First things first: Must beat the Cats... Griz would be 7-4 with (7) Division I wins.
Two of the losses for the Griz came down to basically needing one play to win. (Cal Poly and Northern Colorado). While the Griz were 0-4 on the road in conference, none of them are "bad" losses. Might be to the fans (because of how team didn't execute, etc.), but not necessarily to the committee.
The wins over St. Francis (Playoff team) and Northern Iowa (key road win) are actually good wins. 7-4 and the Griz will be talked about and for sure and are on the playoff bubble. Likely on the outside in as it currently stands but there are some things that can happen to make the playoffs in 2016 very real. Will get into those key games to pay attention to this weekend in a bit. (GRIZ MUST WIN SATURDAY).
IMHO, I would not want to have to play the Griz in the 2016 playoffs. Sure they have had some let-downs, but are actually a very dangerous team and can pose some tough match up problems for other teams. If they actually put everything together this team could make a very deep run in the playoffs and as it currently stands this is still a POSSIBILITY regardless of some "Griz fans" displeasure of the current record.
WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND: (24) teams make the playoffs! Yes, that is right... 24 teams. So almost every year you might have teams at 7-4 (sometimes even 6-5) who could very well make it in. That is a lot of teams!
(10) conferences have auto-bids, so that leaves 14 at-large selections up to the committee.
After the auto-bid team is selected, position in the conference isn't a criteria. You could easily see a 4th place or 5th place conference team in standings, selected over the 3rd place team based on various factors.
What's hard for the playoff committee when selecting the at-large teams: Its extremely difficult to draw correlations between teams based on their schedules when looking at non-conference opponents which most teams only have 3-4 games of. The committee are trying to get the next best "14" teams into the tournament. In the non-conference the Griz are 3-0, 1-0 on the road against N. Iowa. The Griz are also from the Big Sky Conference which will bode well as it is established as one of the best conferences in the FCS.
Who's on the committee: The teams that make the playoffs are determined by the FCS Playoff Selection Committee, which consists of one athletic director from each of the 10 conferences which have automatic bids. The current committee chairman is Mark Wilson (Tennessee Tech). The others who serve on the selection committee are Chuck Burch (Gardner-Webb), Troy Dannen (Northern Iowa), Brian Hutchinson (Morehead State), Richard Johnson (Wofford), Nathan Pine (Holy Cross), Marty Scarano (New Hampshire), Paul Schlickmann (Central Connecticut State), Dr. Brad Teague (Central Arkansas) and Jeff Tingey (Idaho State).
"The committee through the NCAA utilizes a computerized voting process, so every member of the committee will vote and use that data to help formulate our decisions. Of course, as we get into those last four or five, we do only put a team or two in at a time depending on the number of spots that are available in the field. So early on, the number of teams that go (are greater), but as less spots become available, then you do only put one team in at a time."
What else Griz have going for them? As it currently stands, the Griz are currently ranked in the top 25 of FCS in several polls. Rankings don't mean you make the playoffs but it certainly helps and shows on a national scale what coaches and media think. Griz have one of the top offenses in the country.
I encourage you to look at the other "bubble" teams and when you start comparing them, i think you would see the Griz stack up favorably to a lot of them. Most of the 7-4 teams have a lot in common, a couple close losses, loses on the road, etc.
Just because the Griz may have not met your expectations for the season, being seeded winning the Big Sky, doesn't mean they shouldn't make the playoffs because in your mind you have already given up on them or they would "be destroyed" in the playoffs. The entire point of the season is to try and make the playoffs and see what happens. Sure we all want to be world beaters, but don't give up on this team yet. Up with Montana, beat the Cats! (crossed fingers for a little help this weekend and the Griz very well could be in the 2016 playoffs!)
