AGS Poll Results - WEEK 1 POLL - 2019 SEASON

[AGSPoll]

9/2/2019



Rank
Team:
Total Points
First Place Votes
Previous Wk.


1
North Dakota State Bison
2191
78



2
James Madison Dukes
2044
7



3
South Dakota State Jackrabbits
2008
3



4
Eastern Washington Eagles
1912
1



5
UC Davis Aggies
1859




6
Maine Black Bears
1766




7
Weber State Wildcats
1579




8
Northern Iowa Panthers
1379




9
Kennesaw State Owls
1269




10
Towson Tigers
1259




11
Central Arkansas Bears
1151




12
Nicholls State Colonels
1089




13
Furman Paladins
994




14
Illinois State Redbirds
985




15
Montana State Bobcats
888




16
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
730




17
North Carolina A&T Aggies
723




18
Montana Grizzlies
682




19
Indiana State Sycamores
681




20
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
518




21
Villanova Wildcats
341




22
Southeastern Louisiana Lions
328




23
Wofford Terriers
328




24
Princeton Tigers
301




25
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
281



















ORV:





26
Stony Brook Seawolves
233




27
Elon Phoenix
208




28
Youngstown State Penguins
178




29
Sam Houston State Bearkats
176




30
Chattanooga Mocs
154




31
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
89




32
Yale Bulldogs
61




33
East Tennessee State Buccaneers
60




34
Dartmouth Big Green
59




35
New Hampshire Wildcats
50




36
South Carolina State Bulldogs
50




37
Duquesne Dukes
41




38
Cal Poly Mustangs
38




39
The Citadel Bulldogs
33




40
Lamar Cardinals
29



















Most Significant Win:

Central Arkansas Bears




Most Significant Loss:

Jacksonville State Gamecocks

























Fell Out Of Poll:





















Previous week comparison and falling out aspects will begin next week.

[JSUSoutherner]

If you voted for Jax State, you're wrong.

[JSUSoutherner]

NDSU
SDSU
Northern Iowa
Maine
James Madison
Weber State
UC Davis
Eastern Washington
Kennesaw State
Central Arkansas
Towson
Furman
Illinois State
Indiana State
NC A&T
Nova
Southeast Missouri State
Southeast Louisiana
Chattanooga
Delaware
Eastern Kentucky
Elon
Sam Houston State
Stony Brook
Austin Peay



Slot in UNA above Nova unofficially.


Win: UCA
Loss: JSU

[ursus arctos horribilis]

clenz has been working on a new graphic for this as well so hopefully he'll post that up when he gets a chance. Pretty damn nice work clenzy.xthumbsupx

[clenz]

Wasn't sure if you'd post it with the poll or not.

Here it is

https://i.imgur.com/ycM1cB5.png

[RootinFerDukes]

Dropping EWU 2 spots for being blown out by the #12 team in the country is harsh.

[Mike296]

Hello Mike296 ,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 15:32:57

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: Towson Tigers
4: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
5: Kennesaw State Owls
6: Eastern Washington Eagles
7: UC Davis Aggies
8: Northern Iowa Panthers
9: Furman Paladins
10: Weber State Wildcats
11: Indiana State Sycamores
12: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
13: Nicholls State Colonels
14: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
15: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
16: Central Arkansas Bears
17: North Carolina A&T Aggies
18: Montana State Bobcats
19: Montana Grizzlies
20: Princeton Tigers
21: Sam Houston State Bearkats
22: Duquesne Dukes
23: Chattanooga Mocs
24: Stony Brook Seawolves
25: Austin Peay Governors

Mike296

The Most Significant Win: North Carolina A&T Aggies
The Most Significant Loss: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Ohio Valley Conference


This week was a mess and JSU did not deserve 12 but I didn’t have anyone to put there so I was like F it and chucked them there.

[JSUSoutherner]

Wasn't sure if you'd post it with the poll or not.

Here it is

https://i.imgur.com/ycM1cB5.png

I corrected it for youhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190902/119f9d24e597326280a9c2320234f2fa.jpg

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

[nodak651]

Dropping EWU 2 spots for being blown out by the #12 team in the country is harsh.

Not really when the initial poll was 100% speculation.

[JSUSoutherner]

Hello Mike296 ,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 15:32:57

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: Towson Tigers
4: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
5: Kennesaw State Owls
6: Eastern Washington Eagles
7: UC Davis Aggies
8: Northern Iowa Panthers
9: Furman Paladins
10: Weber State Wildcats
11: Indiana State Sycamores
12: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
13: Nicholls State Colonels
14: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
15: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
16: Central Arkansas Bears
17: North Carolina A&T Aggies
18: Montana State Bobcats
19: Montana Grizzlies
20: Princeton Tigers
21: Sam Houston State Bearkats
22: Duquesne Dukes
23: Chattanooga Mocs
24: Stony Brook Seawolves
25: Austin Peay Governors

Mike296

The Most Significant Win: North Carolina A&T Aggies
The Most Significant Loss: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Ohio Valley Conference


This week was a mess and JSU did not deserve 12 but I didn’t have anyone to put there so I was like F it and chucked them there.Literally anyone else.

You could have added literally anyone who won a game at 25 and dropped JSU entirely.

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

[clenz]

I corrected it for youhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190902/119f9d24e597326280a9c2320234f2fa.jpg

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk
Is that left over paint from the promo shoot?

[TheKingpin28]

1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
4: Eastern Washington Eagles
5: UC Davis Aggies
6: Maine Black Bears
7: Weber State Wildcats
8: Kennesaw State Owls
9: Nicholls State Colonels
10: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
11: Central Arkansas Bears
12: Northern Iowa Panthers
13: Furman Paladins
14: Montana State Bobcats
15: Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens
16: North Carolina A&T Aggies
17: Towson Tigers
18: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
19: South Carolina State Bulldogs
20: Illinois State Redbirds
21: Indiana State Sycamores
22: Montana Grizzlies
23: Elon Phoenix
24: The Citadel Bulldogs




25: Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Go ahead and please criticize away. This was damn near impossible trying to pick who should go where this week.

[JSUSoutherner]

Is that left over paint from the promo shoot?

Idk, I found it in a dumpster behind the field house.

Along with some diapers and a couple tampons.

[clenz]

1
.
South Dakota St


2
.
North Dakota St


3
.
James Madison


4
.
UC-Davis


5
.
Eastern Washington


6
.
Maine


7
.
Weber State


8
.
Northern Iowa


9
.
Villanova


10
.
Central Arkansas


11
.
Montana


12
.
Indiana St


13
.
Towson


14
.
Illinois St


15
.
Montana St


16
.
The Citadel


17
.
Kennesaw St


18
.
Southeastern Louisiana


19
.
New Hampshire


20
.
Youngstown St


21
.
Southeast Missouri St


22
.
Stony Brook


23
.
Delaware


24
.
Furman


25
.
Richmond

[JSUSoutherner]

1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
4: Eastern Washington Eagles
5: UC Davis Aggies
6: Maine Black Bears
7: Weber State Wildcats
8: Kennesaw State Owls
9: Nicholls State Colonels
10: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
11: Central Arkansas Bears
12: Northern Iowa Panthers
13: Furman Paladins
14: Montana State Bobcats
15: Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens
16: North Carolina A&T Aggies
17: Towson Tigers
18: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
19: South Carolina State Bulldogs
20: Illinois State Redbirds
21: Indiana State Sycamores
22: Montana Grizzlies
23: Elon Phoenix
24: The Citadel Bulldogs




25: Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Go ahead and please criticize away. This was damn near impossible trying to pick who should go where this week.

It literally was not.

I don't even have us in my first five out.

[JSUSoutherner]

Let's play a game:

Someone justify why JSU should be ranked at all without using the following reason:

"Because they're JSU"

[TheKingpin28]

It literally was not.

I don't even have us in my first five out.

I am glad I had 13 teams either perfect or 1 away.

-Shocked that Wofford is ranked by SCSU is not.
-Not sure how Towson can be 10 and El Cid at 39.
-Not a fan of Elon being dropped to 27 with NCAT being 17 considering they went on the road and lost by 3.


-Just a quick glance

[nodak651]

UND ranked 15 in Massey and not a single vote in this poll.

[smilo]

Ooof, I diverged on five teams. I don't ordinarily have a pro CAA bias. Pro-Ivy and historically pro-MVFC, if anything. Mostly just surprised that I missed on teams 15/16 overall.

I ultimately did not pick SEMO, NCAT, or SELA in my poll. All were pretty close along with SHSU. I did not at all consider Wofford or JSU. Results should mean a lot!

I still have my preseason infatuation with The Citadel and UTC along with UNH and Yale. Gave my 25th spot to Stony Brook at the last second after much deliberation.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Wasn't sure if you'd post it with the poll or not.

Here it is

https://i.imgur.com/ycM1cB5.png

I would have if I had seen the pm or email prior to my AGS Poll post. I will do that going forward though.

Note to all you twitter guys out there. Go grab the @AGSFCS poll tweet and tag it on to the schools, coaches, SID's, etc. in your wheelhouse and get it out there. Do some simple promotion on it for me cuz I'm busy and lazy and that is a bad combo. xlolx

[TheKingpin28]

Let's play a game:

Someone justify why JSU should be ranked at all without using the following reason:

"Because they're JSU"

JSU (122) lost on the road to SELA (195)

-Stony Brook (148) was my #27 and they beat Bryant (224)
-Elon was in my poll
-YSU's (115) win against Samford, who is now 0-2, looks mediocre at best due to Samford (174) losing to TTU (230)
-SHSU (152) lost to New Mexico (123)
-Chatty (165) was my #26 and they beat EIU (206)

I do my best not to slot vote (hence UNI, Montana St, WSU moving up) and I will know whether or not Chatty should be above JSU come next week.

[TheKingpin28]

I would have if I had seen the pm or email prior to my AGS Poll post. I will do that going forward though.

