular either, even among the teams who received it.

The PSAC could be considered 2 conferences to ensure the champ of each division makes it; however, that always happens, anyway, with the way the region is set up.

The regional format never bothered me. I prefer it. I don't even think a national format in D2 is viable because teams don't play each other during the regular season so there would be a lot of guesswork and that would ultimately go against the NE region because nobody respects us. It would be a very political process.