Team News - Playoff Possibilities Revisited

With the regular season now complete, it's time to speculate on how the playoffs will shake out, even though the official announcement is only hours away. Saturday could not have gone much better for West Chester.

• #1 Concord (11-0) - as the only undefeated team in Super Region 1, it's safe to say that the Mountain Lions will be the top seed, will receive a first-round bye, and have secured home field advantage through the quarterfinals.
  
  
• #2 Bloomsburg (10-1) – the Huskies lost at Slippery Rock in the PSAC championship, however they defeated West Chester in week eight and therefore will be the second seed and garner a first-round bye.
  
  
• #3 West Chester (10-1) – after defeating Indiana, the Golden Rams are the only other team with one loss in the region. They will host a first round game at noon this coming Saturday.
  
  
So that leaves seven teams with two losses vying for the final three playoff spots - American International, California, Gannon, Shepherd, Slippery Rock, Virginia St, and Winston-Salem State. Among them, Slippery Rock, Virginia St and Winston-Salem St have nine wins while the other four only have eight Division II wins. Nine is better than eight, so...


• #4 Virginia St (9-2) - after defeating Winston-Salem St in the CIAA championship, the Trojans improved their already very good strength of schedule, having played California and Lenoir-Rhyne in non-conference games.
  
  
• #5 Slippery Rock (9-2) – the Rock's win in the PSAC championship game makes them 9-2 and elevates their SOS which is already strong after playing in the PSAC West. Strength of schedule is close between Virginia St and Slippery Rock, with the outcome of the final seeding being home field in the first round on Saturday.
  
  
• #6 Winston-Salem St (9-2) - the Rams are the final 9-2 team in the region and they have the worst strength of schedule among those three teams.
  
  
So that's it, right? Not so fast!!! There were four teams that finished 8-2 in Super Region 1.


• #7 California (8-2) - the Vulcans cancelled their game with Gannon due to an event during the week prior in which six members of the California football team were arrested. However, their strength of schedule is very good having played Virginia St in their non-conference game and Bloomsburg in the PSAC crossover.
  
  
• #8 American International (8-2) - the Yellow Jackets lost to FCS Stony Brook to make their overall record 8-3, but they're 8-2 for Division II purposes. Although they got hammered by LIU Post in the Northeast-10 championship game, that game improved their strength of schedule.
  
  
• #9 Shepherd (8-2) - the Rams fell to Concord in what was essentially a Mountain East Conference championship. Shepherd had a bye in week eight, so they ended up only playing ten games. Although their schedule strength is good it's not as good as AIC's.
  
  
• #10 Gannon (8-2) - the Golden Knights were the victim of California's cancellation, although who knows which team would have won the game. Although California officially forfeited, the NCAA recognizes the game as a "no contest", so Gannon played only ten games and has a bad strength of schedule having played Southern Connecticut in their non-conference game and Cheyney in one of their PSAC crossovers. Despite their three losses, LIU Post or Charleston would likely be ranked higher than Gannon due to their respective stronger schedules.
  
  

But what this means is that American International will replace Winston-Salem St in the playoff. Why? Because no Northeast-10 team is represented in the top six, but AIC is in the top eight. The NCAA's "earned access" rule stipulates that under these conditions, that conference will be represented in the postseason.

Of course this is all merely speculation. All will be revealed at 5:00 this afternoon.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or ideas for topics, please e-mail them to GoldenRamFootballClub@comcast.net and be sure to follow us on twitter @GoldenRamFC

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