Pieces coming together for I-AA play-offs
11/7/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Eastern Illinois can rest easy. Everyone else has some work to do.
The 7-1 Eastern Illinois Panthers have become the first I-AA team to clinch a spot in the post-season. Fifteen other spots remain open, and no seeds have been set in stone.
Montana, Georgia Southern and Hofstra look to be the favorites to qualify as three of the top four seeds in the playoffs meaning that each team could host at least two games and possibly three. Eastern Illinois' chances at being one of the top four are hampered by weak conference opponents and questionable out-of-conference scheduling.
Montana will clinch the No. 1 seed in the post-season if they finish the season with wins over Weber State Saturday, Montana State next week and Idaho on Nov. 24.
Defending National Champion Georgia Southern can grab the second seed with a win over Wofford or a Furman loss to either Chattanooga or Presbyterian.
Last season Montana entered the playoffs No. 1 and Georgia Southern was No. 2. The two teams eventually met in the National Championship.
Furman, who lost their Southern Conference Championship hopes in a loss to Georgia Southern last week, need to win their remaining games to help assure themselves a top-eight seed and a first-round game at home.
Hofstra will qualify automatically for the post-season as the champion of the Atlantic 10 with a victory over conference foe Villanova on Saturday.
The remaining top seed is tougher to figure but 7-2 Western Kentucky, 7-1 North Carolina A&T and 7-1 Tennessee State can all make legitimate claim to the top four by winning out.
Even though 8-0 Lehigh will more than likely clinch the Patriot League title with a win at Bucknell Saturday, it is unlikely that the Engineers would play even one play-off game at home. Going into the post-season, Lehigh will have the weakest strength of schedule and probably will end up with a seed lower than eight. Last year Lehigh finished the regular season 11-0 but entered the play-offs as the 10th seed.
Three Big Sky teams, including Montana, are in the 34 teams listed by the Sports Network that still have a chance to make the play-offs.
Traditionally, the Big Sky has sent a maximum of two teams to the post-season and with a shared conference title unlikely, Northern Arizona stands as the strongest candidate for post-season contention. NAU would go a long way to guaranteeing themselves a seed with a win over Sacramento State on Saturday.
Montana State would need to clinch the Big Sky automatic bid to qualify. To do that, the 'Cats need Weber State to upset Montana and Montana State would have to win their remaining games, including next week's tilt with the Griz.Eastern Washington's hopes faded with their loss to NAU last week and they will be completely extinguished unless both MSU and NAU lose all of their remaining games and the play-off committee feels compassion for star running back Jesse Chapman. The possibility of EWU making the play-offs as the second team from the Big Sky is far outweighed by the possibility of Montana being the lone conference representative.
Pushed one week later by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the I-AA play-offs will begin the first weekend of December.
The 7-1 Eastern Illinois Panthers have become the first I-AA team to clinch a spot in the post-season. Fifteen other spots remain open, and no seeds have been set in stone.
Montana, Georgia Southern and Hofstra look to be the favorites to qualify as three of the top four seeds in the playoffs meaning that each team could host at least two games and possibly three. Eastern Illinois' chances at being one of the top four are hampered by weak conference opponents and questionable out-of-conference scheduling.
Montana will clinch the No. 1 seed in the post-season if they finish the season with wins over Weber State Saturday, Montana State next week and Idaho on Nov. 24.
Defending National Champion Georgia Southern can grab the second seed with a win over Wofford or a Furman loss to either Chattanooga or Presbyterian.
Last season Montana entered the playoffs No. 1 and Georgia Southern was No. 2. The two teams eventually met in the National Championship.
Furman, who lost their Southern Conference Championship hopes in a loss to Georgia Southern last week, need to win their remaining games to help assure themselves a top-eight seed and a first-round game at home.
Hofstra will qualify automatically for the post-season as the champion of the Atlantic 10 with a victory over conference foe Villanova on Saturday.
The remaining top seed is tougher to figure but 7-2 Western Kentucky, 7-1 North Carolina A&T and 7-1 Tennessee State can all make legitimate claim to the top four by winning out.
Even though 8-0 Lehigh will more than likely clinch the Patriot League title with a win at Bucknell Saturday, it is unlikely that the Engineers would play even one play-off game at home. Going into the post-season, Lehigh will have the weakest strength of schedule and probably will end up with a seed lower than eight. Last year Lehigh finished the regular season 11-0 but entered the play-offs as the 10th seed.
Three Big Sky teams, including Montana, are in the 34 teams listed by the Sports Network that still have a chance to make the play-offs.
Traditionally, the Big Sky has sent a maximum of two teams to the post-season and with a shared conference title unlikely, Northern Arizona stands as the strongest candidate for post-season contention. NAU would go a long way to guaranteeing themselves a seed with a win over Sacramento State on Saturday.
Montana State would need to clinch the Big Sky automatic bid to qualify. To do that, the 'Cats need Weber State to upset Montana and Montana State would have to win their remaining games, including next week's tilt with the Griz.Eastern Washington's hopes faded with their loss to NAU last week and they will be completely extinguished unless both MSU and NAU lose all of their remaining games and the play-off committee feels compassion for star running back Jesse Chapman. The possibility of EWU making the play-offs as the second team from the Big Sky is far outweighed by the possibility of Montana being the lone conference representative.
Pushed one week later by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the I-AA play-offs will begin the first weekend of December.
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