[LUconn]

Someone explain how they work. I know certain conferences get auto-bids and ours isn't one of them. So how are the rest picked? Is it similar to the basketball tournament? Just a comittee's subjective decision?

[ATrain]

Yep-supposedly they base it off of your record v. I-AA opponents and SOS, but the committee also has officials from the I-AA auto-bids and power conferences on there, so its not rare for an independent, ala LU and Elon in '97, to get shunned despite being very playoff worthy.

[Stevev]

Based on what I know about it strength of schedule plays a big part here as well as record. I know of several teams with records of 9-2 and 10-1 get snubbed by the committee for having too weak of a schedule. You have to beat quality teams to have a chance. Some examples of teams with excellent records that got snubbed are Cal Poly, Gardner Webb, Eastern Kentucky, Elon, Coastal Carolina, and our very own Flames (they went 9-2 one year but got turned away due to a weak overall schedule). All of these happened in the last 10 years or so. Based on our schedule we would probably have to go at least 9-2 to have a chance. Also it depends on how many ranked oppponents we can beat. The 1A losses are probably thrown out of the equation. It is tough for a team with 4 or more losses to make it unless you win your conference assumming the conference gets an auto bid or 2 of your losses were to 1A teams. I know of 2 examples of teams with 4 or more losses that made the playoffs. Appy State did it several years back due to 2 losses to ACC teams and Delaware did it about 20 years ago since they had 3 losses out of conference but won the Yankee conference (now the A10). Hope that this helps a bit.

[Libertine]

The selection process itself is pretty simple. Each of the eight eligible and participating I-AA conferences get an auto-bid. Those conferences are the A-10, Big Sky, Gateway, MEAC, OVC, Patriot, Southern and Southland. The SWAC and Ivy are eligible to receive and auto-bid but do not participate in I-AA playoffs for their own reasons. The rest of the field is rounded out by the selection committee w/ a lot of weight given to the GPI (Gridiron Power Index, roughly the I-AA equivalent of the BCS formula). In 2001, with the travel industry in turmoil after 9/11, I-AA changed the seeding process and gave some additional selection weight to simple geography.
Before 2001, all 16 teams were seeded and #1 played #16 in the first round, #2 played #15, etc., Under the current system, only the top 4 teams are seeded and playoff matchups are determined by geography. On a side note, very few people like this method because it means that even if you have a very strong team and won your conference, unless you're one of the top 4, there's a realistic chance that you'll have to play the top team in the tournament in the 1st round. Conversely, being the #1 seed means nothing because there's a realistic chance that you will play a very strong team in the first round. Consider 2003 when #1 McNeese St. got smoked by Big Sky co-champ NAU or GSU laying down against New Hampshire in '04.
Home teams for the playoffs are determined by the selected schools placing bids for the game. Basically, they promise the NCAA X amount of $ so that they can host the game and the NCAA makes a determination off of that.

Why doesn't the Big South have an auto-bid? NCAA rules stipulate that a conference must have i) at least six football-playing members ii) for at least 2 years and iii) who have been playing at the I-AA scholarship level for at least 6 years. At that point, the conference becomes eligible to receive an auto-bid but that is not necessarily assured. As things stand now, adding Presbyterian to the conference gives us six members but they obviously have not been playing at the I-AA level for six years so adding them doesn't really get the conference closer to the playoffs until 2013.

[SuperJon]

Based on our schedule we would probably have to go at least 9-2 to have a chance.

For LU to have a chance of making the playoffs, we will have to win all 8 of our I-AA games. They don't count D-2s and they I-As don't have much weight either. I have no problem with our schedule this year, but for anyone to even think playoffs, we'd have to win all 8 I-AA games and then it might still be a stretch.


People are saying Coastal will have to go at least 9-2 this year to even have a chance to make the playoffs and their schedule is exponentially harder than ours.

Once again, I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with our schedule this year.

[Stevev]

You might emphasize this year. The schedule had better get stronger or else people are going to loose interest in the program including myself.

[SuperJon]

I think it will get stronger once the team gets better. This year's team has to learn how to win before they can expect to play with the big boys of I-AA. This is a perfect schedule for this year.

[thesportscritic]

This team needs to gain confidence and this is a good schedule to gain that confidence. I think the schedule will get stronger as long as the team continues to improve.

[jimflamesfan]

In '97, I think the biggest thing that hurt us was our lost to Hofstra. We beat Appy State that year at their place when they were ranked #15. We also beat Cal-Poly and Elon that year and they had good records.

