INDIANAPOLIS — Defending national champion North Dakota State will lead a record-tying six teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The MVFC champion Bison (12-0) on Sunday were named the No. 1 seed in the 24-team playoffs and will be making their 16th consecutive appearance.
The field is made up of 11 automatically qualifying conference champions and 13 at-large selections. The first round begins Saturday with unseeded teams paired with teams seeded 9-16 primarily according to geographical proximity. The championship game is Jan. 5 at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
North Dakota State has won 10 of the last 14 FCS titles. The Bison beat St. Thomas-Minnesota 62-7 on Saturday to extend their winning streak to 16 games.
Montana State (10-2), the runner-up to NDSU last year, earned the No. 2 seed after beating rival Montana 31-28 to clinch the Big Sky Conference championship. Montana (11-1) is the No. 3 seed. Tarleton State (11-1) of the United Athletic Conference is the No. 4 seed.
Patriot League champion Lehigh (12-0) is No. 5, Southern champion Mercer (9-2) is No. 6, Southland champion Stephen F. Austin (10-2) is No. 7 and the Big Sky’s UC Davis (8-3) is No. 8.
The top eight seeds receive a first-round bye and will play their second-round game at home.
The Ivy League is participating in the playoffs for the first time. Yale, which defeated Harvard 45-28 for the Ivy title, earned the automatic bid and the Crimson are in as an at-large team.
First-round games: Illinois State (8-4) at Southeastern Louisiana (9-3); Central Connecticut State (8-4) at Rhode Island (10-2); Harvard (9-1) at Villanova (9-2); North Dakota (7-5) at Tennessee Tech (11-1); New Hampshire (8-4) at South Dakota State (8-4); Drake (8-3) at South Dakota (8-4); Lamar (8-4) at Abilene Christian (8-4); and Yale (8-2) at Youngstown State (8-4).
