Final AGS Voting--Now Open

[Lulu]

Don't forget to cast your final vote:

http://www.collegesportingnews.com/poll_login.asp

Polls are open until noon Monday.

[TexasTerror]

Thanks for the reminder - getting ready to vote RIGHT NOW! :)

I'm calling on voters to put Indiana State in their last three spots - let's give some love to the Trees after their winning season. ;)

[Gil Dobie]

Voted

[Lehigh Football Nation]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.

[WileECoyote06]

I hope that when evaluating SCSU; voters remember that Ga. Southern whipped up on W & M too. Not that it means that they should have sympathy votes. Just that voters tend to overreact and under-react to wins and losses.

BTW, looking back at my last ballot, I had Eastern Washington at #2 behind App. State. *pat on my own back*

[GATA]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.

of course they weren't. Why would the national champions finish the season as #1? That's ridiculously stupid.

[soccerguy315]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.

fail

[Lulu]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.

Why not?

[Gil Dobie]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.

Delaware lost in regulation to EWU on a neutral field, NDSU lost in OT on the road. :)

[dudeitsaid]

xlolx
EWU was not my No. 1 team.

Your entitled to your opinion. But I really don't know what settles it better than winning the NC. What are your standards? Stats? Thankfully, Eastern hasn't cared about either all season. They just cared about settling the question on the field with wins. An IMO, that's the standard that matters most. You can have your ranking, I'll take the Hardware.xlolx

[JMUNJ08]

His vote won't be approved people. This is not the BCS in which TCU will get some #1 votes because it went undefeated and the 'Bowl' season is a scam. Go DIV 1 Football Playoffs!

[Gil Dobie]

His vote won't be approved people. This is not the BCS in which TCU will get some #1 votes because it went undefeated and the 'Bowl' season is a scam. Go DIV 1 Football Playoffs!

It's not against the Homer Rule, but it will be questioned for sure.

[JMUNJ08]

It's not against the Homer Rule, but it will be questioned for sure.

Correct but what arguement could you give? Jacksonville wasn't allowed in the playoffs but someone would vault them up? 20 teams went into the playoffs. 19 lost. By the wonder of mathematics, you have 1 champion

[hawkineer]

EWU was not my No. 1 team.
Perhaps you should cover FBS football instead. Clearly, you share their mindset. Mythical national champions won in the polls rather than on the field.

[Gil Dobie]

Correct but what arguement could you give? Jacksonville wasn't allowed in the playoffs but someone would vault them up? 20 teams went into the playoffs. 19 lost. By the wonder of mathematics, you have 1 champion

There is no good arguement for #1 after losing the Championship Game, the playoff winner should be #1, after that it's pretty much comparing who beat who in the playoffs for the next run of positions, IMO.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Lifted from the other thread, this is why I didn't vote EWU #1.


This post is titled:

Controversy is part of the identity of this years FCS National Champions

None of their playoff games were without at least 1 disputed critical call in favor of the Eagles. The NDSU game had five bad calls on the field and 3 bad calls in the replay booth for a total of 8 calls directly affecting the games outcome. All of the EWU scores in regulation were directly attributable to bad calls improperly advancing drives. We have the film as do the Blue Hens and Nova.

Until now the response has mainly been something like good teams find a way to win or something similar like you are a sore loser.

My feeling is there should be an attempt made to improve the officiating. I suggest:

1) peer review
2) accountability
3) education

[Gil Dobie]

Lifted from the other thread, this is why I didn't vote EWU #1.

IMO, It was settled on the field, with good officiating, bad officiating, good weather, bad weather, good field, bad field. Same conditions for each team.

[Tribe4SF]

His vote won't be approved people. This is not the BCS in which TCU will get some #1 votes because it went undefeated and the 'Bowl' season is a scam. Go DIV 1 Football Playoffs!

If it's the same committee as two years ago, I'd agree that they probably won't allow it. I voted JMU ahead of Montana that year, and my poll was ruled out because they said Montana beating JMU in the semis trumped any other consideration. My question to them then was if you're going to prescribe how people vote then why have a final poll at all.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I'm interested to see where Lehigh ends up. They ended up 10-3. Their 3 losses were to Delaware, 'Nova and UNH.

[Tribe4SF]

I'm interested to see where Lehigh ends up. They ended up 10-3. Their 3 losses were to Delaware, 'Nova and UNH.

