Info from Playoff Committee Chair...

Some more info how the the committee selects the 24 teams for the FCS Playoffs...

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20171116103252929290604&ref=rec&tm=&src=FCS&sf173396251=1

One very interesting tidbit in this question and answer:

STATS: With that in mind, what would you feel is the most difficult aspect of the selection process?
RJ: As you get back to the last four in, last four out, I think that's the hardest part because you're trying to ensure the teams that deserve to be in make it. There's a coat of paint difference between those teams. You can look on one hand and one team may have had a better strength of schedule, another one may have had better losses, another may have had a player who was injured for one of those losses. So there's so many factors that go into it and then there are 10 votes, and every committee member values those individual factors differently. But that's why we have 10 and we get to a consensus. The votes are private, so it's not like there's anybody standing up and lobbying for any one team over another. We're just very data-driven, very factual about it, and then we go to the votes.
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I find it interesting he referenced did a team lose because a player was injured or not there? Maybe the bobcats still have a chance since all their losses are "soooo goood!" :thumb:

Road to the Championship

National Participation
There are 125 NCAA member institutions that sponsor Division I Football Championship Subdivision teams and are eligible to compete in the National Championship. All 125 programs support approximately 13,000 Football student-athletes across the country.

Selection Process
The NCAA Division I Football Championship provides for a field of 24 teams to compete in a single elimination tournament. Of the 24 teams, 10 conference champions will receive automatic qualifications with the remaining best 14 teams being selected on an at-large basis by the Division I Football Championship Committee. The top eight teams in the 24-team bracket for the championship are seeded and receive First Round byes. Team pairings are determined according to geographical proximity. Teams from the same conference will not be paired for First Round games or for Second Round games when both teams are playing their first games of the championship (except for teams from the same conference that did not play against each other during the regular season; such teams may play each other in the first and second round).

Selection Show | November 19, 2017
The NCAA Division I Football Championship bracket will be announced on Sunday, November 19.

First Round | November 25, 2017
Eight, First Round games will be conducted at non-predetermined campus sites. The winning team from each game will advance to the Second Round.

Second Round | December 2, 2017
The second round also features eight games at non-predetermined campus. The winning team from each game will advance to the Quarterfinals..

Quarterfinals | December 8 or 9, 2017
Four, two-team single elimination Quarterfinals games will be conducted at non-predetermined campus sites. The winning team from each of the four Quarterfinals will advance to the Semifinals.

Semifinals | December 15 or 16, 2017
Two single elimination games will be conducted at non-predetermined campus sites. The winning team from each Semifinals will advance to the championship final site in Frisco, Texas.

National Championship | January 6, 2018
The 2018 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game will be held at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas on Saturday, January 6 with time to be announced.

I just had read that article and was coming here to post it. Some very interesting insight. His comment about "did a key player get injured in a loss" is alarming for me (think Cookus). It shows these guys absolutely do drill down to the brass tacks. I stick by my comment, especially after this, that Griz need to be 8-3 and need some outside help. I still think it's a 75/25 chance Griz are in but that 25 left to a committee is scary.

Section 2•3 Selection Criteria

At-large teams shall be selected by the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee, assisted by four regionaladvisory committees that serve in an advisory capacity only.

The following principles shall apply when selecting at-large teams:
1. The committee shall select the best teams available on a national at-large basis to complete the bracket. Per NCAA Bylaw 31, the basic criteria used in the selection of at-large participants are (1) won-lost record,(2) strength of schedule, and (3) eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship;

2. There is no limit to the number of teams the committee may select from one conference;

3. The won-lost record of a team will be scrutinized to determine a team’s strength of schedule; however, fewer than six Division I wins may place a team in jeopardy of not being selected;

4. The committee may give more consideration to those teams that have played all Division I opponents;

5. If a committee member’s institution is under consideration, that committee member will not be allowed in the room during discussions involving his/her team and may not vote for his/her team during the voting process. Similarly, a committee member from a conference office may not be present during discussions, nor vote for any team from his/her conference.

BRACKET PAIRINGSAll pairings will be made by the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee. The following principles are applied when pairing teams:

1. The teams awarded the top eight seeds shall receive a bye in the first round and are placed in the appropriate positions in the bracket (Nos. 1, 8, 4 and 5 in the upper half; and Nos. 2, 7, 3 and 6 in the lower half);

2. The remaining 16 teams will play first-round games and will be paired according to geographic proximity and then placed in the bracket according to geographic proximity of the top eight seeds previously placed in the bracket;

3. The NCAA mileage threshold for mandatory team travel via ground is 400 miles;

4. If a conference has four or more teams in the championship, the committee may allow an additional flight in the first or second round in order to avoid a conference having all of its teams on the same side of the bracket.

5. Regular season non-conference match-ups in the first round of the championship should be avoided, provided it does not create an additional flight(s).

