Dang Mercer.
If it hadn't been for the Bad News Bears turning turnovers into blue-and-gold tears on Nov. 7, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga would almost certainly have earned a bye when the field for the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoffs was announced Sunday morning.
Instead, thanks to that 17-14 loss due almost exclusively to those four miscues and one stunning goal-line stand by the Mercer defense, the Mocs may now have the toughest playoff road imaginable, beginning with Saturday's first-round matchup with Fordham.
Get past that 1 p.m. game at Finley Stadium and a visit to overall No. 1 seed Jacksonville State would await the following Saturday. Given that UTC has already lost to the Gamecocks at home this season, albeit by a narrow 23-20 score, it's tough to feel good about a rematch on the road against a team that almost won at Auburn and hasn't lost since.
Nor was the selection committee apparently overly swayed by The Citadel's Saturday win at South Carolina, which seemed as if it might benefit the Mocs, given that UTC beat the Bulldogs head-to-head to claim the Southern Conference's automatic bid. Even Jacksonville State didn't beat anybody who beat a Football Bowl Subdivision foe.
But the Mercer loss seemed to override all of that. Ranked No. 3 nationally heading into the game, the Mocs slipped to No. 9 after they were upset. But the draw leaves them much worse than that.
By the draw, the committee apparently viewed UTC as no better than the 16th-strongest team in the land, which seems preposterous.
Then again, this is an NCAA selection committee we're talking about, even if you might reasonably think that committee chair Mark Wilson - who is also the athletic director at Tennessee Tech - might show a fellow Volunteer State school a little love, even if Tech is in Jax State's Ohio Valley Conference and the Mocs are in the SoCon.
In truth, of course, it looks like the only conferences the committee were interested in were the Missouri Valley, Colonial and Big Sky. Eleven of the 24 teams came from those three leagues. Most disturbing of that group had to be Western Illinois, which has five losses.
Yes, Western had a couple of big wins, including a double-overtime thriller with South Dakota State on Saturday. But the Leathernecks also were blanked 44-0 by a bad Illinois team, was crushed 59-7 by North Dakota State and got hammered 48-28 by Youngstown State.
Said Wilson of their inclusion: "Western Illinois had a great season even though they only won six games, but it's a tough, tough conference and we felt like they had earned their right to be a part of the playoffs."
Let's be clear about one thing. Nobody has a great season when they lose two games by 44 or more points, a third by 20 and five games total. Nobody. And it's this kind of blah, blah, blah, by-committee chairs that make everyone hate the process.
This isn't to say the Missouri Valley didn't richly deserve three teams (North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa) in the field. Or that the Colonial didn't merit four (James Madison, New Hampshire, Richmond and William and Mary). Or that the Big Sky shouldn't have placed three (Montana, Portland State and Southern Utah).
But this is also where the bracket begins to break down. For while the committee will argue the field is not precisely seeded after those first eight, if you look at the potential second-round pairings, the Mocs are theoretically the 16th seed because they're facing No. 1. By that pairing, Western Illinois - a team with five losses - would be a No. 18 seed against No. 15 Dayton in the opening round.
If Western Illinois has to get in the field, it should have at least been forced to play Coastal Carolina, which should have been the first team without a bye, since it would meet No. 8 seed Charleston Southern in the second round if it gets past The Citadel.
And there's the rub. If Coastal Carolina is deemed the ninth-best seed, then The Citadel - which just won at South Carolina - would be the No. 24 seed, and thus the last team in. Does anyone who has watched one minute of college football this season believe The Citadel is the weakest team in the FCS playoffs?
Anyone?
You can't have it both ways, of course. You can't cling to the college football argument that every game matters, lay an egg at Mercer and then loudly complain you weren't treated fairly. But it's also time for these committees to become more transparent.
Still, the Mocs are in the playoffs for a second straight autumn after being left out for 29 straight years.
Or as UTC coach Russ Huesman noted Sunday: "This is a position that we are thrilled to be in. We're one of 24 teams right now that can win an FCS championship."
It's just going to be a bit more difficult to win than anyone could have imagined because of one lost weekend at Mercer.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.