Villanova is my #1

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Why?

1) Temple > Ole Miss >>>>>>> Western State
2) Ole Miss underestimated Jacksonville State. I defy you to find a moment in that Temple game where Villanova was being overlooked.
3) Villanova showed more to me in playing Temple to a thriller than Montana showed me in a blowout win.
4) If you get blown out by a crappy FBS opponent, that says something. But if you play a quality FBS opponent toe to toe and lose in the last second, IMVHO you should not lose your No. 1 ranking. What's good for App. State is good for Villanova, too. Has to be.

[ASUMountaineer]

I'd be surprised if Nova loses it's #1 ranking. There's nothing impressive about beating Western State. I think the champs are safe with their ranking, at least for another week.

[gbhmt]

I mean if you'd watched the Montana game and seen the offensive struggles this conversation wouldn't even be necessary. Sure, most expected Villanova to win that game, and they definitely could have, but we're still talking a bowl eligible team in Temple that's got one of the best runningbacks in the nation. No reason to punish them for that effort.

[PantherRob82]

From watching a lot of games this weekend, I have no problem with Villanova at #1. Jacksonville State looks **** good. I was very impressed by their comeback. Took a lot of poise.

[UNH Fanboi]

I've got:

1. Nova
2. Montana

and JSU at about 8 or 9 and NDSU in the low 20s.

[atlfcsfan]

In my poll, I would flip flop Nova and Montana, 73-2 against anybody is impressive. And while Temple is FBS, they are a Big 5 Rival for Nova, but I think the polls will keep Nova No.1 because they are the defending champs over Montana.

[Dblue]

There truly is an East Coast Bias and that's why 'Nova drops.

[jmufan999]

i also don't think they should lose their #1 ranking, although i think they will. people who vote frequently have no clue what's going on and just look at wins and losses, stats, etc. Nova is a hell of a team... i've seen them live 3 times in the last 2 years, and they are extremely talented. i really think Sczcur could be a very good pro player... he's pretty much Julian Edelman except from a smaller school and MAYBE just a hair quicker (both have experience at QB, etc.)

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

I wouldn't let Jax State leapfrog Nova yet if I voted in a poll, but I disagree that Villanova is more impressive than JSU in week 1.

The thing that makes the JSU win unique is that Jax State was down 31-10 at halftime. FCS teams almost never make comebacks on FBS teams.

[Gil Dobie]

A top FCS team should not lose to a MAC team.

Nova's is still a great team, but 0-1 with the loss being to a MAC school puts them behind Montana, JSU, U Mass at this point IMO. Only the first game, and first poll, so we all have to start somewhere.

[JSU02]

A top FCS team should not lose to a MAC team.

Nova's is still a great team, but 0-1 with the loss being to a MAC school puts them behind Montana, JSU, U Mass at this point IMO. Only the first game, and first poll, so we all have to start somewhere.

I agree, even a good MAC team is still a MAC team.

[Keenan]

Why?

1) Temple > Ole Miss >>>>>>> Western State
2) Ole Miss underestimated Jacksonville State. I defy you to find a moment in that Temple game where Villanova was being overlooked.
3) Villanova showed more to me in playing Temple to a thriller than Montana showed me in a blowout win.
4) If you get blown out by a crappy FBS opponent, that says something. But if you play a quality FBS opponent toe to toe and lose in the last second, IMVHO you should not lose your No. 1 ranking. What's good for App. State is good for Villanova, too. Has to be.

xthumbsupx

My vote went:
#1 Villanova
#2 Montana

[ngineer]

Once you put up 40 pts on someone, you can easily put up 72 or whatever. Point spreads like that against tackling dummies are meaningless. Losing to a Temple team that proved itself last year in the manner it did showed VU to be very, very good. Of course, I'll get a close up view this weekend to see for myself.

[Gil Dobie]

Once you put up 40 pts on someone, you can easily put up 72 or whatever. Point spreads like that against tackling dummies are meaningless. Losing to a Temple team that proved itself last year in the manner it did showed VU to be very, very good. Of course, I'll get a close up view this weekend to see for myself.

