FCS Chaos Weekend Hits -- 7 Upsets Shake Up The Top 25

On this episode, Sam and Zach discuss:
-3 Game Balls and a Flag from Week 10
-Which upsets were most surprising between:
No. 24/25 ACU beat No. 2/2 Tarleton State
Indiana State beat No. 4/5 SDSU
Idaho State beat No. 6/6 UC Davis
South Dakota beat No. 8/10 North Dakota
UIW beat No. 14/14 Lamar
Idaho beat No. 19/21 Northern Arizona
Southern Utah beat No. 22/24 Austin Peay
-What to do with teams like Tarleton State and SDSU?
-Did we jump the gun on the NDSU vs. the field talk?
-Top 4 playoff seed scenarios
The podcast is presented by HERO Sports and BetMGM. Visit HERO Sports for FCS coverage and BetMGM for online betting odds.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
All right, Welcome in FCS tackle football fans to another
episode of the FCS Football Talk podcast. We are presented
by Hero Sports and bet MGM. I'm your host Sam
Herder with Hero Sports, and I'm joined by my co host,
Zach McKinnell. He's with FCS Football Central and the blue
Bloods and Zach, we've kind of talked quite a bit

(00:36):
about how there's always that chaos weekend that hits at
least once a year, and we got it this last weekend.
We had several several upsets that occurred. Number twenty four
Aveline Christian they beat number two Tarleton State, Indiana State
beats number four South Dakota State, Idaho State beats number
six UC Davis, South Dakota beats number eight North Dakota,

(00:59):
uiw number fourteen Lamar Idaho beats number nineteen Northern Arizona.
And then one more for the late night action. It
always seems like Southern Utah is in a crazy game
late at night. Southern Utah they beat Austin p who
was ranked number twenty two. So that's seven upsets that
occurred in the rankings this weekend. Four top six teams
lose and then of those seven teams that got upset,

(01:21):
six of them lost to unranked teams. So what was
I mean, how how much has your brain been spinning
Saturday and then into Sunday and then even a little
bit into today as we try to process what happened
and get our rankings and playoff projections and all of
that in order.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, it was a chaotic weekend. Sam.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Now listen, I will say this as a media member,
these weekends are the worst if you're a top twenty
five voter because you just have so much to consider
and there's so and it makes it so hard to
evaluate teams because was it a one awful loss? Was
it just a bad weekend? It was a football at
any given Saturday. But then at the same time, as
a fan of f yes football, these weekends are also

(02:01):
the best because I think it does show that there
is some parody in the subdivision and you see that
this weekend. But yeah, for me, just trying to wrap
my head around everything, I thought there was some teams
that made a statement that might have been overshadowed by
all the upsets. Like you look at possibly like a
Harvard making a statement and think about how close we

(02:22):
were saying, like North Dakota State was in a game
with Youngstown for four quarters and Youngstown had a chance
to win that game at a handful of points, just
some big mistakes down the stretch took that away from them.
Could you imagine if you added the Bison loss to
this to this weekend already what we had. And so
I just think I think it's a lot to evaluate,

(02:44):
And especially too, because some of these are tied to injuries,
is how do you evaluate the team based on how
they're playing right now or do you evaluate the team
based on what they could be if their starter is back?
And I think that's a really really tricky thing to balance.
And then also some of the upsets were teams sam
that I think have not lived up to the expectations

(03:04):
but still had a ton of potential. Like listen me
and you probably missed a little bit on the incardinate
word preseason height, but I think you saw this weekends
and when they played their best game, they can beat
some really good teams. They have wins over ablei Christian
and Lamar now both two top twenty five teams. They're
one of only a handful of teams with multiple ranked wins.
You look at Southern Utah, who was expected to compete

(03:25):
for the UAC, they had a ton of close losses.
When they lock in and they're playing well, Sam, they
can beat anybody in the country. Idaho State has been
a weird team this year and they finally get it done.
I think what you saw, Sam, is that there was
a bunch of teams with a lot of talent that
just they played their best games this weekend. They were
able to get out with upsets even though their overall

(03:46):
season might not have went the way we may have
fault coming into the year.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, it was like you said, it's it's very challenging
as a border when weekends like this happened. But you
would rather have this rather than the favorites winning every weekend.
And I mean, we might still have the same look
national Championship game. We still might have the same look
FCS National champion when everything is is all said and done,

(04:12):
But weeks like this I think shows that there is
there still is kind of that week to week in
the Weeds drama where there's upsets that happen. And yeah,
I think sometimes we gotta you know, zoom out. Outside
of just the national title pitcher and realize that like
like Tennessee Tech being ranked in the top five, like
that's a that's a massive massive deal for that program.
We're like Western Carolina, like them making the playoffs, that'd

(04:32):
be a massive, massive deal for that program. And so
weeks like this kind of you know, maybe puts things
a bit more into perspective about how the you know,
kind of the week to week drama can we get
very very exciting with the FCS, especially now as we
hit November, where uh, you know, it's week to week,
but also people take more of a big picture perspective
as far as you know, who's in position for home

(04:53):
field advantage in the first round by and who's in
and out, who's in and out of the bubble. So
it's it's a really really exciting time. And and I mean,
I if I had to pick a weekend where there's
absolutely chaotic results, like I would pick early November rather
than you know, in September, just because it seems like
the implications of these.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
In November hits so much harder.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
So as we usually do, let's go with three game
balls and a flag from this last weekend. I mean,
we each always on purpose you know, do different game
balls and different flags. We don't overlap, but even with
four selections a piece, we're still gonna miss, you know,
some of the crazy results that happened. So I'll hand
it back to you for your first game ball.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, the first game ball has to be Indiana State here.
I think this SAM was the biggest upsode of the weekend.
Guess Chase Mason was hurt, but I don't think anybody
expected Indiana State to pull this one off. And I'm
going to get I think we're going to talk about
the South Dakota State side later in this segment, so
I don't want to spend a lot of.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Time on them.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
And even though Indiana State only had none first downs,
they only ran for forty total yards, SAM, they delivered
in crucial moments over and over and over again. They
were able to create explosive plays. The big kickoff return
by Rochelle was massive, really swung the game in their favor.
And then every single time they needed to make a play,

