Earlier in the day, we spent a little bit of time breaking down the 2018 FCS Playoffs Bracket. Although we had some quibbles with where certain teams were ranked, the Selection Committee mostly seems to have done a good job. However, one team was definitely snubbed by the committee, and we were a little surprised another team’s season came to an abrupt end. Both the Indiana State Sycamores and the Furman Paladins have reason to feel slighted by the committee and it’s a shame that they won’t be taking part in the FCS Playoffs.
Indiana State Sycamores
Seeing Indiana State get left at home was incredibly shocking. The Sycamores ended their season on a five-game winning streak, and it looked like they did what they needed to do in the season finale. Indiana State was more than a touchdown underdog against Western Illinois per the FCS betting odds, but the Sycamores looked to have punched their ticket to the postseason after Jerry Nunez kicked a game-winning field goal as zeroes hit the clock.
Related: College Football Betting Guide
Instead, Sunday afternoon came and went without the FCS Selection Committee mentioning the Sycamores. It was an incredibly disappointing day for a team that went 5-3 in the tough MVFC. Indiana State’s losses came in overtime to No. 5 seed South Dakota State, and in regulation to Missouri State, Northern Iowa, and Louisville. The Sycamores did not beat a team that made the postseason, but the MVFC was the second- or third-best conference in the FCS, and the committee rewarded other teams that played in tough conferences. Additionally, ending the season on a high note was something that had been rewarded in the past.
Furman Paladins
The Paladins don’t have as strong of a case as the Sycamores, and the Selection Committee leaving them at home makes more sense considering the rest of the bracket. The committee did not seem too impressed with the Southern Conference this season, as they sent East Tennessee State on the road to play Jacksonville State and did not give Wofford a national seed.
Still, Furman won a share of the SoCon with its win over Mercer in the season finale on Saturday and head coach Clay Hendrix called his program being left out ‘shocking’. The Paladins ended their season on a four-game winning streak, and they hammered Wofford by 20 points. They lost to ETSU by just two points, but they missed out on a chance to secure a big non-conference win after their game with Colgate was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. We’re not that high on Colgate, and that’s a game that we believe Furman would have won.
The teams that made the playoffs in their place
Incarnate Word and Stony Brook were the last two teams to make it in the 2018 FCS Playoffs, and those two programs got in over Indiana State and Furman. Seeing Incarnate Word make it was equally as stunning as seeing Indiana State miss out. The Cardinals’ best win was over 6-5 McNeese State and they lost to both Lamar and Nicholls State in conference play. Incarnate Word is a feel-good story, but it’s puzzling to consider how the committee saw them as a better team than Indiana State.
The Seawolves shot themselves in the foot in their season finale, and the committee had plenty of reason to leave them out after losing to 3-8 Albany on Saturday. However, Stony Brook was rewarded for playing in the tough CAA and beating Delaware the week before.
