Would not Northern Iowa get in over YSU at 5-3(6-5) even if they lose? They beat us and would finish ahead of us in the conference. If YSU wins and ND and NDS lose, YSU would finishes tied for 4th with Illinois State and YSU beat them. Not sure committee would take 4 top teams in conference, but I believe this is our best chance.
Outside of the regular season conference champion, I do not believe anywhere in the NCAA FCS Playoff Criteria does it reference the conference rankings themselves. Unfortunately for UNI, you blew it last week when you got destroyed by Missouri State. Yes they would be in if they win as they'd have the H2H edge over NDSU, YSU, ILSU, and UND, all teams they beat. However, if they lose and finish 6-5, they have nobody to blame but themselves for missing out. They were on the verge of a seed if they had won out, but they laid an egg!
To me the best path is this:
- Obviously beat Murray State!
- NDSU over UNI - To me this is the single biggest game this weekend to improve our odds. Knocks UNI out.
- ILSU over UND - Knocks UND out and gets ILSU to 7 wins which helps our resume with the H2H.
If the above happens, we should be the 4th team in out of Valley ahead of SIU with the H2H, although they could get in as the 5th team in this scenario. We will talk about this in great depth tonight on our WeAreYoungstown weekly Twitter space.
GO UNI. GO ILSU.