The thing was, at that time we weren't in a conference, and Hofstra wasn't either, we were both I-AA independents. We played Hofstra in the last home game, and then Appy State away after that.

And it sounded like since we lost to Hofstra, they went. They didn't want 2 I-aa independents in the playoffs. Had we beat Hofstra, I think it was certain that 10-1 with the only loss in overtime to Hampton, would have put us in. The marching band was told to be ready to go to the playoffs if we win the Hofstra game - but we loss. It sounded like the Appy State game was a non-factor.

However, we did knock them out of the playoffs, they were considered almost a "lock", and then we beat them and they didn't go.

[Libertine]

I might explain a little of the weakness of this year's schedule. By the middle of last season, all but the 9/23 date was lined up for 2006. The part from Wake on remains as it was but our original schedule had us opening the season at USF followed the next week by a trip to Rutgers, at Towson, hopefully home for the 9/23 TBA and then back on the road to Wake Forest. When Rocco came in, he had already seen what last year's early schedule did to us and he took one look at that slate and gutted it. Out went USF and in came St. Paul's. We've had a signed contract w/ Rutgers for over a year but we cancelled it (I don't think LU will be invited up to Camden for a while) and, initially, had Howard U in that spot. They ended up bailing and that's why we're playing a second D2 team this year. 9/23 was supposed to be NC A&T but they wanted to hold out for a classic game which they eventually got and then dumped for UL-Lafayette, which is why we're playing Savannah St.
So, in essence, we tried to soften up the schedule a little bit and ended up with a softer schedule than we anticipated. As far as the coaches are concerned, the goal for this season is not the playoffs but to win the conference and build some confidence into a very young team that finished 2005 in kind of a state of shell-shock.

[Libertine]

In '97, I think the biggest thing that hurt us was our lost to Hofstra. We beat Appy State that year at their place when they were ranked #15. We also beat Cal-Poly and Elon that year and they had good records.

The thing was, at that time we weren't in a conference, and Hofstra wasn't either, we were both I-AA independents. We played Hofstra in the last home game, and then Appy State away after that.

And it sounded like since we lost to Hofstra, they went. They didn't want 2 I-aa independents in the playoffs. Had we beat Hofstra, I think it was certain that 10-1 with the only loss in overtime to Hampton, would have put us in. The marching band was told to be ready to go to the playoffs if we win the Hofstra game - but we loss. It sounded like the Appy State game was a non-factor.

However, we did knock them out of the playoffs, they were considered almost a "lock", and then we beat them and they didn't go.

We also played 3 D2 games that year, which the committee completely disregards. As far as they were concerned, we weren't 9-2, we were 6-2. Hofstra went 9-2 against all I-AA competition.

[SuperJon]

As far as the coaches are concerned, the goal for this season is not the playoffs but to win the conference and build some confidence into a very young team that finished 2005 in kind of a state of shell-shock.

I think that's the goal for most people. For the most part, the team is young. Rashad's only a sophomore this year, Brock's only a sophomore, and Terrell's only a sophomore. Get some experience this year, and then in 07 maybe compete for the playoffs.

[PAmedic]

I'd settle for beating the crap outta CCU, winning the conf comes second.

[Stevev]

I only remember playing 2 Div 2 teams (Glenville State and Virginia Union) that year. Who is the third?

[Libertine]

I only remember playing 2 Div 2 teams (Glenville State and Virginia Union) that year. Who is the third?

Norfolk St. was D2 until the 1999 season.

[jimflamesfan]

Libertine,

That's wierd...b/c when Hofstra played us in the next to the last game in '97, we were ranked #16 and they were ranked #17...

It seemed like we were getting more respect for our wins than they were for theirs. Like I said, all we had to do was beat them.

So in other words, you can pick your poison. Go soft on the schedule, and you can only lose once. Go hard, and you can lose 4 times.

I guess in the end, you schedule soft enough to win, while at the same time hard enough to get respect...a hard balance to pull off.

[LUconn]

Lets just thank our lucky stars that the above equation is to determine which 16 teams get into the playoffs and not which 2 get in like some other Division 1 football league I know of.

[SuperJon]

Libertine,

That's wierd...b/c when Hofstra played us in the next to the last game in '97, we were ranked #16 and they were ranked #17...

It seemed like we were getting more respect for our wins than they were for theirs. Like I said, all we had to do was beat them.

The people who do the polls are not the same that do the playoffs. The polls take into consideration EVERYTHING. The committee just looks at I-AA opponents.