Commentary: Appalachian State can make claim for fourth seed
By Steve Behr, sports editor

sports@wataugademocrat.com

OK, so Applachian State won’t win the Southern Conference’s automatic bid into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs this fall.

The Mountaineers blew that chance two times, once in a loss to Wofford and again in a loss to Georgia Southern. Wofford, by virtue of its 42-31 win over Appalachian State in Spartanburg, S,C., gets the bid no matter what happens Saturday when the Mountaineers host Chattanooga beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Let’s just assume that the Mountaineers’ offense is as effective as it was against Western Carolina and they roll over the Mocs, though I get the feeling that Chattanooga will “cool” Appalachian off a bit, say to 45 or 49 points.

It leaves the Mountaineers with a 9-2 record and a co-Southern Conference championship with Wofford. It’s the third straight conference title for the Mountaineers, though it’s the first one they have to share with somebody else.

It’s hard to say if they get a seed out of it. Should things go as planned this weekend, Northern Iowa will finish 11-0 and get the No. 1 seed.

Montana should beat Montana State and also finish 11-0, earning the No. 2 seed. McNeese State is also 10-0 and a win Saturday should earn the Cowboys a No. 3 seed.

Or McNeese will get the second seed and Montana the third. I still see Northern Iowa emerging with the No. 1 seed.

The fight is for the fourth position.

Wofford makes a logical argument that it earned the SoCon’s auto bid and therfore deserves consideration.

The Terriers can say that the SoCon is the top-ranked FCS conference (according to the latest Sagrin poll) and the top team from the top conference deserves a bid.

Southern Illinois goes into Saturday with a 9-1 record and a non-conference game at Hampton. They’ve got a win against mighty Quincy and their only loss was to Northern Iowa.

Then there’s Appalachian State.

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that the Mountaineers beat Michigan the first week of the season. It’s the same Michigan that this Saturday plays Ohio State for the right to go to the Rose Bowl.

True, they played Lenoir-Rhyne, which is every bit as mighty as Quincy. But the Mountaineers played Lenoir-Rhyne after Michigan. Appalachian State used 14 players on defense and 15 on offense to beat Michigan and the ASU starters were banged up pretty good by the Wolverines.

Quincy was Southern Illinois’ season opener. Southern Illinois’ next game was a 34-31 win over Northern Illinois.

Now I’m for any FCS team beating any FBS team and the Salukies’ win over Northern was nothing to sneeze at. But Michigan is 8-3 overall, 6-1 in the Big 10. Even a loss to Ohio State won’t keep them out of a bowl game. A Michigan win over the Buckeyes means Appalachian State beat a team that is going to a BCS bowl.

Northern Illinois is 2-8, 1-5 in the MAC. They’ll be home for Christmas this year.

In fact, Appalachian State has the 11th toughest schedule, current record-wise, in the FCS and by far the toughest schedule of any in the running for a playoff berth.

Appalachian State’s opponents’ record is 45-34. Four teams — Northern Iowa, Georgia Southern, Delaware and Richmond — opponents have a .500 record on the dot.

Massachussetts’ opponents are 47-43, good for .522. Colgate’s opponents are 45-44. Everybody else in contention for a playoff berth has opponents whose records are below .500.

It’s no secret that teams avoided the Mountaineers this year. It took a long time to get Lenoir-Rhyne and Northern Arizona to sign on the dotted line.

That means that Appalachian State has to schedule teams like Michigan, LSU (2009) Florida (2010), Virginia Tech (2011) and Georgia (2013) just to help fill out the schedule.

It’s not wise to put three or four Michigan-type teams on the schedule, but I’ve always liked the way the Mountaineers take on all-comers — within reason.

It’s won them two national championships. In 2005, they won the title even though they had losses to Kansas and LSU. Quincy, apparently, was busy those weekends. I’d love for them to play McNeese, or Southern Illinois or Northern Iowa. What a great way to begin a season.

This year, Appalachian State has earned that fourth seed. It should be given to them.