The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick hitters, and commentary on various topics.
A new Daily Dose will be published multiple times a week.
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Increase In Playoff Seeds Gets Key Approval
The push to seed more teams within the 24-team FCS playoff bracket got a key approval this week.
The NCAA Board of Directors Finance Committee gave its support to seed 16 teams in the bracket, which would remain at 24 total teams. (In my reporting of this long process, some folks online have read this push as increasing the number of teams in the bracket. That’s not happening. The push is to increase the number of seeds from eight to 16.)
The Board of Governors is the next and final approval needed to push this across the finish line. They meet this Thursday.
It’s quite the process of approvals to get these changes done.
Last year also saw a push from FCS commissioners and the FCS playoff committee to seed more teams. The recommendation moved its way through the approval process, including getting the thumbs up from the Football Oversight Committee. However, it didn’t get budget approval from the Board of Directors Finance Committee. NCAA revenue was flat year-over-year, and multiple NCAA postseason tournaments didn’t see recommended changes due to this.
Revenue will increase big-time for the NCAA this year, helping these recommendation to get budget approval.
The NCAA reached a new eight-year agreement with ESPN worth $115 million annually to televise 40 college sports championships each year starting in the 2024 fall, including the FCS playoffs. The previous deal signed in 2011 was $34 million per year. That’s an $81 million annual increase in revenue to help support improved championship tournaments.
If the recommendation to seed more teams has gotten through the Football Oversight Committee & the Finance Committee, one would assume the Board of Governors will give the final thumbs-up.
While the size of the playoff field wouldn’t increase, more seeds would result in less regionalization, more balanced early-round matchups, and more transparency on who hosts in the first round.
The current FCS playoff structure has been in place since the field expanded in 2013 — 24 teams with eight seeds. The bracket is regionalized to save on travel costs. The NCAA does cover travel expenses in the FCS playoffs.
In the current format, 16 unseeded teams are paired up in the first round based on regionalization, and the host team is determined by a combination of bid amount, revenue potential, facilities, athlete experience, and team performance. The first-round matchup winners are paired with seeds for second-round games based on regionalization.
This means, in the current format, the 9th and 10th best teams could theoretically play each other in the first round while the 23rd and 24th best teams play each other. And the No. 1 seed could play the 9th-best team in the second round while the No. 8 seed could play the 23rd-best team.
Seeding 16 would eliminate that possibility and would be set up for a more national feel to the bracket. The format could look like:
- Seeds 1-8 get a first-round bye
- Seeds 9-16 host first-round games
- Seeds 9-16 host a team from a pool of the 8 remaining unseeded teams based on regionalization but avoiding regular-season rematches
- No. 1 seed plays the winner of the No. 16 vs. unseeded matchup
- No. 2 seed plays the winner of the No. 15 vs. unseeded matchup
- No. 8 seed plays the winner of the No. 9 vs. unseeded matchup
- And so on
Overall, this is great news for the FCS.
More seeds = less regionalization and a more national tournament feel. A 24-team bracket where the CAA/NEC/Patriot take up one corner, the Southland/SoCon/Big South-OVC take up another corner, and the Big Sky/MVFC take up another corner isn’t much of a national bracket.
EKU’s Braedon Sloan Enters Portal
Eastern Kentucky running back Braedon Sloan, one of the top all-purpose weapons in the FCS, entered the transfer portal this week.
A two-time All-Conference selection, Sloan rushed for 629 yards and seven TDs in 2022 along with 42 catches for 506 yards and three touchdowns while returning 15 kicks for 484 yards. Last fall, Sloan rushed for 765 yards and 10 touchdowns, recorded 40 receptions for 467 yards and three touchdowns, and had 15 kick returns totaling 397 yards.
EKU finished 5-6 in 2023, a year after reaching the playoffs.
The Colonels offense needs to replace Sloan, record-breaking quarterback Parker McKinney, and top wide receiver Jaden Smith.
NDSU At Colorado Moved To Thursday
The Week 1 game between North Dakota State and Colorado has been moved from Saturday to Thursday, Aug. 29.
Start time and television network are still to be determined. Details are expected at the end of May when network partners with the Big 12 and other major conferences set their broadcast schedules.
With the Deion Sanders-led Buffaloes getting plenty of national attention, plus the Bison being the top FCS brand, expect a national network to gobble up this matchup.
Colorado inked this game vs. NDSU in the summer of 2016, a few months after the Bison won their 5th straight FCS title. NDSU will get a guaranteed payout of $700,000.
It’s a game that will attract millions of eyeballs, and certainly one to keep an eye on for an FCS over FBS upset.
The Bison don’t get many FBS games anymore due to their success. They are 9-4 overall against FBS opponents, and their six-game FBS winning streak was snapped in 2022, a 31-28 loss at Arizona. That was NDSU’s first FBS game in six years.
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Other Daily Doses
UND & NDSU Now Have 3 Ways To “Pay” Athletes … READ MORE
FCS Players In The Athletic’s 7-Round NFL Mock Draft & In ESPN’s Top 400 Prospects … READ MORE
Don’t Expect Transfer Portal Restrictions Or Guardrails To Slow Down Player Movement … READ MORE