Note to all you twitter guys out there. Go grab the @AGSFCS poll tweet and tag it on to the schools, coaches, SID's, etc. in your wheelhouse and get it out there. Do some simple promotion on it for me cuz I'm busy and lazy and that is a bad combo. xlolx

Done

[JSUSoutherner]

JSU (122) lost on the road to SELA (195)

-Stony Brook (148) was my #27 and they beat Bryant (224)
-Elon was in my poll
-YSU's (115) win against Samford, who is now 0-2, looks mediocre at best due to Samford (174) losing to TTU (230)
-SHSU (152) lost to New Mexico (123)
-Chatty (165) was my #26 and they beat EIU (206)

I do my best not to slot vote (hence UNI, Montana St, WSU moving up) and I will know whether or not Chatty should be above JSU come next week.

So you have JSU, who is 122 in sagarin and got DUMP TRUCKED over a YSU team who is 115 in Sagarin and actually took care of business.


Mmkay.

[caribbeanhen]

I am glad I had 13 teams either perfect or 1 away.

-Shocked that Wofford is ranked by SCSU is not.
-Not sure how Towson can be 10 and El Cid at 39.
-Not a fan of Elon being dropped to 27 with NCAT being 17 considering they went on the road and lost by 3.


-Just a quick glance

I hope you're seeing something in Delaware that I'm missing....

[TheKingpin28]

So you have JSU, who is 122 in sagarin and got DUMP TRUCKED over a YSU team who is 115 in Sagarin and actually took care of business.


Mmkay.

Samford lost to TTU. That alone discredits a win. The problem with week 1 is there is usually 10-15 teams that deserved to be ranked and the rest are hopefully hitting a dartboard.

BTW, I have Chatty, Dartmouth, ETSU, ISUo, Lamar, Princeton, Richmond, SBU, Nova, YSU, and Woffy on the watch list, in alpha order though.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

UND ranked 15 in Massey and not a single vote in this poll.

They got votes. We only list 15 extra ORV spots though.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

1: North Dakota State Bison
2: UC Davis Aggies
3: Eastern Washington Eagles
4: James Madison Dukes
5: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
6: Illinois State Redbirds
7: Maine Black Bears
8: Nicholls State Colonels
9: Montana State Bobcats
10: Weber State Wildcats
11: Northern Iowa Panthers
12: Towson Tigers
13: Central Arkansas Bears
14: Indiana State Sycamores
15: Princeton Tigers
16: Kennesaw State Owls
17: North Carolina A&T Aggies
18: Eastern Kentucky Colonels
19: Chattanooga Mocs
20: Yale Bulldogs
21: New Hampshire Wildcats
22: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
23: Elon Phoenix
24: Villanova Wildcats
25: Montana Grizzlies

Go Lehigh TU owl

The Most Significant Win: North Carolina A&T Aggies
The Most Significant Loss: Colgate Raiders

[TheKingpin28]

I hope you're seeing something in Delaware that I'm missing....

I have them in my 4th tier of teams ranking from Montana St to Montana, with Elon and El Cid in my 5th tier, with JSU in my 6th tier with a group of other watchlists.

[JSUSoutherner]

Samford lost to TTU. That alone discredits a win. The problem with week 1 is there is usually 10-15 teams that deserved to be ranked and the rest are hopefully hitting a dartboard.

BTW, I have Chatty, Dartmouth, ETSU, ISUo, Lamar, Princeton, Richmond, SBU, Nova, YSU, and Woffy on the watch list, in alpha order though.

Literally ANY win is better than what JSU did.

Ranking a lower ranked team who not only lost, but got absolutely crapped on, over a team ranked higher who won is dumb. It's not like Samford took them to the wire. It was decisive.

You also have us ranked over UTC and you think UTC will beat us in our own house.

[TheKingpin28]

Literally ANY win is better than what JSU did.

Ranking a lower ranked team who not only lost, but got absolutely crapped on, over a team ranked higher who won is dumb. It's not like Samford took them to the wire. It was decisive.

You also have us ranked over UTC and you think UTC will beat us in our own house.

I said I will know whether or not Chatty should be ranked above JSU come next week. That does not mean I believe they will beat you. It just let's me know whether or not I was wrong. So I just decided to look at yours and now I feel better about what I was doing.

[JSUSoutherner]

I said I will know whether or not Chatty should be ranked above JSU come next week. That does not mean I believe they will beat you. It just let's me know whether or not I was wrong. So I just decided to look at yours and now I feel better about what I was doing. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190902/9e5be8639787fee0f351147a411e1bc2.jpg

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

[TheKingpin28]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190902/9e5be8639787fee0f351147a411e1bc2.jpg

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

Do you not realize how bad I am at picking and betting on games? If anything, I am helping you by doing this. Ask Thumper, he'll tell you how awful I am at picking the correct winner.

[JSUSoutherner]

Do you not realize how bad I am at picking and betting on games? If anything, I am helping you by doing this. Ask Thumper, he'll tell you how awful I am at picking the correct winner.

Regardless, ranking JSU is dumb.

[TheKingpin28]

Regardless, ranking JSU is dumb.Above 20, yes. Below 20 and above 30, no.

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk

[Thumper 76]

Dropping EWU 2 spots for being blown out by the #12 team in the country is harsh.

Couple things about this.

1) For me I start from scratch with my poll every week, but especially week 1. I don’t use my preseason poll at all, because that was based off educated guesses and speculation.

2) Sometimes teams move up because they did better than people expected or answered questions people had about them, and aren’t moving down a specific team as punishment. It’s just other teams moving up due to playing well. To go “well I can’t move team X over team Y because team Y didn’t do anything wrong losing to an outstanding FBS” even if team X outperformed expectations or answered a lot of question marks surrounding the team is far worse IMO.

The moral of my story is a lot of the time people see a team drop early in the season a spot or two and call it being “punished” when really it’s other teams being rewarded for playing well and whatnot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JSUSoutherner]

Above 20, yes. Below 20 and above 30, no.

Sent from my SM-J727V using Tapatalk

At all

[Bisonator]

1: North Dakota State Bison
2: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
3: UC Davis Aggies
4: Eastern Washington Eagles
5: Weber State Wildcats
6: James Madison Dukes
7: Towson Tigers
8: Furman Paladins
9: Maine Black Bears
10: Central Arkansas Bears
11: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
12: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
13: Northern Iowa Panthers
14: Illinois State Redbirds
15: Kennesaw State Owls
16: Youngstown State Penguins
17: Montana Grizzlies
18: Montana State Bobcats
19: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
20: North Carolina A&T Aggies
21: Eastern Kentucky Colonels
22: Chattanooga Mocs
23: Indiana State Sycamores
24: Sam Houston State Bearkats
25: Wofford Terriers

Bisonator

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

[McCowboys]

This is my second year as a poll voter for AGS. I think this may have been my best poll, but I missed it with Villanova and Indiana State. I had Villanova in #26. I'll have to pay more attention to Indiana State.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I'm withholding all ISUr comments about where we should be ranked until my # 1 QB starts playing like a grown man or we go to #2 and see what he can do for a couple games. Because short of that, I have no idea ...

Our defense is what I thought, very very good and has room to get even better. But our offense ... I have no frickin idea about pass game, which means good defenses will stack the box and we'll have a repeat of last year. I do think our OL will settle down and be improved over last season, which bodes well for run game ... but again, I have zero confidence in our pass game right now.

We've got what should be 2 easy OOC games (Morehead St at home, EIU on road) and then 1 possibly tough one (NAU at home). The NIU front 7 was so tough, I don't think we'll see another like it. Last year, they ranked #2 in FBS in rushing defense. So we're not worried about our OL based on the NIU game. So I think ou rrun game will still be a force .... but until pass game emerges, we will be on struggle bus against teams like NDSU, SDSU, and UNI.

For now, our pass offense has some serious proving to do .... until then, I am clueless ... more than usual, I mean.

[Professor Chaos]

Little slow to get it published but here's this week's poll article: http://thefcswedge.com/ags-poll/ags-poll-week-1-top-25-results-2/

Like some others have mentioned I was kind of surprised to see Wofford and JSU hanging in the top 25 but it'll sort itself out shortly. Fun AGS Poll fact: Jacksonville St is in danger of having their consecutive polls streak snapped. With their #25 ranking this week they've been in 75 consecutive AGS Top 25 polls which is the 3rd longest active streak behind NDSU (121) and SDSU (76). The last AGS Top 25 Poll that didn't include JSU was week 12 of 2013.

[WileECoyote06]

I am glad I had 13 teams either perfect or 1 away.

-Shocked that Wofford is ranked by SCSU is not.
-Not sure how Towson can be 10 and El Cid at 39.
-Not a fan of Elon being dropped to 27 with NCAT being 17 considering they went on the road and lost by 3.


-Just a quick glance
This.

To A&T's credit; they looked like the faster, better team and missed field goals. But I don't agree with penalizing a team 9 slots for a close road loss to another top 25 team.

A&T's success should be normalized at this point, and it shouldn't be a shocker when they 'upset' a nonconference team.

[hoidOfYolen]

This.

To A&T's credit; they looked like the faster, better team and missed field goals. But I don't agree with penalizing a team 9 slots for a close road loss to another top 25 team.

A&T's success should be normalized at this point, and it shouldn't be a shocker when they 'upset' a nonconference team.

This, so hard. I have Elon at 15 now because they were number 7 in my book, but lost to A&T. I have A&T at 12, because I actually think they could beat teams like Delaware (13) and Illinois State (14) and Elon couldn't have this week. But we'll see what happens at The Citadel next week.

[hoidOfYolen]

Here's my poll:

I kind of regret giving a 25th place vote to JSU now. I can't in good conscience vote for them above SELA when SELA just beat them. Oh well.



North Dakota State



James Madison


Eastern Washington


Weber St


UC Davis


South Dakota State


Maine


Towson


Furman


Northern Iowa


Montana


NC A&T


Delaware


Illinois State


Elon


SHSU


Central Arkansas


Montana State


Villanova


Indiana State


Nicholls


Wofford


Chattanooga


ETSU


Jacksonville State

[JSUSoutherner]

Here's my poll:

I kind of regret giving a 25th place vote to JSU now. I can't in good conscience vote for them above SELA when SELA just beat them. Oh well.



North Dakota State



James Madison


Eastern Washington


Weber St


UC Davis


South Dakota State


Maine


Towson


Furman


Northern Iowa


Montana


NC A&T


Delaware


Illinois State


Elon


SHSU


Central Arkansas


Montana State


Villanova


Indiana State


Nicholls


Wofford


Chattanooga


ETSU


Jacksonville State




Then why didn't you just vote for SELA instead of JSU?

