Jacksonville State is top seed in FCS playoffs

Three Big Sky Conference football teams _ league champion Southern Utah plus Montana and Portland State _ are in the field for the FCS playoffs.

Jacksonville State, which lost only to Auburn in overtime this season, is the No. 1 seed and four-time defending champion North Dakota State is seeded third.

The field for the 24-team playoff was set Sunday. First-round games will be played Saturday. The top eight seeds receive byes to the second round and will play their first games at home.

Illinois State is the No. 2 seed and undefeated McNeese State is seeded fourth.

James Madison, Portland State, Richmond and Charleston Southern also received byes.

Portland State received the sixth seed and received a bye.

Southern Utah will travel to Sam Houston State for an opening-round game.

Montana made it into the playoff field as an at-large bid, earning the right to host South Dakota State at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.