(06:14):
Keegan Patterson found a way to make one, whether it
was the big sixty four yard drive in the third quarter,
whether it was a huge completion in the fourth to
put this game away with about three minutes left. That
fifty seven yard bomb was the final score in the game.
And then defensively, even though it was a young quarterback
at the helm, I thought, I thought Indiana State played

(06:35):
fairly well defensively. They forced some key turnovers, they tightened
up the defense when it mattered most, and you could
say South Dakota State moved the ball well from twenty
to about the fifty, like they were doing a good
job getting into Indiana State territory. But that Indiana State
defense made plays when they needed to. I thought Camille

(06:57):
Clark showed why he was a preseason All American, why
he was one of the top transfers this offseason. I
was really impressed with Indiana State. And I know people
are just going to look at the box score sound,
but if you go and watch this game, it was
clutch play after clutch played made by the sick of Moores.
And this was a massive win on the road for
this program and one that is like really and truly

(07:17):
a signature win that they've had in the past few years.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, this was the most stunning upset of the weekend.
And I mean it was a game that I didn't
even put in my picks column because typically you don't
put like gimme games or what you perceived as gimme
games and your picks column. You know, I try to
put games in there that are fifty to fifty or
you know, maybe sixty forty type of games, the ones
that I think are potentially going to be closest. And

(07:45):
so yeah, this one I kind of overlooked as far
as even being on the radar of an upset. And
I think South Kota State was like thirty two and
a half point favorites, which I mean I would have
taken the spread, you know, on that one. I want
to thought South Kota State would have won by that much.
But yeah, I was definitely a stunning, stunning up set.
They're in the FCS. My first game ball I will

(08:07):
give it to Abilene Christian. They hand Tarleton State its
first loss of the season, and Abiline Christian really jumped
out in and dominated this game early on. Ableing led
twenty eight to ten. Then Tarlton comes all the way back,
ties it at twenty eight twenty eight with fifty six
seconds left, but then the Wildcats they drive into field
goal arrange rather quickly and Brandon Perez hits a forty

(08:30):
seven yarder as time expires for the win. And this
was a major win for Ablein Christian, one that they
needed to probably keep their playoff hopes alive. They improved
a five and four overall, but they are five and
two versus the FCS and one of the more interesting
resumes to look at because they do have four ranked wins,

(08:50):
but they also have two losses to unranked teams as well.
So Apleing kind of seems like that team that plays
up to its competition and also down to its competition.
And I felt this was going to be a really
competitive game because it was it was a home game
for Ablein. It was homecoming for them as well. They
had a bye week to prepare. And I wrote it
too that I felt like Ablaine Christian was going to

(09:11):
treat this game like a playoff game because they frankly
had to probably went out to keep their playoff hopes alive.
And so I picked Tarleton to win this one. But
I really felt that if Tarleton were to slip up
once this season, I had the Ablene Christian game circled
as that most most likely game for Tarleton to trip up.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Such an impressive performance by ACU and even down the
stretch when Tarlton was was mounting that comeback. For them
to put together that last job, Sam was amazing, and
I thought they did a really good job against a
really good rushing attack of Charlton who was missing their
leading rusher and Trey Page.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
But still I thought they did a good job there.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
And then for them to run the ball against one
of the best run defenses in the country was super
impressive and I think it shows if you remember Sam,
they actually this able and Christian team ran the really
well against North Dakota State last year in the playoffs,
had an early lead and they moved the ball well.
So this offense has been super hard to defend for
a lot of opponents. And like you said, it's tough

(10:10):
to win on the road in conference, but Abilene keeps delivering.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
In the biggest games.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Moving on to my next game, Ball not one of
the upsets, but I felt like this had to be mentioned.
This was one of the bigger games of the week
Dartmouth at Harvard, and Harvard absolutely dominated this game. Sam
jumped out to a seventeen to nothing lead, built it
out to a thirty one to ten victory. Jade and
Craig played outstanding three twenty two four touchdowns, completed a

(10:36):
good bit of his passes. Brady Blackburn was excellent wide receivers.
Seamus gil Martin at tight end was one of the
top tight ends coming into the year.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
He played well.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
I thought the defensive line did a really really good
job against the run, holding Dartmouth to one point nine
yards per carry, three sacks, and Dartmouth's offense just did
not have any answers. And you look at this Harvard
team right now, Sam, they are checking all the boxes
for me.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
And I know a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
I've seen a lot of people look at ballots and
stuff like that and say sell me on Harvard. I
don't believe in Harvard right now. They don't have any
signature wins. I'm gonna be honest, Like, resume matters a lot, Sam,
and I value resume a lot, but the eye test
also matters. I have to trust my eyes when I
turn on and I've watched football for a long time.
I trust my football IQ when I watch this team.

(11:21):
This team is a bona fide top ten team in
the country.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
They are rolling through people and even when they don't
play their a game, they are winning by double digits.
They are dominating teams. Their defense is so opportunistic. I
really really like what I see from Harvard, and they
have the experience at quarterback, which is a big check
mark once you get into postseason play.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, I've been very impressed with Harvard and they're potentially
moving into that top eight seed discussion just with how
they're dominating and also with some teams that I've lost,
and you know, they're strict. The schedule isn't going to
be great, but I do wonder kind of how that
strick the schedule could could adjust a little bit as

(12:02):
we progress throughout the future seasons when it comes to
maybe getting more respect toward the IVY League, because it
is hard to know like where the conference stacks up
compared to some of the top tier and second tier conferences.
But I do think the IVY League is a good
is a good conference, and I mean Dartmouth came in
with a five and one record in Harvard, like you.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Said, dominated them. And I think Penn and Yale.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Are also two pretty good teams as well in the
IVY League, and I think those are the last two
games of the season for Harvard, and so if they
keep on dominating what I think is a solid conference,
I do think Harvard has a chance to potentially get
a first round by my second game ball, I will
give it to Idaho State. They hand UC Davis its
first FCS loss of the season, winning thirty eight to

(12:48):
thirty six. Another game winning field goal here we had
Trey Jon Sinatra. He had a fifty yarder with fifty
two seconds left to knock off Davis. And this was
a home game for Davis as well. Dis Broke, who
I believe we've talked about before earlier on you know
this season. He's a really, really good running back. He
goes for two hundred and nineteen yards and a couple

(13:09):
of touchdowns. You know, Idaho State's kind of been that
that frisky team. They had a couple of close losses
to FBS opponents.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
They also had that.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Back and forth game I had home versus Montana a
few weeks ago. So they are three and six overall
right now, three and four versus the FCS. But you know,
they're a team you definitely don't want to mess around with.
And it was just kind of a sloppy some you know,
a lot of errors for UC Davis to lose that one,
and they do have some injuries that are stacking up.