[mvemjsunpx]

(preseason ballot in parentheses)


1. South Dakota St. (1)
2. James Madison (2)
3. UC Davis (3)
4. Maine (5)
5. Weber St. (6)
6. North Dakota St. (7)
7. Nicholls St. (9)
8. Eastern Washington (10)
9. Northern Iowa (12)
10. Indiana St. (11)
11. North Dakota (14)
12. Central Arkansas (21)
13. Kennesaw St. (15)
14. Illinois St. (16)
15. Towson (17)
16. Montana St. (13)
17. Yale (18)
18. Sam Houston St. (19)
19. Delaware (20)
20. Southeast Missouri St. (22)
21. Eastern Kentucky (23)
22. Southeastern Louisiana (NR)
23. Jacksonville St. (4)
24. Wofford (8)
25. North Carolina A&T (NR)

W - Central Arkansas
L - Wofford


Dropped - Abilene Christian (24), Alcorn St. (25)

[WileECoyote06]

Here's my poll:

I kind of regret giving a 25th place vote to JSU now. I can't in good conscience vote for them above SELA when SELA just beat them. Oh well.



North Dakota State


James Madison


Eastern Washington


Weber St


UC Davis


South Dakota State


Maine


Towson


Furman


Northern Iowa


Montana


NC A&T


Delaware


Illinois State


Elon


SHSU


Central Arkansas


Montana State


Villanova


Indiana State


Nicholls


Wofford


Chattanooga


ETSU


Jacksonville State




By that standard why not get rid of Wofford too?

[POD Knows]

(preseason ballot in parentheses)


1. South Dakota St. (1)
2. James Madison (2)
3. UC Davis (3)
4. Maine (5)
5. Weber St. (6)
6. North Dakota St. (7)
7. Nicholls St. (9)
8. Eastern Washington (10)
9. Northern Iowa (12)
10. Indiana St. (11)
11. North Dakota (14)
12. Central Arkansas (21)
13. Kennesaw St. (15)
14. Illinois St. (16)
15. Towson (17)
16. Montana St. (13)
17. Yale (18)
18. Sam Houston St. (19)
19. Delaware (20)
20. Southeast Missouri St. (22)
21. Eastern Kentucky (23)
22. Southeastern Louisiana (NR)
23. Jacksonville St. (4)
24. Wofford (8)
25. North Carolina A&T (NR)

W - Central Arkansas
L - Wofford


Dropped - Abilene Christian (24), Alcorn St. (25)Wow

[Redbird 4th & short]

Couple things about this.

1) For me I start from scratch with my poll every week, but especially week 1. I don’t use my preseason poll at all, because that was based off educated guesses and speculation.

2) Sometimes teams move up because they did better than people expected or answered questions people had about them, and aren’t moving down a specific team as punishment. It’s just other teams moving up due to playing well. To go “well I can’t move team X over team Y because team Y didn’t do anything wrong losing to an outstanding FBS” even if team X outperformed expectations or answered a lot of question marks surrounding the team is far worse IMO.

The moral of my story is a lot of the time people see a team drop early in the season a spot or two and call it being “punished” when really it’s other teams being rewarded for playing well and whatnot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
this and more specificslly the fact is, SDSU and JMU had reall impressive losses to top 25 FBS teams ... so they fared very well, while EWU did not.

[kdinva]

1: North Dakota State Bison
2: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
3: James Madison Dukes
4: Eastern Washington Eagles
5: UC Davis Aggies
6: Kennesaw State Owls
7: Towson Tigers
8: Maine Black Bears
9: Montana Grizzlies
10: Weber State Wildcats
11: Northern Iowa Panthers
12: North Carolina A&T Aggies
13: Furman Paladins
14: Central Arkansas Bears
15: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
16: Villanova Wildcats
17: Nicholls State Colonels
18: Elon Phoenix
19: Stony Brook Seawolves
20: Cal Poly Mustangs
21: Montana St.
22: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
23: Wofford Terriers
24: Princeton Tigers
25: Chattanooga Mocs


The Most Significant Win: North Carolina A&T Aggies
The Most Significant Loss: Wofford Terriers

[caribbeanhen]

this and more specificslly the fact is, SDSU and JMU had reall impressive losses to top 25 FBS teams ... so they fared very well, while EWU did not.

Not really totally on board with that line of thinking this time

Washington smokes West Virginia and burns Minnesota

[caribbeanhen]

(preseason ballot in parentheses)


1. South Dakota St. (1)
2. James Madison (2)
3. UC Davis (3)
4. Maine (5)
5. Weber St. (6)
6. North Dakota St. (7)
7. Nicholls St. (9)
8. Eastern Washington (10)
9. Northern Iowa (12)
10. Indiana St. (11)
11. North Dakota (14)
12. Central Arkansas (21)
13. Kennesaw St. (15)
14. Illinois St. (16)
15. Towson (17)
16. Montana St. (13)
17. Yale (18)
18. Sam Houston St. (19)
19. Delaware (20)
20. Southeast Missouri St. (22)
21. Eastern Kentucky (23)
22. Southeastern Louisiana (NR)
23. Jacksonville St. (4)
24. Wofford (8)
25. North Carolina A&T (NR)

W - Central Arkansas
L - Wofford


Dropped - Abilene Christian (24), Alcorn St. (25)

Yale but no Princeton or Dartmouth?

[mvemjsunpx]

Yale but no Princeton or Dartmouth?

Princeton & Dartmouth lost quite a bit, I believe, while Yale returns ≈20 starters.

[ElCid]

Princeton & Dartmouth lost quite a bit, I believe, while Yale returns ≈20 starters.

Yeah I am not sure people look at that like they should early on each season. After 2-3 games and the early FBS, DIV II, etc games are done (for many teams), it actually starts taking shape. It's a crap shoot, but taking returning starters is definitely a data point. Just like last year's record is a data point. But considering that maybe half the starters are no longer there, definitely is.

[TheRevSFA]

I don’t get why folks are so high on Kennesaw

[ElCid]

I don’t get why folks are so high on Kennesaw

Lazy...lack of choices...Owls are a cool mascot...🤔

[Prime Power]

this and more specificslly the fact is, SDSU and JMU had reall impressive losses to top 25 FBS teams ... so they fared very well, while EWU did not.

West Virginia and Minnesota are not top 25 FBS teams, Washington is ranked 12th. JMU and SDSU did well, EWU not so much, but Washington is a way better team than West Virginia and Minnesota.

[JSUSoutherner]

Lazy...lack of choices...Owls are a cool mascot...🤔

JSU used to be the Eagle Owls.

Kennesaw is just ripping off JSU.

[aceinthehole]

Princeton & Dartmouth lost quite a bit, I believe, while Yale returns ≈20 starters.

Yale returning from a 5-5 season at #17?

Please tell me you're joking or just pulling my leg.

[penguinpower]

JSU (122) lost on the road to SELA (195)

-Stony Brook (148) was my #27 and they beat Bryant (224)
-Elon was in my poll
-YSU's (115) win against Samford, who is now 0-2, looks mediocre at best due to Samford (174) losing to TTU (230)
-SHSU (152) lost to New Mexico (123)
-Chatty (165) was my #26 and they beat EIU (206)

I do my best not to slot vote (hence UNI, Montana St, WSU moving up) and I will know whether or not Chatty should be above JSU come next week.

I will agree that the win over Samford doesn't look as good now because of the record, but there aren't many teams that could win such a dominant fashion. That's the difference. YSU controlled the game..

[Professor Chaos]

JSU used to be the Eagle Owls.

Kennesaw is just ripping off JSU.
In that case I can't wait to see their hype video! :D

[caribbeanhen]

Princeton & Dartmouth lost quite a bit, I believe, while Yale returns ≈20 starters.

what if Princeton just re-loaded? that is the Ivy trend going forward.... it's early we will see

[caribbeanhen]

I don’t get why folks are so high on Kennesaw

we had this discussion last year, I thought the crush would of cooled by now too

[mvemjsunpx]

Yale returning from a 5-5 season at #17?

Please tell me you're joking or just pulling my leg.

They return, like, 20 starters from a 5-5 team (according to Keeper's analysis, they have most returning production in FCS). Seeing them go, say, 8-2 wouldn't be surprising, especially since they went 9-1 in 2017.

[Redbird 4th & short]

West Virginia and Minnesota are not top 25 FBS teams, Washington is ranked 12th. JMU and SDSU did well, EWU not so much, but Washington is a way better team than West Virginia and Minnesota.

Last year, West Virginia and Washington were both 3 loss teams who lost Bowl games .. West Virginia finished season AP #20 and USA Today #22. Washington was around 15th. But yes, Minnesota was more like #45 team according to Massey Composite. But still, EWU didn't compete in their game ... it was 42-7 after 3 qtrs .. but theyre still top 5 and deservedly so.

[jsualumnus]

This was a hard poll!

JSUSoutherner... I had us at #25 only because SLU is going to be better than we think. They were really good! Defense was very fast.

[JSUSoutherner]

This was a hard poll!

JSUSoutherner... I had us at #25 only because SLU is going to be better than we think. They were really good! Defense was very fast.

But we were still really bad.

SLU didn't make us have 10 penalties and an offensive line that struggled to snap the ball.

[smilo]

Princeton & Dartmouth lost quite a bit, I believe, while Yale returns ≈20 starters.

I am ranking Yale (and Princeton), but the below tweet is good evidence against the returning starters argument. The source of the hype - even more than the returning starters - is returning skill position players who missed last season due to injury, which helps a little bit more. Ivy posters on here are rightfully concerned with Yale's defense in spite of returning starters.

https://twitter.com/BradPowers7/status/1168324669482491904

[ElCid]

I am ranking Yale (and Princeton), but the below tweet is good evidence against the returning starters argument. The source of the hype - even more than the returning starters - is returning skill position players who missed last season due to injury, which helps a little bit more. Ivy posters on here are rightfully concerned with Yale's defense in spite of returning starters.

https://twitter.com/BradPowers7/status/1168324669482491904

That is not convincing evidence against it. Whether or not a spread is covered has two parts to it...each team. So I bet you NDSU covered their spread this past week. Didn't they lose a lot this year..... And a spread gets affected and moves based on the actual bets made...not only skill on the field. I would look at the data after a few more games are played. And it is just another data point of many.