6. Teams from the same conference will not be paired for first-round games (except for teams from the same conference that did not play against each other during the regular season; such teams may play each other in the first round);NCAA PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP MANUAL DIVISION I FOOTBALL167. Once the first-round pairings have been determined, there will be no adjustments to the bracket (e.g., a seeded team may play a conference opponent that advanced out of the first round).

Money and ability to make money is not how teams are chosen for inclusion into the field. There is no secret rule or unspoken wink/nod that teams get in because they can make money.

Money only comes into play for Site Selection once the field has been selected:

Section 2•4 Site Selection
With regard to first-round, second-round, quarterfinal and semifinal sites, in addition to the criteria listed in Bylaw 31.1.3.2.1, the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee shall consider the following additional criteria when selecting playoff sites:

1. The committee will consider previous crowd-control measures and crowd behavior of the prospective host institution(regardless of seeding).2. Prospective host institutions must submit the following minimum financial guarantees, which shall be 75 percent of the estimated net receipts as submitted on the proposed budget:
First round – $30,000
Second round – $40,000
Quarterfinals – $50,000
Semifinals – $60,0003.

If the minimum financial guarantees are met, the committee will award the playoff sites to the higher seeded teams.

4. When determining host institutions for playoff games when both teams are unseeded, criteria shall apply as follows
(1) quality of facility,
(2) revenue potential plus estimated net receipts,
(3) attendance history and potential,
(4) team’sperformance (i.e., conference place finish, head-to-head results and number of Division I opponents),
and (5) studentathletewell-being (e.g., travel and missed class time).

5. A conference champion would host a first-round game against a conference opponent (if applicable). This policy would be contingent upon the conference champion meeting the facility requirements to host and submitting an acceptable bid by the established deadline.6. If a second-round, quarterfinal or semifinal playoff site is not available due to the fact the institutions involved did not submit a proposed budget, the committee will contact the institutions and offer the opportunity to submit a bid at the current round’s minimum financial guarantee level. If seeded teams are not involved, the committee will determine the host institution by applying the championship site-selection criteria in Bylaw 31.1.3.2.1.

HookedonGriz said:

I still think it's a 75/25 chance Griz are in but that 25 left to a committee is scary.

Click to expand...

Very much agree... scary to think it comes down to these people voting... Dilly Dilly this team is in :shock:

Current members of the selection committee are:

CENTRAL REGION CENTRAL REGION
Brian Hutchinson, chair
Director of Athletics
Morehead State University

Kyle Moats
Director of Athletics
Missouri State University

CENTRAL REGION EAST REGION
Greg Seitz
Director of Athletics
Jacksonville State University

Nathan Pine
Director of Athletics
College of the Holy Cross

EAST REGION EAST REGION
Marty Scarano
Director of Athletics
University of New Hampshire

Paul Schlickmann
Director of Athletics
Central Connecticut State University

SOUTH REGION SOUTH REGION
Chuck BurchDirector of Athletics
Gardner-Webb University

Richard Johnson
Director of Athletics
Wofford College

WEST REGION WEST REGION
Brad Teague
Director of Athletics
University of Central Arkansas

Jeff Tingey
Director of Athletics
Idaho State University

Brother Bear said:

HookedonGriz said:

I still think it's a 75/25 chance Griz are in but that 25 left to a committee is scary.

Click to expand...

Very much agree... scary to think it comes down to these people voting... Dilly Dilly this team is in :shock:

Current members of the selection committee are:

CENTRAL REGION CENTRAL REGION
Brian Hutchinson, chair
Director of Athletics
Morehead State University

Kyle Moats
Director of Athletics
Missouri State University

CENTRAL REGION EAST REGION
Greg Seitz
Director of Athletics
Jacksonville State University

Nathan Pine
Director of Athletics
College of the Holy Cross

EAST REGION EAST REGION
Marty Scarano
Director of Athletics
University of New Hampshire

Paul Schlickmann
Director of Athletics
Central Connecticut State University

SOUTH REGION SOUTH REGION
Chuck BurchDirector of Athletics
Gardner-Webb University

Richard Johnson
Director of Athletics
Wofford College

WEST REGION WEST REGION
Brad Teague
Director of Athletics
University of Central Arkansas

Jeff Tingey
Director of Athletics
Idaho State University

Click to expand...

Oh great...and the coaches have a beef...that'll help when it comes to pushing for the Griz over other BSC teams...

Yep gotta love our Big Sky rep is an ISU guy. I'm sure he and phenecie both love the Griz right now.

Southern Utah is quietly one of the best teams in the conference...has been now for a few years. I think they take care of NAU at home this weekend. That puts NAU at 7-4 with a head to head loss against an (presumably) 8-3 UM. Hopefully they would give Montana the same consideration for Jensen being out as they would NAU for Cookus being out in that game. I think the playing field was pretty even that day.

In my mind a UM win and an SUU win would put Montana securely in the #3 spot for the BSC behind Weber and SUU. The thought of a UM win and an NAU win worries me, I think we'd have to hope to be the # 4 BSC team in in that case.

Gotta be a T-birds fan this weekend.