(13:37):
Cainan Pinnick did come back. He missed last week's game
due to a sickness. He was back, but there's you know,
loads of injuries on the defensive side of the football
for for UC Davis. And I mean we'll touch on
you know, South Gota State a little bit more. But
depth is is is such a luxury to have in
the FCS, and not many teams have that level of

(13:58):
depth where you can lose multiple starters and be able
to plug in guys and don't take that big of
a step back. I think we're seeing that with Davis
a little bit, especially on the defensive side of the football.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
And we're gonna talk about another team here that probably
has the same type of loss this weekend where they
maybe have they maybe outplayed their opponent just in terms
of down to down, but turnovers and crucial mistakes really
cost them the game. And I thought, you see, Davis
played pretty well. It was just there were some freshman
mistakes that you expect from from a red shirt freshman

(14:31):
and came to Pennick starting for his first time. Sam,
I think that really hurt them in some really really
crucial moments in Idaho. State's good enough, especially with brooks
Are running back. They got some they got some really
good wide receivers as well. They're they're going to make
you pay if you make too many mistakes. So I
do think you see, Davis is gonna be okay. But
like you said, getting healthy is is the number one thing.
My last game ball here again one of the upsets

(14:54):
of the weekend. Incardinate Word knocking golf Lamar was the
top fifteen team in the stats perform Pole Again. What
a defensive performance from Incarnate Word and that's kind of
been the common theme here, right, So when they knocked
off Abalone Christian because a defense really really was lockdown.
They hold them to one point eight yards per carry,

(15:14):
they notched five sacks. Robert Coleman a little bit banged
up after this game. Adam McCowan the same thing. So
they just got after the quarterback and they were super physical.
I really liked what I saw from Declan Williams Kendrick
stone mathis that they had some guys that just went
out there and made plays. And then also too, the
offense in the first half was amazing. The carnate word

(15:36):
comes out, immediate touchdown, fourteen plays, fifty five yards. They
scored two more times before halftime to really put this
game away. The one thing I wish is in the
second half their offense showed a little bit more consistency,
but to hold Lamard only two hundred and twenty six
total yards was super impressive.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
They find a way to win.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
And the reason I gave them with the game ball
sum is there's a real chance when you load up
in the transfer portal like this that you see.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
These teams that don't live up to the expectations.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
They just almost quit and you don't see that same fire,
you don't see that same motivation and things to spar
out of control. And I thought the past two weeks
losing to East Texas A and M losing to ut RGV,
the way they did this was a real chance for
this thing to really really get off the rolls. And
this team finished maybe three to nine or even worse.
I was really impressed with the cardinate word, the way

(16:24):
they bounced back and got this win over a really
good Lamar team.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Yeah, I was gonna mention that too, just to get
a bounce back like this, because they did. I mean,
they returned a decent chunk of last year's squad that
made the quarterfinals, and they landed so many splash transfers
this offseason. And coach Killo was on you know, my podcast,
and I asked him how they were able to get
some of these guys through the transfer portal, and you know,
he said, they want to win a national championship. And

(16:48):
you know, again at the time, you know his statement,
and you know our rankings of UIWA in the preseason,
you know, on paper, you know, we thought they were
a top five team and potentially could be a contender,
but they fell so far off the national radar. You know,
they were sitting at two and six, and like you said,
their losses to East Texas A and M and UTRGV

(17:08):
were just ugly losses, allowing fifty plus points to both
of those teams. For them to get a kind of
a bounce back win like this when you felt like
maybe maybe some guys were kind of you know, phoning
it in a little bit and kind of just somewhat
giving it up on the season, I was good to
see them have that bounce back performance like they did.
My last game ball, I will give it to Southern Utah.

(17:29):
They beat Austin P thirty three to seventeen. Southern Utah
they're on a three game winning streak right now and
that features two wins over ranked teams, one being Austin
P of course, but they also beat Dabbling Christian of
all teams a few weeks ago. And in some of
their losses, I mean, they battled Tarleton State tough. They
had a close loss against West Georgia, another close loss Againstorethern, Arizona.

(17:51):
They played UC Davis pretty tough as well. So this
is a team a bit similar to Idaho States that
you definitely don't want to mess around with. And Joshua
Dide I think he is a top tier running back
in the FCS. He's been absolutely fantastic for Southern Utah.
He goes for over one hundred and fifty rushing yards.
He had some big time runs in this one. So

(18:13):
you know, Southern Utah isn't totally out of it right
now as far as you know, reaching reaching the playoffs.
They would definitely have to have to win out to
have a shot at at seven and five.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
Maybe that would give him a.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Chance, but it kind of seems like, similar to last year,
there's going to be, you know, a performance that they're
going to look back on and be like, man, that
shouldn't have happened. And the obvious one was losing to
San Diego in early September. That one could could really
come back to bite Southern Utah, who's much better than
what the record indicates. And for Austin P, I mean,
this one definitely sets them back. They now fall to