[smilo]

That is not convincing evidence against it. Whether or not a spread is covered has two parts to it...each team. So I bet you NDSU covered their spread this past week. Didn't they lose a lot this year..... And a spread gets affected and moves based on the actual bets made...not only skill on the field. I would look at the data after a few more games are played. And it is just another data point of many.

I think that's exactly the point. Middling teams that return a lot of starters have not gained as much on top (or more accurately, next-to-top) teams that are reloading as people seem to think.

I don't think one week of evidence is the end-all to this discussion, and I'd be curious how this looks over time, but two teams being included in a spread is exactly the point of what we are measuring - would be even cooler to break this down into a matrix of returning starters v. returning starters. How much has a team with more returning starters gained on another team that lost a lot? That is what bettors are valuing in moving the spread. A spread market is probably the most ideal data we could have for evaluating opening perception.

And for the record, NDSU did not cover. They were bet up to -49 and won by 47. Really difficult to assume how any single team does against the spread. If anything, you would expect dynasties that already gave the next best player waiting in the wings to be insulated from the lack of returning starters drop perception that the betting public assigns to everyone else.

[Redbird 4th & short]

But we were still really bad.

SLU didn't make us have 10 penalties and an offensive line that struggled to snap the ball.
did't you guys have a reall sloppy opener last year against NC A&T ?

[ElCid]

I think that's exactly the point. Middling teams that return a lot of starters have not gained as much on top (or more accurately, next-to-top) teams that are reloading as people seem to think.

I don't think one week of evidence is the end-all to this discussion, and I'd be curious how this looks over time, but two teams being included in a spread is exactly the point of what we are measuring - would be even cooler to break this down into a matrix of returning starters v. returning starters. How much has a team with more returning starters gained on another team that lost a lot? That is what bettors are valuing in moving the spread. A spread market is probably the most ideal data we could have for evaluating opening perception.

And for the record, NDSU did not cover. They were bet up to -49 and won by 47. Really difficult to assume how any single team does against the spread. If anything, you would expect dynasties that already gave the next best player waiting in the wings to be insulated from the lack of returning starters drop perception that the betting public assigns to everyone else.

I agree. My bottom line is that it is merely another data point that should be used for what it is. But everything else being equal or the same, more returning starters should equate to a better record. Marginally "at least"...on average for many teams but maybe not in every case for all teams. And you are right, we have wait 2-3 more weeks, over time, to see how it plays out. Especially with the Ivy.😀

[Derby City Duke]

Big movers for me from my preseason poll were Central Arkansas and Indiana State (up), and Wofford and JSU (down). I think JSU's mistakes kind of snowballed on them and they couldn't figure out as a team how to get out from under it. Very reminiscent of opening weekend last year.

Very impressed with Northern Iowa this weekend.

EKU remains outside my Top 25; saw them in person Thursday -- they did what they should do against a non-scholly, pounding Valparaiso 53-7. Don't see them moving into the T25 next week as they come to Louisville to play the Cardinals...unless the improbable happens.

xpeacex


Hello Derby City Duke,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 20:34:15

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: Eastern Washington Eagles
3: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
4: James Madison Dukes
5: UC Davis Aggies
6: Nicholls State Colonels
7: Northern Iowa Panthers
8: Weber State Wildcats
9: Towson Tigers
10: Central Arkansas Bears
11: Maine Black Bears
12: Montana Grizzlies
13: Kennesaw State Owls
14: North Carolina A&T Aggies
15: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
16: Elon Phoenix
17: Furman Paladins
18: Montana State Bobcats
19: Indiana State Sycamores
20: Illinois State Redbirds
21: Stony Brook Seawolves
22: Duquesne Dukes
23: East Tennessee State Buccaneers
24: Alcorn State Braves
25: Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Derby City Duke

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Jacksonville State Gamecocks

[jsualumnus]

did't you guys have a reall sloppy opener last year against NC A&T ?
Hell yeah... We sucked on both openers. SLU will surprise some folks if they play like they did against us. We had penalties, but they shocked us out of the gate. If we win out, and they lose only 1-2 games, then maybe this suckery doesn’t look so bad.

[dewey]

Here is my top 25.

Hello dewey,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 21:53:18

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: Eastern Washington Eagles
4: UC Davis Aggies
5: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
6: Weber State Wildcats
7: Maine Black Bears
8: Towson Tigers
9: Illinois State Redbirds
10: Northern Iowa Panthers
11: Central Arkansas Bears
12: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
13: Kennesaw State Owls
14: Nicholls State Colonels
15: Montana State Bobcats
16: Montana Grizzlies
17: East Tennessee State Buccaneers
18: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
19: Indiana State Sycamores
20: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
21: Villanova Wildcats
22: North Carolina A&T Aggies
23: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
24: Furman Paladins
25: Sam Houston State Bearkats

dewey

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Northern Iowa Panthers
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

Dewey

[JSUSoutherner]

Here is my top 25.

Hello dewey,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 21:53:18

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: Eastern Washington Eagles
4: UC Davis Aggies
5: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
6: Weber State Wildcats
7: Maine Black Bears
8: Towson Tigers
9: Illinois State Redbirds
10: Northern Iowa Panthers
11: Central Arkansas Bears
12: Southeastern Louisiana Lions
13: Kennesaw State Owls
14: Nicholls State Colonels
15: Montana State Bobcats
16: Montana Grizzlies
17: East Tennessee State Buccaneers
18: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
19: Indiana State Sycamores
20: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
21: Villanova Wildcats
22: North Carolina A&T Aggies
23: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
24: Furman Paladins
25: Sam Houston State Bearkats

dewey

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Northern Iowa Panthers
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

Dewey

You dropped Wofford out but kept us.

Explain.

[nodak651]

It's interesting that Montana State has been ranked high in the polls, largely due to the speculation that they will have a non linebacker at QB, and it has to be an improvement. Their new QB played terrible (based on stats, wasn't able to watch). Now people don't want to "punish" Montana State, because they played a P5 team. The thing is, their QB completed only 7 of 19 passes. That is NOT a mark of improvement, even when considering that he was playing P5 talent. Montana State was average last year, barely snuck into the playoffs, but had one playoff win. Their vaunted defense gave up 691 yards and 35 first downs. That is a terrible showing against anyone, and this early in the season, I still don't understand the justification for ranking Montana State so high. The polls should not be that sticky so early in the year.

[Redbird 4th & short]

It's interesting that Montana State has been ranked high in the polls, largely due to the speculation that they will have a non linebacker at QB, and it has to be an improvement. Their new QB played terrible (based on stats, wasn't able to watch). Now people don't want to "punish" Montana State, because they played a P5 team. The thing is, their QB completed only 7 of 19 passes. That is NOT a mark of improvement, even when considering that he was playing P5 talent. Montana State was average last year, barely snuck into the playoffs, but had one playoff win. Their vaunted defense gave up 691 yards and 35 first downs. That is a terrible showing against anyone, and this early in the season, I still don't understand the justification for ranking Montana State so high. The polls should not be that sticky so early in the year.

when you say their preseason ranking is "largely due to speculation ..." ... who all are you claiming has said this and are they the same people who ranked them ?

More to the point, isn't it really due to fact that they got a deserved playoff bid last year and won a game, and have a lot coming back this year ?? isn't that really why they would be rightly ranked in preseason. I mean, what else does anyone really have to go but that ?

But yes, they laid an egg in week 1 against a middle of road FBS team who went 5-7 playing in the Big 12. Note, last year Texas Tech beat questionable playoff bid Lamar by score 77-0 ... and 6-4 Lamar still got an at large bid despite losing to a mediocre FBS team by 77 ... selection committee really whiffed on that one and a couple others last year .. but I digress ... again.

[ccd494]

Hello Mike296 ,

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 15:32:57

Your vote is listed below.


1: North Dakota State Bison
2: James Madison Dukes
3: Towson Tigers
4: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
5: Kennesaw State Owls
6: Eastern Washington Eagles
7: UC Davis Aggies
8: Northern Iowa Panthers
9: Furman Paladins
10: Weber State Wildcats
11: Indiana State Sycamores
12: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
13: Nicholls State Colonels
14: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
15: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
16: Central Arkansas Bears
17: North Carolina A&T Aggies
18: Montana State Bobcats
19: Montana Grizzlies
20: Princeton Tigers
21: Sam Houston State Bearkats
22: Duquesne Dukes
23: Chattanooga Mocs
24: Stony Brook Seawolves
25: Austin Peay Governors

Mike296

The Most Significant Win: North Carolina A&T Aggies
The Most Significant Loss: Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Ohio Valley Conference


This week was a mess and JSU did not deserve 12 but I didn’t have anyone to put there so I was like F it and chucked them there.

Well, you could have included the #6 team in the poll that coincidentally knocked JSU out of the playoffs last year.

[dewey]

You dropped Wofford out but kept us.

Explain.

Jacksonville State lost to a Southeastern Louisiana team that many thought would be good and have a good chance to beat the Gamecocks. I believe that JSU will right the ship and get things figured out.

Wofford lost to South Carolina State plus they are changing their offense. I have more skepticism for the Terriers.

My thoughts.

Dewey

[JSUSoutherner]

I believe that JSU will right the ship and get things figured out.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190903/781a213bb9efff2634f8be3ede8b280b.jpg

Sent from my Galaxy S9+ using Tapatalk

[nodak651]

when you say their preseason ranking is "largely due to speculation ..." ... who all are you claiming has said this and are they the same people who ranked them ?

More to the point, isn't it really due to fact that they got a deserved playoff bid last year and won a game, and have a lot coming back this year ?? isn't that really why they would be rightly ranked in preseason. I mean, what else does anyone really have to go but that ?

But yes, they laid an egg in week 1 against a middle of road FBS team who went 5-7 playing in the Big 12. Note, last year Texas Tech beat questionable playoff bid Lamar by score 77-0 ... and 6-4 Lamar still got an at large bid despite losing to a mediocre FBS team by 77 ... selection committee really whiffed on that one and a couple others last year .. but I digress ... again.
First point. True, but we have now had one week of games. For some teams, preseason speculation is acceptable, for others, it gets treated more like this:

FYP.