How come the MAC suddenly has a good team? NDSU beats the MAC champion 44-14 in 2007, and almost everyone on the messageboards claim the MAC is terrible, and downplays NDSU's schedule, any good FBS school should beat any MAC team. Now when Nova wins, Temple is a good, proven team? Just saying :)

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

How come the MAC suddenly has a good team? NDSU beats the MAC champion 44-14 in 2007, and almost everyone on the messageboards claim the MAC is terrible, and downplays NDSU's schedule, any good FBS school should beat any MAC team. Now when Nova wins, Temple is a good, proven team? Just saying :)

The top couple teams in the MAC are usually pretty good. There has been some down years, 2007 for example, but overall the top couple teams in the MAC usually beat the middle of the pack Big 10 teams. NIU, CMU, Toledo until recently, have had quality OOC wins

Temple doesn't operate it's program like the other MAC schools. Golden recruits against Rutgers, UCONN, Maryland, Pitt, PSU, Syraucse and CAA teams. Everyone else in the MAC except Buffalo to some extent recruits against each other. He wants to make Temple like Rutgers and UCONN, not Ball State and Akron. So far, so good.

[Cocky]

Ole Miss beats Temple 99 out of 100

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Ole Miss beats Temple 99 out of 100

Now way. Ole Miss has been a bumbling BCS program for years and have had a history of losing to non traditional powers. If they lost to Jacksonville State then they certaintly lose to Villanova.

You're selling Temple and the top 10 or so teams in FCS short. Any of those teams can beat the Top 40 or so teams in FBS.

We'd do well in the BE this year imo. We get UCONN at the Linc in two weeks to prove that point.

[UNH Fanboi]

Ole Miss beats Temple 99 out of 100

Even if that's true (which it is most certainly not), so what? More importantly, how many times out of 100 does JSU beat Nova?

Honestly, some people in here are being incredibly short-term results oriented. Last year Nova got a little lucky and barely beat Temple. Then they went on to win the FCS Championship. This year they got a little unlucky and barely lost to Temple. Nevertheless, they return something like 17 starters this season and there are plenty of reasons to believe that they will be even stronger than they were last year.

But all of a sudden a team that was mediocre last year and is from a conference that hasn't won a playoff game in forever is the best team in FCS because they won a single game? Sorry, but that's not how it works.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

UNH will make a run at Pitt this week. Everything sets up perfect for the Cats given the Panthers early season schedule. The top FCS teams have become really good. Even better than those Adrian Peterson led GSU teams that i remember when i first started following FCS on a national level.

[Redbirdz]

My vote for JSU. No way Nova hangs with Ole Miss.

[FargoBison]

I voted for JSU. Winning in the house of any SEC team isn't exactly easy.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Has anyone seen more than one or two 'Nova fans since Friday? They have a small fanbase, but my goodness, they've disappeared!

[Gil Dobie]

The top couple teams in the MAC are usually pretty good. There has been some down years, 2007 for example, but overall the top couple teams in the MAC usually beat the middle of the pack Big 10 teams. NIU, CMU, Toledo until recently, have had quality OOC wins

Temple doesn't operate it's program like the other MAC schools. Golden recruits against Rutgers, UCONN, Maryland, Pitt, PSU, Syraucse and CAA teams. Everyone else in the MAC except Buffalo to some extent recruits against each other. He wants to make Temple like Rutgers and UCONN, not Ball State and Akron. So far, so good.

Why was 2007 a down year? CMU lost to Pudue by 3 in their bowl game that year.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Why was 2007 a down year? CMU lost to Pudue by 3 in their bowl game that year.

CMU finished 8-6 and weren't competitive in a number of their games. They lost 52-7 to Kansas, 45-22 to Purdue earlier in the year, 44-14 to NDSU, 70-14 to Clemson and lost to a horrible EMU squad.

[Mattymc727]

I say Nova 1. Montana is obviously a championship contender but did you see the highlights on another thread? Western State legit looked like the worst team i have ever seen on offense. I could have intercepted some of those passes and returned them for touchdowns.... Nova 1. Grizzlies a very close second. and I say JSU top ten, a victory over an SEC team deserves a top ten vote any day in my book. GO FCS!!!!

