Can someone explain the playoffs for me?

[SpartanMom_2016]

Can you smart people explain how the playoffs work?  I know it is the beginning of the season but I am wondering how it all works.  By looking at who made the playoffs last season and who did not it is clear to me that the best teams do not necessarily make the playoffs.

Thanks.

[Ralph Turner]

Can you smart people explain how the playoffs work?  I know it is the beginning of the season but I am wondering how it all works.  By looking at who made the playoffs last season and who did not it is clear to me that the best teams do not necessarily make the playoffs.

Thanks.

Spartan Mom, the FAQ on the front page is a good place to start.

http://www.d3football.com/interactive/faq/playoffs

Spartan?  Case?  That would make your team Pool B. 

Win 'em all!  That is about the only advice that I can give.  Pool B has bunches of good teams!

Wesley, Case, CMU, Huntingdon, Trinity TX, Centre and Birmingham Southern are all Pool B this season.

[Toby Taff]

Can you smart people explain how the playoffs work?  I know it is the beginning of the season but I am wondering how it all works.  By looking at who made the playoffs last season and who did not it is clear to me that the best teams do not necessarily make the playoffs.

Thanks.

Spartan Mom, the FAQ on the front page is a good place to start.

http://www.d3football.com/interactive/faq/playoffs

Spartan?  Case?  That would make your team Pool B. 

Win 'em all!  That is about the only advice that I can give.  Pool B has bunches of good teams!

Wesley, Case, CMU, Huntingdon, Trinity TX, Centre and Birmingham Southern are all Pool B this season.

Totally forgot the SCAC folks were Pool B this season. That may make things more interesting especially with UMHB playing Wesley and Trinity. Talk about affecting the South bracket...

[K-Mack]

32 teams.

24 get in by virtue of winning their conference.

1 bid is set aside for teams who have no conference.

The other 7 bids go to everyone else who is left over.

These are commonly referred to as Pools A, B and C. There is "criteria" for the NCAA selection committee, made up of coaches and ADs, to use to choose the eight teams who don't get in automatically (We call those teams AQ winners, or automatic qualifiers)

[ADL70]

As K-Mack succinctly summarized, our Spartans compete with the six other teams listed by Ralph for 1 pool B slot.  Then into pool C with the remaining pool B teams and all teams which didn't get in by winning their conference.

Last season the Spartans were probably one or two spots away from getting in.  Probably will need to go undefeated or lose a close one to Wittenberg which goes undefeated or possibly 9-1 to have a chance this year.

[SpartanMom_2016]

What is the selection criteria for Pool B?

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Pool B is set aside for all teams who do not have access to an automatic bid for winning a conference (so independents and conferences like the UAA who don't have an automatic bid). The selection is basically like an at large bid but only amongst those eligible for Pool B.

[SpartanMom_2016]

Pool B is set aside for all teams who do not have access to an automatic bid for winning a conference (so independents and conferences like the UAA who don't have an automatic bid). The selection is basically like an at large bid but only amongst those eligible for Pool B.

What is the selection criteria?

[frank uible]

And then there is NESCAC, a conference which chooses not to have any of its members participate in the football playoffs come hell or high water.

[Pat Coleman]

Pool B is set aside for all teams who do not have access to an automatic bid for winning a conference (so independents and conferences like the UAA who don't have an automatic bid). The selection is basically like an at large bid but only amongst those eligible for Pool B.

What is the selection criteria?

Ralph provided the link to the FAQ -- this is a good time to go read it.

[SpartanMom_2016]

Pool B is set aside for all teams who do not have access to an automatic bid for winning a conference (so independents and conferences like the UAA who don't have an automatic bid). The selection is basically like an at large bid but only amongst those eligible for Pool B.

What is the selection criteria?

Ralph provided the link to the FAQ -- this is a good time to go read it.

I read the FAQ. 

The FAQ talks about the selection criteria for the at large bids, which is Pool C.  How does Pool B differ from Pool C if the criteria for selecting teams is exactly the same?

[SpartanMom_2016]

And then there is NESCAC, a conference which chooses not to have any of its members participate in the football playoffs come hell or high water.

I am familiar with NESCAC as my son was interested in attending a few of the schools in the NESCAC.  Ultimately he decided not to attend a NESCAC school but his decision was not football related.

[Pat Coleman]

The criteria are the same, true. But the pool of eligible teams is different. B's are the ones not in conferences with automatic bids.

[Ron Boerger]

The criteria are the same, true. But the pool of eligible teams is different. B's are the ones not in conferences with automatic bids.

And there are more than normal this year in Pool B as some have stated.

Wesley, Trinity, and Centre all got bids last year (B, A, and C, respectively).  In addition you have the four Presidents Athletic Conference teams, the other SAA and SCAC teams (notably Birmingham-Southern and Millsaps), Huntingdon, and a couple other usually .500- or lower independents fighting out for that one spot.   Seems pretty likely that there will be at least one Pool B-eligible team with one loss taking a Pool C bid.

[smedindy]

You mean UAA, not President's.