I would hope we would jump to 2, or maybe even 1 depending on if South Dakota beats North Dakota St.

UCD: 11-0 in FCS, wins over 2 top-10 teams (Idaho and Mont St) and maybe a third (Mont if they beat Mont St).
SDST: 9-1 in FCS, wins over 2 top-10 teams (South Dakota and Incarnate Word), two wins over top-15ish teams (Missouri St, who is transitioning but might finish 8-4, and Illinois St).
South Dakota: 7-2 in FCS, but no ranked wins. Alt would be if they beat NDST, they're 8-1 in FCS but only the 1 top-5 win.
NDST: 11-0 in FCS, wins over a top-3/4 SDST, a top 5-8ish South Dakota (depending on the loss), two top-15 wins (Missouri St and Illinois St) and another top-25 win (East Tenn St). Only loss to a good Colorado team by 5. So they're ahead of us if they win out. If they lose to South Dakota, then it's closer and you could make an argument for us to be 1.

Correct. #1 and #2 teams get 3 home games if they don't lose. #3 an #4 get 2 home games at least (potential for more if the seeds above win). #5-#8 get one home game for sure.

2018, They had a first round bye.
The Reno game was November 17th, Thanksgiving was the 22nd and they played in Davis on December 1st vs UNI.

thanksgiving was early in 2018 (11/28) so no excuse for low turnout. My memory is that the place was pretty full., certainly not 1/4 below ‘capacity’. Of course. My memory might be faulty!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_UC_Davis_Aggies_football_team

November had five Thursdays that year, so Thanksgiving was the 22nd. When it has 5 Thursdays, the last ones (29th or 30th) are after. It can fall between 11/22 and 11/28. Whereas this year it has 4 so it falls on the 28th, my dad and neice's birthdays.

Either way, a bye would be nice.

I seem to remember we had a pretty good crowd for UNI game and the crowd was more vocal in their support than the typical "politely quiet" Aggie crowd.

Agreed. The best "crowd" we remember experiencing, despite the attendance total numbers.

@aggie08@cmt
Even the SDSU podcast guys acknowledge Davis would jump to #2 if Davis wins out. Getting home games through the semifinals would be huge.

I screwed up and scheduled an out of town trip 12/7. What are the chances we would either be on the road that day or have a bye?

if we secure a bye for the first round (11/30), we'll be home on the 7th for sure. If we don't get a bye, play/win in the first round, we'll be away on the 7th.

My wife is throwing her parents a 50th anniversary party that day. The dinner portion of it is from 5-7. I've been trying to get her to let me skip the party if Davis plays at home that day but my argument that her parents have an anniversary every year whereas UCD isn't always in the playoffs didn't sway her at all. She said I could leave after an hour if it was a 7 p.m. game but we don't schedule 7 p.m games after October. Our playoff game in 2018 was at 4 p.m. So basically I'll have to hope there's a TV in the room at the restaurant where we're having the party.

Ok, thanks blue and cmt. We booked the eagles in vegas. I guess I’ll see how the cards fall this saturday and see if i can trade the tickets for another day. They weren’t cheap, but more importantly its as important to my wife as the playoffs are to me.

Missing the Ags would be a bummer but the Eagles show will be amazing. I first saw them in concert at The Day on the Green in the Oakland Coliseum in 1976 but never saw them again until their Farewell Tour in 2021 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Glen Frey had passed away but they were still amazing. It'll be a great show in The Sphere.

unless we flop the next two games, we’re home after a bye

The College Sports Journal GPI (Gridiron Power Projection) currently has the Aggies projected as the #4 seed and a possible 2nd round matchup vs the winner of East Tennessee State vs #13 UT-Martin.

https://www.college-sports-journal.com/csj-gridiron-power-index-2024-ncaa-fcs-playoff-projection-11-15-2024/

Sucks to lose, but if we roll sac state we should be #4 if USD loses to NDSU. This team is really good.

https://www.youtube.com/live/c8swISojjYI?si=eOVc58gEmIUbzi1T

Projected playoff field based on projected results in the last week
https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2024-playoff-predictions-6-bzbz/



Still seems strange to have South Dakota dropping to 9 after losing to the No. 1 team but all I care about is that 4 next to UC Davis.

I don't think they' would set up the brackets so Davis' first game is in all likelihood a conference rival, especially since they said second round games are not regionalized.

An attempt to summarize the BCS playoff possibilities: https://herosports.com/fcs-2024-games-to-watch-for-playoff-bubble-seeds-bzbz/

I could see them looking at a possible Montana vs Davis rematch since it would certainly make for a good payday for the NCAA. Montana fans travel about as well as Montana State fans do so maybe they could be taking attendance into consideration too.

Personally, and I suspect for most fans, it would be more interesting to play someone they didn’t play the prior month.

Having Northern Iowa come to Davis in 2018 was really cool. I'd like to see someone new.

I agree. I'd rather play someone new but I was thinking that the folks who make the selections and the schedule might think that there would be a bigger crowd because Montana fans travel well.

If Montana fans travel so well they will travel elsewhere that needs attendance.. My impression is that Davis draws better than most of the FCS teams

you took the words out of my mouth. I think our bid will have a ‘guarantee’ attendance of at least 12000, and that’s made to committee long before field is announced.

https://www.flofootball.com/articles/13043542-heres-what-the-2024-ncaa-fcs-playoffs-will-look-like

Worst case if the 'Yotes are 4th and the Ags are 5th, it's a better match up than against the Dakota or Montana States. Plus the Dome will be rocking but that's probably easier to deal with than cold or snow? I also think the Ags can beat South Dakota.

Rooting for a 4th seed though.

Sam Herder confident we will be the #4 seed if we win. That’s a bye, and home games until the semifinals which would be either at North Dakota State or Montana State if the better seeds win their playoff games.

https://herosports.com/fcs-2024-ndsu-usd-montana-montana-state-bzbz/