The 2011 FCS Playoffs bracket will be announced at 8:00 a.m MT on Sunday, Nov. 20 (ESPNU). The Montana Grizzlies and the Montana State Bobcats will both be heading to the playoffs, but in a different order than had been expected in previous weeks. The Grizzlies defeated the Bobcats on Saturday, 36-10, forcing a co-Big Sky Conference championship between the two teams. Both finished 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference. By nature of handing the Bobcats their only conference loss, the Grizzlies won the conference's automatic berth. Montana is expected to receive one of the five national seeds while Montana State will still host a game in the second round.
Craig Haley of the Sports Network projects his bracket (PDF) and has Montana taking the No. 5 overall seed. In this projection, the Grizzlies will face New Hampshire in the second round. For Montana State, Haley sees Lehigh traveling to Bozeman for a second round game.
The four other national sees are No. 1 Sam Houston State, No. 2 North Dakota State, No. 3 Northern Iowa and No. 4 Georgia Southern. With the way this bracket is set up, Montana State would face Nos. 2 and 3 while Nos. 1, 4 and 5 are potential championship game opponents. Wouldn't it be something if Montana and Montana State faced each other in the championship game?
The Big Sky might have had a third team in the playoffs, but Portland State's 48-33 loss to Weber State ended any chance at that happening. The Vikings finished the season at 7-4.