Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne make D2 football playoffs; Johnson C. Smith left out

Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne will play in the NCAA D2 football playoffs this coming Saturday; Johnson C. Smith and Winston-Salem State will not.

The NCAA Division II football playoff selection committee unveiled their 28-team bracket on Sunday evening, and as expected, the recently crowned SAC champion Bulldogs will take the No. 2 seed in Super Region 2. Wingate (9-1) will host CIAA champion Virginia Union, the No. 7 seed, on Saturday in round one action.

Lenoir-Rhyne (9-2) got through as the No. 6 seed in Super Region 2 and will travel to No. 3 West Alabama in its opener. The other Super Region 2 match-up will feature No. 5 Carson-Newman, the SAC runner-up, traveling to No. 4 Miles, the champion of the SIAC. Top-seeded Valdosta State gets a first-round bye.

Notably absent from the field is Johnson C. Smith, which enjoyed its best season in decades. The Golden Bulls won their first eight games but then lost to Fayetteville State and Livingstone to drop out of contention for the CIAA title game. Virginia Union defeated Virginia State on Saturday for the CIAA trophy.

JCSU had hoped to get into the field, even with the two late losses. The Bulls posted September wins over both Virginia Union and Virginia State. 

Winston-Salem State (7-3) had been mentioned in the SR 2 rankings the past few weeks. But the Rams just didn’t have quite the resume to earn a spot in the field. WSSU did beat Virginia State but suffered losses to both Johnson C. Smith and VUU.

The South Atlantic got the most teams into the field from Super Region 2 with three. The Gulf South got two teams into the bracket, while the CIAA and SIAC managed one apiece.

Lenoir-Rhyne won SR 2 a year ago, winning three games and advancing to the D2 semifinals.

Stay tuned for more on the D2 playoffs this week from NC Football News.

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