While the FBS level of college football waits with bated breath for hypothetical brackets that mean absolutely nothing five days later, the lower levels of college football have been doing playoff ball up for real for decades now. And on Sunday, the NCAA announced its playoff brackets for Division II and Division III.
The Division II bracket is of the 24-team variety, with two teams in each of the four regions earning first-round byes.
They are: Concord (W. Va.) and Bloomsburg (Pa.) in Super Regional One, Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) and Delta State (Miss.) in Super Regional Two, Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) and Minnesota State-Mankato in Super Regional Three, and Ferris State (Mich.) and Colorado State-Pueblo in Super Regional Four. Defending national champion Northwest Missouri State is the fifth seed in Region Three and will face Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday.
Action begins on Saturday and concludes with a national championship on Dec. 20 in Kansas City, broadcast nationally on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. ET.
Thirty-two teams qualified for the Division III playoffs, headlined by Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union. The two Midwestern rivals have squared off for the Division III crown in eight of the past nine seasons; Whitewater won last year’s title in a 52-14 decision.
The Division III title, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, will be played Dec. 19 in Salem, Va., and shown on ESPNU at 7 p.m. ET.
The FCS playoff bracket will be revealed next Sunday.