Montana won last season, and the dominos that fell were significant: MSU getting knocked from a potential No. 2 seed back to the No. 8 seed, NDSU then getting the No. 2 seed and home-field advantage en route to Frisco, putting MSU on what turned out to be the easier side of the bracket with a favorable quarterfinal matchup at No. 1 seed SHSU and then hosting a semifinal game against unseeded SDSU, and giving Montana the No. 6 seed on the tougher side of the bracket with a quarterfinal matchup at No. 3 seed James Madison, who was actually the second-best team in the FCS.