Now that UND’s regular season is over it’s time to look ahead to the FCS Playoffs.  “Playoffs?”  You’re darn straight, G.

UND is officially in the FCS playoffs for the first time in school history!

It is a historic moment for a program that has had many ups and downs since the transition to D1 began nine years ago.

Normally, we would be just thrilled to say that UND has a seat at the table and whatever happens, happens.  But we’re not.

We think UND should be in the Top 8.  Which means they get a first round bye.

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Current FCS Committee Top 10 Ratings:

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Projected Strength of Schedule (for 10 teams in consideration) – NCAA Stats

NCAA SOS Rankings Team Wins Losses Pct
1 North Dakota St. 50 29 0.633
2 South Dakota St. 48 32 0.6
3 The Citadel 37 29 0.561
4 Central Ark. 41 34 0.547
5 North Dakota 39 34 0.534
6 Richmond 42 37 0.532
7 Eastern Wash. 38 35 0.521
8 James Madison 40 38 0.513
9 Jacksonville St. 29 31 0.483
10 Sam Houston St. 35 41 0.461

As you can see, strength of schedule is not an issue for UND.  They are right in there with Central Arkansas and above Richmond.

We are not sure why UND is behind Richmond, other than they beat a terrible Virginia team, who had an entirely new staff that first game of the year.

Richmond Schedule

@Virginia (2-8)            W 37-20

Norfolk State (3-7)      W 34-0

@Stony Brook (5-5)     L 42-14

Colgate (4-5)                 W 38-31

Towson (3-7)                W 31-28

@Albany (6-4)             W 36-30 3OT

Villanova (7-3)             W 23-0

@Elon (2-8)                 W 35-7

JMU  (9-1)                     L 47-43

Delaware  (4-6)           W 31-17

@ William & Mary (4-6)

—–To sum it up:

Richmond beat two teams with a winning record (Stony Brook would make 3 if they win- but then UND gets that designation on their resume as well).

Richmond beat Virginia (FBS) win.

Richmond got hammered by Stony Brook (common opponent) 42-14.

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UND Schedule

@Stony Brook  (5-5)                   L 13-9

@Bowling Green  (3-8)               L 27-26

South Dakota  (4-6)                      W 47-44 2OT

@Montana State  (3-8)               W 17-15

Cal Poly  (6-4)                               W 31-24

@Sacramento St  (2-8)                W 40-7

Southern Utah  (5-5)                    W 45-23

@Idaho State  (2-8)                      W 28-21

Weber State  (6-4)                         W 27-19

@Northern Colorado (6-4)          W 23-13

Northern Arizona  (5-5)               W 38-31

—–To sum it up:

UND beat four teams with a winning record (either NAU or SUU will win this weekend).

UND lost to Stony Brook (common opponent) 13-9 on blocked punt in 4th quarter.

UND has a stronger strength of schedule (above).

UND has won nine games in a row (played 11 in a row) and had zero bye weeks to recover from injuries.  That should merit some brownie points, as well.

To us it comes down to this:

  • If #7 Central Arkansas loses to #5 Sam Houston State this weekend, UND should slide up to #8, minimum.
  • UND should jump #8 Richmond when the TOTALITY of the resumes are compared after this weekend.
  • If #10 SDSU loses to UNI they are not even in consideration.
  • If #10 SDSU beats UNI, both #9 UND and #10 SDSU could get the last two seeds (if Central Arkansas loses).
  • Regarding SDSU, they have one more loss (7-3) than UND (9-2) and lost to Cal Poly at home and beat USD.  UND beat Cal Poly at home and beat USD, also.
  • #9 UND needs #7 Central Arkansas to lose, period.  If they do their should be an outstanding chance at a seed.

The Selection Show is set for 10am on Sunday morning on ESPNU.