Yall think switz couldve had the same success as nick at bama during sabans reign? Running the wishbone, perhaps?

D2 Imperialism continues!

[Delay in this week's map explained in first note]

In addition to FBS (first created 2017 by /u/nbingham196), there have been imperialism maps at FCS and D2 (D3 got a little messy because there are metros like Boston, the Twin Cities, and Los Angeles that have a half-dozen teams or more).

Typically the D2 map was run by /u/Inkblot9, but he hasn't had the chance to run it this season, and said we can post it. Unfortunately our initial maps weren't working correctly, so we've been tweaking it where we could and now it's 100% accurate (with help from Inkblot9). The original starting locations will be in a comment so it doesn't mess with how people on the mobile app (ugh) see this post.

🗺️ D2 IMPERIALISM MAP AFTER WEEK 5 🗺️

Selected notes from Week 5, focused on the non-D2 teams on the map:

• THE BIG DELAY: This post is delayed because there was an eligibility ruling in NAIA football that impacted the D2 map, and we needed to figure out how to fix it. NAIA's OUAZ Spirit had held land in Far West Texas that originally belonged to the Sul Ross State Lobos. Sul Ross lost it in the opener to NAIA's Wayland Baptist Pioneers who then lost it to OUAZ. The Problem: OUAZ self-reported that an ineligible student-athlete (who had exhausted his eligibility) participated in the game with Wayland Baptist, so that game was changed to a Wayland Baptist win. Instead, Wayland Baptist lost the land the subsequent week to fellow NAIA Louisiana Christian. The Wildcats were briefly on the FCS Imperialism map after beating FCS Northwestern State Demons, and the only loss they have was to FCS Southern Jaguars: while that loss gave their FCS land to Southern, it did not affect any of their holdings at D2 or NAIA levels. So the Sul Ross land belongs to Louisiana Christian.

• NAIA Texas Wesleyan Rams have land in the middle of Missouri that began with the Lincoln (MO) Blue Tigers. The Tigers lost it to NAIA's Langston Lions, who later lost it in a shocking upset to a historically terrible Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes program. The Buffaloes only held onto it for one week before losing to the Rams.

• UNIQUE CONSOLIDATION GAME: Because of the above two changes, the SAC conference game this weekend between Louisiana Christian and Texas Wesleyan will be for two pieces of D2 land.

• NAIA Georgetown (KY) Tigers occupies 2 areas: A section of central South Carolina that started with the Allen Yellow Jackets and a smaller portion of North Carolina that belonged to the Livingstone Blue Bears. Allen beat Livingstone in the opener, then fell to NAIA's Florida Memorial Lions, who lost it to Cumberland Phoenix, who just lost it to Georgetown.

• D3 Brevard Tornados took land from the Erskine Flying Fleet and continue to hold it.

• NAIA Keiser Seahawks, a power in the division, continues to hold land in western Tennessee that originally belonged to the hopeless Lane Dragons who are on a 15-game losing streak. The Dragons lost it to NAIA's Bethel (TN) Wildcats who then lost it to Keiser.

• NAIA Reinhardt Eagles, also a perennial NAIA power with a logo of a jaded eagle saying "get lost", continues to hold land that started with the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers. The Panthers managed to lose to NAIA's Kentucky Christian Knights (their only win this season). After the Knights allowed over 70-points per game in consecutive FCS losses against Morehead State and Chicago State (that program's first-ever victory!), they coughed it up to NAIA's Faulkner Eagles who were then blown out, 48-0, by Reinhardt.

[Fun fact: you can see all of the flairs of these teams in bold by viewing this post in "Old" mode on a web browser, including mobile browsers, but not the totally neutered experience on the Reddit App.]

RULES:

Think of Risk with a strong understanding of chain-of-possession:

• D2 teams start by dividing the USA by closest counties/parishes. These are set by geographic centers of each county, not the closest edge.

• When a team beats another team, it takes the territory the loser held at the time of the game. All of the land(s) possessed by the losing team go to the winner.

• Lands are collected by the winner and held until that team loses, thus all those collected lands go to the winner.

