For the fourth time in five seasons, Ohio State Club Football enters the NCFA postseason as the No. 1 seed.
The Buckeyes earned the top-seed in the final NCFA Power Rankings of the season after finishing 7-1 with a forfeit win over Michigan State in what would have been the Great Lakes Conference title game. Ohio State owns the best record in the NCFA, with seeds two through four all sitting at 6-3 on the season.
South Atlantic Conference champions Clayton State earned the No. 2 seed after a convincing 36-4 win over Columbus State in their conference title game, while George Mason – needing a win to keep its postseason chances alive – upset previously ranked No. 2 Coppin State, 20-12 in the Mid-Atlantic Conference Championship Game. George Mason earned the No. 3 seed while Coppin State received the wild-card bid as the highest ranked non-champion in the league. The Eagles just edged out the Wright State Raiders for the No. 4 seed in the Power Rankings. The Raiders finished 6-2 on the season, their best overall record in over a decade, but failed to reach the Great Lakes Conference title game.
With the playoffs set, the Buckeyes will prepare to take on the Coppin State Eagles for the first time in five years. The two teams last met in 2019 in the Mid-Atlantic Conference Championship Game, a matchup Ohio State won, 35-0. However, Coppin State does own the series advantage at 2-1 as the Eagles defeated the Buckeyes 41-6 in 2012, and again 20-0 in 2013. Both years the Eagles went on to win the NCFA National Championship.
The Eagles are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Patriots in the Mid-Atlantic title game. Coppin State held a 10-0 lead late in the second quarter, but failed to generate any offensive points in the second half, scoring only on a failed George Mason two-point attempt that was returned back the other way for two points. Coppin State did win the first matchup against George Mason in the regular season, beating the Patriots 30-16.
A former NCFA power, it has been a slow build back to the playoffs for Coppin State. Since their back-to-back national titles, the Eagles have failed to get back to the title game since the NCFA instituted the playoffs in 2015. The Eagles qualified for the first-ever playoffs in 2015, but lost by one to eventual national champions, Middle Georgia State, in the semifinals. This year’s playoff appearance will be their first since that 2015 season.
At 6-3, Coppin State’s only other losses outside of the conference title game came to Showtime Prep. The Eagles lost twice to the prep program first by a score of 20-6 and then again, 8-6 later in the season. Coppin State did however, defeat Great Lakes Conference opponent Michigan State, 14-10 in the regular season.
The winner between the Buckeyes and Eagles will take on the winner of No. 2 Clayton State Lakers and No. 3 George Mason Patriots. The Lakers have played the toughest schedule in the NCFA this season, going 6-0 against non-NJCAA opponents but going 0-3 against NJCAA opponents. The Lakers are led by head coach Kevin Adkins, who previously led Gordon State to the NCFA national title in 2022, defeating Ohio State 35-15. Meanwhile, the Patriots are back in the playoffs for the second time in three years. George Mason earned the wild card spot in 2022 before losing to Ohio State 63-6 in the semifinals. Last year, George Mason was edged out by Michigan State in the final NCFA Power Rankings for the No. 4 spot.
Kickoff between the Buckeyes and Eagles is set for 3 p.m. at the Glass Bowl in Toledo, Ohio. The Lakers and Patriots will then kick off in the same location at approximately 7 p.m. Both games are set to be live-streamed on Campus Nation. The national title game is set to be held in Waynesburg, PA on Dec. 7.
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