2023-24 FCS Playoffs ** MUST READ **
They must be getting some blowback.
406MTSPORTS: Big Sky Notebook: FCS playoff committee chair Kent Haslam sheds light on playoff selections
"The committee’s decision to select Sac State over UC Davis [their bold] came after “one of the deeper debates” the committee had during a selection process that lasted until about 1 a.m. Sunday, Haslam said. Sac State’s inclusion in the playoffs didn’t come entirely at the expense of Davis, he added. They were two of several 7-4 teams — along with some 8-3 teams — vying for the final at-large bids."
"But the comparisons are impossible to avoid because Davis beat Sac State 31-21 in Saturday’s Causeway Classic, giving both teams seven Division I wins.
“ 'It really came down to the path to seven wins,” Haslam said. “The committee felt like the path to seven wins for Sacramento was far more difficult than the path to seven wins for UC Davis.' "
"Sac State got rewarded for its first two wins of the season: at Nicholls (which earned the Southland Conference’s auto-bid into the FCS playoffs) and at Stanford (a Power 5 FBS team). The Hornets’ first three losses all came against seeded teams (Idaho, UM and MSU)."
"Davis, meanwhile, didn’t beat a ranked team until Saturday at home against Sac State. The Aggies lost to Oregon State (which plays in the Pac-12 like Stanford), UM and a pair of unranked teams: Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington. Davis didn’t face MSU or Idaho...."
" 'Had that Sac loss to Davis happened earlier in the year, I don’t know how that would’ve swayed whatever way it went.' "