It’s preseason. All of the reasons that UND “looks to be” improved are a bunch of hypotheticals based off of one close game with a good team and a decent win over two meh teams (IMO) and a coordinator change from (and only from) fans of the team. There hasn’t been anybody else not a fan of UND who was beating that drum. That should tell you something.

Second point - this is the first example I could find (and I think ​they moved up in his poll). I'm in no way trying to call him out, but I think this is pretty close to the general take on Montana State:


My thought was this, if Troy Andersen can get them to the playoffs being a RB/LB at QB, imagine what they could do with a decent QB. Also, IIRC, they had a RFR that they were high on who was suppose to be the real deal. So if they can get a real QB back there, they should be anywhere between the the #2 through #4 team in the Big Sky. Most have EWU anywhere from 1-3 with UCD anywhere from 3-5 (EWU, JMU, NDSU, SDSU, UCD in alpha order for the top 5), so if we take that, there is no reason to believe Montana St isn't somewhere between 11-20 as once we get outside of 10, there are a group of teams who can jockey for position as of right now. For the record, I had them at 17, so the lower end as I believe Andersen would be a hell of RB if they could move him there and get a dual threat under center to open up the passing game.

The Lamar example isn't really relevant, because their entrance into the playoffs was based on games that were actually played. Sure, Montana State could go on a tear the rest of the season, but we only know the results of one game so far. High ranked teams in the beginning of the season miss the playoffs all the time, and vice versa.

[POD Knows]

First point. True, but we have now had one week of games. For some teams, preseason speculation is acceptable, for others, it gets treated more like this:


Second point - this is the first example I could find (and I think ​they moved up in his poll). I'm in no way trying to call him out, but I think this is pretty close to the general take on Montana State:



The Lamar example isn't really relevant, because their entrance into the playoffs was based on games that were actually played. Sure, Montana State could go on a tear the rest of the season, but we only know the results of one game so far. High ranked teams in the beginning of the season miss the playoffs all the time, and vice versa.
Hey, cheer up, I got you at 25 in my poll and some other guy put you within 5 or 6 slots from NDSU, so you have that going for you, which is nice. :D

[cx500d]

Not really when this poll was 98% speculation.

FYP


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Preferred Walk-On]

I feel like the only reason Elon is ranked so low in this poll is because people forgot about them. Did you forget about Elon? Or did you rank NC A&T, Furman, and Central Arkansas ahead of them?

Forgot to reply to this for the Preseason poll. I had them at #26, but quite honestly, realized that some of the teams I had in my preseason at 20-25 probably should not have been there (or at least not yet). At least I only ranked Colgate @ #25 for the preseason poll...


Here is my current contribution to screwing up the AGS Top 25 poll (previous ranks are in parentheses). :D Enjoy!

Hello Preferred Walk-On:

We have received your AGS Top 25 vote on 9/1/2019 11:04:46.

Your vote is listed below.

1: North Dakota State Bison (1)
2: James Madison Dukes (2)
3: Eastern Washington Eagles (3)
4: UC Davis Aggies (4)
5: South Dakota State Jackrabbits (7)
6: Maine Black Bears (6)
7: Northern Iowa Panthers (15)
8: Weber State Wildcats (11)
9: Nicholls State Colonels (8)
10: Central Arkansas Bears (14)
11: Indiana State Sycamores (13)
12: Illinois State Redbirds (10)
13: Furman Paladins (12)
14: North Carolina A&T Aggies (19)
15: Towson Tigers (16)
16: Montana State Bobcats (17)
17: Montana Grizzlies (18)
18: Kennesaw State Owls (21)
19: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (22)
20: Elon Phoenix (NR)
21: Sam Houston State Bearkats (24)
22: Youngstown State Penguins (NR)
23: McNeese State Cowboys (NR)
24: Eastern Kentucky Colonels (NR)
25: Villanova Wildcats (NR)

Most significant win: Central Arkansas Bears
Most significant loss: Wofford Terriers
Which conference does your team play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

Dropped from poll:
Wofford Terriers (5), Jacksonville State Gamecocks (9), New Hampshire Wildcats (20), Dartmouth Big Green (23), Colgate Raiders (25)

[Preferred Walk-On]

They got votes. We only list 15 extra ORV spots though.

Noticed in last year's "How They Fared" that there were teams listed beyond 40 that received votes for the first few weeks (at least through week 5). Although the number of votes was never disclosed for these teams, they were listed, and I think it might be a good idea to do this again. The reason: it keeps these teams in the minds of all the voters (not just the few who may have voted for a team).

Quite honestly, I was a bit surprised that North Dakota (or even McNeese State) did not receive enough votes to be in the Top 40.

[Preferred Walk-On]

Little slow to get it published but here's this week's poll article: http://thefcswedge.com/ags-poll/ags-poll-week-1-top-25-results-2/

Like some others have mentioned I was kind of surprised to see Wofford and JSU hanging in the top 25 but it'll sort itself out shortly. Fun AGS Poll fact: Jacksonville St is in danger of having their consecutive polls streak snapped. With their #25 ranking this week they've been in 75 consecutive AGS Top 25 polls which is the 3rd longest active streak behind NDSU (121) and SDSU (76). The last AGS Top 25 Poll that didn't include JSU was week 12 of 2013.

Appreciate the Jacksonville State poll stat. Haven't read the entire thread yet, but who are #4-10 for the poll active streak?

[Preferred Walk-On]

Just curious about those that have South Dakota State ahead of North Dakota State. Saw both games this past weekend. While I realize that SDSU should have beaten that Gophers team, I would predict that NDSU would have had as good, if not a better showing against the Gophers. I realize this is pure conjecture, but then I might argue that Northern Iowa should be ranked ahead of both SDSU and NDSU. After all, the Panthers lost to a Top 25 FBS team...in triple OT, and they probably should have won that game (watched this game before heading over to Target Field).

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Noticed in last year's "How They Fared" that there were teams listed beyond 40 that received votes for the first few weeks (at least through week 5). Although the number of votes was never disclosed for these teams, they were listed, and I think it might be a good idea to do this again. The reason: it keeps these teams in the minds of all the voters (not just the few who may have voted for a team).

Quite honestly, I was a bit surprised that North Dakota (or even McNeese State) did not receive enough votes to be in the Top 40.

Yes, we've always done it that way and will continue to do so.xthumbsupx

[Redbird 4th & short]

Just curious about those that have South Dakota State ahead of North Dakota State. Saw both games this past weekend. While I realize that SDSU should have beaten that Gophers team, I would predict that NDSU would have had as good, if not a better showing against the Gophers. I realize this is pure conjecture, but then I might argue that Northern Iowa should be ranked ahead of both SDSU and NDSU. After all, the Panthers lost to a Top 25 FBS team...in triple OT, and they probably should have won that game (watched this game before heading over to Target Field).
UNI and JMU had the most impressive showings last week, but I still would put SDSU and NDSU above UNI at this point .. too much history on their side. Now 3 games from now, it might be a different story ... UNI played impressively. Let's see if Farley doesn't sabotage his QB position and push Clenz over the ledge. :D xdrunkyx

Top half of MVFC looks to be very very good this year .. felt like this before season and week 1 went better than I would have expected.

[Professor Chaos]

Appreciate the Jacksonville State poll stat. Haven't read the entire thread yet, but who are #4-10 for the poll active streak?
The top 10 active streaks in the AGS top 25 are:

1. NDSU 121
2. SDSU 77
3. JSU 76
4. JMU 63
5. EWU 44
6. Wofford 33
7. Weber St 32
8. Kennesaw St 19
9. Nicholls 17
10T. Maine 15
10T. UC Davis 15

Bonus fun/stupid/ridiculous fact: Since NDSU's streak hit 5 they haven't been outside of the top 8 in the AGS Poll. So that's 117 consecutive AGS Polls that NDSU has been in the top 8. The last time they weren't was week 12 of 2010.

[ST_Lawson]

Just curious about those that have South Dakota State ahead of North Dakota State. Saw both games this past weekend. While I realize that SDSU should have beaten that Gophers team, I would predict that NDSU would have had as good, if not a better showing against the Gophers. I realize this is pure conjecture, but then I might argue that Northern Iowa should be ranked ahead of both SDSU and NDSU. After all, the Panthers lost to a Top 25 FBS team...in triple OT, and they probably should have won that game (watched this game before heading over to Target Field).

Yeah, all 3 were really impressive. At this point it looks like you could take NDSU, SDSU, and UNI, throw their names into a hat, and just randomly draw them for 1-3 and it would be valid.

[Professor Chaos]

Just curious about those that have South Dakota State ahead of North Dakota State. Saw both games this past weekend. While I realize that SDSU should have beaten that Gophers team, I would predict that NDSU would have had as good, if not a better showing against the Gophers. I realize this is pure conjecture, but then I might argue that Northern Iowa should be ranked ahead of both SDSU and NDSU. After all, the Panthers lost to a Top 25 FBS team...in triple OT, and they probably should have won that game (watched this game before heading over to Target Field).


UNI and JMU had the most impressive showings last week, but I still would put SDSU and NDSU above UNI at this point .. too much history on their side. Now 3 games from now, it might be a different story ... UNI played impressively. Let's see if Farley doesn't sabotage his QB position and push Clenz over the ledge. :D xdrunkyx

Top half of MVFC looks to be very very good this year .. felt like this before season and week 1 went better than I would have expected.
The main problem with early season polls, in my opinion, is weighting too much on one or two games. Some may say it's a bigger problem to weight so much on preseason expectations or past performance but I don't like looking solely at the first game or two of a season when building my ballot. Preseason bias still plays a part for me through probably the first 5 weeks but less and less of a part each week (or at least that's how I try to do it). The only exception I make is when teams come out with a stinker like Jacksonville St and Wofford did this year. Then I have no problem shelving my preseason bias and hammering them. But, for instance, I still have Nicholls and Illinois St ranked slightly above Furman and Montana. If I built a poll ballot based solely off of what happened in week 1 I'd have a real hard time justifying that.

