S136 First Round
Congratulations! If you made it this far then welcome to Rockne D2 National Playoff Tournament.
For the second season, we feature 31 competitive teams that are all coached by humans and one SIM controlled team... Cheyney wins the first round bye! SE Oklahoma was surprisingly vacant this season but good 60+ core talent across the board.
So who is the your favorite to win it all? If the recent research on main forums is correct, they predict the TOP 6 teams usually win it all. If that IS the case, then here are the most recent core rankings pulled on Yatzr's tool -
1. Northern Michigan 67.27 (12 seniors)
2. Texas A&M-Commerce 66.57 (11 seniors)
3. Cheyney 66.06 (12 seniors)
4. Presbyterian 65.07 (13 seniors)
5. West Chester 65.81 (13 seniors)
6. Tusculum 64.75 (16 seniors)
7. Valdosta St. 64.39 (14 seniors)
8. Winona St. 64.08 (8 seniors)
9. Saginaw Valley St. 63.97 (9 seniors)
10. Saint Joseph's 63.89 (12 seniors)
I have found that usually if you are within 6 core points you can be very competitive, depending on the position match-ups and game plan. Using that logic, nearly all of the top 20 teams have somewhat of a shot at making it to the end. The #20th ranked team is Hillsdale with a core of 61.98 and 14 seniors.
For a quick look at the brackets and my score predictions, I posted the fancy playoff bracket thing again for your viewing pleasure. I will try to predict the future and usually fail miserably, so please have hope if I pick against your team!
The game to watch tonight!
12-1 Bloomsburg (jms245)
vs
(omcs1981) Hillsdale 12-1
Jms245 is in his 4th season of a total rebuild and Omcs1981 is in his 5th season.
Both teams weigh in within 1 core point total difference.
Bloomsburg runs the pro-set and 4-3/Nickel combination
Hillsdale will be using I-form and the 3-4 defense.
Hillsdale has the slight edge on offense.
Bloomsburg has the advantage on defense.
The key difference -
Bloomsburg has more seniors and juniors on the roster and that will likely be the difference. Hillsdale's defense has only 5 seniors and the rest are made up of freshmen and sophomore's. His formation IQ may save him since the underclassmen have grown quickly. Look for both teams to try and establish the run early, but it's going to be Bloomsburg passing that may pull away as the game progresses and the younger guys start to sub in on Hillsdale.
Bloomsburg wins a very close game 38-35.
Recap tomorrow evening and we will get into more depth in the 2nd round matches.