2012 Playoffs: Bracket Reactions & more

[Pat Coleman]

Well, St. Thomas made both of them look silly and I didn't see Concordia play a second time. Bethel looked good yesterday but St. John's wasn't much of a challenge defensively. In all, though, I like Bethel's offensive versatility more.

Concordia's coach is on the committee -- if Concordia couldn't get ranked ahead of Bethel in that instance it was never ever going to happen.

[desertcat1]

I'm not seeing much love for the "West" Region on here. To assume that  UMHB and UMU are the 2 best teams in the country assumes an awful lot. I wouldn't think there is a hair's difference between the Top 4, or 5. Meaning, you can lump UST, Linfield, and probably UWO in with the 2 previously mentioned here. There may also be a couple more I'm not familiar with who might be considered.

I'll go with the first 5 ..flip and coin the draw is the difference imho.

[NCF]

Tough draw for the CCIW.  Just hours after Pat & Company projected NCC to have won the bracketing lottery (playing CUC, surely one of the worst #2s in d3 history)), they go TO Cal Lu, and if they survive go TO Linfield! 

Am I hearing some respect for a SCIAC Team? I thought NCC was pretty tough?

I always have respect for the top teams in the SCIAC.  Overall, the league is pretty suspect, but the top is generally quite good (see NCC @ Redlands, 2011).

So Cal lutes are for real. so be ready ..

So is NC so back at ya . the big issue with this is travel for parents. if my son wasn't a senior, i would stay home. giving such short notice for flights with the holiday right around the corner is just "plane" stupid. only the ncaa. that said, i think it's exciting for the Cards to be playing in the west, just not so far away so early.

[Pat Coleman]

Unfortunately, we ask for so many things that it's impossible to do everything.

We want to play 10 games and have a bye week, so we have an 11-week regular season.
We want to not have kids on campus too many weeks before classes start, so our first game is Labor Day weekend.
We want a 32-team playoff, so that requires five playoff weeks.
We want kids home for Christmas, so that dictates when the season ends.

There's no way to do all that, have a national tournament, and also have more than seven days' notice for flights.

[NCF]

Unfortunately, we ask for so many things that it's impossible to do everything.

We want to play 10 games and have a bye week, so we have an 11-week regular season.
We want to not have kids on campus too many weeks before classes start, so our first game is Labor Day weekend.
We want a 32-team playoff, so that requires five playoff weeks.
We want kids home for Christmas, so that dictates when the season ends.

There's no way to do all that, have a national tournament, and also have more than seven days' notice for flights.

I could do without the bye week, who complains about the other stuff? The ncaa is full of people who surely don't know what the *$&* they are doing when it comes to certain things. and if nc wins, they fly to linfield? another big expense? during thanksgiving week-end? not very smart at all-but not surprising either. this is a strain on the parents, the players should be enjoying every minute of this. Go Cards!

[Pat Coleman]

You think people wouldn't complain if we didn't have a five-round playoff and went back to four?
You think schools want to pay to have kids on campus even longer than they already are in early August?
You think coaches don't love that bye week to get kids healed up?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Unfortunately, we ask for so many things that it's impossible to do everything.

We want to play 10 games and have a bye week, so we have an 11-week regular season.
We want to not have kids on campus too many weeks before classes start, so our first game is Labor Day weekend.
We want a 32-team playoff, so that requires five playoff weeks.
We want kids home for Christmas, so that dictates when the season ends.

There's no way to do all that, have a national tournament, and also have more than seven days' notice for flights.

I could do without the bye week, who complains about the other stuff? The ncaa is full of people who surely don't know what the *$&* they are doing when it comes to certain things. and if nc wins, they fly to linfield? another big expense? during thanksgiving week-end? not very smart at all-but not surprising either. this is a strain on the parents, the players should be enjoying every minute of this. Go Cards!

The selection committee (and/or) the NCAA 'bean-counters' are responsible for the bracket; all the rest of the considerations are the responsibility of the d3 member institutions (presidents or their delegated representatives), not the 'NCAA'.

The expense is your fault - you should have negotiated family airfare into your son's athletic scholarship!

[smedindy]

11 weeks to play 10 games is a lot better than whatever D-1 does.
Having a 32-team playoff is a lot better than whatever D-1 does.
Having auto-bids for each conference is a heck of a lot better than whatever D-1 does. And it's so much better than the 'bad old days' which I remember well. You don't think people would complain about a 24 or 16 team field instead?


Mixing it up so that there are great matchups in round 2 is a lot better than it used to be. Yes there are flights - it's better to have intriguing games than the way it used to be where some teams would be in meat-grinders each week whilst others would 'coast' (in a sense) until the final 8.

I think we need to step back, stop sour-graping, and understand the playoff structure we have is the best going right now for colllege football.

[speedybigboy]

11 weeks to play 10 games is a lot better than whatever D-1 does.
Having a 32-team playoff is a lot better than whatever D-1 does.
Having auto-bids for each conference is a heck of a lot better than whatever D-1 does. And it's so much better than the 'bad old days' which I remember well. You don't think people would complain about a 24 or 16 team field instead?


Mixing it up so that there are great matchups in round 2 is a lot better than it used to be. Yes there are flights - it's better to have intriguing games than the way it used to be where some teams would be in meat-grinders each week whilst others would 'coast' (in a sense) until the final 8.

I think we need to step back, stop sour-graping, and understand the playoff structure we have is the best going right now for colllege football.

Great Post.
As a PLU Alum, I'm ready to party like it's 1999.  Let's go Road Warriors!

[wone3]

Do we have a justification of the Mt. Union/UMHB pairing in the bracket from the committee? I would be curious to hear it. I'm not saying certain other conferences which are represented on the other side aren't good; but the way it seemed those 2 teams were playing would be the best showcase for the final game IMHO.