[MSUBobcat]

First point. True, but we have now had one week of games. For some teams, preseason speculation is acceptable, for others, it gets treated more like this:


Second point - this is the first example I could find (and I think ​they moved up in his poll). I'm in no way trying to call him out, but I think this is pretty close to the general take on Montana State:



The Lamar example isn't really relevant, because their entrance into the playoffs was based on games that were actually played. Sure, Montana State could go on a tear the rest of the season, but we only know the results of one game so far. High ranked teams in the beginning of the season miss the playoffs all the time, and vice versa.

Wow. Lots of griping about a poll after week 1. For what it's worth, MSU got beat handily, as was expected. But Texas Tech DID leave their starting QB (who is on the Manning, Campbell, Davey O'Brien and Maxwell Award watch lists, BTW) in for all but the last series and had him continuing to chuck it around til the end. Coach Choate appeared to favor learning things about his kicker on one series, opting for a 46 yard FG attempt (missed) over going for it on 4th and 5 from their 29. He also opted to kick the ball away on our last series rather than go for it on 4th and 1 from our own 34. Given the state of the game (i.e. well out of reach), I would have preferred to see if your kids have the mettle to grind out a yard, but he didn't. I'm not implying that either 4th down would have been converted or that points would have resulted even if they did, but in play up/down games, there's often other factors to consider than the point differential. That said, a highly touted QB lit us up. That much we DO know and it's a very big problem if it isn't rectified REALLY quick. If they don't, we'll drop out of the polls and your problem will be solved. Til then, take a breathe. It'll all work out in a few weeks.

[Mayville Bison]

Some big stretches here, but here's my top 25. No way could I justify Wofford or JSU when there are many teams deserving of 18-25 at the moment

1: James Madison Dukes
2: North Dakota State Bison
3: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
4: UC Davis Aggies
5: Eastern Washington Eagles
6: Maine Black Bears
7: Weber State Wildcats
8: Montana State Bobcats
9: Nicholls State Colonels
10: Illinois State Redbirds
11: Furman Paladins
12: Kennesaw State Owls
13: Towson Tigers
14: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
15: Northern Iowa Panthers
16: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
17: Central Arkansas Bears
18: New Hampshire Wildcats
19: Indiana State Sycamores
20: North Carolina A&T Aggies
21: McNeese State Cowboys
22: Sam Houston State Bearkats
23: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
24: Montana Grizzlies
25: Villanova Wildcats

Mayville Bison

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Wofford Terriers
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

[JSUSoutherner]

Some big stretches here, but here's my top 25. No way could I justify Wofford or JSU when there are many teams deserving of 18-25 at the moment

1: James Madison Dukes
2: North Dakota State Bison
3: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
4: UC Davis Aggies
5: Eastern Washington Eagles
6: Maine Black Bears
7: Weber State Wildcats
8: Montana State Bobcats
9: Nicholls State Colonels
10: Illinois State Redbirds
11: Furman Paladins
12: Kennesaw State Owls
13: Towson Tigers
14: Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens
15: Northern Iowa Panthers
16: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
17: Central Arkansas Bears
18: New Hampshire Wildcats
19: Indiana State Sycamores
20: North Carolina A&T Aggies
21: McNeese State Cowboys
22: Sam Houston State Bearkats
23: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
24: Montana Grizzlies
25: Villanova Wildcats

Mayville Bison

The Most Significant Win: Central Arkansas Bears
The Most Significant Loss: Wofford Terriers
Which Conference Does Your Team Play in?: Missouri Valley Football Conference

Northern Iowa at 15...


Alrighty then.

[Mayville Bison]

Northern Iowa at 15...


Alrighty then.

That’s what you’re gonna nitpick?

That honestly was to not be a mvfc homer

[clenz]

That’s what you’re gonna nitpick?

That honestly was to not be a mvfc homer
So to avoid looking like a homer you intentionally push a team further down the poll than they could/should be?

Interesting

Note - I couldn't give a damn where you put UNI. That's just an interesting thing to admit.

[JSUSoutherner]

That’s what you’re gonna nitpick?

That honestly was to not be a mvfc homer

I put NDSU, SDSU, UNI at 1, 2, and 3.

And I didn't think twice about it.

[Redbird 4th & short]

The main problem with early season polls, in my opinion, is weighting too much on one or two games. Some may say it's a bigger problem to weight so much on preseason expectations or past performance but I don't like looking solely at the first game or two of a season when building my ballot. Preseason bias still plays a part for me through probably the first 5 weeks but less and less of a part each week (or at least that's how I try to do it). The only exception I make is when teams come out with a stinker like Jacksonville St and Wofford did this year. Then I have no problem shelving my preseason bias and hammering them. But, for instance, I still have Nicholls and Illinois St ranked slightly above Furman and Montana. If I built a poll ballot based solely off of what happened in week 1 I'd have a real hard time justifying that.
100% agreed .. and preseason includes more than just last year when prognosticating about which programs have historically reloaded better than anyone else .. lately, it is NDSU, SDSU, JMU, and EWU .. after that, there is decent drop off. But yes, UNI got off to very impressive start.

[Mayville Bison]

So to avoid looking like a homer you intentionally push a team further down the poll than they could/should be?

Interesting

Note - I couldn't give a damn where you put UNI. That's just an interesting thing to admit.

I’m saying the mvfc homer bias has been said so many times that it must have made me subconsciously dropp them. I can’t really justify them being that low right now without that.

So, it’s either that or I just messed up. Both “excuses“ suck for someone who’s voted as long as I have.

[caribbeanhen]

I put NDSU, SDSU, UNI at 1, 2, and 3.

And I didn't think twice about it.

That’s cool, no reason to dwell on your mistakes

[Redbird 4th & short]

Notice many voted UCA win over WKU as the most signifcant win. WKU is currently ranked #119 on the Massey Composite, and actually just this week ranked #130 out of 130 FBS teams by USA Today after their loss to UCA. Last year, they finished 3-9 and were ranked by #119 by Massey.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2019/09/04/western-kentucky-football-dead-last-usa-today-rerank-after-uca-loss/2207148001/

As for the game itself .. WKU outgained UCA 488 to 424 and had more 1st downs (22 to 17). UCA seemed to win because of 2 picks and they made bigger plays in Q4 after being down 28-14 going into Q4. Not sure WKU deserves to be ranked #130, but they are way down there somewhere.

[BEAR]

Notice many voted UCA win over WKU as the most signifcant win. WKU is currently ranked #119 on the Massey Composite, and actually just this week ranked #130 out of 130 FBS teams by USA Today after their loss to UCA. Last year, they finished 3-9 and were ranked by #119 by Massey.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2019/09/04/western-kentucky-football-dead-last-usa-today-rerank-after-uca-loss/2207148001/

As for the game itself .. WKU outgained UCA 488 to 424 and had more 1st downs (22 to 17). UCA seemed to win because of 2 picks and they made bigger plays in Q4 after being down 28-14 going into Q4. Not sure WKU deserves to be ranked #130, but they are way down there somewhere.

That game was rather interesting. If you got to see the first quarter you would have seen us start VERY slowly.
First possesion: 0 yards
Second possesion: 7 yards
Third possession: 7 yards
Fourth possession: 55 yards after INT but turnover on downs on WKU 6. UGh. One stinkin yard to get on 4th down. That pretty much sealed up our run game.
Total 69 yards in the first quarter.

Coach adjusted and went to the pass game and outpassed them 404 to 304.
Their RB Walker had 152 yards rushing on 19 carries...with one of those being a 68 yarder.

[Daytripper]

Notice many voted UCA win over WKU as the most signifcant win. WKU is currently ranked #119 on the Massey Composite, and actually just this week ranked #130 out of 130 FBS teams by USA Today after their loss to UCA. Last year, they finished 3-9 and were ranked by #119 by Massey.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2019/09/04/western-kentucky-football-dead-last-usa-today-rerank-after-uca-loss/2207148001/

As for the game itself .. WKU outgained UCA 488 to 424 and had more 1st downs (22 to 17). UCA seemed to win because of 2 picks and they made bigger plays in Q4 after being down 28-14 going into Q4. Not sure WKU deserves to be ranked #130, but they are way down there somewhere.

It is strange how stats can lie. Sam Houston out gained New Mexico in total yards, 558-485. Sam had better 3rd down efficiency 4/20 to 1/15, total first downs 27 to 20, and time of possession 33:48 to 26:12. The only important stat, besides the final score, that the Lobos won was turnovers 0 to 1.

[Redbird 4th & short]

It is strange how stats can lie. Sam Houston out gained New Mexico in total yards, 558-485. Sam had better 3rd down efficiency 4/20 to 1/15, total first downs 27 to 20, and time of possession 33:48 to 26:12. The only important stat, besides the final score, that the Lobos won was turnovers 0 to 1.
agreed ... but just don't see this as a big win. UCA is historically a top 25 FCS team ... they should be expected to beat a bad FBS team like WKU. So i don't see it as a signifcant win.

I may still be a little butthurt about Southland getting 3 teams last year, including a completely unprecedented two being 6-4 teams .... so I'm just positioning the arguments for playoff bids early in season. I'm foolish enough to believe AGS site and poll has some positive influence on these things. So yes, trying to make the case for MVFC in general .. whether its my Redbirds or ISUb or YSU or SDSU getting weak seed, etc. I happen to think we get screwed more than most. My thread/data about MVFC playoff record incl and excl NDSU since 2011 speaks volumes IMO.

Waiting until the at large selections are made to complain accomplished nothing. So I am making the argument in real time .. then the games will play out for better or worse.

[Redbird 4th & short]

That game was rather interesting. If you got to see the first quarter you would have seen us start VERY slowly.
First possesion: 0 yards
Second possesion: 7 yards
Third possession: 7 yards
Fourth possession: 55 yards after INT but turnover on downs on WKU 6. UGh. One stinkin yard to get on 4th down. That pretty much sealed up our run game.
Total 69 yards in the first quarter.

Coach adjusted and went to the pass game and outpassed them 404 to 304.
Their RB Walker had 152 yards rushing on 19 carries...with one of those being a 68 yarder.
it was a great comeback game for sure, especially that Q4 ... just saying it was probably a game you should be expected to win.

[BEAR]

it was a great comeback game for sure, especially that Q4 ... just saying it was probably a game you should be expected to win.