(18:47):
five and four, they do still have that dominant FBS
win over Middle Tennessee State, also a win over West Georgia,
who was ranked at the time. I'm not sure if
West Georgia has come back into the rankings just yet
or not, but certainly the tough loss for Austin P.
And I would say they probably have to have to
win out to to really feel good about going.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
And if they were to win out, that would mean
going to Charleton State and getting to win in the
regular season finale. So that's a definitely a game to
circle coming up in a few weeks here.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, that's gonna be a tough stretch.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
And then also too like the UAC, you really need
to hope Apple and Christian finishes strong because just one
upset loss for them could knock them out, even with
how good their resume is.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, and so I think I think me and you.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Both agree that UAC is probably going to be a
more competitive, better overall conference when ranking FCS conferences than
maybe with.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Their bid show.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
And it's gonna be unfortunate where if, like something crazy
you have is to only get one bid, I still
think you can make an argument that it's the third
best conference in the FCS.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, and we kind of saw that with the soilkon
last year. They only got one team in, but they were,
you know, certainly much better than what that number of
bid indicated.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
So I mean, moving here to my lag, I'm going
to kind of build it off my initial game ball
with Indiana State, but it goes to South Dakota State,
and I do just I just want to say, like,
I understand the fact that you're missing your starting quarterback
with Chase Mason, but Sam, I think I don't remember
if we talked about it last week, but there were

(20:18):
fundamental issues with this team that we kind of solve
with Chase Mason there, and I think he was able
to mask them. And I really do think there's just
some things that they're not doing well, like they're not
running the football well, the offensive line isn't playing outstanding.
I thought they got everything you could out of the defense.
And I know there were some people that are like,
you allowed too many explosive plays, this and that, Sam.

(20:41):
They allowed none first downs, only one of those came
off of penalty, So really eight first downs, you hold them.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
To two point two point.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
Zero yards per rush, You only allow one hundred and
eighty eight passing yards, and you hold them to two
hundred and twenty eight total yards. I don't know what
else you could ask from the defense.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
They only had that.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
They were three for Alen on third down, only eighteen
minutes of possession. Tom, you can't ask for anything more defensively.
I just felt like there were ways to put Marble
and even like a Jack Henry in better positions. They
were sacked five times against Indiana State. They lost a
line of scrimmage battle against Indiana State. And you figure,
even with an injury, Sam, you should be able to

(21:20):
run the football. If you're South Dakota State against Indiana State.
That just feels like a guarantee. Loffridge only three carries.
I heard he was banged up, but then they really
didn't have any anybody else behind him that was able
to generate anything. Alex Bullock was good at wide receiver,
but behind him, I don't know what the overall talent

(21:41):
there is. Ogrosky is still out. There's just a lot
of questions I have about this team, and there were
a ton of missed opportunities now for more turnovers where
Indiana State just dropped the interceptions. They put the ball
in harm's way over and over, and I talked about
it yesterday. I believe it was eight drives inside Indiana
State territory that ended with no points. That is a

(22:02):
losing recipe against anybody. And I was just overall a
little bit disappointed with the energy and what would just
just the overall execution for South Dakota State, because I
talked about this multiple times. Since Chase Mason's gotten hurt,
We've seen Tarlton continue to win without Goabala's until he
came back against better teams than Indiana State. We continue

(22:24):
to see Mom Meth win without Derek Robertson. We saw
Lamar continue to win without their starter. Jackson State is
winning without their starting quarterback. We saw UC Davis win
a game without Caden Pinnick. There's this too many examples
of teams still being able to play good football without
their starter. I understand last week was against North Dakota State,

(22:44):
and I think we all gave him a pass for that,
But to me, even without their starting quarterback, this was
an atrocious performance and I really did expect more from
the Jacks.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yeah, it just seemed like for the second week in
a row, they lacked that level of urgency they needed,
and certainly injuries are mounting up. I mean, they were
without three of their very best players entering this game,
a quarterback, wide receiver, and linebacker. And they also lost
even more guys during this game. I saw, like you said, Loffridge,

(23:14):
he he he left the game. I saw Hagen, probably
their best offensive lineman, he left the game. And even
Marvel they're now starting quarterback, he looks like he's banged up.
And so the injuries are are mounting. But even with
that said, I mean, if you if this was a
loss like to USD you know at home, you know
this last weekend, you know that that'd be one thing,

(23:38):
But losing to Indiana State, even with the amount of
injuries you have, I don't I don't think that's a
good enough excuse to say, yeah, we you know, we
lost this game because of because of all the injuries.
You still need to find a way to win that game.
And yeah, the defense played pretty well for the most part.
In the offense, like you said, moved the ball, but
just couldn't finish drives or some bad turnovers. You know,

(24:00):
Marvel is definitely telegraphing a lot of his a lot
of his throws, and so it's a very very tough
loss for South Dakota State there, and we'll see how
they rebounds from here. It sounds like Chase Mason is
nearing a return. I feel like there's a decent chance
that he could play this week.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
But I mean, are they.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
How much patient? How much more patience the South Kota
State want to have? Do they want to rush him
back where he's playing at sixty five percent this weekend
when they go to USD or do they say, well,
if we hold him out, maybe he'll get to ninety
five percent by next week and then we roll with him.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
Or is it.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
We got to start winning games right now. Is it
will be interesting to see that the Chase Mason watch
once again this week?

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Can I ask you one thing?

Speaker 3 (24:45):
And I know we got to move on here, and
this kind of builds on probably something we're going to
get into after we get out of three game balls
and a flag. When you rank a team, how do
you evaluate injuries? Because I think there's two ways to
do it. One you can just completely say listen, man,
like Chase Mason's obviously going to come back at some point.
I can't punish them too much their playing without their

(25:06):
starting quarterback. And how much do you because me and
you have both been very honest with how we do
our ballot. We don't slot vote, We just kind of
restart and we're not afraid to move a team a
large amount. Do you move them down and have to
judge them based on how they're playing right now without
Chase Mason? Because I think right now, if you just
say South Dakota State right now without Chase Mason is
not a top ten team, they just are not. Is