[Cocky]

Now way. Ole Miss has been a bumbling BCS program for years and have had a history of losing to non traditional powers. If they lost to Jacksonville State then they certaintly lose to Villanova.

You're selling Temple and the top 10 or so teams in FCS short. Any of those teams can beat the Top 40 or so teams in FBS.

We'd do well in the BE this year imo. We get UCONN at the Linc in two weeks to prove that point.

Do you understand JSU upset Ole Miss they would beat us 99 out of 100.
And yes they could beat them but most likely not.
Lastly the BE isn't the SEC, Ole Miss would be at the top of the BE.

[Ronbo]

Well I wouldn't be surprised to see Villanova as the #1 again. But I will make this comment........

Last season the Griz beat Western 38-0. This season Western has 16 returning offensive and defensive starters including their QB, RB, and WR's. This year we beat them 73-2. Ok fellas, did Western get mysteriously worse after another 11 games experience since the last game or are the National Runnerup Griz that much better?

That is the question I'll pose to you.xnodxxeyebrowx

[Ronbo]

I say Nova 1. Montana is obviously a championship contender but did you see the highlights on another thread? Western State legit looked like the worst team i have ever seen on offense. I could have intercepted some of those passes and returned them for touchdowns.... Nova 1. Grizzlies a very close second. and I say JSU top ten, a victory over an SEC team deserves a top ten vote any day in my book. GO FCS!!!!

And did you happen to notice the D-Line and Linebackers were on the QB like white on rice? Montana was in the backfield all day long and led the nation in tackles for loss. Some of you can never give the Griz credit for anything like great D-Line play, nooooo...... it must be that Western is the worst team in the history of football.

Tackles for loss (NCAA.com)

Rank Name Gm Solo Ast Yds Total PG
1 Montana 1 7 12 46 13.0 13.00
2 Citadel 1 10 4 61 12.0 12.00
2 Southern Utah 1 8 8 53 12.0 12.00
4 Gardner-Webb 1 8 6 47 11.0 11.00
4 Cal Poly 1 7 8 29 11.0 11.00
4 Central Ark. 1 5 12 29 11.0 11.00
7 Missouri St. 1 9 2 54 10.0 10.00
7 Ga. Southern 1 9 2 50 10.0 10.00
7 Mississippi Val. 1 10 0 48 10.0 10.00
7 Lehigh 1 8 4 47 10.0 10.00
7 Murray St. 1 8 4 36 10.0 10.00

[FargoBison]

Griz you beat a DII school, in my book it was like you had a scrimmage on Saturday. Don't take offense to it because that is what I do with every team that goes up against a lower division team, the only way the game matters is if the FCS team loses.

BTW Montana is #2 in my poll, behind Jacksonville State.

[RabidRabbit]

How come the MAC suddenly has a good team? NDSU beats the MAC champion 44-14 in 2007, and almost everyone on the messageboards claim the MAC is terrible, and downplays NDSU's schedule, any good FBS school should beat any MAC team. Now when Nova wins, Temple is a good, proven team? Just saying :)

IIRC, NDSU was being voted #1 by a fair # of AGS voters (and other pollsters) in 2007. I know of one voter that had them there until the Bison fell to his alma mater. xsmiley_wix

Nova is a very good team, and may well repeat. However, they are also 0-1 at this point, and now must start building back the trust. Voters may have projected 'Nova as #1 preseason because they figured the 'Cats would repeat the "upset" of a MAC champ,like had done in 2009. Didn't happen.

The problem is who should be ahead of 'Nova?
Montana blows out a bad D-II?
SIU blows out an NAIA?
App St. who wiggles out of Chatty with a 1 pt win and over 80 scored between teams?
UNH in their win over an NEC?

After week 1, and based strictly on week 1, only 2 teams have braggin' rights and that's Jax St, and NDSU. Possibly 2 others, App St. and UMass.

My vote went #1 for Montana, #2 'Nova. Hate to bring Griz in, but until they lose a game, they are there.