As a fan I expect my team to win against a lower level FBS...or at least have a chance at it. UCA's issue was their starting QB hadn't played since the fourth game LAST YEAR. The Bears lost 4 players on defense that were lock down including an All-American. We lost our top 2 receivers to graduation and our third top receiver messed up his leg enough to be out this entire season. Our RBs were now our best receivers left from last year. Going in 20 schollys down to the FBS at their house plus all our off season player losses didn't bode well for the team. After the first quarter I was pretty sure those negatives were going to hurt us. It took a fourth quarter comeback to win it against a lower level FBS that had won their conference just two years ago.

[Professor]

I'm loving the conversation about A&T. i'm guessing if we lose to Duke we are out again

[Redbird 4th & short]

I'm loving the conversation about A&T. i'm guessing if we lose to Duke we are out again
I gave you guys props for beating Elon on one of these threads. We'll see how your and their season goes from here on out. But still not betting the house on NC A&T being top 25 this year .. certainly not because they beat Elon in week 1. I barely had you in top 25 last year and you lost a lot off your roster. Elon was 6-5 including playoffs last year .. they were the 6th place team from CAA and got a very questionable bid. Colonial got questionable 6 bids, had 4 of 6 teams go one and done in playin games .. and finished playoff with record of 3-6. So Elon win was a nice win for you guys, but they were only the 6th best Colonial team a year ago. Need more games played out.

[bwbear]

Notice many voted UCA win over WKU as the most signifcant win. WKU is currently ranked #119 on the Massey Composite, and actually just this week ranked #130 out of 130 FBS teams by USA Today after their loss to UCA. Last year, they finished 3-9 and were ranked by #119 by Massey.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2019/09/04/western-kentucky-football-dead-last-usa-today-rerank-after-uca-loss/2207148001/

As for the game itself .. WKU outgained UCA 488 to 424 and had more 1st downs (22 to 17). UCA seemed to win because of 2 picks and they made bigger plays in Q4 after being down 28-14 going into Q4. Not sure WKU deserves to be ranked #130, but they are way down there somewhere.


Should UCA have been expected to win? Possibly. Odds makers did not seem to think UCA should have won it. But realistically, you are right: Upper division FCS schools should beat lower level FBS schools. However, we are, as of right now, the only FCS team to beat an FBS team last week. Maybe that is the reason for the jump.

I expected UCA to be somewhere between 15-17 in most people's picks. Some had us in that area, and many had us above it. Week 1 poll does not matter much anyways.

[clenz]

Odds makers aren't settingimes for straight up
That's something people get wrong a lot

Lines are set to make money and generate bets.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[caribbeanhen]

I'm loving the conversation about A&T. i'm guessing if we lose to Duke we are out again

I think AGS has been a bit slow or harsh to catch on with both A&T and last year Princeton and Dartmouth

maybe the playoff issue has alot to do with it

[ElCid]

I think AGS has been a bit slow or harsh to catch on with both A&T and last year Princeton and Dartmouth

maybe the playoff issue has alot to do with it

Or, maybe, everything to do with it.

[CenMEBlackBearFan]

Notice many voted UCA win over WKU as the most signifcant win. WKU is currently ranked #119 on the Massey Composite, and actually just this week ranked #130 out of 130 FBS teams by USA Today after their loss to UCA. Last year, they finished 3-9 and were ranked by #119 by Massey.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentuckiana/2019/09/04/western-kentucky-football-dead-last-usa-today-rerank-after-uca-loss/2207148001/

As for the game itself .. WKU outgained UCA 488 to 424 and had more 1st downs (22 to 17). UCA seemed to win because of 2 picks and they made bigger plays in Q4 after being down 28-14 going into Q4. Not sure WKU deserves to be ranked #130, but they are way down there somewhere.

Not sure WKU will want to schedule anymore FCS teams as we were down 21-0 in the first 6 minutes of the game and came back to win that one as well. I will be an optimist and say it shows that FCS football is very close to if not better than weak FBS teams. Now if we can beat Georgia Southern tomorrow nite who was a bowl team last year even betterxsmiley_wix

[clenz]

I’m saying the mvfc homer bias has been said so many times that it must have made me subconsciously dropp them. I can’t really justify them being that low right now without that.

So, it’s either that or I just messed up. Both “excuses“ suck for someone who’s voted as long as I have.
I think you can still make a case for UNI to be 15. As I said, I don't really care where you put UNI. I've been at the forefront of the "quit ranking UNI" train for the last 3 or 4 years. This is the first time since David Johnson was on campus that I "believe" in a UNI team - and even those UNI teams with DJ I could/did make a case for knowing their ultimate failure by the end of the season.

That just seemed like such a weird reason to rank a team *that much lower* than the average/mean, regardless who it ended up being.

In the end it probably did nothing except balance our people like JSUSoutherner who put UNI at 3.

[dewey]

I've been at the forefront of the "quit ranking UNI" train for the last 3 or 4 years. This is the first time since David Johnson was on campus that I "believe" in a UNI team.

So Clenz honestly what is different about this years UNI team then the previous quite a few years?

Like you said you have been a pretty consistent non believer in the purple panthers.

Thanks.

Dewey

[Professor Chaos]

I think AGS has been a bit slow or harsh to catch on with both A&T and last year Princeton and Dartmouth

maybe the playoff issue has alot to do with it
A&T was ranked #7 in the week 1 AGS poll last year and #6 in weeks 2 and 3. They were dinged pretty bad when they took a bad loss to FAMU and an awful loss to Morgan St and rightly so.

Princeton and Dartmouth you're probably right but that's what happens when you insulate yourself so much with your OOC schedule and your refusal to participate in the playoffs. None of us know even now who was right/wrong about those teams last year.

[clenz]

So Clenz honestly what is different about this years UNI team then the previous quite a few years?

Like you said you have been a pretty consistent non believer in the purple panthers.

Thanks.

Dewey
It's largely "little" things that non-UNI fans wouldn't pick up on because it doesn't have a ton to do with the "visibile" on field talent/performance - though I'm pretty comfortable with saying the talent level at UNI is probably as high as it's been top to bottom since about 2008

There are themes that have gone on for the last 7-10 years that I don't see happening right now around the program - and to a decently large extent Farley himself.

A few examples of the small things no one else would notice but UNI fans will - and have - caught and mentioned in various place (social media, PN, texts, etc.)
1. Farley named a starting QB. That's not a big deal for any program I get it. However, not only did Farley name a starting QB - he did it more than a week before the first game and did it publicly. Even with Dunne on campus the last 3 years as a starter he never "comitted" to Dunne being "the guy" before the season started - in fact Dunne didn't start the Iowa game last year. He's always stupid paranoid about the QB spot and giving anything away. Even if he tells the guys who the starter is it's almost always during game week and no one is allowed to know. It was clear from very early in camp who QB1 was. Farley tried to play the game of "it could be any of the 4 guys" but he didn't really try to play it super hard. He knows Will is "the guy" and didn't **** with it. The last time that happened was the Eric Sanders days 04-07 (pretty good years if you go look), the first year and a half of Grace (2008 was a pretty good year - and **** fell apart in 09). Then 2011 with Rennie (also a pretty damn good year). Second half of 2009, 2010, and then every other year Farley has dicked with the QB room. He isn't this year - and of all years he could "rightly" do that it is this one - the year after losing Dunne, having 5 QBs on campus, 4 of which are rSo, rFr and 2 of the highest rated FCS recruits in all the country who had P5 offers.

2. Farley is smiling and joking with the media. Again, last time that happened was 04-first half of 09 and then 2011. His first press conference this year he opened with jokes and laughs. That **** doesn't happen with him unless he's quietly confident.

There are other things but it's **** like that, along with the overall talent level, that are giving UNI fans a bit more confidence, at least early, than previous years. That could all change and it could fall apart - and it's UNI so it will. But things feel much different right now.

[DEX]

I'm loving the conversation about A&T. i'm guessing if we lose to Duke we are out again


I think we'll be fine if we have a respectable finish.

[MR. CHICKEN]

[QUOTE=clenz;2795874]I think you can still make a case for UNI to be 15. As I said, I don't really care where you put UNI. I've been at the forefront of the "quit ranking UNI" train for the last 3 or 4 years. This is the first time since David Johnson was on campus that I "believe" in a UNI team - and even those UNI teams with DJ I could/did make a case for knowing their ultimate failure by the end of the season.

That just seemed like such a weird reason to rank a team *that much lower* than the average/mean, regardless who it ended up being.


........DUH IOWA STATE LOSS.......WILL BEGIN TA DRAG YA'S DOWN.....BAH.....FIRST WEEK UH NOVEMBER......WHIFF ISUr/ISUb/SD STATE........IT'S WHAA YOUSE.......GET IN WHIFF 6 DUBBYA'S.......EARLY FBS'S......ARE FELT....LATTER IN YEAR.......'SPECIALLAH IN CONJUNCTION......WHIFF MVFC GRINDERS........AWK!

[ejjones]

By that standard why not get rid of Wofford too?

Great question...but are you really trying to rationize with these votes(rs)? Anyone who voted for Wofford top 25 wasted a vote IMO. They got foot-stomped by a middle of the road (for now :-) MEAC team. Only TD was late in the game against 3rd string folks.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Great question...but are you really trying to rationize with these votes(rs)? Anyone who voted for Wofford top 25 waisted a vote IMO. They got foot-stomped by a middle of the road (for now :-) MEAC team. Only TD was late in the game against 3rd string folks.



....NO RANKED TEAM.......DESERVES TA DROP 17/18/19 SPOTS......AFTERAH OWN-LAH ONE LOSS...xsmhx...IMO..............AWK!

[Professor Chaos]

....NO RANKED TEAM.......DESERVES TA DROP 17/18/19 SPOTS......AFTERAH OWN-LAH ONE LOSS...xsmhx...IMO..............AWK!
That may be true if they had a season body of work to fall back on but not when it's the first game of the year. The way I see it Wofford has plenty of time to prove this was just a (big) blip on the radar but I had no issue dropping them from #6 in my preseason poll to out of my top 25 in week 1.

[JSUSoutherner]

Great question...but are you really trying to rationize with these votes(rs)? Anyone who voted for Wofford top 25 waisted a vote IMO. They got foot-stomped by a middle of the road (for now :-) MEAC team. Only TD was late in the game against 3rd string folks.

