And so (with the exception of two dangling games), the regular season comes to a close, the playoffs tickets are handed out, and those that deserve them have new flags to fly, new trophies to display. Without further ado:
Conference Champions:
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association: Winston-Salem State
Great American Conference: Ouachita Baptist
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Hillsdale
Great Lakes Football Conference: Urbana
Great Northwest Athletic Conference: Humboldt State
Gulf South Conference: Delta State
Lone Star Conference: Midwestern State
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Pittsburg State
Northeast-10: New Haven
Northern Sun: Minnesota State-Mankato, Minnesota-Duluth, Saint Cloud State
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference: Kutztown
Rocky Mountain: Colorado State-Pueblo
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Miles
West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conferece: Concord
Six of the teams in that list are already packing their equipment up for the winter, although three of their conferences did manage to get someone into the playoffs anyway. For the dirty details, continue on…
A slight change to our panels below this week; the top-25 ranking of each team has rested comfortably to the left of the team name in both the standings and in the upcoming games. It’s still there on the standings, but next to the upcoming games it’s been replaced by (region)-(seed).
I have refrained from applying common tiebreakers to the actual standings all season, but with the conference seasons concluded they are in place now. No conference applies these tiebreakers officially except for determination of the conference autobid, so this is merely my own method of sorting the teams out now that the season is over; the tiebreakers are straight-forward head-to-head, with the usual “record vs. the group” tiebreaker for three- or more-way ties, followed by record against other teams in descending order, followed by overall record, followed by alphabetical order since I’m not going to flip a coin (that would be silly).
I got ahead of myself and posted before I had this week’s game times; later in the week there will be a more detailed preview of this week’s games, as well as notes on where you can actually watch them where applicable.
CENTRAL:
SUPER REGION 1 Playoff Teams – #1 Winston-Salem State, #4 Elizabeth City State
NORTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Elizabeth City State
SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Winston-Salem State
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Winston-Salem State
Winston-Salem whipped Elizabeth City in Durham for the CIAA crown. Their reward is the #1 seed in SR1 and a week off; Elizabeth City got a reward of their own, as they made the field as the #4 seed. They’re mis-seeded, as is their first-round opponent California (PA); I expect California to win handlily Saturday.
GREAT AMERICAN:
SUPER REGION 4 Playoff Teams – none
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Ouachita Baptist
Ouachita couldn’t afford to lose to Henderson; the five-point defeat cost them a spot in the post-season, and as a result the only member of the GAC still playing football isn’t actually a member yet. (Southern Nazarene reached the NAIA playoffs.)
GREAT LAKES IAC:
SUPER REGION 3 Playoff Teams – #5 Saginaw Valley State, #6 Wayne State (MI)
NORTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Saginaw Valley State, Grand Valley State
SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Hillsdale
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Hillsdale
Grand Valley thumped Saginaw to steal half of the North Division crown, while Findlay upset Wayne State and allowed Hillsdale to cruise to both the South Division title and the overall conference title. Yet it’s Saginaw and Wayne in the playoffs, while Grand Valley and Hillsdale sit at home; that’s more than a little controversial.
Neither team looks to be a serious threat to win in the first round. It’s just been a sloppy, mediocre year in the GLIAC; many of the frontrunners suffered pointless losses to non-contenders, and ultimately I think everyone will be sort of relieved when it’s officially over.
GREAT LAKES FOOTBALL:
SUPER REGION 3 Playoff Teams – none
CONFERENCE CHAMPION:: Urbana
Urbana destroyed Lincoln as expected, while Missouri S&T and Kentucky Wesleyan closed out the year with losses. And thus dies the GLFC, as its members will all migrate to the GLVC’s new football wing next year. Let’s pour one out for the little conference that didn’t.
GREAT NORTHWEST:
SUPER REGION 4 Playoff Teams – none
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Humboldt State
Humboldt drilled Western Oregon to claim the outright conference title, and were then rewarded with nothing at all. This is easily the most egregious snub of the year. Of course, my solution to the problem would have been to leave Northwest Missouri or Abilene Christian home, but I’m a little biased in the one case, and not altogether fair in the second.
GULF SOUTH:
SUPER REGION 2 Playoff Teams – #1 Delta State, #4 West Alabama, #5 North Alabama
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: Delta State
Delta State got upended by West Georgia, but the only real effect is that they’re no longer the #1 team in the country. They still locked down the #1 seed in SR2, and will get a rematch against a team they’ve already beaten next week. That’s because West Alabama scored brownie points for beating an FCS team Saturday, while North Alabama rode Valdosta out of the playoffs. They’ll meet again in Livingston on Saturday in the first round; West Alabama took the previous meeting 31-26 back on October 29, also at home.
LONE STAR:
SUPER REGION 4 Playoff Teams – #1 Midwestern State, #6 Abilene Christian
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Midwestern State
Midwestern nearly handed the #1 seed back to Pittsburg, but escaped Tahlequah with a 3-point win over Northeastern State, who look to become an immediate factor when they join the MIAA next year. Abilene demolished Incarnate Word, and in the process clung to their playoff position; they’ll travel to Topeka Saturday to take on Washburn. They’ll probably bow out.