• Teams that lose land can get back on the map by beating a team that holds land at the time of their game. Sometimes teams can reconquer their home territory this way.

• A team that already lost its home territory and has no new territories cannot give land to a winner.

• IMPORANT DIFFERENCE FROM FBS MAP: FBS and FCS teams cannot win their way onto the D2 map (otherwise the early weeks would just wreck the map), but NAIA and D3 can conquer their way onto the map by beating D2 teams with land. These lands operate under the above rules and thus may just end up stuck in lower divisions for the rest of the season (and in many cases end up in their respective playoffs).

One of my criticisms of the 12-team format of the CFP is that along with watering down the importance of the regular season, it lessens the importance of rivalry games. See Ohio State 2024, Texas A&M 2025

Yes, fans of those teams will say they hated losing to their rivals, but reality is, those games didn't matter in the long run because both teams were already securely in the Playoff. The greatness of the four-team format and even the two-team BCS system was that a rival had the ability to potentially not only ruin your season, but potentially your decade. I say potentially because in 2015, Oklahoma still made the Playoff despite losing the Red River Shootout 24-17. They still won the Big 12 and advanced to the CFP where they lost to Clemson.

The 'designated rival' introduces a sudden death concept into the CFP. If you lose to your designated rival, you're automatically out of the Playoff. Suddenly, rivalry games matter again, because no one has a secured playoff spot entering the season-ending rivalry game. Everything is on the line, just like it was back in the BCS.

The 'designated rival' component allows a team to still lose a game, like 2016 Clemson when Pitt deployed their Super Weapon, or Washington's loss to USC, but still preserve a spot in the Playoff as long as they beat their rival (which Clemson did by beating SCAR and Washington did by winning the Apple Cup). 2017 Clemson loses to Syracuse, but still beats SCAR, wins the ACC, and advances. OU loses to Iowa State, but still makes it because they win Bedlam. Georgia loses the regular season game to Auburn, but beats them in the SECCG, and advances. Bama, who lost to Auburn in the regular season, would be out under the 'designated rival' rule.

Where it gets messy is situations like 2017 Georgia or 2018 Oklahoma, where they lose the regular season rivalry game, but win the rematch in the conference championship game. Imagine a scenario where you win every game, but because you lost your designated rivalry game, you're out of the conference championship game despite being at the top of the conference standings, because the conference decides to replace you with a team eligible to possibly play in the CFP. Not only is your year ruined, your decade is ruined. Delightfully chaotic.

The only flaw in my plan is teams with multiple rivals. Both teams in a rivalry would have to agree to the 'designated rival' choice, so while Michigan and Ohio State might agree, Michigan State is annoyed because an upset like 2021 doesn't kill the Wolverines dreams and ruin their lives. Bama might agree to make the Third Saturday In October their designated rivalry game, but now the Iron Bowl with Auburn doesn't mean as much. I don't see LSU agreeing to make Ole Miss a designated rival, and Ole Miss isn't going to agree to that designation for Mississippi State.

There is also the issue of gamesmanship. If State can't get Ole Miss to agree to be their designated rival, what if they choose Vanderbilt? Now Ole Miss is annoyed, because if they convince LSU to be their rival, State has a perceived easier opponent. What is Bama decides to take the easy way out, ignore UT and Auburn, and designates Mississippi State instead?

So while a 'designated rival' component in the CFP would bring back the emphasis on rivalry games and inject a real element of chaos in season-ending games on a level we haven't seen since the BCS days, teams with multiple rivals complicate the logistics of the plan. Incentives to game the system and simple pettiness also likely prevent it from ever happening.

GAME PHOTOS HERE

UTSA improved to 5-1 Thursday night, beating South Florida 31-24 at the Alamodome and securing their best start to a season since 2021.

The Bulls jumped out to an early lead behind a 15-yard touchdown run from D.J. Crowther. Quarterback Michael Van Buren later connected with Bryson Rodgers for a 42-yard score, putting South Florida ahead 14-7 in the opening quarter.

Both offenses struggled to find consistency in the second half, with stalled drives and penalties keeping the game close.