(25:28):
it okay to move them outside the top ten? Then
if Chase comes back, let's just say this weekend and
they beat USD by twenty, you just move them right
back up and it's fine, right, do you or do
you just have to give them the benefit of the
doubt because you know he's coming back, even though you
don't necessarily know when that is.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, I think it's definitely a balance, like when you're
projecting seeds or you're saying, this is how I would
see teams right now. You definitely look at overall body
of work. Ranking is a bit more week to week,
and and I feel is fluid, you know, like you said,
I so I bumped South Gota State outside of my
top ten. I think I have them at number twelve,

(26:08):
and a part of that is just I also you know,
if you look beyond this overall body of work, you
can also kind of tell where teams are trending. And
South Gota State is obviously trending downward. And you know,
even before Chase Mason's injury, you felt like they weren't
really peaking. They were kind of having up and down
moments compared to like, you know, Montana States. In Montana,

(26:29):
it feels like they're those type of programs are peaking
and peaking and peaking and getting better every week, and
so I already didn't really feel great about the trend
South Gooda State was going on, but they kept on winning,
so you kept them highly ranked. But now after these
two losses, I did drop them down several spots. But
like you said, if Chase Mason comes back and they
go to USD, who is now ranked, and they blow

(26:51):
them out, okay, that that moves that moves South Dakota
State up, you know, several spots. And then if they
if they win again, which I believe is Illinois States,
the next game is also gonna be a ranked opponent,
and then you you slide them up, you know, even more.
And then maybe you you quote unquote forgive the loss
to Indiana States a little bit. You don't totally forget
about it, but you forgive it a little bit based.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Off of those injuries.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
And it's kind of the same thing as you know,
like like Western Carolina for example, I think I had
them into my top five by the time, or not
top five, top twenty five by the time they were
like five and three or something like that. And even
though like five and three no great wins, you didn't
feel like their resume was that great. You also understand
that those first three losses were because of Toron Dickens,

(27:33):
and they've now won you know, X amount of games,
you know, in a row.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
So I do think.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Player availability plays a part in it as well. But
like you said, you know, all of those teams that
you mentioned have also won games without their starting quarterback,
and so it's kind of a balance of you don't
want to totally forgive a team for losing, but at
the same time you kind of keep that in the
back of your mind as you're weighing all of these
different factors.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
All right, let's go to my flake here. I'll throw
it on und They go to USD and they lose
twenty six twenty one, a game that I mean, I
almost kind of it sounds like we're almost making excuses
for you and D because we've said this when they
lost to Kansas State, and we said this when they
lost to Montana. It's a game they're going to look
back on the film and be like, we should not

(28:20):
have lost that game. But you know, at the end
of the day, too many mistakes, not making you know,
plays in crucial moments, and whether it's offensively or we're
even on special teams. Too many lapses there for U
and D, and they dug themselves into a hole. They
were down twenty six to seven. They come back and
obviously made it twenty six twenty one and had opportunities
to win that game, but ultimately didn't make didn't make

(28:45):
those plays when they really needed it too. And this
sets U and D back because I mean, with how
they were playing, you, we were saying, like, okay, like
if they went out because they have South Goota State
and NBSU at home. Now all of a sudden, we're
potentially talking about you, you know, as potentially a top
two seed, you know, if they went out, depending on
what happens with Montana. But now this sets them back.

(29:07):
Sitting at six and three, overall they have games remaining
at home versus NDSCU and STSU. Like I mentioned then
in between that they go to Murray State, and this
kind of puts the pressure on you and D now
to where they have to go to and one down
the stretch here and beat either NBCU or beat South
Dakota States and finish at eight and four. At seven

(29:30):
and five, you know, potentially I could still get in.
I would say, U and D at seven and five
still probably would get in because their projected year end
strength to schedule is projected to be number one in
the FCS, and so maybe a seven win U and
D team could get in. But you're definitely nervous on
selection Sunday compared to being eight and four, and so

(29:51):
now the kind of the pressure is on for you
and D to get one of those big wins at home.
And for USD on their side of things, this was
much needed win. The Oats are kind of in playoff mode.
With this win, they improved to six and four and
it keeps their playoff hopes alive. These next two games
for USD, they host South got To State this weekend
and then they go to Southern Illinois next weekend. They

(30:12):
actually have a bye in the final week of the
regular season. And so to me, I maybe USD at
if they split these next two games, maybe them at
seven and five they could also get in. But I
also feel like you look at un D and USD
and Illinois State and Southern Illinois and Youngstown State like
there could be a lot of seven and eight win

(30:33):
teams coming out of the Valley and guessing there aren't
going to be seven teams from the valley making the playoffs.
I don't even know if they'll be six teams. So
it's a crucial stretch here for USD in these next
two games.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, it's I think it's a weird balance, right of
trying to give a team credit for winning, but also
noting that we watched the game and you indeed just
made so many mistakes.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
And crucial moments.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Again, and that's why I kind of todd them and
UC Davis to either you look at the long kickoff return,
you look at the interceptions, you look at the defensive touchdown,
which is a big fubble return. I mean, U and
D had every chance to win this game. And again,
like you said, all three of their losses, they can
look back and say we should have won that game.
And it's a strong argument to say that they are

(31:17):
the best three three overall loss team in the country.
But there's a really strong argument that they might be
the best two lost FCS team in the country.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah, a couple more results in the top twenty five,
but we touched on NDSU if they beat Young Sound
State thirty eight to thirty, kind of a wild back
and forth game there, and I mean just on paper,
Young Sound State losing at number one NDSU about eight points,
Like that's a quote unquote quality loss. But also when
you watch this game, I mean there was Young Sound

(31:49):
State gave NDSU or not gave. I mean NDSU still
made those plays, but what fourteen if possibly even twenty
one points when it comes to turnovers and allowing a
kick return for a touchdown and then having a I
think it was a kickoff, maybe a punt, but like
this bounced straight off of a guy's face mask and
NBCU recovered. Usually in those sequences like NDSU just pours

(32:10):
it on, like when you give them points like that,
NDSU just pours it on. And we saw that against
you know, Southern Illinois when there was a crucial mistake there.
So for Young Sound State to battle back and make
that a game I thought was impressive for the Penguins.
We also touched on it at the top. But another
upset was Idaho beating going on the road and beating
number nineteen Northern Arizona thirty five thirty two. That was

