Augustana’s football team appears to have a NCAA Div. II playoff berth secured it can win Saturday’s 1 p.m. regular season finale at home against 3-7 Southwest Minnesota State, while the University of Sioux Falls is barely on the outside looking in.
The Vikings (8-2) are currently slotted 5th in the Super Region 4 rankings. A Top-7 finish is required to qualify for the playoffs, which comprise of 28 spots, with the four No. 1 seeds from each region earning a bye.
For a third straight week, the Cougars (7-3) are ranked 8th in the same region. A win last Saturday over Mankato (10-0), the current No. 2 team in the region, would have gone a long way for USF, but the Coo lost 42-39 at home to the Mavericks, who are also ranked No. 4 nationally.
Sioux Falls must win Saturday at Wayne State (4-6) for any chance at a playoff berth. The Cougars will perhaps be aided by the fact that two of the teams ranked ahead of them — No. 6 Texas A&M-Commerce (7-2) and No. 7 Angelo State (8-2) — face each other on Saturday. The loser of that game may drop below USF, depending on the opinion of a committee of human beings.
Augie’s 20-13 victory over USF at Bob Young Field on Sept. 26, during which the Cougars turned over the ball three times inside their own 20 yard line — all leading to Vikings scores — appears to be looming large.
Also putting a dent in the Coo’s postseason hopes is a season-opening 41-17 loss at Concordia-St. Paul.
The NSIC, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), the Lone Star Conference (LSC) and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) make up the 41-team NCAA Super Region Four this season.
Augie and USF are among four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) teams ranked in Super Region Four. Winona State (7-3) is ninth after Augustana used a last-second touchdown to beat the Warriors in Winona. USF throttled WSU 34-12 in Sioux Falls in Week 2 on Sept. 14.
You can hear the Cougars in Wayne, Saturday on KWSN, 98.1 FM, 1230-AM, KWSN.COM and the FREE KWSN MOBILE APP, with a pregame show at 12:30 p.m.
USF coach Jon Anderson joins “Craig & John” every Thursday at 3:20 p.m. on KWSN.
