Changes to the playoffs

David Coulson of The Sports Network has an article on the coming changes to the FCS playoffs. In a nutshell, two more leagues will be getting auto-bids to the playoffs. Since NCAA by-laws mandate an equal number of at-large slots, the FCS playoffs will be expanding to 20 teams in 2010.

For UMass, there are some gains and losses related to enlarging the playoff field. Two extra at-large slots will help the CAA because of its size. An 8-3 CAA team will no longer be caught in a numbers crunch.

There are a couple of bad things about having a play-in week. It will push the season back another week into December----- not a trivial thing for the northern teams. And if the 2008 season followed the proposed schedule, the Championship game would be Friday December 26th, the day after Christmas. A tough time to be traveling.