(32:31):
an overtime win Halloween Nights, Late Nights. I think it
was a nine to thirty Central time start on ESPN two.
So probably not a lot of people saw the finish,
but that was a crazy one and a great a
great win for Idaho, who's not totally out of it yet.
As far as the playoff discussion, Joshua would is back
at quarterback for for the Vandals and and so we'll

(32:52):
see it if if I can go on a run
here to finish the regular season and where that puts
them on the playoff bubble. I did want to go
back to a bit of a discussion about NDSU, and
I want to pose the question, and I'm not asking
it because I necessarily believe it. I just think it's
worth a discussion. Last week, at this time, NDSU was
coming off an absolutely dominant win on the road at

(33:16):
then number two South Dakota State, and a lot of
us myself included, but also fans from Montana and Montana
State and all the other fan bases, we were pretty
much for the most part crowning NDSU the national champion,
saying it's the Bison versus the field. Everyone's playing for
second place. Based off of that win and how good
NDSU looked, but after seeing how bad South Kota State

(33:37):
looked against Indiana State, and after seeing Youngstown State battling
tough with NDSU, my question for you is, did we
jump the gun a little bit as far as saying
it's NDSU versus the field and everyone's playing for second place?

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Okay, I'm so glad you asked this question, and it's
because I don't really look at it as like a
black and white thing where, yeah, I think there's some
nuance to this conversation, because can I offer this point?
Was there potentially a Dakota Marker hangover for indissue, which
historically has been a thing where it's an emotional game,

(34:16):
it's a robbery game, big blot win. I know that
it was still a rank matchup at home, but there
could have just been a little bit of a hangover there.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
And I think that's fair.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
I was gonna say, like you, and you hate, like,
I think that's fair and maybe it's partially true, but
like you also like, I hate saying that even though
probably is true, because then it feels like you're taking
away from Youngstown State's performance. But also like, because I
saw some people saying, like, oh, like young Sound State,
how they look like they could be a quarterfinal team,
man like, maybe, But I've also saw Youngstound State squeak

(34:47):
by Towson, and I've watched Young Sound State get blown
out for the most part at U and D. And
I've also saw South Dakota State, who's not even a
good running team, run rough shot over Youngstown State in
the second half.

Speaker 4 (34:59):
You know, on the road.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
It's like, I don't know, it was youngstowne State that good?
Was it an off day for NBCU was a combination
of both, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
Yeah, So that's one part of it, but that I
wanted to offer this part of it to you for
the argument toward NDSU, I personally think just watching the game,
this was the worst game, worst overall game I've seen
in DSU play this year, just in terms of execution
and things like that, especially offensively, And they still put

(35:29):
up thirty eight points and beat a potentially top twenty
to top fifteen team playing probably their C game. If
they're that good to play a C type of game
and still beat top twenty five teams like this, I
think it shows that if they're locked in, especially when

(35:50):
it comes playoff time, it's going to be really hard
for anybody to beat them, like you're gonna have to
hope you catch them on an off day like this.
And so I think there's also that point too, is
that they played their worst game and still find a
way to win against a really good Youngstown team that
was executing on a pretty high level. Like I do
want to say this, bo Brontguard made his case. I
think this weekend for the Walter Payton he statistically did

(36:12):
outplay Cole Payton this weekend, and I think there's a
good argument that he made his case. But again, and
I talked about this too, as voters, especially for Walter
Payton voters, you really have to watch the games because
it's statistically bad. As maybe Cole Peyton looked, Sam, I don't.
I don't know how much of this game you got
to watch. There were probably what five to six plays

(36:33):
that Cole Payton made that probably won them this game. Yeah,
outside of the Jackson Williams.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
Kickoff, especially on threw down some of the throws he made.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
He's so good in those moments.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
And so I'll offer that that maybe he is still
the best player. But I thought Youngstown more than one
thing could be true. Youngstown's still good enough where those
fans are saying that same where they can make a
quarterfinal run, They're probably right. If bo Brontguard's locked in, Sam,
you look across the country, there's not a lot of
defenses that are equipped to if he's playing his best game,

(37:03):
and they have some talent around like Max tom Zack's
a matchup nightmare on the outside. Jaden Gilbert has had
his games. So I thought that it's a really good,
really good performance like Youngstown. But I still think it's
somewhere in between. Where am I still confident that it's
North Dakota State's championship to lose this year?

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Sam?

Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yes, I will never going to turn from that unless
the film indicates otherwise. But does it mean that if
North Dakota State plays a bad game that they can't
be had. I think that's a no, because I'll offer
you this to you. I think right now, if we're
talking about just film, take resumes out of it, take
rosters out of it. If we're just looking at who's

(37:42):
playing the best football, Montana State is clicking right now
and they look really good, And I don't know if
you could convince me that they wouldn't have a shot
at n DSU right this second, if they played tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, I think I do think Montana State is better
than last year in different ways. But I also think
NBC was better than last year as well, and I
think Montana continues to get better as well. I think
those are our two, you know, or three scary teams
in the playoff Pitcher. I do still think it's NDSU

(38:19):
versus the field, but maybe it's not like how ends
you beat Southcota State? Last week was just kind of
like jarring, and so I think that's why there were
so many of those rapid reactions of like nothing else matters,
everyone else is playing for second place. I feel like
maybe the Bison aren't head and shoulders better than everyone else,
but they still are certainly better than everyone else. And like,

(38:42):
I don't think it's necessarily like the twenty twenty three,
like what did South Kota State? It was like hundred,
Like I can't remember what they outscored their playoff upon
US by, but it was a lot too a little.
I don't necessarily think it's gonna be that where NDSC
was beating everyone in the playoffs thirty five to seven,
like certainly second round, probably quarter final. But I mean
if they get a Tarleton State team, you know coming in,

(39:04):
could that be you know, maybe a thirty eight twenty eight,
thirty eight thirty type of ballgame.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Maybe, But go ahead, Oh, I will say yeah, because
that that South Dakota State team only allowed fifteen points
in four playoff games.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, that was That's insane.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
Now the question is if they do this to North
Dakota on the road, does the conversation change.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
A little bit.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
As far as like you.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Mean, like in terms of this conversation, like would it
change your opinion at all if they go out and
beat North Dakota about two or three touchdowns?

