JOHNSON CITY — East Tennessee State was seeded seventh in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and will play at home.
But first, the Bucs get a week off.
ETSU will host either Kennesaw State or Davidson on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in the second round. Those teams will meet this Saturday in the first round.
The top eight national seeds received byes into the second round.
“I was excited to be in the top eight and get a bye and I was excited to get a home game,” ETSU coach Randy Sanders said Sunday night during a news conference at the Minidome. “At this point, anybody you play is going to be good. It’s not like you’re getting an easy opponent.”
The Bucs earned the Southern Conference’s automatic bid to the playoffs by winning the league championship with a 38-35 victory over Mercer on Saturday. ETSU is the only SoCon team in the field.
ETSU broke the Greene Stadium attendance record for the fourth time this season with 10,594 fans in the stands for the game against Mercer. Sanders said having a home game is a nice way to thank the Bucs faithful.
“It means a lot to our fans,” said Sanders, who has the team in the playoffs for the second time in his four seasons. “Having a home game hopefully shows a little appreciation for our fans and what they have done. We get a chance to do it again.”
It will be just the second playoff home game in ETSU history. The Bucs beat Villanova 35-29 at the Minidome in 1996.
Kennesaw State (10-1) clinched the Big South title with a 49-17 win over Monmouth. Davidson (8-2) wrapped up the Pioneer League crown with a 45-14 victory over Drake.
“We will probably try to track down film on both teams and start the breakdown process,” Sanders said. “We won’t start putting in any kind of game plan with the players at this point.”
The Bucs will practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday before getting a couple of days off for Thanksgiving.
“Honestly I don’t want a whole lot of intensity this week,” Sanders said. “If you try to get too intense this week, you peak too early, you burn too much energy. We will try to peak emotionally, physically, everything on Saturday the fourth. If you get too intense, too emotional at this point, it’s too long to hold it.”
The winner of the second-round game at Greene Stadium could be facing a trip to Fargo, North Dakota. North Dakota State is seeded second in the field and will play at home if it wins its second-round game.
Defending national champion Sam Houston, which has won 21 games in a row, earned the top seed. The other seeds are No. 3 James Madison, No. 4 Sacramento State, No. 5 Villanova, No. 6 Montana and No. 8 Montana State.
Nine teams in this year’s field have won at least one national championship.
