STATS Poll: 9/18/2023

[kdinva]

https://theanalyst.com/na/2023/09/western-carolina-gives-socon-a-fourth-team-in-stats-perform-fcs-top-25-poll/

1. South Dakota State (3-0), 1,396 points (52 of 56 first-place votes)
2. North Dakota State (3-0), 1,339 (3)
3. Montana State (2-1), 1,273
4. Sacramento State (3-0), 1,175 (1)
5. William & Mary (3-0, 1-0 CAA), 1,156
6. Holy Cross (2-1), 1,090
7. Idaho (2-1), 1,081
8. Furman (2-1), 991
9. UIW (2-1), 903
10. Weber State (2-1), 861
11. New Hampshire (2-1), 841
12. Southern Illinois (3-0), 831
13. Montana (3-0), 732
14. North Dakota (2-1), 609
15. UC Davis (2-1), 583
16. Southeast Missouri (1-2, 1-0 Big South-OVC), 508
17. Rhode Island (2-1, 2-0 CAA), 357
18. North Carolina Central (2-1), 341
19. Delaware (2-1, 1-0 CAA), 333
20. Samford (1-2, 0-1 SoCon), 280
21. Mercer (2-1), 270
22. Florida A&M (2-1, 1-0 SWAC), 239
23. Western Carolina (2-1, 1-0 SoCon), 217
24. Youngstown State (2-1), 158
25. Villanova (2-1), 119

Dropped Out: Southeastern Louisiana (19)

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): UT Martin (2-1) 96; Southeastern Louisiana (0-3) 72; Eastern Washington (1-2) 68; Northern Iowa (1-2) 57; Central Arkansas (1-2) 50; Fordham (2-1) 37; Campbell (2-1, 1-1 CAA) 33; Abilene Christian (2-1) 30; UAlbany (1-2) 19; Tennessee State (2-1) 11; Gardner-Webb (1-2) 8; Tarleton (2-1) 8; Austin Peay (2-1) 6; Eastern Illinois (2-1) 4; Harvard (1-0) 2; Stephen F. Austin (2-1) 2

[ElCid]

After watching W&M, finally, I wasn't overly impressed. I think they are 5-8 spots too high, at least. NCCU? Really? Campbell and E Ill might not be top 25 yet, arguable, but should probably be getting a lot more love.

After watching WCU handle EKU, even if Samford looked good against Auburn, "I" can with good conscious rank WCU higher now. I guess they can't.

[Sitting Bull]

I don’t necessarily disagree but find it a bit funny given our comparable outings vs Campbell. I think 5-10 are pretty fluid.

I’m personally waiting to see how we respond vs Maine. If we don’t play inspired and win here decisively (like 21 points), we could be in for a few bumps down the road.

As of now, we are the only team in CAA without a loss. I think in another week or 2, the Campbell game will count as a top 20 win.

[Tribe4SF]

After watching W&M, finally, I wasn't overly impressed. I think they are 5-8 spots too high, at least. NCCU? Really? Campbell and E Ill might not be top 25 yet, arguable, but should probably be getting a lot more love.

After watching WCU handle EKU, even if Samford looked good against Auburn, "I" can with good conscious rank WCU higher now. I guess they can't.

If you said you weren't impressed with the Tribe offense's ability to finish drives with TDs I'd concur. The defense on the other hand (which leads FCS in nearly every overall category) held CSU to 77 total yards which is the lowest total in two years by an FCS team. DE Nate Lynn is the national defensive POW off that game. Give more love to Campbell who the Tribe held to 310 yards including 69 in the second half with a 71-yard garbage time TD drive. Campbell has well over 1,000 yards in the two games since playing the Tribe while scoring 101 points. Tribe had a covid outbreak and some injuries from the previous game that saw several offensive starters unable to practice and/or not play at all. Hopefully the Tribe O will get back on track and impress a bit more.

[MSUBobcat]

If you said you weren't impressed with the Tribe offense's ability to finish drives with TDs I'd concur. The defense on the other hand (which leads FCS in nearly every overall category) held CSU to 77 total yards which is the lowest total in two years by an FCS team. DE Nate Lynn is the national defensive POW off that game. Give more love to Campbell who the Tribe held to 310 yards including 69 in the second half with a 71-yard garbage time TD drive. Campbell has well over 1,000 yards in the two games since playing the Tribe while scoring 101 points. Tribe had a covid outbreak and some injuries from the previous game that saw several offensive starters unable to practice and/or not play at all. Hopefully the Tribe O will get back on track and impress a bit more.

10pt road win over Campbell is respectable, but you gotta admit a 17pt home win over a team that found a way to lose AT HOME to PRESBYTERIAN looks bad. Add in an 8pt win over a bad Chuck South that presumably would have lost to North Greenville had it been at their place instead of at CSU, and it's not looking like the performance of a top 8 team, IMO. Perhaps the beatdown MSU gave them in the QF last year when W&M was supposedly a 5-seed is too fresh in my mind, but it seemed like they were overrated last year and it's carrying forward this year. Lots of season to prove it though.

[ElCid]

I don’t necessarily disagree but find it a bit funny given our comparable outings vs Campbell. I think 5-10 are pretty fluid.

I’m personally waiting to see how we respond vs Maine. If we don’t play inspired and win here decisively (like 21 points), we could be in for a few bumps down the road.

As of now, we are the only team in CAA without a loss. I think in another week or 2, the Campbell game will count as a top 20 win.

I was just commenting on how they looked. Maybe they thought it was going to be a cakewalk and just played uninspired. But they didn't seem like top 5 team to me. A #10 or bit more? Ok, their record and stats probably back that up, but appearance wise in execution, at least on O, they certainly didn't look like a #5 team. Maybe I'm wrong. The problem is I haven't watched them except for this game. But what really sticks out is winning by one score when they outgained their opponent by 4 to 1 in yardage. Eek. That's bad. I got to say they are probably lucky to have gotten Campbell early. The next two weeks should sort out their placement.