DII Football Championship

While we are in week 3 of the CFB Football playoff rankings, it’s a good time to remember that there are three other divisions that have had a full tournament championship for many years.  McGowan Mania will cover each of them.

• Today — DII Championship -- championship bracket
• Tomorrow - DIII Championship
• Next week - FCS (Football Championship Sub Division) Bracket

DII Tournament

Division II has a 28 team tournament based 4 Super Regions.   The top seed in each Super Region gets a first round byes this coming weekend.   The top seeds by each Super Region

• Super Region 1 - Indiana (Pa)
• Super Region 2 - West Alabama
• Super Region 3 - Fort Hays State
• Super Region 4 - Central Washington

It’s hard to call each of the Number 1 seeds the favorites as much like the CFB rankings, these seeds to differ greatly from other polls and rankings taken throughout the season.    Here are some comments on each of the these regions:

Super Region 1

Indiana (Pa) is the number 1 seed overall.   They have victories over three teams that are in the 28 team field.  The game to watch this weekend is a rematch between #4 Shippensburg vs #5 West Chester.   Shippensburg cracked the top 25 this week and their lone loss of the season against un-ranked West Chester.

Super Region 2

Four teams from the Gulf Conference (West Alabama, West Georgia, West Florida, and Delta State) made the 28 team field.  (The number of teams / conference is always of interest to fans that wonder how the field is chosen).   Though ranked #17 in the last D2Football.com rankings, West Alabama gets the #1 seed after the 9-2 season in this tough conference.

Super Region 3

After an undefeated season, Fort Hays State gets the number #1 seed in this region.   This region also includes two time defending champion, Northwest Missouri State as the #6 seed after a 9-2 season.   Don’t count them out with two losses, as they have the top-ranked defense in DII averaging only 8.3 points allowed each game.   The first round won’t be easy for them as they face a 10-1 Ashland, that was ranked #3 in the nation in the final D2Football.com rankings.

Super Region 4

This region looks like the most competitive with at least three teams deserving of the #1 seed.   Puzzling that an undefeated Minnesota State team was seeded #2 in this region after being ranked #1 in the Super Region and #2 nationally just one week ago.   What did they do this week?  They defeated #11 ranked Sioux Falls on the road.   The seeding committee preferred to give an 11-0 Central Washington the #1.    Minnesota State will face a legitimate  challenge when they host 9-2 Colorado State Pueblo.   Minnesota State plays in the Northern Sun Conference that also placed Winona State, and Sioux Falls in the tournament.  Midwestern State 11-0 and ranked #5 nationally is also in this region.

McGowan Mania Picks

Super Region 1 - Indiana (Pa)
Super Region 2  - West Alabama
Super Region 3 - Norwest Missouri State
Super Region 4 - Minnesota State

Championship — Indiana (Pa) defeats Minnesota State