Who Fills the Playoff Spots in D2?

10.20.2026College Men

Villanova is hyped up.

Author: Alex Goff

Let's talk Men's D2 College playoff possibilities.

NCR will have 14 teams going straight to the Round of 16 with four more teams going into a play-in to decide who rounds out that 16.

Let's take a look at who is set to be those 18 teams, and why:

Allegheny #1. This was in doubt for a bit as the conference has expanded with the addition of Dayton and Ohio. But IUP has undergone a bit of a mid-season turnaround after a shaky start. The Hawks have had some changeover in players and found a bit more of their mojo, with Jayce Brooks and Dylan Deasy leading the way IUP have started to put in performances.

Wins over Dayton (43-26 on October 3) and Ohio (31-19 on the 17th) have established IUP as the top team in the conference.

At-large? The winner of the upcoming Ohio vs Dayton game will decide which team might be considered for an at-large spot, and they probably should earn that.

Great Lakes #1: Grand Valley State has sewn this up.

Grand Valley Logs Statement Win

Great Midwest #1 and #2: We don't know yet, but it does look like Northern Iowa and University of Chicago are headed for the final. UNI won massively over #13-ranked UW-Milwaukee to make it absolutely clear who rules the North. Now, this could change, if it turns out that the second-best team in either the South or North is stronger than the top team on the other side. But we don't think so.

GMW #3. This team will get a play-in and we're thinking this might be Benedictine or Loyola.

High Peaks #1: Montana State has had a really good season but they lost 31-29 to Weber State, and it looks like Weber State will come out as the top team from this conference.

Liberty #1: Obviously there was some doubt about Cornell depending on how caught up the entire program would be in what's going on at the college (which we're not going to get into), Cornell beat RPI and is now 4-0. But RIT is 5-0. Guess what? They play each other this coming weekend in Rochester.

Strong Start for RIT, and a Historic Breakthrough Next Weekend

At-large? Yes, if the Cornel-vs-RIT game is close, we could see the losing team get an at-large bid, maybe.

Lonestar #1: This should be Sam Houston State.

Men's D2 College Results October 17

Mid-Atlantic #1 and #2. Two seeds will go into the Round of 16. Villanova and Scranton are 5-0 in their respective divisions within the MARC. Loyola is 4-1, having lost to Catholic U., a D3 team. The playoffs start this weekend. While many conferences within NCR at different divisions have been moving away from conference playoffs, the MARC can't do that because they have so many teams and such a split of teams into difference divisions.

The bracket, then, looks like this:

Some very good teams here. Georgetown could upend Villanova. Loyola could upend Scranton.

There could well be an at-large spot for the #3 team here, so that third-place game will be huge.

NACR #1: That looks to be Boston University.

Attitude Change Fuels Big Win for BU

Southern #1: UNC-Wilmington and Coastal Carolina meet up this weekend and that's basically the conference decider.

SCRC #1: Memphis leads here.

Gateway #1 (play-in spot): Benedictine leads the West, and Washington University leads the East. They should play play for the top spot.

The at-large spots, then, look to be (in our opinion) Allegheny #2, the High Peaks #2, which is probably Montana State, Loyola of Maryland, the Liberty #2, or the Southern #2 ... maybe NACR #2. There are only three at-large spots, so it's really about how close those decider games are. Montana State lost to Weber State 31-29, so that's why they are listed, but logistics could negate that. Ohio and Dayton both lost competitively to IUP.

Northern Lights #1 (play-in spot): Minnesota-Duluth can wrap this up with a win over St. Thomas, but this conference likes to end it with a #1 vs #2 playoff, which should be UMD vs NDSU. Duluth won the first meeting of these two.