And now, the second season begins, the FCS Playoffs, and as the SoCon champs, the Apps got an automatic bid, but like 2007, did not get a top-4 seed. Nevertheless, the Mountaineers will be at home for the first round, once again hosting the South Carolina State Bulldogs at Kidd Brewer Stadium this Saturday at 12noon. Montana, the only undefeated team during the regular season, is the number 1 seed, and will host 8-3 South Dakota State. Villanova is the two seed, will host Holy Cross. Southern Illinois captured the No. 3 seed and will host Eastern Illinois, Defending national champion Richmond is the 4th seed and will host Elon. I'll get to the other pairings in just a bit. Last year, Appalachian defeated S.C. State, 37-21 and Armanti Edwards set a school-record 433 yards passing. The contest was close throughout but the Apps pulled away with 13 unanswered points in the final 7-plus minutes. This year, he Bulldogs' only loss was a 38-14 setback at South Carolina October 3rd. The winner Saturday will take on the winner of the Elon at Richmond game. The rest of the pairings have Stephen F. Austin at 9-2 will host 8-3 Eastern Washington, 9-2 McNeese State will host 9-2 New Hampshire, and 7-4 Weber State will travel to 9-2 William and Mary.
Tuesday and Wednesday night we'll have more on Saturday's playoff game including comments from Armanti Edwards and head coach Jerry Moore.