Around the SoCon

[The Jackal]

I did not realize until recently that Point started in East Point, Georgia, which is in the Atlanta area, and moved the campus to West Point, Georgia, which is not.

I am as yet unsure whether that is a macro-level branding effort or just a unique coincidence.

[gman84]

Scheduling ooc games is not easy! A lot of factors can make things sticky. I hate that Mercer did not get in, it's not like they planned it that way. The SoCon has to establish itself again to get national attention.

[The Jackal]

Scheduling ooc games is not easy! A lot of factors can make things sticky. I hate that Mercer did not get in, it's not like they planned it that way. The SoCon has to establish itself again to get national attention.

Seems there needs to be a push to keep scheduling teams from other multi-bid leagues.

I know the tendency is to put a lot of Big South/OVC teams on the calendar, which makes since given geography. However, those are usually 1 bid leagues and do not really raise the national profile beyond adding another D1 win.

Wofford, to their credit, scheduled both Elon and KSU this season. KSU is a playoff team and Elon finished 3rd in the CAA.

[FUBeAR]

Scheduling ooc games is not easy! A lot of factors can make things sticky. I hate that Mercer did not get in, it's not like they planned it that way. The SoCon has to establish itself again to get national attention.

Seems there needs to be a push to keep scheduling teams from other multi-bid leagues.

I know the tendency is to put a lot of Big South/OVC teams on the calendar, which makes since given geography. However, those are usually 1 bid leagues and do not really raise the national profile beyond adding another D1 win.

Wofford, to their credit, scheduled both Elon and KSU this season. KSU is a playoff team and Elon finished 3rd in the CAA.

Have you seen Montana State’s (a seeded Team) FCS OOC schedule?
* FBS G5 6-5 Team (loss)
* Drake - a 2-7 non-scholarship PFL Team, who padded the win records of 1 MVFC & 1 Big Sky Team this Fall.
* San Diego - non-scholarship PFL Team, who padded the win records of 3 Big Sky Teams this Fall.

Also, they were 1-1 vs. 2 of the other BSC Playoff Teams that they played. They didn’t play 2 other Big Sky Playoff Teams.

Also…check out Dixie State (AKA FCS’s Washington Generals)…a transitioning from D2, winless in D1, with their only win over a winless D2, Team…who padded the resumes of 5 Big Sky, 2 MVFC, and 2 AQ7 Teams this Fall - yep 7 Playoff Teams were had their Trails to the Playoffs Blazed by the Dixie State Trailblazers. Bubble-Team Stephen F. Austin is probably OUT (and Mercer IN) if they hadn’t dialed up the Generals…er…Trailblazers.

If SoCon Teams schedule up…the Committee will cite not enough wins for excluding SoCon Teams, while ‘excusing’ UNI from the same scrutiny

If SoCon Teams don’t schedule up…the Committee will cite strength of schedule, while seeding this garbage from Montana State.

Seriously…let the 24 Teams of the MVFC & the Big Sky have it all or as many as they want…and do something AUTONOMOUS.

At-Large Selection has been a farce for a while now. Time for things to get shaken up / changed.

Tell the bellhop boys on the battery to begin the shelling. Time for the SoCon to secede from the FCS Playoffs & create something else…SoCon / Sunbelt challenge…hmmmm?

[The Jackal]

The thing the SoCon REALLY needs to do is start winning some games in the post season. That would help.

100% likely, though, that if Mercer had made the field they'd have played Kennesaw State in Round 1 and then gone to ETSU in round 2. That's been the blueprint now for a while.

[FUBeAR]

The thing the SoCon REALLY needs to do is start winning some games in the post season. That would help.

100% likely, though, that if Mercer had made the field they'd have played Kennesaw State in Round 1 and then gone to ETSU in round 2. That's been the blueprint now for a while.

Sure…and then…if we have 2 SoCon Teams in Round 2, we only get 1 to the Quarterfinals…and where do they go?

1 guess….the Fargo Dome…

System is gamed by selection & triple stacked (byes, home games, regional ‘gifts’)

Nah…NCAA crumbling…Be autonomous…

[The Jackal]

Hey, I'm still beating the drum to go back to 16 teams. Drop the auto bids for the Northeast, Big South, and Pioneer Leagues.

Wouldn't this be better?

1. Sam Houston (10-0)
Incarnate Word (9-2)

Montana State (9-2)
Missouri State (8-3)

Villanova (9-2)
UT-Martin (9-2)

4. Sacremento State (9-2)
Southeastern Louisiana (8-3)

3. James Madison (10-1)
UC Davis (8-3)

Montana (9-2)
South Dakota State (8-3)

East Tennessee (10-1)
Kennesaw State (10-1)

2. NDSU (10-1)
Eastern Washington (9-2)

[apaladin]

FCS is no different than FBS. Both are run by a couple of conferences and they take care of their own.