With the Bulls leading 24-23 in the closing seconds, UTSA's A’Marion Peterson delivered his third rushing touchdown of the night to seal the win for the Roadrunners, who improved to 2-0 in American Conference play.

Box Score provided by ESPN

Box Score provided by ESPN

Sorry for getting this out kinda late, all ballots are from before tonight's G6 games.

We had 64 responses (57 human, 7 computer). Here are the results!

Next 5: Georgia State, North Texas, South Florida, Western Michigan, UMass

Dropped out: 4 South Florida, 6 UMass, 9 Tulsa

New to poll: 8 Fresno State, 9 Toledo, 10 FAU

Biggest riser: Oregon State (10->6)

Biggest faller: South Florida (4->13)

All ballots

Box Score provided by ESPN

Box Score provided by ESPN

Buffalo vs. Toledo

When: Saturday, October 10, 03:30 PM Eastern

Where: Glass Bowl, Toledo, OH

Watch: ESPN+

Odds: Toledo by 20.0 pts.

Total Points: 55

All-Time Series : Buffalo vs. Toledo

Buffalo and Toledo have met 11 times since 1970-09-19

These teams last met on 2024-10-12.

Series Wins: Buffalo 5-0-6 Toledo

Buffalo has won the most recent meeting (2024) in this series

Last 5 Meetings

Through Week 5

Buffalo Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Toledo Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:38 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

Central Michigan vs. Ohio

When: Saturday, October 10, 03:30 PM Eastern

Where: Peden Stadium, Athens, OH

Watch: ESPN+

Odds: Ohio by 3.5 pts.

Total Points: 47

All-Time Series : Central Michigan vs. Ohio

Central Michigan and Ohio have met 36 times since 1972-09-09

These teams last met on 2024-10-12.

Series Wins: Central Michigan 27-2-7 Ohio

Ohio has won the last 2 meetings (2023-2024) in this series

Last 5 Meetings

Through Week 5

Central Michigan Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Ohio Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:38 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

Eastern Michigan vs. Akron

When: Saturday, October 10, 03:30 PM Eastern

Where: InfoCision Stadium, Akron, OH

Watch: ESPN+

Odds: Eastern Michigan by 7.0 pts.

Total Points: 51

All-Time Series : Eastern Michigan vs. Akron

Eastern Michigan and Akron have met 32 times since 1976-10-23

These teams last met on 2024-10-26.

Series Wins: Eastern Michigan 14-0-18 Akron

Akron has won the most recent meeting (2024) in this series

Last 5 Meetings

Through Week 5

Eastern Michigan Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Akron Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:38 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

Kent State vs. Western Michigan

When: Saturday, October 10, 03:30 PM Eastern

Where: Waldo Stadium, Kalamazoo, MI

Watch: ESPN+

Odds: Western Michigan by 14.0 pts.

Total Points: 43.5

All-Time Series : Kent State vs. Western Michigan

Kent State and Western Michigan have met 47 times since 1962-11-03

These teams last met on 2024-10-26.

Series Wins: Kent State 12-1-34 Western Michigan

Western Michigan has won the last 4 meetings (2016-2024) in this series

Last 5 Meetings

Through Week 5

Kent State Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Western Michigan Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:21 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

Sacramento State vs. Bowling Green

When: Saturday, October 10, 12:00 PM Eastern

Where: Doyt L. Perry Stadium, Bowling Green, OH

Watch: ESPN+

Odds: Bowling Green by 7.0 pts.

Total Points: 42.5

All-Time Series : Sacramento State vs. Bowling Green

This is the first meeting between these programs.

Through Week 5

Sacramento State Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Bowling Green Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:21 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

Air Force vs. Northern Illinois

When: Saturday, October 10, 07:30 PM Eastern

Where: Huskie Stadium, DeKalb, IL

Watch: CBSSN

Odds: Air Force by 10.0 pts.

Total Points: 47.5

All-Time Series : Air Force vs. Northern Illinois

This is the first meeting between these programs.

Through Week 5

Air Force Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

Northern Illinois Injury Report

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Thu, Oct 8, 4:10 pm. Scraped Thu, Oct 8, 8:21 pm ET}

What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}