FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[AO]

http://d3football.com/playoffs/2017/playoff-bracket-announced

Well a Johnnie run to the championship game will look like:

@ North Central
@ Oshkosh
@ Wartburg, and
@ Mount Union

After that the Johnnies get a championship shot at either UST or MHB.  That's a pretty tough schedule right there.  Almost as rough as 2000...

Just think of yourself as the 2 seed, don't have to face the 1 seed until the title game.

[sju56321]

Well, SJU down in my area-will be going to the game. Look toward to seeing the usual suspects that I have not seen in 3 years! Should be a good game. Early forcast is for wind and temps falling to 32.

[jamtod]

Not exactly the juicy matchups in the first 2 rounds that I would have expected/feared, but I think UST got a decent draw. Curious if we win and Berry wins, if we would host.

[miac952]

Not exactly the juicy matchups in the first 2 rounds that I would have expected/feared, but I think UST got a decent draw. Curious if we win and Berry wins, if we would host.

Judging by how each region is drawn up and where UST sits at the top I would assume so, but who knows. Both were #3's in the last regional ranking

[DuffMan]

I think the blame for the J's being on the road lies with whoever at SJU didn't include a playoff seat voucher along with our season tickets.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.

[stanbob]

Johnnies get North Central

On the road? That's kind of BS.

I'm really beginning to think that anything that happens in this day and age is BS...

[sjusection105]

Winning the MIAC would guarantee a first round home playoff game.....

[Pat Coleman]

St John's vs North Central (IL) in the 1st round. If they can defeat North Central they'll most likely face UW-Oshkosh in the 2nd round. OUCH!

How does a team not even ranked in the top 10 get a home game???

They're ranked in the top 10 of the only poll the committee cares about -- their own regional ranking.

[OldAuggie]

How much does the decision to schedule St. Scholastica game hurt SJU and affect the now looming playoff road game(s)? I have not chimed in on it yet because well, it is not my team. However when I saw the announcement for CSS as the Johnnies opponent on the schedule this summer I was not exactly impressed. I know it has been discussed over and over but if SJU scheduled and beat a higher ranked team would they get a home game? 

[sju56321]

I bet the Presentation SD hurt more-not a DIII team

[BDB]

After what I witnessed yesterday, let me say that Oshkosh is a very tough out.

[AO]

How much does the decision to schedule St. Scholastica game hurt SJU and affect the now looming playoff road game(s)? I have not chimed in on it yet because well, it is not my team. However when I saw the announcement for CSS as the Johnnies opponent on the schedule this summer I was not exactly impressed. I know it has been discussed over and over but if SJU scheduled and beat a higher ranked team would they get a home game?

If they beat Oshkosh, they'd get a home game, sure.  But if they lost, they're likely out.  If they scheduled and beat Eau Claire their SoS would be lower and getting the pool C would have been less likely.  Scholastica was a smart choice.  I'd blame the Tommies for the lack of a home game.  That Stout loss makes the regionally ranked results less impressive.

[ncc_fan]

St John's vs North Central (IL) in the 1st round. If they can defeat North Central they'll most likely face UW-Oshkosh in the 2nd round. OUCH!

How does a team not even ranked in the top 10 get a home game???

They're ranked in the top 10 of the only poll the committee cares about -- their own regional ranking.

The NCAA ranking metrics on NCC and SJU are actually quite similar:

metric	SJU	NCC
D3 record	8-1	8-1
overall record	9-1	9-1
SOS	0.519	0.519
regional ranking	5th	4th
record vs. RRO	1-1	2-1*

*1-1 if Millikin drops out of final North ranking

To me it looks like a toss-up on choice of venue, with a very slight edge to NCC.

I'm looking forward to the best game of round 1.

[sjusection105]

How much does the decision to schedule St. Scholastica game hurt SJU and affect the now looming playoff road game(s)? I have not chimed in on it yet because well, it is not my team. However when I saw the announcement for CSS as the Johnnies opponent on the schedule this summer I was not exactly impressed. I know it has been discussed over and over but if SJU scheduled and beat a higher ranked team would they get a home game?

If they beat Oshkosh, they'd get a home game, sure.  But if they lost, they're likely out.  If they scheduled and beat Eau Claire their SoS would be lower and getting the pool C would have been less likely.  Scholastica was a smart choice.  I'd blame the Tommies for the lack of a home game.  That Stout loss makes the regionally ranked results less impressive.

....Or just beat the Tommies, win the MIAC and no more hand wringing about not having a home game or strength of schedule. This is the NCAA playoffs, third party rankings like D3Football mean nothing. No finger pointing, just win baby!

[Robert Zimmerman]

How much does the decision to schedule St. Scholastica game hurt SJU and affect the now looming playoff road game(s)? I have not chimed in on it yet because well, it is not my team. However when I saw the announcement for CSS as the Johnnies opponent on the schedule this summer I was not exactly impressed. I know it has been discussed over and over but if SJU scheduled and beat a higher ranked team would they get a home game?

If they beat Oshkosh, they'd get a home game, sure.  But if they lost, they're likely out.  If they scheduled and beat Eau Claire their SoS would be lower and getting the pool C would have been less likely.  Scholastica was a smart choice.  I'd blame the Tommies for the lack of a home game.  That Stout loss makes the regionally ranked results less impressive.

I know SJU fans don't want to hear this, but scheduling a top team from a weak conference probably is the best strategy for non-conference games.  The odds of losing the game is low and you can still lose a conference game and get in.  If SJU was 8-2, we would be talking about next season already.