How does Division I-AA do their playoffs?
I played at a I-AA school. We were in the playoffs 2 years.
It’s kind of like seeding in the NCCA Basketball Tournement.
But its not really seeded #1 plays #16, #2 plays #15 by a ranking.
The seeding determines if you have a home game or not.
Where they can, they try to match up teams in brackets that make sense regionally.
This year :
16. New Hampshire (7-4) at 1. UNI (11-0)
9. Delaware State (10-1) at 8. Delaware (8-3)
12. Fordham (8-3) at 5. Massachusetts (9-2)
13. Eastern Illinois (8-2) at 4. Southern Illinois (10-1)
15. Eastern Washington (8-3) at 2. McNeese State (11-0)
10. James Madison (8-3) at 7. Appalachian State (9-2)
14. Wofford (8-3) at 3. Montana (11-0)
11. Eastern Kentucky (9-2) at 6. Richmond (9-2)
You can see the seedings and what they “try” to do.
4 of the first round matchups are bus rides for the visitors.
If it was a real seeding based on pure power rankings, every would be flying, and the away teams would have almost no fans at the game.
The championship game is pre-set, and has been in Chatanooga, TN for the past couple of years.