With that said, GO STANGS!!!!! xlolx

[Ronbo]

Griz you beat a DII school, in my book it was like you had a scrimmage on Saturday. Don't take offense to it because that is what I do with every team that goes up against a lower division team, the only way the game matters is if the FCS team loses.

BTW Montana is #2 in my poll, behind Jacksonville State.

If you voted JSU #1 then you need to have SUU in the top 15 for a narrow loss to Wyoming or your top 25 vote is flawed.

[FargoBison]

If you voted JSU #1 then you need to have SUU in the top 15 for a narrow loss to Wyoming or you're top 25 vote is flawed.

What is the record of FCS teams vs the SEC in the past 10 years? I know one team beat Mississippi State but that is the only win I can think of for the FCS.

Heck Ole Miss was in the Cotton Bowl last year, it wasn't like they were supposed be some scrub team this year. Don't bring up a close loss to Wyo and act like it is anything close to the same. Winning the game is so much more impressive anyway, a loss is still a loss. I rarely reward FCS teams for close losses, it better be really impressive to make me give them any value.

[PhoenixSupreme]

I just voted based on my preseason poll and not the consensus poll, and thus still kept Montana and Villanova at #1 and #2 respectively. However, I shifted JSU from #9 to #3.

[Mattymc727]

And did you happen to notice the D-Line and Linebackers were on the QB like white on rice? Montana was in the backfield all day long and led the nation in tackles for loss. Some of you can never give the Griz credit for anything like great D-Line play, nooooo...... it must be that Western is the worst team in the history of football.

oh boy, here we go again. The Grizz are obviously great, I have seen it first hand every year. That was just my way of stating that I was more impressed with the Nova loss to Temple rather than Montana's destruction of the perkins school for the blind. Its week 2, things can change, and Montana will be there in the end, I dont know how else to add respect, its there. If Nova beat Western State by 70 I would be less impressed then a Montana close loss to a respectable FBS program

[Gil Dobie]

CMU finished 8-6 and weren't competitive in a number of their games. They lost 52-7 to Kansas, 45-22 to Purdue earlier in the year, 44-14 to NDSU, 70-14 to Clemson and lost to a horrible EMU squad.

Nova beat Temple last year. Temple only beat 1 non-MAC team last year, an Army team that lost to Iowa St worse than NDSU lost to Iowa St.

[jsualum97]

Why?

1) Temple > Ole Miss >>>>>>> Western State
2) Ole Miss underestimated Jacksonville State. I defy you to find a moment in that Temple game where Villanova was being overlooked.
3) Villanova showed more to me in playing Temple to a thriller than Montana showed me in a blowout win.
4) If you get blown out by a crappy FBS opponent, that says something. But if you play a quality FBS opponent toe to toe and lose in the last second, IMVHO you should not lose your No. 1 ranking. What's good for App. State is good for Villanova, too. Has to be.

I agree I think Villanova should be #1....but you are calling Temple a quality FBS opponent?? WOW!! Everyone knows that Ole Miss is not as good as they were last year, but hey, they are still the defending Cotton Bowl Champions.

[GrizzlyEdd]

IMHO, NOVA should still be #1 until they get beat by a FCS team. Then there would be evidence enough to drop them lower. They very well could have won that game. So in my book, NOVA should be #1. I went to the Griz game and I have to say that the Defense is improved from last year. If the offense continues to improve, this version of the Griz could very well be better than last year. There were times in Sat's game where the Offense looked bad but there were also just as many when they were awesome. ? is the OLine. The WR's, QB's, RB's are all pretty much ok. QB had a little problem getting started early but came through very well in the end. Special teams are going to be as good as last year! Next Saturday's game at CalPoly will tell a lot as they always play the Griz extremely hard. The W/L records between those two teams don't tell the whole story. The Mustangs have given the Griz all they can handle on more than one occasion. Also made the Griz pay in the first round of the playoffs a couple of years ago... Mustangs are a class act and a great team.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Nova beat Temple last year. Temple only beat 1 non-MAC team last year, an Army team that lost to Iowa St worse than NDSU lost to Iowa St.

