PLAYOFF RECAP--WEEK OF NOVEMBER 29, 2008

The Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone, and so has another round of playoffs. Let's quickly recap what happened.

FCS First Round: Aside from two road teams pulling off mild upsets (Cal Poly over Weber State, and New Hampshire over Southern Illinois), there were really no surprises to speak of in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) playoffs. In fact, all four nationally-seeded teams advanced to next weekend's quarterfinals, although top seeded James Madison had to fight off a scrappy Wofford squad to win 38-35.

FCS Playoff Bracket (Updated)

NCAA Division II Quarterfinals: Straight from the "who would've thunk it?" category, all four No. 2 seeds went on the road, and pulled off upset wins over the No. 1 seeds in Saturday quarterfinal action.

Starting in Super Regional 1, California (Pa.) returned to the national semifinals after shocking Bloomsburg, 28-24. The Vulcans will now take their 12-1 overall record into next week's contest against now 13-0 Minnesota-Duluth, whose Bulldogs pulled off the biggest shocker of all, as they stunned Grand Valley State--whose Lakers were ranked No. 1 in both the AFCA and d2football.com polls, respectively, for most of the 2008 season--19-13 in double overtime to win the Super Regional 3 title.

North Alabama and Northwest Missouri State provide the other national semifinal match-up. While neither program is a stranger to winning national championships (UNA won three straight titles in 1993, 1994, and 1995, while Northwest won back-to-back crowns in 1998 and 1999), both had to go on the road to set up this otherwise unlikely contest. The Lions avenged their regular season loss to Delta State by stomping the Statesmen, 55-34, while the Bearcats did the same against previously undefeated Abilene Christian in a 45-36 upset win.

NCAA Division II Playoff Bracket (Updated)

NCAA Division III Second Round: The D-III dance had its share of surprises, too, as three of the four No. 1seeds fell in round two. In the North bracket, Franklin avenged its playoff loss of a year ago by rolling past North Central, 38-28. In the South, Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) upset previously unbeaten Millsaps 35-20, and in the West bracket, defending national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater ended Willamette's dream season with a 30-27 win. The Warhawks face No. 7 seed Wartburg, whose Knights eliminated No. 3 seed and previously undefeated Monmouth in a similarly 30-28 final score. The lone No. 1 seed to advance to round three was Mount Union, who crushed Hobart, 42-0. The Purple Raiders now await No. 2 seed Cortland State. The Dragons scorched Curry College, 42-7.

NCAA Division III Playoff Bracket (Updated)

NAIA Quarterfinals: There was one close game among the three quarterfinal contests, as Lindenwood (Mo.) knocked off Morningside (Iowa) on a last-second field goal, 37-34. On the other hand, St. Francis (Ind.) held off the University of the Cumberlands, Ky., 31-20, while Sioux Falls stomped Langston (Okla.), 50-13. Those results will set up next Saturday's two semifinal contests; with defending national champion Carroll (Mont.) playing host to Lindenwood in one game, while Sioux Falls hosts St. Francis in a re-match of the 2006 title game, a contest in which Sioux Falls eventually won.

NAIA Quarterfinal Recap (courtesy of naia.cstv.com)