Making the Playoffs & the Inner Circle

[purplehorse123]

Furman made the FCS playoffs 7 out of 10 years from 1982 to 1990. Long ago you had the inner circle of GA Southern, Furman, Marshall, then App State, later James Madison etc.

With the playoff expansion to 24 teams you would hope we could make the playoffs most years but there is a huge difference between making the playoffs and having deep playoff runs like NDSU (9 championships in 12 years), SDSU (making the semis now I believe 6 of the last 7 years and the playoffs 12 years in a row) etc. Of course they are the “big two” but the inner circle at present would include the other two Dakotas, Montana & Montana State etc.

I don’t think the “big 2” would be sustainable for a Furman but it would be nice to have an occasional deep playoff run.

Having played 6 playoff games between 2006 and 2019 vs. playing 5 games the last two years (really 4 plus the bye) has been really encouraging and fun
-and yes to play the Bison here in Greenville next Saturday would have been amazing! Oh so close!

With the transfer portal and the changing landscape of football who knows.

I guess one of my major points is that the teams that make the deep playoff runs year after year certainly have a built-in advantage for the playoffs-including home field advantage.

Having home playoff games the last two years has been great. The last home game before last year was first round in 2005 against Nicholls State.

We need to get those guys up north to play in Greenville SC.

[rangab]

To think with 20,000 roaring against our guys they performed awesome. Two plays killed us and that's why we aren't playing this Saturday . Even with the two plays we had so many opportunities. Was hoping the 2 point play would've won it for us.This team is national championship calliber no matter where we play. Pray we reload and get another chance at the montanas of the world, it was fun.

[The Jackal]

There's a lot of stuff that goes into it.

Furman flew nearly 5 hours on a short week to play a night game in what is considered the most intimidating venue in our division and basically played the home team to a draw. Montana had every advantage in that game and still needed OT to win.

Furman showed it belonged in the conversation. The SoCon needed to get to that level and show the national FCS landscape the conference is back in the conversation.

[purplehorse123]

Amen!

Back to Montana in their play-off history being 34-11 at home and 2-13 on the road. The vicious cycle of playing mostly home games helps.

[Jasper]

There's a lot of stuff that goes into it.

Furman flew nearly 5 hours on a short week to play a night game in what is considered the most intimidating venue in our division and basically played the home team to a draw. Montana had every advantage in that game and still needed OT to win.

Furman showed it belonged in the conversation. The SoCon needed to get to that level and show the national FCS landscape the conference is back in the conversation.

Not only does Furman and the SoCon belong but so does the CAA. Nova gave SDS a very good game and Albany beat Idaho. I think they have a good chance to win it all. If poor weather is not a factor , those western teams are going to have a hard time containing the Albany passing attack and they play defense as well.

[Paul C]

WOW. ND St head coach accepts USC LB Coach job….

[Afurmanfan]

Montana’s strong home record in playoffs by itself can be misleading. Causal or coincidental? The number of times you have a home game that’s a result of a seed means you have a team that is expected to win. When you have to play away it is expected that you are the lesser team. Just an FYI.

[purplehorse123]

Still trying to recover. With the late score with 13 secs & winning the coin flip we clearly had the momentum. So close to the second ever semis played in Greenville at Paladin Stadium and the first one in 34 years when we lost 21-19 to SFA in the snow in 1989. And to have the Bison play here. Amazing. Maybe a once-in-a-life missed opportunity. We had them where we wanted them!

[Louis Tully]

83, 85 and 88 semis were in Paladin Stadium.

[apaladin]

There's a lot of stuff that goes into it.

Furman flew nearly 5 hours on a short week to play a night game in what is considered the most intimidating venue in our division and basically played the home team to a draw.

CCH said the travel was a non-factor. He told the team it was nothing more than a bus trip to Birmingham.

[purplehorse123]

83, 85 and 88 semis were in Paladin Stadium.

True! But I was out of state then and did not return to Greenville until ‘86. Although the FCS playoffs started in ‘78, they did not really begin for me until I watched the Ham vs Lamb 1985 championship game. The Ga Southern winning TD pass with 10 secs left reminded me of the Montana winning TD pass where he just threaded the needle between our two defenders.

[Davemeister]

WOW. ND St head coach accepts USC LB Coach job….

Prolly had enough of the winters in Fargo.

[purplehorse123]

Amazing the way the top two seeds do so well in the playoffs!


https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/arti ... ne-article

[The Jackal]

Amazing the way the top two seeds do so well in the playoffs!


https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/arti ... ne-article

The playoff field also looks a lot different than it used to.

In Furman's last semi final run in 2005, the FCS was a lot more east heavy.

In the modern FCS, if you are not one of those top two seeds, you are looking at a cross country flight to play, and maybe several.

[gman84]

Amazing the way the top two seeds do so well in the playoffs!


https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/arti ... ne-article

The playoff field also looks a lot different than it used to.

In Furman's last semi final run in 2005, the FCS was a lot more east heavy.

In the modern FCS, if you are not one of those top two seeds, you are looking at a cross country flight to play, and maybe several.

If I'm not mistaken that's about the time, 04/05, that the Dakota schools made the move from DII to FCS.