Does anyone have Jeff Tingey's email address

"Oh great...and the coaches have a beef...that'll help when it comes to pushing for the Griz over other BSC teams... "

Also of note besides that optics issue:

"One of the things I noticed about the committee is the dual-league nature of its chairman, Brian Hutchinson. Morehead State competes in football in the Pioneer League (Which University of San Diego will have this years auto-bid), which is the league he represents on this committee. However, in other sports Morehead State is a member of the OVC... so now you have the possible impression (almost certainly unfair, but still) that the OVC has two representatives on the committee — Hutchinson and Greg Seitz, the director of athletics at Jacksonville State."

Also of note is the bubble team of New Hampshire has an AD on the committee. Obviously they have to excuse the room and can't vote on their own teams... but it's not like they haven't developed relationships with the other 9 members of the committee...

Always a problem that there are not that many teams in the west, thus a built in east bias, plus it did not help that the cats lost to Ken st. at home. The one quality win for the conference is NAU over Ill St. Were there any others?

Jaredkuehn said:

Southern Utah is quietly one of the best teams in the conference...has been now for a few years.

Click to expand...

Might be a little generous; 30-29 ('12-'16)

STATS: Is a loss to an FBS opponent ever considered a negative?

RJ: "Again, each committee member has to value that. I think a single loss, all of us at the FCS level typically play one FBS opponent, and I think for the most part we have not paid any attention to a single loss to an FBS team. We certainly paid attention to a win over an FBS team and to a close game against an FBS team. Just as a general rule, it hasn't negatively impacted anybody in the past by losing to an FBS opponent. Where it would get into negatively impacting someone is if you played three of those games or four because now you have four losses and you make the argument that you got beat by all FBS teams, but you also then didn't have the opportunity to play FCS teams and beat them. That's where it would hurt you, if you played multiple FBS opponents as opposed to just the one."

Probably another reason why you only want to schedule one FBS team in a given year (not 2) and also not playing an NAIA or Division II school.

STATS: Has the Simple Rating System (an RPI-type metrics designed in 2013) ever taken off with the committee?

RJ: Sometimes when you're trying to slice it, we'll look at it, we'll try to get an explanation and use it, but I think all of them are inherently flawed. If you have just a straight strength of schedule and win-loss, some people say that doesn't take into consideration the margin of victory. Some programs aren't built to score a lot of points and yet they win. Should they be penalized for that? And should some teams be penalized for not winning by three touchdowns? It's an individual decision. It's a tool and just a tool. We certainly don't live and die by that tool.

STATS: Which strength of schedule format carries the most weight with the committee?
RJ: We only look at the one, we only look at the SRS. So we don't look at any others. In the room, that's the only one that we look at as an external ranking if you will.

Does anyone know where to find the current rankings for the SRS heading into the final week.
Simple Rating System (RPI stye metric for college football).

This would appear to be last years SRS for the FCS... maybe they only release the end of season one?
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fcs/simple-ratings-system (again that last year around selection time)

Here are the current Jeff Sagarin rankings for all FCS teams heading into the final weekend:
http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm


After the loss to the bobcats last year in Missoula, the Griz finished the season 6-5 but were still ranked as the #29 team by the SRS as they had good strength of schedule and some quality wins. That's how close the Griz were to making the playoffs. Only had to beat the cats at Home or perhaps just UNC on the road.

HookedonGriz said:

I just had read that article and was coming here to post it. Some very interesting insight. His comment about "did a key player get injured in a loss" is alarming for me (think Cookus). It shows these guys absolutely do drill down to the brass tacks. I stick by my comment, especially after this, that Griz need to be 8-3 and need some outside help. I still think it's a 75/25 chance Griz are in but that 25 left to a committee is scary.

Click to expand...

Was Cookus injured in a loss this year?

Nope, but Gresch technically was. (Weber State). In addition the Griz were forced to go to a backup QB for much of the season. When looking at the Northern Arizona win, i get that Cookus didn't play, but the Griz QB didn't either, in fact the Griz started their 3rd string QB and quickly moved to their 4th string QB and got the win. I think this win will carry good weight for the Griz.

Still got to beat the cats on Saturday and then the Griz should be in at 8-3. (8-2 FCS, 3-1 on FCS road). Only losses to ranked teams, no bad losses. Play in 2-3rd best conference in FCS.

Really tough questions, Craig

Kyle what are your thoughts if the Griz win this weekend? I can't imagine they wouldn't be in. I think if they win they wouldn't get a seed and likely host either University of San Diego or a team from the MSVC in Missoula next weekend. My hope is Southern Utah beats NAU this weekend so they would be a seeded team and a chance the Griz could get them in Utah the next weekend if Griz win round 1.

From the above Q&A:

"You can look on one hand and one team may have had a better strength of schedule, another one may have had better losses, another may have had a player who was injured for one of those losses."

Told you so. The committee, and most anyone who knows what they are doing in terms of analyzing and ranking teams, looks at the quality of the losses.

The next person who makes fun of quality losses should be sentenced to MB.