State of the Southland Nov. 9th

[BEAR]

State of the Southland- November 9, 2015

Current conference standings:
McNeese 8-0
UCA 6-1
SHSU 5-2
………… Below this line not eligible for FCS playoffs………………
UIW 4-3
Lamar 3-4
SLU 3-4
NWST 3-4
SFA 3-4
Nicholls 2-5
ACU 2-6
HBU 0-6

Conference only stat leaders: Possible playoff teams stats included for comparison.

Points per game: Sam Houston: 43 UCA 34 McNeese 31
Scoring defense: McNeese: 12 UCA 18 Sam 22
Yards per game: Sam Houston: 512 UCA 458 McNeese 381
Defense YPG: McNeese 314 UCA 318 Sam 350
Rushing offense: Sam 236 UCA 229 McNeese 220
Rushing defense: McNeese 78 UCA 123 Sam 212
Passing offense: Sam 275 UCA 229 McNeese 161
Passing defense: Sam 139 UCA 195 McNeese 237
Passing efficiency: Sam 159 UCA 153 McNeese 103
Passing defense eff: Sam 95 UCA 98 McNeese 114
Kickoff return avg yardage: McNeese 27 UCA 18 Sam 18
Punt return avg yardage: Sam 17 UCA 14 McNeese 7
Kickoff net aver: McNeese 45 UCA 45 Sam 45
Punting net avg: McNeese 42 UCA 40 Sam 39
Sacks against: Sam 6 UCA 7 McNeese 8
Sacks by: McNeese 24 UCA 20 Sam 14
Interceptions: UCA 14 Sam 10 McNeese 4

In the above stats UCA is second in every category (of the three remaining playoff teams) 16/17 and leads in one. (minus the equal stats in KNA)

Elimination or playoffs: McNeese, Sam Houston, and UCA are the only teams left for possible playoff bids. McNeese has a playoff spot locked up. UCA should get win #7 this week against Nicholls (crossing fingers). Sam Houston needs to defeat NWST next week and UCA in their last game of the year to make 7 wins.

Will the SLC get 3 teams in? That’s the question.



Remaining schedules:

McNeese- plays LAMAR in Beaumont.
UCA plays Nicholls in Thibodaux and SHSU in Conway.
SHSU plays NWST in Huntsville and UCA in Conway.

Scenarios:

McNeese wins against Lamar and wins conference title outright at 9-0 and goes 10-0 on the season and gets the autobid.
McNeese loses to Lamar and goes 8-1 in conference and awaits UCA vs. (Nicholls then SHSU) games to see if they share the title or not.

UCA wins out and gets playoff spot with 8-3 record and second place in Southland and maybe share conference title with McNeese loss to Lamar.
UCA loses out and stays home.
UCA loses one of last two and goes 7-4 on season and awaits at-large possible bid to playoffs.

Sam Houston wins out and shares second place in conference with UCA (pending Nicholls win) and likely gets at-large with 7-3 record in division I games. (Played D2 Texas A&M-Commerce for an eighth win).
Sam Houston loses out and stays home.
Sam Houston loses one of last two and only has 6 division I wins and possibly not eligible for post season.

Swami predicts conference final records of playoff possible teams:

McNeese 9-0
UCA 7-2
Sam 7-2

SOS for the 3 teams:
UCA 47
McNeese 66
Sam 71

National ranking on defenses:
McNeese 3 (didn’t play LSU so this number is skewed)
UCA 41
Sam 62

[FormerPokeCenter]

We held Leonard Fournette to 5 yards per carry. The only other team to hold him under 8 ypc was Alabama this last weekend ;)

[BEAR]

Games this week:

Lamar at UIW- No idea. UIW is coming on strong. Lamar just trips over the strangest teams.
HBU at SFA- Consider HBU CONQUEred
NWST at SHSU- Sammy playing with its back to the wall. Poor NWST.
SLU at ACU- toss up. What happened to SLU?! Talk about evil twin sister stealing the boyfriend. Lions are you there? Is this really you?
UCA at Nicholls- Here's a dime Nicholls...call someone who cares how bad you will be beaten.

Thoughts?

[msupokes1]

National ranking on defenses:
McNeese 3 (didn’t play LSU so this number is skewed)
UCA 41
Sam 62

Just curious how that number is skewed. UCA didn't play LSU either so is their number skewed as well?

[FormerPokeCenter]

LOL! He's got you on that one, Malcom. Beyond that, UCA played Houston Baptist, while McNeese did not.

I think there's some skewage inherent to that, too ;)

[BEAR]

Just curious how that number is skewed. UCA didn't play LSU either so is their number skewed as well.

If McNeese had played LSU their national ranking on defense would be lower.
UCA played #5 FBS Oklahoma State thus lowering their Nat. rank on defense.

[FormerPokeCenter]

But that was offset by Houston Baptist...

[caribbeanhen]

state of the Southland? Weak just like the CAA, and that's not really a good thing for FCS football

[msupokes1]

McNeese has also played Sam Houston and UCA has not.

[BEAR]

Just stop. Ask yourself if McNeese's defense would be ranked that high if they had played LSU.

At the end of the year McNeese is still short an FBS opponent that UCA had. xlolx UCA will play Sam in 2 weeks and McNeese's defense will still be the same.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Da3ZAWkDmkA/UR39ULBvOgI/AAAAAAAACvo/AIJ23U4md_Q/s640/fisher.png

[msupokes1]

Stats aren't skewed. You can do that with any team out there. Would UCA's stats be as good if they had played LSU? The game didn't happen. Get over it. Bottom line is McNeese holds opponents to an average of 14.5 points less than their season average. The only team UCA held to under 14 points was the daunted offense of HBU which McNeese didn't have the luxury of playing. In 9 games the only team that scored more than 14 on McNeese was Northwestern. Cant skew those stats.

[BEAR]

How many points do you think McNeese would have held LSU to?

[msupokes1]

How many points do you think McNeese would have held LSU to?

How many points would UCA have held them to? How many points would McNeese hold Houston Baptist to? The point is it doesn't matter because those games didn't happen.

[FormerPokeCenter]

I think McNeese would have held LSU to 30 points or less...

[BEAR]

How many points would UCA have held them to? How many points would McNeese hold Houston Baptist to? The point is it doesn't matter because those games didn't happen.

Your missing the point here. UCA played an FBS team and McNeese didn't play one. I'll ignore Mississippi College if you'll ignore HBU.

[FormerPokeCenter]

Mississippi College is a tougher oponent than HBU....

[McNeese75]

Your missing the point here. UCA played an FBS team and McNeese didn't play one. I'll ignore Mississippi College if you'll ignore HBU.

Miss College would destroy HBU :D

[Sammy94]

and IWU would beat SLU...... oh wait that happened

[BEAR]

http://ktliterary.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Giving_Up.jpg

[msupokes1]

Your missing the point here. UCA played an FBS team and McNeese didn't play one. I'll ignore Mississippi College if you'll ignore HBU.

Take out ok st. and UCA still gives up 21.5 a game.

[cardiaccowboy]

Stats from Lsu vs McNeese 2010
Total yards
Lsu-282 McNeese 219
Top McNeese 18:50 lsu 17:51
1st downs lsu 19 McNeese 11
final score tigers 32 Cowboys 10
Not saying McNeese would win the game but they normally play a decent against the big boys