INDIANAPOLIS – The field of 24 teams competing for the 2022 NCAA Division I Football Championship was announced Sunday by the NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee. Southern Conference champion and automatic qualifier Samford earned the No. 6 national seed and is joined in the field by SoCon runner-up Furman, which earned an at-large selection.
The Southern Conference put multiple teams in the field for the first time since 2019 and the 33rd time in the last 41 seasons.
The national seed gives Samford a bye through next week’s first round. The Bulldogs will host the winner of the game between Idaho and Southeastern Louisiana on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. (CT) at Bobby Bowden Field at Seibert Stadium. The game will mark the first time Samford has ever hosted an FCS Playoff game.
Samford and Southeastern Louisiana have met three times in football, with the Lions holding a 2-1 series lead. The teams last played in 2013, with Southeastern Louisiana coming away with a 34-31 win at Seibert Stadium. Samford and Idaho have never met in football.
Samford wrapped up its historic regular season Saturday afternoon with a thrilling, 50-44, double overtime win over 19th-ranked Mercer. The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a mark of 10-1 overall, tying the 1991 team for the best regular season record in program history. Samford also earned the program’s first-ever outright Southern Conference championship, posting a perfect 8-0 record in league play.
Furman (9-2, 7-1 SoCon/2nd), winner of six straight games, including a 63-28 triumph over Wofford on Saturday, will play host to Elon (8-3, 6-2 CAA/T3rd) this Saturday at noon ET on ESPN+ at Paladin Stadium.
The winner of the Furman-Elon game will play at No. 7 seed Incarnate Word (10-1) in a second-round clash on Dec. 3.
The playoff berth is the 19th for Furman – tops among current Southern Conference schools – and third under head coach Clay Hendrix. The home game will be the first for the Paladins since 2005, when Furman beat Nicholls State, 14-12, in a first-round matchup.
The Paladins, who own an 19-17 all-time playoff record, have played for three FCS (formerly I-AA) Championships and captured the league’s first national championship in 1988, defeating Georgia Southern, 17-12, in Pocatello, Idaho.
Furman opened the season with a 52-0 blanking of North Greenville before falling at then-FBS fifth-ranked Clemson (35-12) despite outgaining the Tigers, 384-376. Road wins over ETSU (27-14), ranked 18th at the time, and Charleston Southern (24-19) followed before the Paladins, playing without injured starting quarterback Tyler Huff, suffered their last defeat — a 34-27 home setback on Oct. 1 to Samford.
The Paladins bounced back from the disappointment of the Samford game by winning their final six regular season contests: vs. The Citadel (21-10), Western Carolina (47-40), VMI (41-3), No. 6-ranked Chattanooga (24-20), No. 11 ranked Mercer (23-13), and Wofford (63-28).
Furman’s nine victories are its most since 2005, when the Paladins went 11-3. The seven SoCon victories are the highest for the program since 2001.
Top-ranked South Dakota State (10-1) is the No. 1 overall seed after winning the Missouri Valley Football Conference at 8-0. Defending NCAA champion North Dakota State is the No. 3 seed and has won nine national titles since 2011.