[NCF]

Unfortunately, we ask for so many things that it's impossible to do everything.

We want to play 10 games and have a bye week, so we have an 11-week regular season.
We want to not have kids on campus too many weeks before classes start, so our first game is Labor Day weekend.
We want a 32-team playoff, so that requires five playoff weeks.
We want kids home for Christmas, so that dictates when the season ends.

There's no way to do all that, have a national tournament, and also have more than seven days' notice for flights.

I could do without the bye week, who complains about the other stuff? The ncaa is full of people who surely don't know what the *$&* they are doing when it comes to certain things. and if nc wins, they fly to linfield? another big expense? during thanksgiving week-end? not very smart at all-but not surprising either. this is a strain on the parents, the players should be enjoying every minute of this. Go Cards!

The selection committee (and/or) the NCAA 'bean-counters' are responsible for the bracket; all the rest of the considerations are the responsibility of the d3 member institutions (presidents or their delegated representatives), not the 'NCAA'.

The expense is your fault - you should have negotiated family airfare into your son's athletic scholarship!

hahahaha-too late now! if a #1 gets knocked off before the regional final, who takes their home game?

[Mr. Ypsi]

Unfortunately, we ask for so many things that it's impossible to do everything.

We want to play 10 games and have a bye week, so we have an 11-week regular season.
We want to not have kids on campus too many weeks before classes start, so our first game is Labor Day weekend.
We want a 32-team playoff, so that requires five playoff weeks.
We want kids home for Christmas, so that dictates when the season ends.

There's no way to do all that, have a national tournament, and also have more than seven days' notice for flights.

I could do without the bye week, who complains about the other stuff? The ncaa is full of people who surely don't know what the *$&* they are doing when it comes to certain things. and if nc wins, they fly to linfield? another big expense? during thanksgiving week-end? not very smart at all-but not surprising either. this is a strain on the parents, the players should be enjoying every minute of this. Go Cards!

The selection committee (and/or) the NCAA 'bean-counters' are responsible for the bracket; all the rest of the considerations are the responsibility of the d3 member institutions (presidents or their delegated representatives), not the 'NCAA'.

The expense is your fault - you should have negotiated family airfare into your son's athletic scholarship!

hahahaha-too late now! if a #1 gets knocked off before the regional final, who takes their home game?

The higher remaining seed.  If PLU stuns Linfield, I would assume NCC (if they win) would host PLU, but the NCAA doesn't announce seeds (and being on 'airfare island', who knows what PLU's seed is - or NCC's for that matter).

[smedindy]

Do we have a justification of the Mt. Union/UMHB pairing in the bracket from the committee? I would be curious to hear it. I'm not saying certain other conferences which are represented on the other side aren't good; but the way it seemed those 2 teams were playing would be the best showcase for the final game IMHO.

Linfield has a much higher SOS than UMHB, so that may be the big reason that the committee had Linfield as the second best team.

[AndOne]

Tough draw for the CCIW.  Just hours after Pat & Company projected NCC to have won the bracketing lottery (playing CUC, surely one of the worst #2s in d3 history)), they go TO Cal Lu, and if they survive go TO Linfield!  Meanwhile, Elmhurst not only doesn't host, they travel TO a 10-0 Coe!

OUCH!

Not really....CUC has the offense where it can drop 40 points on a team on a daily basis. Their D leaves much to be desired but has made several game changing plays during the season. CUC however still has a tough out in Bethel to deal with in the first round.

CUC (which of course SHOULD be CURF ) is a great story and I've been cheering them on all season.  But quite honestly I have them a 3-4 TD underdog to either NCC or Bethel (even if the game IS in River Falls!).

Apparently being an AQ from a conference that got 2 teams in the playoffs, and could have gotten 3 in, and being a historically strong team in winning or sharing the conference title 7 years in a row in a very tough conference, means nothing, or little at best. 

Past performance means diddly to the NCAA except when divining undefeated teams apart from each other. Bethel's RR was a lot lower than Concordia.

Smedinty----

If you think past performance/reputation means diddy to the NCAA, you aren't very familiar with how they look at things when it comes playoff time on the basketball side.

[smedindy]

Tough draw for the CCIW.  Just hours after Pat & Company projected NCC to have won the bracketing lottery (playing CUC, surely one of the worst #2s in d3 history)), they go TO Cal Lu, and if they survive go TO Linfield!  Meanwhile, Elmhurst not only doesn't host, they travel TO a 10-0 Coe!

OUCH!

Not really....CUC has the offense where it can drop 40 points on a team on a daily basis. Their D leaves much to be desired but has made several game changing plays during the season. CUC however still has a tough out in Bethel to deal with in the first round.

CUC (which of course SHOULD be CURF ) is a great story and I've been cheering them on all season.  But quite honestly I have them a 3-4 TD underdog to either NCC or Bethel (even if the game IS in River Falls!).

Apparently being an AQ from a conference that got 2 teams in the playoffs, and could have gotten 3 in, and being a historically strong team in winning or sharing the conference title 7 years in a row in a very tough conference, means nothing, or little at best. 

Past performance means diddly to the NCAA except when divining undefeated teams apart from each other. Bethel's RR was a lot lower than Concordia.

Smedinty----

If you think past performance/reputation means diddy to the NCAA, you aren't very familiar with how they look at things when it comes playoff time on the basketball side.

Oh, I'm more than familiar with it, sir. More than familiar. The thing about basketball is that there are many more data points (and many more teams). Hosting is always a sticky wicket in that but they tend to choose the teams based on THIS season and not the past.