HICKORY, NC - The Lenoir-Rhyne football team continues to make waves, as they have now moved up to fifth in the Super Region II Rankings following a 33-14 win at Catawba on Saturday. The top seven teams in each region will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Two pick sixes from
Damien Savage and
James Ussery fueled last week's 19-point win. The Bears defense has been lights out this year, as they are second in the country with 19 interceptions on the year. Sitting at 8-2 (6-2 SAC), the Bears have a performance indicator score of 26.200, and sit just behind West Alabama (27.111) and Carson-Newman (26.778). Following their win over Delta State, Valdosta State jumped Wingate as the number one team in the region.
There are multiple factors taken into consideration to determine the playoff fields, including in-region winning percentage, winning percentage against Division II opponents, weighted strength of schedule, head-to-head competition, results against common opponents, results against teams above .500, results against ranked teams and the NCAA performance indicator. A regional committee considers all of that data before ranking 10 teams each week.
The top four teams in the final regional rankings earn at least one home game in the NCAA playoffs, with the No. 1 seed earning a first-round bye. The top seven teams in the final rankings will earn a spot in the playoffs, unless any one of the four conferences in the region are not represented in the top seven. If that happens and the conference in question has a team ranked eighth or ninth, that team will move into the No. 7 seed via the "earned access" rule.
The Bears are set to host Anderson this Saturday for senior day. With the top four seeds hosting a first round playoff game, the Bears are still in the hunt to host between the bricks. Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
SUPER REGION II RANKINGS
| RANK |
SCHOOL |
DII RECORD |
IN-REGION RECORD |
| 1. |
Valdosta State |
9-0 |
9-0 |
| 2. |
Wingate |
8-1 |
8-1 |
| 3. |
West Alabama |
8-1 |
8-1 |
| 4. |
Carson-Newman |
8-1 |
8-1 |
| 5. |
Lenoir-Rhyne |
8-2 |
7-2 |
| 6. |
Miles |
8-1 |
8-1 |
| 7. |
Johnson C. Smith |
8-2 |
8-2 |
| 8. |
West Florida |
7-2 |
6-1 |
| 9. |
Virginia Union |
7-2 |
6-1 |
| 10. |
Winston-Salem State |
7-2 |
6-2 |
