To that end, OOC scheduling is a chess game. Playing in the deep A10 means over scheduling the OOC leads to doom for the playoffs.
Here is my take on the A10 North (in order of difficulty).
- Maine-- @Youngstown State, @ Boston College. Maine only plays 10 games this year. With likely losses to its two OOC games, Maine needs go 7-1 in the A10 (7 I-AA wins is the minimum number to be considered eligible for the playoffs). The Black Bears need to go 8-0 to get a home game. This is going to be tough to do. Prediction 0-2 and no playoff bid for the Black Bears in 2006...
- Northeastern--@Virginia Tech, @Holy Cross, @North Dakota State. Not as suicidal as last years OOC, but tough enough. The Crusaders are no longer a patsy. The Huskies could go 1-2 and 0-3 is not out of the question.
- UMass--Stony Brook, Colgate, @Navy. Colgate was a I-AA playoff team last year and has given UMass fits. Navy crushed Colorado State in a bowl game last year. UMass needs to beat to Raiders to jump start its season. 2-1 is possible, which means UMass would only have to go 6-2 in the A10 to get a playoff bid. Prediction 2-1.
- Hofstra--@Stoney Brook, @ Marshall,@Delaware. The Thundering Herd are not the team UMass played when the Heard was ranked in the top 15. Winning at Delaware is tough but doable. Hofstra could come out with a 2-1 record.
- URI--@UConn, Merrimack, Brown. Brown has been contending for the Ivy Championship the last couple of years. Still, UConn and Brown are beatable. The Rams should crush DII Merrimack. Prediction 2-1
- UNH-- @Northwestern, Stony Brook, @Dartmouth. The Wildcats probably have the best offense in I-AA. They should crush Stony Brook and Dartmouth. They have a chance at Big 10 Northwestern if the Wildcats take them lightly. Prediction 3-0 (with UNH getting the uset over the Big 10 team)
