Listen Here
By: Erin Moran
The Findlay Oilers will host the Minnesota State Mavericks in round one of the NCAA Division II playoffs Nov. 22. The Oilers (10-1) earned the No. 2 seed in Super Region III and the program’s first home playoff game in Division ll.
The Oilers are heading into the game after they faced Tiffin University last weekend, where they had their first loss of the season.
“We made too many mistakes to come out on top,” said head coach Kory Allen. “All credit to Tiffin for winning the game but we are excited that we have another opportunity to play again.”
Findlay’s near perfect regular season of 10-1 is still a program best regular season record.
“Rivalry games are the games of the year. It doesn’t matter if you won all of them or if you lost all of them, it’s the most important game,” said Athletic Director Jim Givens. “Over the years, we have not had a lot of success against Tiffin. And I think each year that we continue that trend is going to add fuel to our fire.”
This postseason marks Allen’s third NCAA playoff appearance at Findlay and is paired with the best seed pairing that the Oilers have ever had in their Division II era.
“We’re in uncharted waters because we’ve never been this highly ranked.” said Givens. “There’s a lot of excitement around that but I think everybody’s kind of gotten over the number two things, and now we know you win or you’re done.”
The magnitude of hosting a postseason game comes with a lot of work on and new visibility for the program.
“I am on the national NCAA National Football Committee. So it is a lot of work, and even more so when your team is in the hunt,” said Givens. “But it’s really fun, and we are just going to take it one game at a time, and if we win we know we are going to host, and that is a great thing.”
“We’re hosting a meeting on Friday night with the opposing team, all the officials, and it’s kind of neat to have people from other institutions on your campus to show it off,” said Givens.
“You get national exposure through national competition, when you are competing at a level where it’s just not within your conference parameters and you’re able to compete more nationally,” Givens said. “I think that that is a great thing for the institution from a recruiting perspective and in getting the University of Findlay’s name to places that otherwise it wouldn’t be.”
The game comes with lots of excitement, but the Oilers are ready to take on all that comes with the playoffs, according to Allen.
“We’ve played three teams that are in the national playoff field already during the regular season,” said Allen. “So we’ve played in multiple big games already this year, obviously the stage is a little bit bigger being the national playoffs, but we have a veteran group and a group that understands what it takes to play in a big game.”
“I’m sure when it’s all said and done, we’ll be able to reflect and be proud of the things that we’ve been able to do, but there’s more to accomplish this year,” said Allen.
“I’m very proud of our staff and our student athletes. And I think that sometimes we take them for granted,” said Givens. “I want everybody to come out of the game healthy, with a smile, and hearing a real large bell ring.”
Students have been encouraged to attend and support the Oilers. The Athletic Department gave out 186 free tickets to students out of 300 available on Thursday, Nov. 20. It also offered faculty and staff the opportunity for discounted rates during restricted hours Thursday morning.
“Being able to play in front of our UF community in the city of Findlay makes it so much better,” said Givens.
UF is hosting a tailgate event at 11 a.m. on Nov. 22 in the south parking lot of Donnell Stadium, which will be followed by kickoff at 1 p.m.
