Sam Houston State, Central Arkansas Advance to NCAA Division I Championship
NCAA Release
FRISCO, Texas -
Sam Houston State is overall national No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I
Championship bracket, which was unveiled Sunday on ESPNU. The Bearkats receive
a first-round bye, then play host to the winner of the Stony Brook vs. Albany
game Dec. 3.
Stony Brook earned the
Big South Conference championship Saturday with a 41-31 victory over Liberty.
The Seawolves are 8-3 for the year and went through league play unbeaten 6-0.
Albany is the Northeast Conference co-champion and earned its playoff berth with
a 7-3 overall season mark.
Kickoff time for Sam
Houston's second round game on Dec. 3 is yet to be announced. The game will be
carried on ESPN3. The winner of the Sam Houston vs. Stony Brook/Albany matchup
will face either Montana (9-2) or New Hampshire (8-3) on either Friday or
Saturday, Dec. 9-10, in the quarterfinals.
Sam Houston is making
its fifth NCAA Division I playoff appearance. The Bearkats reached the national
semifinals in their most recent appearance in 2004. They were quarterfinals in
2001 and lost in the first round in 1986 and 1991.
Central Arkansas,
runner-up in the Southland Conference behind the Bearkats, also earned one of
the 20 spots in the Division I championship. The Bears, 8-3 and winners of
seven consecutive games, will travel to Cookeville, Tenn., on Saturday to face
Tennessee Tech in the first round. The Golden Eagles (7-3) were the
co-champions of the Ohio Valley Conference. Game time is still to be
determined, but it will be available on ESPN3.
It is the first playoff
appearance for the Bears at the Division I level. Before its transition to
Division I, UCA made two appearances in the Division II playoffs. Its last postseason appearance was in 2005,
when it reached the quarterfinals with a pair of road victories. After its
transition, Central Arkansas became eligible for postseason play in 2010.
The Central
Arkansas-Tennessee Tech winner will play at Montana in the second round. That
game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Should Sam Houston State
and Central Arkansas continue to win, they could face one another in the
national semifinals and play for a berth in the NCAA Division I Football
Championship Game at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The championship game
will be televised by ESPN2. Tickets for the championship game are available
online at www.ncaa.com/tickets.
The selections of Sam
Houston and Central Arkansas mark the 17th time the Southland Conference has
put multiple teams into the playoffs. That last time that happened was 2009,
when both Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State had home games in the first
round.
North Dakota State
(10-1) is the No. 2 seed in the championship playoff. Georgia Southern (9-2),
Montana (9-2) and Northern Iowa (9-2) are No. 3, 4 and 5 seeds, respectively.
As the No. 1 seed, the Bearkats
are guaranteed home games through the semifinals.
Other first-round
matchups see Old Dominion (9-2) meet Norfolk State (9-2) and Eastern Kentucky
(7-4) play James Madison (7-4).
Second-round matchups of
teams receiving first round byes have North Dakota State against the Eastern
Kentucky/James Madison winner, Towson (9-2) vs. Lehigh (10-1), Appalachian
State (8-3) vs. Maine (8-3), Georgia Southern against the ODU/Norfolk State
winner, Montana hosting the Tennessee Tech/Central Arkansas winner, Northern
Iowa (9-2) against Wofford (8-3) and Montana State (9-2) hosting New Hampshire
(8-3).