Sacred Heart awaits assignment for FCS playoffs

Though they played only four games, the Sacred Heart football team secured the Northeast Conference championship and its automatic bid for the FCS playoffs. The Pioneers will gather on their Fairfield campus Sunday and await their seed and assignment, which will be revealed at 10:30 a.m. on ESPNU.

“Kinda anxious to find out who we’re playing and where we’re heading because I have no clue,” coach Mark Nofri said. “They don’t tell you beforehand, you don’t find out ‘til you turn the TV on. So I’m anxious, I’m anxious to find out. But I know we’re going to be playing next Saturday.”

The field will be trimmed from the usual 24 teams to 16 due to the pandemic and the short spring season. Sacred Heart, which beat Duquesne for conference title, has one of 10 automatic bids, with six at-large teams to be selected.

The committee will consider overall record, record against Division I opponents, record against opponents from other automatic qualifying conferences, head-to-head record, common opponents’ record, FCS Coaches Poll, NCAA Simple Rating System data and input from regional advisory committees. Sacred Heart (3-1) will probably be seeded 14 to 16. There has been talk of more regional pairings, at least for seeds outside the top and bottom four.

James Madison, North Dakota State, Weber State, Delaware, Sam Houston, South Dakota State figure to be among the top seeds. Sacred Heart made the playoffs in 2013 and ‘14, losing first-round games.