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, and the potential, yeah, potentially, you know, especially going
to U and D. You know, that's a really tough
place to play. But I mean it's also because that
kind of leads me into my next point here is
last week we were kind of looking at it as
you know, like, well, NDSU, I mean, there's no guarantee
that they get a top two see if they lose
a game, because if they lose to un D and

(40:04):
then un D wins out, it's like you would have
to see the U and D ahead of NDSU, and
you know, if you do that and Montana wins out,
then you have to see the grids ahead of un
D and so you know, maybe a one lost Bison
team would have to go on the road in the
semi finals. But that was last week, and after Tarleton
lost and after you and D lost, you kind of
feel like NDSU has much more wiggle room now compared

(40:25):
to last week, where if they were to lose this weekends,
I mean, they still probably are going to be and
this is their only loss obviously eleven and one, like,
it's probably a top two seed. I would say, a
two seed behind a twelve to zero Montana team or
a one seed if Montana State beats Montana. So it

(40:45):
feels like NDSU might already have home field advantage locked up.
And we saw that last year, right they lost to
USD and they still got a top two playoff seed.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, because after this week, unless something insane happens and
they get beat by Northern I or St. Thomas, which
isn't gonna happen, that the conversation would change in But yeah,
I think if they lose this weekend, it really doesn't matter.
Their resume is already to the point and it was
kind of like this last year where it's it's kind
of solidified right where. I mean, you look in right now,

(41:16):
they have five ranked wins, they're gonna have a they're
gonna have a top strength to schedule. They already have
five wins in the top So just in terms of
power ratings like Sagarin Metrics they have they have five
wins in the top twenty one.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
So even with the loss of you, indeed, they're going
to have a top two resume, And then it kind
of begs to question the only team that might be
able to push them a little bit, Sam, is what
happens if Montana State and Montana went out and Montana
loses like a three point game to Montana State. Do
you give the edge to a one loss Montana or

(41:56):
do you give the loss to or do you give
the edge to a one lost North Dakota. That could
be the only conversation because there is a chance that
they would give the one seed to Montana State. There
really is a chance that because they would have a really,
really good win, and that the argument could be their
loss to South Dakota State was at full strength in
DSU didn't get to face STSU at full strength.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's fair. Certainly, it definitely feels like that
Brawl the Wild game looking ahead. In past years, the
loser has dropped several spots.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
But it seems to me it kind of seems.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Like the top three are you don't want to say
solidified just yet when it comes to seats, because you
never know what can happen. But you know, NDSU, you know,
like we said, is even if they lose this weekend,
still likely going to be in the top two, if
not the top three, and then Montana Montana State assuming

(42:50):
they went out, which Montana State still has to host
UC Davis a week before the Row the Brawl of
the Wild, so that could be a tricky game there.
But if the Grizz and the Cats when now it's
heading into the brawl, like the winner there is probably
you know, a top two seed and then the loser
probably just.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Sticks at at.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
The three spot because I don't know if like what
a one loss Tarleton team jump Montana State for the
three seed. If Montana State were to lose, I'm not
sure if that would happen or not.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
That would be an interest that would be a super
interesting debate, right because you'd have Charlton with an FBS
win their only lost to Abeligue Christian. While let's just
say this scenario, a Belie wins out and they're in
the playoffs, they would have one loss to a playoff
team on the road by three. Montana State would have
an overtime loss at home to South Dakota State. So

(43:42):
I guess it also kind of depends on how South
Dakota State finishes out if they lose to USD this weekend.
Let's just say SDSU is not a top eight seed
in this conversation, does that change the committee's opinion on this?
And also I do think for this conversation, particularly with
Tarlton versus Montana State, it probably depends on how Montana
State loses. Is if it's competitive, I think the loser

(44:04):
of the brawl is probably the three seed. But what
happens if we've seen this historically in the brawl, we've
seen teams get blown out. What happens if Montana State
loses by two touchdowns three touchdowns? That probably changes the
conversation too, where they might fall to a four or
five seed.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, that's probably a big reason why the loser has
dropped so far, just because the losing team on the
road has always dropped that game in ugly fashion. And
so yeah, I do think Charleton is going to end
up with the top four seed assuming they went out's
you know, I know a lot of people have kind
of dropped them pretty far in the rankings or some
people have been tweeting like, oh this is like I

(44:43):
can't remember who it was. Some fans said like, oh,
it's a good thing. The playoff Committee isn't going to
waste the top four seed on Tarlton State now after
that loss. And I don't know, I still think if
they went out, they're probably going to be a top
four seed, probably at that at that four spot behind
the Montana teams in North Dakota State. But like you said,
if if Montana State gets blown outs and it seems

(45:05):
like this year, I don't like, maybe you favor the
GRIZ a little bit, but it seems like this year,
whoever does win, it's probably gonna be a close game
in the brawl the while at least we hope so
just for for entertainment sakes, but I mean, yeah, I
mean it does would the committee see eleven and one
Tarleton State team over a what would it be a
nine and three Montana State team if they were to

(45:26):
lose nine to two versus the FCS. You know, I
don't know that that could be a decent discussion right there,
But I don't think the well Tarleton State is no
longer going to be a top four seed, Like I
disagree with that because I don't know who would jump,
Like I don't know if Lehigh or Harvard or Tennessee
Tech or mom Ith like, I don't know if any
of those undefeated teams would jump an eleven in one

(45:47):
Tarleton State team for that number four seed.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
That kind of leads me to a next question.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
Real quick, I agree with you, and people who say
that are going to be real disappointed. I think Wednesday
this week, when Charlton's still a top five team in
the playoffs, I'm almost certain four. Yeah, they might be four,
and people are gonna be pissed. But I'm telling you
it's gonna Their resume is so good and it's one
loss on the road to a ranked team that's not
a bad loss. Like everyone acted like they got exposed.

