Missouri Valley is best conference

[FanofFCS]

TSN ranked the FCS conferences. The Missouri Valley, not surprisingly, is No. 1.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/writers/infcshuddle/index.htm

[IBleedYellow]

Going to put this out here. Finally.

[Herder]

Big gap in favor on the Valley in 2012 according to the Sagarin Ratings

CONFERENCE CENTRAL MEAN SIMPLE AVERAGE TEAMS WIN50%
1 SOUTHEASTERN (A) = 81.75 81.57 ( 1) 14 81.64 ( 1)
2 BIG 12 (A) = 79.99 79.38 ( 2) 10 79.54 ( 2)
3 PAC-12 (A) = 76.15 75.58 ( 3) 12 75.85 ( 3)
4 BIG TEN (A) = 75.87 75.05 ( 4) 12 75.24 ( 4)
5 I-A INDEPENDENTS (A) = 72.83 72.73 ( 5) 4 72.82 ( 5)
6 BIG EAST (A) = 72.16 71.87 ( 7) 8 71.91 ( 6)
7 ATLANTIC COAST (A) = 71.64 71.92 ( 6) 12 71.80 ( 7)
8 WESTERN ATHLETIC (A) = 64.57 64.82 ( 8) 7 64.72 ( 8)
9 SUN BELT (A) = 62.95 62.95 ( 9) 10 62.95 ( 9)
10 MID-AMERICAN (A) = 62.60 62.37 ( 11) 13 62.44 ( 11)
11 CONFERENCE USA (A) = 62.18 62.64 ( 10) 12 62.52 ( 10)
12 MISSOURI VALLEY (AA)= 61.53 60.79 ( 13) 10 60.94 ( 13)
13 MOUNTAIN WEST (A) = 60.97 61.82 ( 12) 10 61.64 ( 12)
14 SOUTHERN (AA)= 56.15 55.77 ( 14) 9 55.84 ( 14)
15 OHIO VALLEY (AA)= 54.83 53.93 ( 15) 9 54.07 ( 15)
16 BIG SKY (AA)= 53.89 53.62 ( 16) 13 53.83 ( 16)
17 SOUTHLAND (AA)= 52.40 52.76 ( 17) 8 52.61 ( 17)
18 COLONIAL (AA)= 50.48 48.86 ( 18) 11 49.50 ( 18)
19 IVY LEAGUE (AA)= 41.17 40.92 ( 19) 8 40.94 ( 19)
20 PATRIOT LEAGUE (AA)= 40.27 40.41 ( 20) 7 40.40 ( 20)
21 MID-EASTERN (AA)= 38.54 38.16 ( 23) 11 38.24 ( 22)
22 BIG SOUTH (AA)= 38.44 39.40 ( 21) 7 39.03 ( 21)
23 NORTHEAST (AA)= 37.77 38.26 ( 22) 9 38.15 ( 23)
24 SOUTHWESTERN (AA)= 35.11 35.06 ( 24) 10 35.08 ( 24)
25 PIONEER (AA)= 31.95 30.69 ( 25) 10 31.26 ( 25)

Ranking (TSN) [Sagarin]

MVFC (1) [1]
BSC (2) [4]
SoCo (3) [2]
CAA (4) [6]
SLC (5) [5]
OVC (6) [3]
PL (7) [8]
Ivy (8) [7]
MEAC (9) [9]
BSo (10) [10]
NEC (11) [11]
SWAC (12) [12]
PFL (13) [13]

[Lehigh'98]

You guys are solid!!! Ranked above the MWC.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I don't understand the OVC being ranked ahead of the PL.

[Herder]

I don't understand the OVC being ranked ahead of the PL.

While the TSN give the OVC the nod over the PL, 6 vs 7, the Sagarin ratings are significantly in the OVC's favor, 3 vs 8. Sorry, there's the data.

[TheRevSFA]

I don't understand the OVC being ranked ahead of the PL.

Why wouldn't they?

[DFW HOYA]

I don't understand the OVC being ranked ahead of the PL.

Strength of schedule. The bottom two OVC teams played Oregon and Virginia Tech, while the bottom two of the PL are playing Pioneer and NEC schools.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Why wouldn't they?

Yeah, no offense to the PL intended but the OVC sure looked like a better conference to me last year than the PL. The OVC was playing some decent football last year.

[The Cats]

TSN ranked the FCS conferences. The Missouri Valley, not surprisingly, is No. 1.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/writers/infcshuddle/index.htm

Congrats.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

If I cared about what Craig Haley wrote, I'd be inclined to argue.

With that said, I'll just offer 'Congrats MVC'.

[AmsterBison]

So what would it take for the Southland to be considered one of the top conferences?

[Bisonwinagn]

So what would it take for the Southland to be considered one of the top conferences?

Need to have quality teams from 3 on down instead of 1 or 2 good teams each year.

[Vitojr130]

So what would it take for the Southland to be considered one of the top conferences?

A miracle lel

[UNH Fanboi]

4. CAA Football - Too many good teams and no great teams have brought the CAA back from the FCS lead. Villanova thinks it has a great team this year and Towson, behind running back Terrance West, is headed to a banner season. The two will try to separate themselves from the pack of New Hampshire (whose defense will be down), Richmond, James Madison, Delaware and Stony Brook, which comes aboard as Old Dominion - last year's best CAA team - departs the conference.

I don't know if it's possible for our defense to be worse than last season.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Need to have quality teams from 3 on down instead of 1 or 2 good teams each year.

Gotta agree with that. If you have teams in the 4,5, 6 positions that are putting themselves in a position to win games and even knock off a top team then it is gonna make them a real strong all around conference. The Southland has gotten as good as any other top conference in the top couple spots but the other conferences normally have 4 if not 6 in some cases that are comparable to the Southland's 2.

[superman7515]

4. CAA Football - Too many good teams and no great teams have brought the CAA back from the FCS lead. Villanova thinks it has a great team this year and Towson, behind running back Terrance West, is headed to a banner season. The two will try to separate themselves from the pack of New Hampshire (whose defense will be down), Richmond, James Madison, Delaware and Stony Brook, which comes aboard as Old Dominion - last year's best CAA team - departs the conference.

I don't know if it's possible for our defense to be worse than last season.

No offense, but I can't remember the last time UNH was known for solid defense. They win a lot of shootouts, so it's not meant as a slight, but lock down D has never been a hallmark of the Wildcats.

[TheRevSFA]

So what would it take for the Southland to be considered one of the top conferences?

Easy - Get rid of Lamar, Nicholls, and don't bring in HBU and UIW

More depth in conference. This year we will probably have 5 teams over .500 (Sam, UCA, SFA, McNeese, and SELA) but we really lack quality depth.

[GannonFan]

No offense, but I can't remember the last time UNH was known for solid defense. They win a lot of shootouts, so it's not meant as a slight, but lock down D has never been a hallmark of the Wildcats.

The UNH team in 2010 who lost to UD in the quarters was much more a defensive team than an offensive one.

[MplsBison]

I don't understand the OVC being ranked ahead of the PL.

It's a computer ranking. Common sense need not apply.

[superman7515]

The UNH team in 2010 who lost to UD in the quarters was much more a defensive team than an offensive one.

Maybe as far as scores go, but they were still allowing over 300 yards a game, allowing 70 offensive plays a game to the other team, and opposing offenses had a higher time of possesion, so it wasn't like their defense was lock down and getting a lot of three and outs.