IAA Field Announced

[SalukiProf]

The speculation was fun, here is the real deal:

Coastal Carolina at #1 Appalachian State
Furman at Montana State
James Madison at #4 Youngstown State
Illinois State at Eastern Illinois
McNeese State at #2 Montana
UT-Martin at Southern Illinois
Lafayette at #3 Massachusetts
New Hampshire at Hampton

No San Diego. You can all commence with the 'I told you so's.' :original:

Montana State is the only real head-scratcher in the field. :no: As a result of their DII loss, I would have put both Portland State (who are rightly pissed off just now :cursing: ) and Wofford ahead of them. (Although it should be noted that they beat Portland State in the regular season).

No significant surprises in the pairings. Only Furman and McNeese State have long trips.

[skinny_uncle]

They look at how you finish. Montana State had won 6 in a row before losing their final game in a close one at Montana including a 14-0 shutout of Portland State. I was not surprised to see them in the field. I was surprised to see them get a home game.

[Lurking Dog]

No San Diego. You can all commence with the 'I told you so's.' :original:

Montana State is the only real head-scratcher in the field.

San Diego will now follow through with its scheduled game against UC Davis. Davis beat Montana State this year 45-0. :fear:

[SalukiProf]

They look at how you finish. Montana State had won 6 in a row before losing their final game in a close one at Montana including a 14-0 shutout of Portland State. I was not surprised to see them in the field. I was surprised to see them get a home game.

Wofford finished 6-1 without any bad losses, and Portland State finished 4-1 without any bad losses, so this cannot be it. It is explicable (but IMHO wrong, considering comparable bodies of work) to favor Montana State over Portland State as a result of head to head record. Putting Montana State in over Wofford does not make any sense from an OFFICIAL standpoint. Methinks Wofford ran into the unofficial 'share the wealth' rule, which had the effect of balancing the bids amongst the top conferences (A10, Gateway, SOCON, Big Sky, OVC).

There is an interesting article on the selections at CSN:
http://www.collegesportingnews.com/article.asp?articleid=82325

"A few minutes later, committee chairman John Hardt, the athletic director at Bucknell, revealed the reason the eight-man committee had chosen Montana State over its Big Sky rival.

A 14-0 win by the Bobcats over Portland State on Oct. 14 in Bozeman, Mont. gave the edge to Montana State. A 19-10 victory over Colorado by MSU in its season opener, six wins their final seven games and a narrow loss to No. 2 seed Montana helped the Bobcats overcome embarrassing losses to Division II Chadron State and Big Sky weakling Eastern Washington."

[snip]

"The Winners

While the teams selected were not that surprising, some of the brackets raised a few eyebrows on Sunday. . .

But the biggest shocker was James Madison being sent to No. 4 seed Youngstown State. A couple of weeks earlier, people were arguing the merits of JMU getting a seed over YSU, but now you have these CS heavyweights battling it out in the first round.JMU fans expected to have a home game against MEAC auto bid winner Hampton, a school that is just a short drive from Harrisonburg, Va. But instead, Hampton got a home game, although it is against a team no one really wants to see in their bracket, dangerous New Hampshire.

The JMU-YSU matchup smacks of a television marriage, with this game being selected for the ESPN2 7:30 p.m. slot next Saturday. The other nationally televised game will be Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina at 3:30 p.m."

The 'television marriage' idea might have some merit, but the bigger issue here was getting an opponent for Youngstown State which fit the pairing rules. Tennessee-Martin and Eastern Illinois would have been possibilities, but these two teams pair up perfectly with Southern Illinois and Illinois State in terms of close geography. So, it essentially came down to Lafayette or James Madison, who are the other two closest teams to Youngstown State. With Lafayette, not surprisingly, travelling to Massachusetts, that left James Madison.

"Another curious choice was putting Illinois State in the same bracket at Eastern Illinois. These teams played each other Sept. 16 at Illinois State, with the Redbirds beating EIU 44-30. . .

It would have been just as easy to have sent Southern Illinois to Eastern Illinois for the second year in a row and to have had Illinois State host Tennessee-Martin. UTM will be on the road at SIU, instead."

It WOULD have been just as easy, but it is in no way curious, since the two matchups fit the pairing guidelines perfectly.

[gosmsgo]

No Missouri State??!!??!!

I am outraged!!!!

:cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:

[skinny_uncle]

No Missouri State??!!??!!

I am outraged!!!!

:cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:
Outrageous, maybe.
http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif