UIW earns 1st-round bye
After winning Southland crown, Cardinals will host winner of Elon vs. Furman game
Arriving in San Antonio at about 1:30 a.m. after a 400-mile bus ride that included a celebratory stop at Buc-ee's, Incarnate Word quarterback Lindsey Scott tried to get to sleep as soon as possible.
UIW claimed a second straight Southland Conference championship with a 66-7 win at Northwestern State on Saturday, and as the Cardinals lifted the trophy on the field at Turpin Stadium, Scott reveled in what he called his “first true conference title.” Through a college career that started in 2016 and weaved through five schools, his only league championship came during a redshirt year at Nicholls in 2019.
Amid the excitement, Scott still went to sleep Saturday feeling like Sunday was “Christmas day,” with UIW set to learn its position in the FCS playoffs. The Cardinals were teetering on the line to earn a top-eight seed, and Scott said he felt his heart drop as the ESPNU broadcast prepared to unveil the teams slotted fifth through eighth.
Sitting about a half-dozen rows of theater-style seats ahead
of Scott as the Cardinals gathered to watch the selection show in UIW'S International Conference Center, coach G.J. Kinne felt anxious, understanding the weight of the firstround bye and home-field advantage in round two.
With the selection show playing barely above a whisper, silence fell over the room until the revelation of the Cardinals as the No. 7 seed brought the auditorium to its feet with a chorus of yells. UIW will host either Elon or Furman in a second-round matchup at 1 p.m. Dec. 3 at Benson Stadium.
“I thought we deserved a top-eight seed, but you never know how they view your record, and your conference, and that whole deal,” Kinne said. “I'm glad they got it right.”
UIW earned a top-eight seed for the first time in the program's history on the strength of a 10-1 season that included the program's third Southland title in five years.
The Cardinals average an Fcs-leading 52.9 points per game and deliver explosive plays on defense, leading the nation with 9.8 tackles for loss per game while ranking tied for third with 3.55 sacks per game.
Since suffering its lone loss of the season 41-35 to Southeastern Louisiana on a 59-yard touchdown pass as time expired, UIW has won seven straight games by at least 28 points.
Once the selection news hit home, another hush fell over the room as the Cardinals strained to hear whether the broadcast would flag them as one of the most dangerous teams in the field, which the ESPNU analysts indeed did.
“If you're not going to believe in yourself, who will? I definitely believe that's right,” Scott said. “We have a dynamic offense and a great defense who have been playing great in the back half of this season.”
After the seeding was revealed, linebacker Kelechi Anyalebechi said he thought back to the Southland's preseason media day during the summer, when he and receiver Taylor Grimes talked about “domination on both sides” — a quality that Cardinals delivered through the year.
Looking at the Cardinals' potential path to a national title, Kinne said the playoff field “lined up exactly the way we wanted it to.” Should the bracket hold to seeding, UIW'S high-flying offense will have the luxury of playing in a favorable climate at No. 2 Sacramento State for the quarterfinals before meeting No. 3 North Dakota State indoors at the Fargodome for the semifinals.
“We can score on anybody. We can score a bunch of points, and our defense is playing really well right now,” Kinne said. “We're playing our best football right now, which is pretty cool.”
Anyalebechi said the open week gives UIW a chance to rest and study potential opponents, while Kinne said the circumstance has pros and cons. The home-field advantage is “the real key here,” Kinne said, but the Cardinals run the risk of rust.
UIW will take the field Dec. 3 having played just one game since Nov. 5, and UIW'S run of blowouts has limited the snap counts for many of the Cardinals' starters.
As Kinne was dismissing the team at the end of Sunday's selection show, he told the non-traveling players they were free to return home to spend Thanksgiving with their families, while the rest of the roster is expected to remain on campus.
“You have the rest of your life to worry about all of that other stuff,” Kinne said. “We have to win a championship.”
Kinne said he intends to “amp it up a little bit” through this week's sessions to ensure UIW is sharp rather than stale.
The Cardinals broke Sunday's meeting on the word “champions,” just as they have since Kinne took charge of spring practices.
“It's all about dedication,” Anyalebechi said. “A lot of guys want to go home for Thanksgiving, but which one is more important? Which one lasts? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of these guys here, and it's about how you take advantage of that opportunity.”