The FCS Notebook is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick hitters, and commentary on various topics.
A new FCS Notebook will be published multiple times a week.
FCS Playoff Committee To Release Top 10 Ranking This Week
The FCS Playoff Committee will do a mock selection process this week and then reveal its Top 10 teams. The Top 10 rankings will be unveiled this Wednesday during the College Football Live broadcast at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
This is a snapshot of where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.
The playoff committee will no longer use the Stats Perform Media Poll and AFCA Coaches Poll on its list of data points that committee members can utilize. They can now consider rankings in the KPI, Massey Ratings, and ESPN’s Football Power Index, although each member can choose what to weigh the most when making selections (record, strength of schedule, quality wins, metrics, etc.)
“The committee was focused on expanding the use of metrics-based tools to replace the polls we had used in years past,” HERO Sports was told. “We were able to get those three on board to give us a good mix of both predictive (Massey & FPI) and results (KPI & SOS) based metrics.”
The FCS Selection Show airs Sunday, Nov. 24 at 12:30 ET on ESPNU.
Related Articles
- 2024 FCS Playoff Committee Members
- FCS Playoff Seeds Increases From 8 To 16
- Resumes For The Top 10 Ranked FCS Teams
Tentative FCS Playoff ESPN Broadcast Schedule
The FCS playoffs looks to be getting its best national TV exposure in years this season.
As part of the Tentative ESPN Broadcast Schedule, three of the four quarterfinal games will be on major networks ESPN and ABC. The semifinals will air on ESPN and ABC. And the national championship game will have its own spotlight by airing Monday night (Jan. 6) on ESPN.
The semifinals will have stiff competition for eyeballs, though.
The first round of the College Football Playoff is that weekend, while the NFL has also moved into that weekend.
Friday, Dec. 20:
8 pm ET – CFP on ABC/ESPN
Saturday, Dec. 21:
12 pm ET – CFP on TNT
1 pm – NFL on NBC
4 pm – CFP on TNT
4:30 pm – NFL on Fox
8 pm – CFP on ABC/ESPN
Minimum Bids To Host
A welcomed change to the 24-team bracket this year is the number of seeds increasing from 8 to 16.
This means the host team in the first round is straightforward. Seeds 9-16 will host one of the eight unseeded teams based off of regionalization. The No. 16 seed feeds into the No. 1 seed in the second round, No. 15 into the No. 2 seed, and so on.
This opens up the bracket much more and makes it less regionalized, where in the past it was possible the No. 1 seed could play the 9th-best team in the second round.
There will still be a minimum bid to host playoff games. This has been a point of consternation for FCS fans. However, this is the norm for NCAA postseason games held on campus. Early rounds in the NCAA baseball tournament also have a bid process, for example.
Minimum bids to host FCS playoff games are:
First round – $50,000
Second round – $60,000
Quarterfinals – $70,000
Semifinals – $80,000
If the minimum financial guarantees are met and the host location/facility are able to provide a quality experience for the visiting team, the committee will award the playoff sites to the higher-seeded teams.
Although this would be rare, when determining host institutions for playoff games when both teams are unseeded, criteria shall apply as follows: (1) quality of facility, (2) revenue potential plus estimated net receipts, (3) attendance history and potential, (4) team’s performance (i.e., conference place finish, head-to-head results and number of Division I opponents), and (5) student-athlete well-being (e.g., travel and missed class time).
Seed Adjustments
A) If a conference has four or more teams in the bracket, the committee may allow a seed adjustment of one line to avoid a conference having all its teams on the same side of the bracket.
In the instance a seed change is warranted, a vote of 70% by the remaining committee members will be required to make a change.
Teams seeded 9-16 may be adjusted no more than one position.
Teams seeded 1-8 cannot be adjusted unless it is to satisfy the criteria in Line A above.
Once the seeds are set and first-round pairings have been determined, there will be no adjustments to the bracket.
1 Ranked Matchup This Week
There is one game this week between ranked opponents (using the Stats Perform Media Poll):
No. 23 ETSU at No. 12 Mercer
FCS Teams Still Undefeated vs. FCS Opponents
Records against FCS opponents
SEMO 8-0
NDSU 8-0
Montana State 7-0
UC Davis 7-0
Tarleton State 7-0
Rhode Island 7-0
Dartmouth 6-0
Duquesne 4-0
Past FCS Notebooks
Missouri State, Delaware Aren’t Playoff Eligible, But They’ll Be Factors In The Postseason Picture … READ MORE
Toyota Stadium, Home Of The FCS Championship, To Get A $182M Renovation … READ MORE
