Playoffs???
November 21st, 2008, 9:38 am · Post a Comment · posted by Alex Kreitman
We ran an exciting story in today’s sports section about Elon University submitting a bid to host a playoff game for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Elon (8-3) has a big shot at receiving an at-large bid to the playoffs if it beats Liberty on Saturday. The thought of making the playoffs let alone hosting a playoff game has been unheard for the Elon football program in recent years.
Now I doubt Elon will get to play a home game and in fact it’s likely they’ll get screwed and have to travel to play at No. 1 James Madison University, but if they win Saturday they should be in.
All season long Elon has been represented in the Top 25 and most of the season has been in the Top 10 and even the Top 5 for two weeks. I’m still just not sure how many people know about Elon and respect the Phoenix.
If Elon makes the playoffs it will be the school’s first-ever berth and with that basically comes rookie status. I don’t think Elon will get special treatment and be able to play at home, although in today’s story, the theme coming from the selection committee is to keep teams close to home.
But with that said, most of the teams near Elon are in the Southern Conference, and they are teams Elon lost to. By rule, Elon can’t play App State or Wofford in the first round because they’re from the same conference and both teams defeated the Phoenix. Richmond is close, but the Spiders knocked off Elon in the first week of the season at Rhodes Stadium so that doesn’t seem likely.
Other possible teams Elon could host are South Carolina State, Eastern Kentucky, Colgate or Villanova. All should make the playoff and some are in with automatic bids, but most have fewer losses than Elon.
One thing going for Elon is its strength of schedule. Playing in the Southern Conference, Elon’s only two losses came to Wofford and App State; both are ranked high and are locks for the playoffs. The other loss came to Richmond, which will likely make the playoffs with an at-large bid unless something goes wrong this weekend.
But all this talk about scenarios is pointless if Elon loses to Liberty (9-2). The Flames are also battling for a playoff berth and could get one if they beat Elon. So, this basically becomes an elimination game and it should be an exciting one. I know I’ll be pulling for the Phoenix.
