Well, the good news is that Sam Houston rolled Nicholls State 41-0 and moved from #9 in the polls to #6. The bad news is that McNeese choked against Central Arkansas and gave up 10 points in the final minute to lose 27-26. Thanks a lot, McNeese. Sam Houston still needs Central Arkansas to lose another conference game to have a chance to repeat as Southland champs (outright) and get that automatic playoff berth. I think McNeese was probably the last chance for that to happen. That choke-job against Central Arkansas could really end up ruining our season...
If we take care of business (minus beating A&M) we should definitely get an at-large bid. But you can probably kiss a home playoff game goodbye without winning conference.
In the last 4, SHSU has scored 232 points and given up 59 (43 of which were to SFA) while going 4-0. I think Central Ark is primed for a loss this week @ SE LA. Then SHSU gets SE LA the week after at home. In either case, if SHSU wins out (with the probable exception of A&M), I think they get in the playoffs as an automatic or at-large.
That's good, but... That would be terrible. I really thought the home field advantage in last year's playoffs were huge. I consider myself a good fan, but there's no way I'm traveling more than 5-6 hours to see a playoff game.
With the amount of players that returned from last year, I think they'll be better prepared to play on the road than they would have been last season. I'd much rather they play in Bowers...but I still see a deep run even if they have to play on the road.
We REALLY REALLY REALLY need SE LA to beat Central Arkansas. That would make things so much easier. We will definitely make the playoffs as an at-large berth (we're currently #5 in both polls) but we need home field. Kind of weird that SE LA is undefeated in the conference, yet not even ranked. Central Arkansas is ahead of us in the conference and beat us, yet they're only ranked #14. Sam Houston is basically in 3rd place in the conference, yet ranked #5. Strange year.
I'm shocked my GSU Eagles are ranked #2 after laying an egg againt The Citadel earlier this year. It isn't even like we have been dominating teams like we used to.
Part of our ranking is based on success in the prior year. Another thing is a week or two ago, just about everyone in the top 5 lost, and we were a team that saw a big gain from it. Hopefully UCA will lose and we won't have to worry, but if UCA, SFA, and SHSU all win out, there could be a three way tie. If that happens, SFA gets the tie breaker. Then the playoff committee has to decide if the Southland is good enough to get three teams in. If not, they have to decide if they want to let SHSU in (top 10 team, could still be top 5 by season end) or UCA (at least top 15 team and a win over SHSU). I'm not too worried about the road thing. This team has been playing on the road all year (3 true home games in Huntsville).
Central Arkansas only has two conference games left, while SE Louisiana has 4. If UCA wins today against SE Louisiana, its pretty much over for conference cause UCA is prolly not gonna lose to Northwestern St. All Sam can do is win out its conference schedule (were not beating aTm last game) and let the pieces fall where they fall. Lamar, SE louisiana and Northwestern St are all Sam should be thinking about. Win those 3 games and we are in the playoffs. All the other stuff is just hoping other teams do something and I can't stand relying on others for anything. We gotta take care of business and win the next 3 games!
Well, we beat Lamar soundly. That makes the game against SE Louisiana huge. If we lose, goodbye playoffs. And though I hope we will win, SE Louisiana has been surprisingly good this year. I bought some tickets because this might be the last game played in Huntsville this year. Here's to hoping we win the game and that the OC starts using Richard Sincere to his full potential (put him at WR every once in a while, for Christsake!!!).
Just gotta win out and take the at-large bid. I don't think we're going to have that much trouble with SELA...not they way we've been playing over the last 5 games and not at home.