MID-AMERICA:
SUPER REGION 4 Playoff Teams – #2 Pittsburg State, #3 Washburn, #4 Missouri Western, #5 Northwest Missouri State
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Pittsburg State
Washburn tumbled against Central Missouri, meaning that when Pittsburg easily handled Missouri Southern, the Gorillas claimed the outright conference title. The win wasn’t enough to edge them back ahead of unbeaten Midwestern State, however, so they’ll have to settle for the #2 seed. Washburn slipped back behind PSU for the third seed. Northwest Missouri pounded Emporia, and they’ll get a rematch with Missouri Western; this week’s game, like the game two weekends ago, will be in Saint Joseph where Western won by a field goal. Washburn should handle Abilene Christian as well. The MIAA leads all conferences with four teams in the playoff field.
NORTHEAST TEN:
SUPER REGION 1 Playoff Teams – #2 New Haven
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: New Haven
New Haven secured the outright title, but slipped a spot to the #2 ranking in SR1, with a comprehensive spanking of Saint Anselm. (The slip isn’t unwarranted; they’re behind an unbeaten team, after all.) They’ll take the week off to ponder the vicissitudes of life, and wait for the winner of the Kutztown/Concord game.
NORTHERN SUN:
SUPER REGION 3 Playoff Teams – #3 Saint Cloud State, #4 Minnesota-Duluth
NORTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Minnesota-Duluth, Saint Cloud State
SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPION: Minnesota State-Mankato
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Minnesota State-Mankato, Minnesota-Duluth, Saint Cloud State
Saint Cloud crushed Moorhead, claiming a share of the North title; they, along with Duluth also grabbed a share of the overall conference title when Duluth knocked off Mankato. That drummed Mankato out of the playoffs, and put the two North Division teams in. They’ve both got winnable first-round games.
PENNSYLVANIA:
SUPER REGION 1 Playoff Teams – #3 Kutztown, #5 California (PA)
EASTERN DIVISION CHAMPION: Kutztown
WESTERN DIVISION CHAMPION: Slippery Rock
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Kutztown
Kutztown outlasted Slippery Rock in the State Game, punching their ticket to the playoffs. Last week’s loss to Gannon sunk The Rock; they probably could have survived this week’s loss had they not slipped up there. California hammered Cheyney, and thus remained in the picture, although they inexplicably dipped a spot in the regional rankings. That means that instead of hosting Elizabeth City State, they’ve got to travel, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Kutztown will host Concord, and shouldn’t have much trouble advancing.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN:
SUPER REGION 3 Playoff Teams – #1 Colorado State-Pueblo, #2 Nebraska-Kearney
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Colorado State-Pueblo
Pueblo had no trouble whatsoever brushing aside Western New Mexico; the win leaves them as the undisputed RMAC champion, the #1 seed in SR3, and the #1 team in the country following Delta State’s upset loss. Kearney, for their part, ended their tenure in the RMAC with a spanking of Colorado Mines, securing a first-round bye. The two teams will watch and wait, likely awaiting respective showdowns with the NSIC South co-champions next week.
SOUTH ATLANTIC:
SUPER REGION 2 Playoff Teams – #2 Mars Hill
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: Mars Hill, Lenoir-Rhyne
Mars Hill knew they had a tough test, but they survived it, beating Carson-Newman by a field goal. Lenoir-Rhyne stomped Wingate to join Mars Hill as SAC co-champions. Mars Hill, however, will be the only one still playing football — but not this week, as they retained their #2 ranking, and await the winner of the Albany State/North Greenville game.
SOUTHERN IAC:
SUPER REGION 2 Playoff Teams – #6 Albany State
EASTERN DIVISION CHAMPION: Albany State
WESTERN DIVISION CHAMPION: Miles
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Miles
Miles forged a stunning upset of Albany State in the inaugural SIAC Championship Game, but it wasn’t enough to drop Albany out of the top eight, so they get in. They’ll travel to North Greenville, where their season’s liable to end.
WEST VIRGINIA:
SUPER REGION 1 Playoff Teams – #6 Concord
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: Concord
All year long, West Virginia Wesleyan had just kept winning and winning without getting any respect. Finally, they got to 6-0 and into the poll, climbing as high as #11 at 9-0 two weeks ago.
Then it all came crashing down. An ugly upset loss to Charleston prevented them from winning the conference title, and then Saturday their bus finally burst into flames, losing a shootout with Concord. The end result is that WVWU is done, and the outright conference champion Concord is on their way to Kutztown to get schooled. A horrible way for the WVIAC season to end.
INDEPENDENTS:
SUPER REGION 2 Playoff Teams – #3 North Greenville
An independent in the playoffs. I never thought I’d see that. But North Greenville solidified their hold by obliterating an overmatched Notre Dame (OH) squad, and they’ll be rewarded with a winnable home game against Albany State.