The NCAA D2 football playoff field has been announced, and HBCU football has three representatives in the field.
Less than 24 hours after clinching a historic SIAC Championship, Benedict College is headed to the NCAA Football D2 playoffs for the first-time ever. The NCAA Division II playoff committee announced its top four seeds for the 2022 playoffs on Sunday afternoon, announcing the rest of the field shortly thereafter.
It will be joined in the super region by two other HBCU football programs – both from the CIAA.
Virginia Union, which spent much of the season as one of the top ten schools in the country, was awarded a fourth seed. The 9-1 VUU squad will host Wingate (9-2) at historic Hovey Field in Richmond on Saturday.
Fayetteville State, fresh off its first CIAA Championship since 2009, was awarded the seventh and final spot in the super region following its 31-28 win on Saturday. It will have its work cut out for it, though, as it is set to travel to Mississippi to take on Delta State, the no. 2 team in the Super Region.
Benedict College, along with the other three top seeds, will get a first-round bye in the D2 playoffs. The D2 playoffs, which do not hand out any automatic-bids, is divided into four “super regions” with seven teams.
From an HBCU football perspective, Fort Valley State is on the outside, looking in at the playoff picture. It was seventh in the most recent regional rankings with an 8-2 record after knocking off Albany State in the Fountain City Classic.