The brackets are out and four Big Sky Conference teams are in, including three seeded in the top six in the FCS Playoffs.
As expected, Montana (10-1) received the No. 2 seed after stomping Montana State in the fiercest rivalry in the league. Montana’s 37-7 win is the seventh straight for the Griz, stamping a Big Sky Conference title for UM for the first time since 2009 and securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“The best part of this is the way the playoff format is now is we don’t have to play next week so we can celebrate this one,” Hauck said following the rivlary win. “It’s going to be awesome, we get to relish this and marinate in it for a week until we find out who we play and then it’s on.”
Idaho (9-2) scored 49 points in the first 19 minutes of the game and 56 points before halftime on the way to a 63-21 win over Idaho State. Under second-year head coach Jason Eck, Idaho is in the postseason for the second year in a row and have a seed for the first time in more than 30 years.
Montana State lost to the Vandals and the Grizzlies over the last month. MSU also lost 20-16 at No. 1 South Dakota State the second week of the season to enter the playoffs with an 8-3 mark. That helped earn the Bobcats the sixth seed and land them on the same side of the bracket as the Griz.
“I know with our performance yesterday we left some things hanging in the balance for sure,” said Bobcats head coach Brent Vigen, “but I do think the committee values our body of work. I do think we feel like we have a really good football team and we have this opportunity to play into December now.”
Sacramento State lost 31-21 to rival UC Davis in the 70th playing of the Causeway Classic. That moved both teams to 7-4, but gave UC Davis a 5-3 Big Sky mark. Still, the Hornets are into the playoffs for the fourth straight season and the Aggies got snubbed for the second year in a row. Many thought UC Davis should be in the playoff field ahead of Montana a year ago.
The four teams in the field from out of the Big Sky is tied with the Colonial Athletic Association for the second-most. Six Missouri Valley Football Conference teams made the field, including SDSU getting the top seed and South Dakota claiming the No. 3 seed. North Dakota State (8-3), Youngstown State (7-4), North Dakota (7-4) and Southern Illinois (7-4) all received first-round games and all four will play home games.
The others included UAlbany earning the No. 5 seed, Furman getting the No. 7 after falling as the second-ranked team in the country to Wofford on Saturday, and Villanova earning the No. 8 seed.
The playoff committee confirmed that Mercer, Chattanooga, Sac State and Youngstown were the last four teams in while Eastern Illinois, UT Martin, UC Davis and Holy Cross were the last four bubble teams left out.
The Griz earn a first-round bye and will await the winner of Lafayette and Delaware. The Blue Hens might’ve gotten a seed but got pounded by Villanova 35-7 on Saturday.
Kickoff for the December 2 second round game between the Griz and a to be determined winner is set for 7 p.m. MT.
Idaho plays the winner of Southland Conference champion Nicholls and Southern Illinois. The Vandals’ second-round game is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Montana State plays the winner of Pioneer Football League champion Drake and perennial power North Dakota State. The Bison sat at 6-3 less than a month ago but blasted Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa to surge into the playoffs. Drake and the PFL are a non-scholarship league.
MSU faced both teams in 2021, beating the Bulldogs 45-7 in Brent Vigen’s second game as MSU’s head coach, Vigen’s first victory, before losing to NDSU in the FCS National Championship Game. Vigen said there may be a bit of familiarity from two seasons ago, but that shouldn’t play a significant factor.”
“It’s impressive for Drake to win that conference and get to the playoffs for the first time,” Vigen, an NDSU player in the late 1990s and an assistant there from 1998 until 2013, said on Sunday. “NDSU, we’ve seen them a little bit. They played Eastern Washington. They went through some things in the middle of the season where they came up on the short end in three games but they’ve really come on strong as of late. I think the team from ’21, there will be some carryover as far as some schemes.The coaching staff hasn’t change as far as Coach (Matt) Entz is still there, Coach (Tyler) Roehl is still calling it on the offensive side. They have a new coordinator on defense but there are a lot of tried and true principles they’ve run over time. I think the fact that there’s some familiarity from a couple years ago is fair, but I’m sure we’re different teams to some degree, too.”
The Cats certainly have historical connections to both schools. The Bobcats beat Drake twice under head coach Rob Ash, who came to MSU from the Des Moines school and was the Bulldogs’ all-time coaching wins leader. MSU beat North Dakota State in the 1976 playoffs on their way to the that season’s National Championship, but in the last 14 years the Bison have ended Montana State’s season four times, including the 2021 national title game.
Sacramento State plays at North Dakota, a team that’s been in and out of the Top 10 all season. The Hornets have one playoff win in program history. The winner will advance to take on No. 3 South Dakota.
Other first round matchups include Gardiner-Webb (7-4) playing at Mercer (8-3) with the winner heading to South Dakota State; Duquesne (7-4) playing at Youngstown State with the winner moving on to play Villanova; N.C. Central (9-2) playing at Richmond (8-3) with the winner moving on to play at UAlbany; and Chattanooga (7-4) playing at Austin Peay (9-2) with the winner playing at Furman.
Seeds
1. SDSU
2. Montana
3. South Dakota
4. Idaho
5. UAlbany
6. Montana State
7. Furman
8. Villanova
Bubble
Last 4 in
Mercer
Chattanooga
Sac State
YSU
First 4 out
Ordered by record
Eastern Illinois
UT Martin
UC Davis
Holy Cross
