Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina football was slated at No. 9 in the first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Top 10 as released by the FCS Playoff Selection Committee and announced Thursday afternoon on ESPN2 as a part of College Football Live, presented by Dr. Pepper. It's the first time since 2019 that the NCAA FCS committee has revealed its rankings as a part of the selection process.
The Catamounts were one of two teams from the Southern Conference ranked inside the Top 10, following third-ranked Furman. The Big Sky Conference had four teams among the first rankings with the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) posting two including the current No. 1 in defending champion South Dakota State. Delaware (#5) out of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and Incarnate Word (#10) from the Southland Conference were also represented.
WCU was also one of just three teams in the Top 10 rankings with two losses on the season, joined by No. 7 Idaho and No. 8 Sacramento State. The Catamounts have just one NCAA FCS loss coming to No. 3 Furman last weekend, with the other defeat in the season-opener at SEC-foe, Arkansas.
Thursday's announcement came just a mere 24 days away from the FCS playoff selection Sunday. The committee used results through games played through October 21, with the in-season rankings to serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.
"This is a snapshot of where the committee ranks the Top 10 today, based on our review of each team's resume," said Kent Haslam, chair of the committee and director of athletics at Montana in a release on NCAA.com. "There will be a lot of impactful games played the next few weeks, so things are likely to change. We thought providing transparency would be helpful to the FCS community."
Haslam and the committee consider some of the following criteria (
in no order) when selecting at-large teams:
- Each team's won-lost record
- Each team's strength of schedule
- Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship
- The AFCA Coaches' Poll
- The Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (replacing the NCAA Simple Rating System (NCAA SRS))
- Additionally, as part of a pilot program, the committee will start to consider the KPI with the hopes of adding it as an official tool in future years.
The committee's top 10 rankings give insight into which teams are in contention for one of the first-round byes given to the eight teams that draw national seeds in the FCS playoff bracket. That means at least two of the teams in these in-season rankings will end up not receiving a bye come November 19.
The 2023 NCAA FCS Championship field will consist of 10 automatic qualifiers through conference championships and 14 at-large selections. The FCS Selection Show will air on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 12:30 p.m. on ESPNU with the postseason slated to begin on Saturday, Nov. 25 on campus sites. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET in Frisco, Texas.
Western Carolina (5-2, 3-1 SoCon) remains at home this Saturday, Oct. 28, for the back end of a two-game homestand, welcoming the Mercer Bears (5-3, 3-2 SoCon) to Cullowhee on Homecoming in a crucial conference matchup. Kickoff at E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field is set for 2:30 p.m. in a game that will also be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required) with live audio coverage from the Catamount Sports Network beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Sales for tickets to WCU's annual Homecoming game have again been brisk with a large crowd anticipated under near-perfect playing conditions in #CatamountCountry. Tickets and game day parking passes for Saturday's Homecoming game are available at the WCU Athletics Ticket Office, located on the first floor of the Ramsey Center; by phone at (828) 227-2401; or online at
CatamountSports.com/BuyTickets. For a complete listing of WCU's Homecoming Week activities, visit
www.homecoming.wcu.edu.
The Homecoming weekend includes the annual parade in downtown Sylva on Friday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m., with a pair of Southern Conference women's soccer quarterfinal matches being held at the on-campus Catamount Athletics Complex. Top-seeded WCU faces No. 8 seed Wofford at 7 p.m., in the quarterfinal nightcap. In addition to Saturday's home football game (2:30 p.m. kickoff), the Catamount volleyball team returns to Ingles Court in the Ramsey Center to face league-leader The Citadel with a 7 p.m. start. The weekend is capped by the semifinal round of the 2023 SoCon Women's Soccer Championship on-campus at the Catamount Athletics Complex with a 1 p.m. start.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount football and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/CatamountSports) and Twitter (@Catamounts, @CatamountsFB).
NCAA FCS Football Selection Committee – Top 10 (10/26/23)
- South Dakota State Jackrabbits (MVFC) – 7-0
- Montana State Bobcats (Big Sky) – 6-1
- Furman Paladins (SoCon) – 6-1
- South Dakota Coyotes (MVFC) – 6-1
- Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (CAA) – 6-1
- Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky) – 6-1
- Idaho Vandals (Big Sky) – 5-2
- Sacramento State Hornets (Big Sky) – 5-2
- Western Carolina Catamounts (SoCon) – 5-2
- Incarnate Word Cardinals (Southland) – 6-1
