Let The Tommies Play!

The first round of the FCS playoffs for college football is set to begin this weekend. The University of St. Thomas football team will not be eligible to compete. THIS IS BULLSHIT!  The Tommies ended the regular season 10-1 and ranked 19th in the current FCS coaches poll. UST made the jump to the Division I FCS in 2021 and are not eligible to compete for championships at the Division I level until 2025. 

D1 Tommies

St. Thomas joined the Division I FCS rank in 2021 and in the spirit of competition the NCAA should urge schools to compete early on in their endeavors. Building a program is a difficult task and teams shouldn’t be punished for early momentum.

This St. Thomas team being 10-1 and only ranked 19th is also a joke. Ahead of them in the rankings are two teams with four losses and three teams with three losses. Their competition status is certainly factoring into their ranking. Which only hurts Tommies program. When in reality, it’s even more impressive to have accomplished this in year two of being a division I program.

St. Thomas and Merrimack are a combined 17-3, both undefeated in conference with 1 week to play. Neither is eligible for the FCS Playoff because of a misguided NCAA rule that blocks teams moving *up* a division from the Playoff.

How about a December exhibition between the two? pic.twitter.com/g3gd5anaLR

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 13, 2022

The Playoff Field

In this FCS playoff field there are six (!!!) teams with four or more losses that are playing this weekend in the first round of the playoffs, while the Tommies will be sitting at home with a single loss. For the sake of competition this just can’t happen! No matter the rules, the whole sanctity of the sport relies on allowing the best teams to compete for a championship.

2️⃣4️⃣ teams. 1️⃣ championship.

The FCS playoff bracket is set 🏆 pic.twitter.com/1KrGp186VR

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 20, 2022

The Future

2025 is still a ways away. In the meantime, neighboring schools like South Dakota State and North Dakota State get to feast on the Twin Cities area to allow the rich to get richer by offering recruits the opportunity to play for a championship immediately, unlike St. Thomas .UST isn’t the only team falling victim to this clause put in place by the NCAA.

Former FCS juggernaut James Madison is dealing with a similar problem now at the FBS level. JMU is 7-3 which normally would allow them to be bowl eligible, but the same rule is restricting them from playing in one this season, The Dukes crashed on the scene in 2022 with a huge upset win over Appalachian State in September and have looked to be ahead of schedule at the FBS level. It looks as if St. Thomas is being restricted by this rule that was intended to help programs in their youth of Division I, but only time will tell.