(46:12):
I don't think they got exposed at all, Like they
just lost to a good athlete Christian team.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Don't let the record fool you.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
I mean Montana, Montana lost at UH Northern Arizona a
couple of years ago, and they still end up with
the top two playoffs se because other things, you know,
shook out their way, So you can get by with
the with the loss like that that Tarleton State suffered.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Well, well, that gets into the whole, and I kind
of talked I've talked about this before, the whole almost
looking at like the big sky in the valley, like
the SEC and P four, where an upset in the
SEC or big Sky means I was so deep and
it's so competitive and it's so hard to get through.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
An upset in the.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
UAC just means the UAC is overrated and it's not
viewed the set like people forget, like Montana was on
the ropes against Idaho State. Ablin Christian is better than
Idaho State. I think me and you would both agree
to that point right now that I think the app
the Abolene Christian team would beat Idaho State if they
played tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
So that's a whole other conversation.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
But is there a glass ceiling right now for a
LEHA team who's probably gonna finish twelve and zero all
D one wins. Is there any chance they break into
that top four or potentially even pushed for a three?

Speaker 4 (47:24):
May?

Speaker 1 (47:24):
I mean they're there are four in one of them
or both of the polls actually, so potentially, And I
mean they're not going to have any ranked wins, but
they do have wins over is it Penn and Yaleale?

Speaker 4 (47:41):
Yeah, who are fine?

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Technically Richmond is a then ranked win because richmand was
ranked at the time of that win.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
And uh who they beat this last week in Georgetown,
you know had had a pretty good record. Uh, Lafayette,
who's you know, one of the oldest and best rivalries
in all of college football. Like Lafayette has a good
record right now, So like Lehigh isn't going to have
any like currently ranked wins, but they're gonna have wins
over over teams whose combined record it is looking pretty good.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
So maybe Lehigh could crack into it.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
But you know, I don't know if they if they
would get into that top four because I don't know
if they would jump a team like like Tarleton or
even a potentially three lost Montana State team.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Yes, so you'd probably do some chaos.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
You wouldn't need like UC Davis to knock off Montana
State or Montana to slip up or Tarlton to slip
up again to like Austin p Potentially like that, that's
probably what you would need, because I don't think Tennessee
Tech's gonna have the strength of schedule to get into
the conversation even if they went out. Plus they have
an FBS game that they're gonna drop, so they won't
finish completely undefeated. Plus they got a non D one
wine start the year.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
With that said, though, like let's let's stick with the
hypothetical that Montana State loses one more time and that's
at Montana. I mean, I'm almost jump into assumptions here
that three Montana State team would be a top four seed,
if not a top three seed. But I mean Northern
Arizona has, you know, has maybe fallen back quite a bit,
especially after their last loss.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
We'll see where U see Davis uh is at.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
And so there's potentially that you know, a nine to
three Montana State team, they might only have one win
over a ranked team who's currently ranked, and that.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
Would be UC Davis.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
And so I mean, maybe it is too much of
an an assumption to say the winner of the brawl
is a top two seed, the loser is going to
be at, you know, a three seed. That's that's maybe
assuming things a little bit too much.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
I think a lot of it's leaned on the odd test,
right because I think when me and you watch Montana State,
they're probably a top three team. But if we're basing
it off a resume, I don't think their resume is
better than Charlton right now. Yeah, just in terms of
equality wins, it is, like you said in a u's
not been what and like what happens if UC Davis
continues to struggle they just lost this weekend, There's there's

(49:59):
not all of the run possible that because sax State's
playing pretty well right now too, Like what if sax
State catches UC Davis end the season, that win could
not age as well as Montana State fans made like,
So I agree with you that maybe it's not locked in.
I think the most curious team I'm looking at is Harvard,
just because we don't have any data points to compare
this too historically on how the playoff committee is going

(50:20):
to look at them. And I do wonder with less
games that they've played, and me and you have kind
of had this debate on is it really that many
less games? Does it really matter at the end of
the day. Probably not, But if they went out, I
do wonder how high they could really go. And this
is our first opportunity to see how much the committee
really respects the IVY League and where they have them

(50:40):
in the pecking order compared to some of these other conferences.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
Yeah, I wonder how much score comparing could possibly be
going on, comparing how Harvard beats Penn and Yale compared
to Lehigh because they both might kind of have similar resumes.
Over All, Leehig would end up with two more D
one wins assuming they finished twelve and OHO and Harvard
finishes ten to o. So yeah, there's a lot of

(51:05):
different ways things can shake out. And there's a ton
of ranked matchups still to come. I mean, we're not
gonna have time here obviously to go through and dive
into Week eleven games. We have five ranked matchups. Number
one NDSU goes to number thirteen, U Indy number eight,
South Gota State goes to number twenty two. South Dakota
number twelve Mercer goes to number twenty four Western Carolina.

(51:27):
I actually think that might be the most intriguing game
out of this bunch. Number fifteen SIU goes to number
twenty one Young Sound State, and then number nineteen Southeastern
goes to number twenty Lamar. It's definitely a fascinating race
in the Southland as well.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
So a lot of.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Ranked matchups this week, and a lot more ranked matchups
as well coming up in the final two weeks of
the regular season to see how all this shakes out
for conference championships in auto bid and who's in and
who's out for the playoff pitcher so should be an
absolute blast.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Zach.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Any final words here before we sign off. I, Man,
I'm excited for this weekend. Maybe we'll get back to
back chaos weekends, and I'm just so glad that we
got this chaos weekend the week of the Playoff Committee's
new top ten, because it is going to put them
to the test and we're going to get a lot
of information on how they evaluate teams and what they
really value.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
Man.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
So I do think it was perfect timing for this
chaos weekend and I can't wait to break it all
down next week after we get done.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Yeah, we'll see what happens this weekend. I will say
all of the higher ranked teams in these ranked matchups
are all road teams this weekend, so we shall see
what happens this weekend, but we'll be back next week
to recap it all. Thank you everyone for listening, and
we'll catch you guys on the flippity flip