After a crazy Big Sky Conference Saturday, speculation is rampant for playoff chances for a bunch of FCS squads in multiple conferences who still have the opportunity to get to 7 wins. UND is one of those schools.
Northern Colorado controlled Portland State for most of the game in their shocking 35-32 win in Greeley. UNC looked solid all day on offense against a good PSU defense.
Northern Arizona stunned everyone by going into Cheney on the red turf and routing Eastern Washington 52-30. NAU is one of the hotter teams in the Big Sky right now and they are doing it with a freshman QB.
Idaho State was lining up for a 34 yard field goal in overtime to win the game against Montana and botched the snap, allowing Montana to recover the fumble and run it back for a TD to win 33-27 in Pocatello at Holt Arena. One of the more unbelievable finishes we have seen in some time.
Do all of these results benefit UND’s playoff chances? No.
However, there is a ton of football to be played yet and if UND loses this week against UNC, this discussion is moot. Bottom line for UND is: just go out and win this week and take care of what you can control.
Everything will work itself out in the next couple weeks. And for the sake of the discussion, here are the current standings as of today:
Here are the playoff contenders remaining schedules:
- Southern Utah has a trip to Portland State next weekend and then hosts red-hot Northern Arizona. They have a D2 win on their resume against Brevard College, so they will likely have to win at least one more game to secure a playoff chance.
- Eastern Washington heads to Montana next week and then hosts Portland State.
- Portland State hosts Southern Utah, then travels to Eastern Washington.
- Montana plays Eastern Washington in Missoula, then heads to Bozeman for their rivalry game.
- Northern Arizona plays Sacramento State in Flagstaff next week, then heads out to Southern Utah for their final week. NAU has a D2 win on their resume against New Mexico Highlands that will disregarded by the committee, so they likely need to win out.
- While Northern Colorado is playing well this year, even if they win out, they cannot reach the 7 ‘division 1 wins’ plateau because of their D2 win over Western State.
So as illustrated, the possibilities are endless and this thing is far from over. This is just within the Big Sky Conference. The Missouri Valley has it’s own logjam and to work out as do other conferences across the country.
All of it means nothing for UND if they don’t go out and win their game this week in Grand Forks at the Alerus against an upstart UNC squad, who has a dangerous offense.
Just think, if UND had stayed healthy and finished off Idaho State and Weber, we’d be talking about chasing a conference title at 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the BSC.
