By now, you've probably gotten over the anger and disappointment, gotten past denial and accepted the fate.

Minnesota State will host a football game this weekend in the opening round of the NCAA playoffs.

It's probably a week earlier than you thought. Heck, it's a week earlier than almost everyone thought. It's still unclear how this happened.

But the rest of the NCAA football tournament will now be settled on the field, where it should be. The debate about which team is No. 1 no longer matters. Win, and stay in contention. Lose, and look ahead to next season.

This debate about region rankings starts with an oldie: How can one team be ranked No. 1 in the country, yet only No. 2 in the region?

That's easy. The national poll is the collective opinion of coaches or other "experts." The region rankings are based on a set of criteria that includes strength of schedule, overall record and road victories. Therefore, different systems can yield different results, and the NCAA chooses the latter, which supposedly offers no room for subjectivity.

The toughest argument for the playoff scenario lies in the inconsistency. After Week 10, Minnesota State was rated No. 1 in Super Region 4, one spot ahead of undefeated Central Washington, which had been No. 1 in previous rankings.

Then after the Mavericks win at Sioux Falls, another playoff team, and Central Washington defeats Humboldt State, which also had two losses, Minnesota State fell down to No. 2. Sioux Falls wasn't hurt much by losing at home to the Mavericks, while Minnesota State took a big step down after winning at Sioux Falls.

The Mavericks have wins over three teams rated in the top eight of the region, two of which came on the road. No other team has more than one win over another playoff team.

Follow that logic? You're not alone.

So the Mavericks miss out on a much-needed bye and time for banged-up athletes to recover. There will be a home game Saturday, and the forecast doesn't look good. The opponent is Colorado State-Pueblo, the team that stopped Minnesota State from winning a national championship in 2014.

The Mavericks will either still be stewing over missing out on the No. 1 seed or will have used this slight in the rankings and be a motivated competitor on Saturday.

Colorado State-Pueblo is probably the best team the Mavericks have faced this season, with a dynamic quarterback, electric playmakers, veteran offensive line and stingy defense. It's certainly a tough draw for the Mavericks, who are as banged up as they've been all season, but it's also a good chance for Minnesota State to prove it was wronged in the seeding process.

The week off would have been nice, but that's not the reality. Win on Saturday, and there will be another game at Blakeslee Stadium. There still could be a third region game played at the humble home field, if the Mavericks keep winning and Central Washington were to lose.

The Mavericks control their destiny, and there's only one way to make a claim that they are the best team in this region: win the next three games.

Chad Courrier is a Free Press staff writer. To contact him, call 507-344-6353, e-mail atccourrier@mankatofreepress.comor follow his Twitter feed @ChadCourrier.

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