Twenty-four teams make the FCS playoffs every year, but only eight teams receive a seed and a first-round bye. While getting a seed is an advantage by itself, there's a bigger advantage that comes with the seeds. Here's why getting a top-two seed in the FCS playoffs is important.
Why a top-two seed?
Every seed in the FCS playoffs is guaranteed to host a second-round game, thanks to a first-round bye. After the second round, the team with the best seed hosts every game until a neutral site contest for the FCS championship.
With four seeded teams split on each side of the bracket, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
More than home-field advantage
Home-field advantage alone is nice, but a top-two seed getting home-field advantage means nothing if the team doesn't win at home.
Yet, in the case of the FCS playoffs, home-field advantage just means more. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the FCS playoffs have had immense success at home in recent years.
Thirteen of the last 14 FCS championship game participants have only played home games through the FCS semifinal round. If you stretch that number out to 2015, it still becomes 15 out of 18. Only one year during that span, 2016, had two teams that didn't play only home games during the playoffs.
No. 1 and No. 2 seeds made up 11 of the possible 16 national championship participants over the last seven years. Three No. 3 seeds — 2022 North Dakota State, 2018 Eastern Washington and 2015 North Dakota State — had home-field advantage and advanced to the FCS semifinals.
| Year | Team | Seed | FCS playoff finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | South Dakota State | No. 1 | National Champion |
| Montana | No. 2 | Runner-up | |
| 2022 | South Dakota State | No. 1 | National Champion |
| North Dakota State* | No. 3 | Runner-up | |
| Sacramento State | No. 2 | Quarterfinals | |
| 2021 | North Dakota State | No. 2 | National Champion |
| Sam Houston | No. 1 | Quarterfinals | |
| 2020-21 | Sam Houston | No. 2 | National Champion |
| South Dakota State | No. 1 | Runner-up | |
| 2019 | North Dakota State | No. 1 | National Champion |
| James Madison | No. 2 | Runner-up | |
| 2018 | North Dakota State | No. 1 | National Champion |
| Weber State | No. 2 | Quarterfinals | |
| Eastern Washington* | No. 3 | Runner-up | |
| 2017 | North Dakota State | No. 2 | National Champion |
| James Madison | No. 1 | Runner-up | |
| 2016 | North Dakota State | No. 1 | Semifinals |
| Eastern Washington | No. 2 | Semifinals | |
| 2015 | North Dakota State* | No. 3 | National Champion |
| Jacksonville State | No. 1 | Runner-up | |
| Illinois State | No. 2 | Quarterfinals |
*Eastern Washington and North Dakota State (twice) played only home games as a No. 3 seed thanks to quarterfinal losses from the No. 2 seed.
Top-two seed = Championship?
Since the FCS playoffs expanded in 2013, adding eight seeds, a team that only played on its home field in the playoffs has won 10 of 11 FCS Championships. Nine of those 10 were No. 1 or No. 2 seeds.
While the games must play out on the field, there's no denying the correlation between a top-two seed and FCS playoff success.
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