[The Jackal]

VMI's Michael Jackson and Jakob Herres announce they're entering transfer portal.

[FUBeAR]

VMI's Michael Jackson and Jakob Herres announce they're entering transfer portal.

11 VMI Players entered the Portal…Covid extra year & no grad school. Nothing else for them to do if they want to play another year.

Many of them already have multiple FCS & some FBS offers. Many of those offers are from MVFC Teams.

Seems odd that the weak SoCon only has one Playoff worthy team (vs. 6 from the MVFC), but the Players from a .500 in the SoCon 4th place Team are snatching up offers from such strong Teams like they are 5 Star Recruits.

[AstroDin]

This has to be extremely frustrating for Mercer, and the SoCon needs to come up with a way to combat this now that the cat is out of the bag so to speak. With JMU jumping the CAA is probably going to be in the same boat as the SoCon.

Pre this selection snub for Mercer I was telling myself Furman is doing the right thing with its OCC FCS schedule. Furman has Kennesaw, CSU, Tenn Tech, NCA&T, and W &M on future schedules. I'm not sure any of those matchups will add any credibility to the selection committee's decision in Furman's case. I do think there is bias at play here—if Furman was in Mercer's shoes I think there would have been more pressure to put the Paladins in over NIU but I could be way off here.

ETSU has to take out KSU. Next, the Bucs have to go to war in Fargo and beat them. Until a SoCon team takes down a Big Sky or Valley school on the road the SoCon will be sitting on the bench.

[gman84]

Agree 100%.

[The Jackal]

This has to be extremely frustrating for Mercer, and the SoCon needs to come up with a way to combat this now that the cat is out of the bag so to speak. With JMU jumping the CAA is probably going to be in the same boat as the SoCon.

Pre this selection snub for Mercer I was telling myself Furman is doing the right thing with its OCC FCS schedule. Furman has Kennesaw, CSU, Tenn Tech, NCA&T, and W &M on future schedules. I'm not sure any of those matchups will add any credibility to the selection committee's decision in Furman's case. I do think there is bias at play here—if Furman was in Mercer's shoes I think there would have been more pressure to put the Paladins in over NIU but I could be way off here.

ETSU has to take out KSU. Next, the Bucs have to go to war in Fargo and beat them. Until a SoCon team takes down a Big Sky or Valley school on the road the SoCon will be sitting on the bench.

Pretty much. The "rise" of the MVFC pretty evenly coincided with the departure of App State and Georgia Southern from the FCS. The SoCon lost its clout, and never really got it back.

The path back requires beating Kennesaw State. That would be a huge monkey off our collective backs, as they've been a thorn in the side of the SoCon for a number of years now.

[FUpaladin08]

Last few comments are absolutely correct. Scheduling up will be negated by the regional formula of the playoffs > play a SE team first then off to Fargo. So a series of events have to happen where a SoCon team makes it past that 2nd round. The issue has been when two SoCon teams are in they meet in the 1st and 2nd rounds. The only way around that is better regular season records with wins over better regular season teams. That could move SoCon teams around in the bracket. The current problem (and the past since losing GSU/App) is the SoCon beats up on itself. There are quality teams (like it was said the players are picked off in the portal) with mediocre records. I remember a point in the season where it was said here 3 teams would go to the playoffs, then VMI and UTC fell into the middle of the SoCon. That’s ok in other conferences (and in the SoCon past) but not anymore.

The only real solution is for the lucky SoCon team that gets the auto bid to make it to the 3rd round consistently. Wofford has really been the only ones to do that in the last 15 years. At the same time the SoCon has to schedule better. Beating the Big South is not good enough. Then there needs to be a consistent group of leaders at the top of the SoCon that will not fall to the other teams. Is that ETSU, Mercer, and UTC? We thought it was Wofford and Furman for awhile. Are VMI and Samford gonna do it? What about the Citadel?

Until we have a consistent group at the top of the conference, with playoff worthy records, and decent OOC wins we won’t see the playoff scenarios of the early 2000s where the SoCon would routinely have a presence in the quarter and semi finals. That’s not to say we need winners and losers, we just need the same winners to develop a championship pedigree again for the SoCon.

[Furmanoid]

But unless you are REALLY confident in your team, there isn't much sense in playing hard OOC games. When you do that, you risk having a really crappy, hot seat worthy record. If you win your easy OOC's and come in 3rd or so in the SoCon, your job is safe. Fans might be a little grumpy, but they won't call for your head. Why risk it?