Not true. We beat a very good team Navy the week before they went to South Bend and knocked off the Irish.

Villanova will face another good test this weekend.

[Gil Dobie]

Not true. We beat a very good team Navy the week before they went to South Bend and knocked off the Irish.

Villanova will face another good test this weekend.

My bad, I missed the Navy score. Still if you beat a team one year and lose the next, should you have the same ranking after that game.

[Anovafan]

I'm still here...Montana #1, Nova #2 on my voting ballot.

[Silenoz]

What is the record of FCS teams vs the SEC in the past 10 years? I know one team beat Mississippi State but that is the only win I can think of for the FCS.

Heck Ole Miss was in the Cotton Bowl last year, it wasn't like they were supposed be some scrub team this year. Don't bring up a close loss to Wyo and act like it is anything close to the same. Winning the game is so much more impressive anyway, a loss is still a loss. I rarely reward FCS teams for close losses, it better be really impressive to make me give them any value.

To be fair, a mediocre Western Illinois team took Arkansas to the wire several years ago. Ole Miss could end up being pretty bad

I didn't have a chance to get to the office since it was a holiday so I didn't enter a poll this week, but I probably would of had Nova #1. Not that it matters at this point

[Silenoz]

One last thing, you'll probably notice many Griz fans talking about how unimpressive our offense looked. It's crazy talk. The #1 (or did we end up #2?) scoring offense in the nation last year put up less points against the same opponent last year in 11 more minutes of TOP. That offense in fact barely got to 10 points in the first half last year. It took us literally about 4 seconds to score a TD this time. We threw for nearly 19 yards/pass, significantly more than last year, and ran for 3.8, a respectable number deflated by the fact that we were running our 4th/5th string backs up the middle to run out the clock.

[TokyoGriz]

Our run blocking sucked stop sugar coating it. Even coach Pflu singled run blocking out as an area to work on in his post game. Look at our designated RBs total yardage then try to tell me how great our run game was. All the run yardage was from Kemp who isnt even a running back. Kemp had no holes to run through either he is just a great athelete and made some great moves to get yards.

Our Def rocks, and our offense certainly has BIG plays down.

Too early for anyone to be crowing #1,2,3 etc. Mostly meaningless games this week for alot of teams. This week will be a better indicator for most as they play in conference games more.

[TokyoGriz]

Montana pass run stats for western game

RUSHING No. Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg.
Gerald Kemp 10 81 11 70 0 46 7.0
Chase Reynolds 8 44 4 40 0 16 5.0
Dan Moore 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0
Peter Ngyuen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Lance Carl 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Justin Roper 2 0 1 -1 0 0 -0.5
D.J. Zapata 1 0 1 -1 0 0 -1.0
TEAM 3 0 6 -6 0 0 -2.0
Totals... 27 126 23 103 0 46 3.8


PASSING Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack

Andrew Selle 4-11-1 123 2 55 0
Justin Roper 7-10-0 105 3 28 0
D.J. Zapata 2-2-0 11 0 7 0
Jeff Larson 1-1-0 23 1 23 0
Totals... 14-24-1 262 6 55 0

Selle had a couple big throws the rest just flat out missed. I dont remember seeing any dropped balls just badly thrown passes. In fact the recievers had a great day with no drops I believe.

And Chase getting 8 carries for 5 yards on average is pathetic against what was really a high school caliber team. That really comes down to the O line just as Coach Pflu stated himself. The oline did give plenty of time for the QBs to pass so however.

[Silenoz]

Like you said, it wasn't on the receivers or line, Selle was just showing some early season excitement. We already know he's a proven commodity, and Roper looked great. If anything we have the best 1-2 punch at QB in the nation so I wouldn't worry much about a 4-11 line. And I didn't say our running game looked great, but it didn't look bad. Hell it didn't really have much of a chance to look like anything since our average drive was like 4 plays long. The offense never had a chance to get in a rhythm because the field was so short and they scored so fast. Not to mention that Chase only got the 8 carries to work with. He has always been a guy that wears defenses out.

[NovaWildcat]

until otherwise proven by an FCS team, Villanova is #1.