*Wasted.

[ejjones]

....NO RANKED TEAM.......DESERVES TA DROP 17/18/19 SPOTS......AFTERAH OWN-LAH ONE LOSS...xsmhx...IMO..............AWK!
You're entitled to your opinion...but this could be one of two things. The pre-season voters got it all wrong (Woff too high or conversely, SCSU alot better than they thought). If Wofford is good (as they suppose to be), they would have had plenty of time to make their way back into the Poll. I'm actually rooting for them...will make out OOC win look a lot better is they finish inside the top 25.

[Redbird 4th & short]

You're entitled to your opinion...but this could be one of two things. The pre-season voters got it all wrong (Woff too high or conversely, SCSU alot better than they thought). If Wofford is good (as they suppose to be), they would have had plenty of time to make their way back into the Poll. I'm actually rooting for them...will make out OOC win look a lot better is they finish inside the top 25.
The chicken is wise .... awk ... yes ttb eye should be dropped but it is one game. They are a solid program and were playoff team and won a game a year ago. It is only week 1 ... it does not erase all history from consideration.

[Mocs123]

Woffords problem was that they tried to get away from their usual option offense and got a little pass happy. I understand if they want to move away from the option, but why would you do it with all your starters returning on offense. It seems like a poor coaching decision to me, and my guess is they are knocking the rust of the option playbook this week.

[ejjones]

*Wasted.
Yes, correct. thx. My beer belly was hanging over my waist; unfortunately, I was wasted when I originally replied.

[PaladinFan]

I say this every year - but it's a lot harder to climb the polls.

We have to look at it practically - who are the top 25 teams each week? It shouldn't be a sliding scale based upon your body of work from the prior season.

[PaladinFan]

Woffords problem was that they tried to get away from their usual option offense and got a little pass happy. I understand if they want to move away from the option, but why would you do it with all your starters returning on offense. It seems like a poor coaching decision to me, and my guess is they are knocking the rust of the option playbook this week.

Let me also note that trying to dust off an offense that requires an incredible amount of reps to master after the season starts probably isn't a great idea either.

[clenz]

I say this every year - but it's a lot harder to climb the polls.

We have to look at it practically - who are the top 25 teams each week? It shouldn't be a sliding scale based upon your body of work from the prior season.
Why is why to say "a team shouldn't drop 17+ spots after a week 1 loss" is silly.

Sometimes a team you think could be great and then do what JSU did.

[PaladinFan]

Why is why to say "a team shouldn't drop 17+ spots after a week 1 loss" is silly.

Sometimes a team you think could be great and then do what JSU did.

2017 was a good example.

That season, No. 6 JSU played No. 12 UTC in the FCS Kickoff Game. It was considered a banner win for JSU - beating a top 15 opponent.

Of course, UTC ended up not being very good. They lost the next two weeks (including a game to UT-M), and fell out of the top 25 en route to a 3-8 season. They were not a good football team.

Furman, by contrast, lost two 1 point games to playoff teams (Wofford and Elon) and then reeled off 7 wins in a row. Furman didn't crack the top 25 until Nov. 11 (and pummeled UTC).

So, the voters had UTC at a top 15 team, took them three weeks to fall out of the polls, and they ended up being a bad team. It took Furman nearly the entire season to crack the top 25.

[JSUSoutherner]

2017 was a good example.

That season, No. 6 JSU played No. 12 UTC in the FCS Kickoff Game. It was considered a banner win for JSU - beating a top 15 opponent.

Of course, UTC ended up not being very good. They lost the next two weeks (including a game to UT-M), and fell out of the top 25 en route to a 3-8 season. They were not a good football team.

Furman, by contrast, lost two 1 point games to playoff teams (Wofford and Elon) and then reeled off 7 wins in a row. Furman didn't crack the top 25 until Nov. 11 (and pummeled UTC).

So, the voters had UTC at a top 15 team, took them three weeks to fall out of the polls, and they ended up being a bad team. It took Furman nearly the entire season to crack the top 25.

Probably because there was no reason to rank Furman until the Western Carolina win that week. Up until then the best thing on Furmans resume was two losses.

[PaladinFan]

Probably because there was no reason to rank Furman until the Western Carolina win that week. Up until then the best thing on Furmans resume was two losses.

I guess. By that point, Furman had won 5 straight and really only one of the games was even particularly close.

Point being, it took voters 3 months to recognize Furman as a top 25 team, which they clearly were.

If Furman had played UTC in week one and beat them as badly as they did in the middle of the season, Furman would have skyrocketed up the polls and likely been ranked Week 2. It's just an inherent bias in the process. It wouldn't have been a fair assessment regardless as UTC wasn't a good football team. Everyone was operating on wrong information to make their judgment.

[JSUSoutherner]

I guess. By that point, Furman had won 5 straight and really only one of the games was even particularly close.

Point being, it took voters 3 months to recognize Furman as a top 25 team, which they clearly were.

If Furman had played UTC in week one and beat them as badly as they did in the middle of the season, Furman would have skyrocketed up the polls and likely been ranked Week 2. It's just an inherent bias in the process.

And of those 5 wins the best two were a 7 win Colgate team and and a 5 win Mercer team.

Not exactly impressive stuff to voters.

You may remember that Mercer team also lost to Wofford by 1 but I don't remember anyone voting for them either.

[clenz]

I guess. By that point, Furman had won 5 straight and really only one of the games was even particularly close.

Point being, it took voters 3 months to recognize Furman as a top 25 team, which they clearly were.

If Furman had played UTC in week one and beat them as badly as they did in the middle of the season, Furman would have skyrocketed up the polls and likely been ranked Week 2. It's just an inherent bias in the process. It wouldn't have been a fair assessment regardless as UTC wasn't a good football team. Everyone was operating on wrong information to make their judgment.
Let's really break this down

Furman started outside the top 25
Furman started 0-3

That's as deep as a hole as you can start in and to try to bitch about not moving in faster after that is silly. Now lets look at the reality of it as they went forward

Got to 1-3 by beating 1-3 Colgate
Got to 2-3 by beating 2-2 ETSU - who ws 1-2 against the D1 and being a new program there isn't a ton of respect there to start with - would finish 4-7
Got to 3-3 by beating 1-5 UT-C would finish 3-8
Got to 4-3 by beating winless VMI who would finish winless

Now at this point being over .500 after game 7 you could maybe say "Could they fall between 17-25?

They were 4-3 but look at their wins at that point. None of them were good enough to build a resume on. Especially when you started the season unranked and lost your first 3 and 2 of those were the only decent FCS teams you played and you lost both.

Let's keep going

Got to 5-3 by beating 4-4 Mercer who would finish 5-6 and to that point had beaten the same type of teams Furman had

I suppose at 5-3 with that weak of an SOS you could make a case that 22-25 would be acceptable depending what else was happening in that range

Got to 6-3 by beating 6-3 WCU - the first half quality opponenent. They finished 7-5 losing 2 of their last 3

6-3 based on record should probably be top 25...but again SOS could still easily dictate not be a top 25 team but at this point I'd argue that falling somewhere between 20-25 is the right move. This is the last weekend of October

Got to 7-3 by beating 4-4 Citadel - who wouldn't win another game and had wins over non D1, Presby, ETSU, UTC VMI

At this point we are into November and being 7-3 probably gets a top 25 ranking if you are in a full sholarship FCS league. Is this when you are bitching about not showing up until? Because I can maybe...maybe...make a case for one week sooner. Maybe. Howevever, it's a week case and this would be the first week I'd feel comfortable having them ranked.

You then lose the regular season finale to Samford. Again, losing to a good team. You played 3 good FCS teams and lost to all 3. You beat one marginal FCS team. That is an extreme borderline top 25 resume.



Dude, Furman wasn't screwed out of rankings by voters in 2017. They simply didn't "warrant" a ranking until at the very least October 29th poll releases, and even then it would be because they are a full scholarship league team over a MEAC, PFL, Ivy team


Facts are facts. Opinions are assholes.

[Mayville Bison]

I guess. By that point, Furman had won 5 straight and really only one of the games was even particularly close.

Point being, it took voters 3 months to recognize Furman as a top 25 team, which they clearly were.

If Furman had played UTC in week one and beat them as badly as they did in the middle of the season, Furman would have skyrocketed up the polls and likely been ranked Week 2. It's just an inherent bias in the process. It wouldn't have been a fair assessment regardless as UTC wasn't a good football team. Everyone was operating on wrong information to make their judgment.

I'm a little confused here - you don't think a team should drop 17 slots in a week, but yet you are saying teams climb into the polls too slowly. In order for new teams to crack the top 25, don't teams have to fall off? Wouldn't teams whose resumes only include losses by 21 and 15 to unranked teams be the best candidates to fall off so that the "2017 Furmans" get recognized quicker?

[PaladinFan]

I'm a little confused here - you don't think a team should drop 17 slots in a week, but yet you are saying teams climb into the polls too slowly. In order for new teams to crack the top 25, don't teams have to fall off? Wouldn't teams whose resumes only include losses by 21 and 15 to unranked teams be the best candidates to fall off so that the "2017 Furmans" get recognized quicker?

This isn't that hard, people.

Some teams are highly ranked and stink. They are ranked as such because of a recency biased based on what they did last year or name recognition.

Some teams aren't ranked at all and are really good. It takes voters a while to realize that, but if you'd watch the games, you'd see it. There's no "resume building" necessary.

Find the top 25 teams and rank them. It'll never be perfect because voters don't actually watch the games.

[clenz]

You don't need to build your resume to prove you're a top 25 team after starting 0-3?

Bitch what?

Take the F shaped glasses off for a minute.

I'd argue top 25 teams don't lose 3 in a row to open a season...or maybe at all(?)

[ST_Lawson]

I could easily see a team taking a huge drop, especially in the first couple of weeks. Small body of work, not much more than educated guesses to start the season based on who graduated and who's coming back. A team could make the playoffs one year, lose maybe a defensive coordinator and a few players but nothing that looks too bad and get ranked in the teens. Then they could go and lose to a really bad team and show that their success was apparently 80% because of that defensive coordinator and handful of players...and they drop like a rock.