They might move up a little, but those three losses were all by more than 20 points.

[GSU Eagle]

The winner of the playoffs has to be #1. Anyone voting anyone other than Eastern Washington #1 should automatically have their ballot thrown out.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The winner of the playoffs has to be #1. Anyone voting anyone other than Eastern Washington #1 should automatically have their ballot thrown out.

If so.... why have a ballot at all?

[Gil Dobie]

If so.... why have a ballot at all?

For positions 2-25 ?

[dudeitsaid]

Lifted from the other thread, this is why I didn't vote EWU #1.

I at least understand where you are coming from. At least there is some reason behind it. Unfortunately, there are multitudes of things that come into play that every team must overcome. For example, I felt in the first half, EWU was playing better than NDSU, and had the conditions stayed the same, Taiwan would've run for over 300 yards, remained healthy, and we would've taken the game by 2 scores. But, it snowed big time, and NDSU acclimated to those conditions better and more quickly than Eastern did. They almost took the game. If they would've won, they would've earned it. They took the hand dealt them and made the most of it.

I don't see how you can fault EWU for the actions of the refs. Especially considering none of the calls took EWU from a losing state to a winning state. Even in the case of NDSU, EWU could've blocked the XP, or stopped the 2 point conversion, or won the 2nd overtime. It's just impossible to know what would've happened.

But, if you truly think there is a better team than EWU even though they won the game on the field, though I completely disagree with your logic, if you have some level of reasonable argument rather than emotional babble, I wouldn't throw it out.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

NC has to be #1.

EWU earned it on the field......best advantage of having a playoff system.

Ya, Delaware might win 8 or 9 times/10 but on that night, EWU was the best team for a whole 4 quarters.

Curious to see how NDSU finishes!!

[BlueHenSinfonian]

NC has to be #1.

EWU earned it on the field......best advantage of having a playoff system.

Ya, Delaware might win 8 or 9 times/10 but on that night, EWU was the best team for a whole 4 quarters.

Curious to see how NDSU finishes!!

Actually EWU was the best team for 2 quarters, even some EWU fans here were calling it a loss at the half.

I don't think the poll is the place for activism against the officials - though I do agree that the wildly varying quality of FCS officiating is something that certainly needs to be addressed. Regardless if the questionable spot call was eventually ruled correctly or not on Friday, the fact that the chains were moved prior to the review, that the original spot might not have been marked, and that the whole booth review process was botched so badly raises concerns.

That being said, depending on your personal criteria for what constitutes the ranking, I could potentially see an argument for EWU not being ranked first. When you look at the overally quality of the team - talent, skill, coaching, etc, I think Delaware is the easy favorite. At the end of the day though, the better team doesn't always win. Delaware left some points on the field in the first half, and hardly produced at all during the second half. Delaware probably played at 80% of their total ability during the first half, and maybe 40% in the second. EWU struggled to put things together in the first half, but came out guns blazing playing at their full 100% potential for the second half, and in the end, even if on paper they weren't the better team, they still won the game.

I'm not an AGS poll vote (though I plan to register and vote next season) but I would likely give the nod to EWU on this one. As much as it pains me to say it, we were outplayed, and though by all that's right we should have won, we didn't. The contested call may have changed the outcome of the game, but so would have a number of other things that were fully in control of Delaware during that game.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Actually EWU was the best team for 2 quarters, even some EWU fans here were calling it a loss at the half.

I don't think the poll is the place for activism against the officials - though I do agree that the wildly varying quality of FCS officiating is something that certainly needs to be addressed. Regardless if the questionable spot call was eventually ruled correctly or not on Friday, the fact that the chains were moved prior to the review, that the original spot might not have been marked, and that the whole booth review process was botched so badly raises concerns.

That being said, depending on your personal criteria for what constitutes the ranking, I could potentially see an argument for EWU not being ranked first. When you look at the overally quality of the team - talent, skill, coaching, etc, I think Delaware is the easy favorite. At the end of the day though, the better team doesn't always win. Delaware left some points on the field in the first half, and hardly produced at all during the second half. Delaware probably played at 80% of their total ability during the first half, and maybe 40% in the second. EWU struggled to put things together in the first half, but came out guns blazing playing at their full 100% potential for the second half, and in the end, even if on paper they weren't the better team, they still won the game.

I'm not an AGS poll vote (though I plan to register and vote next season) but I would likely give the nod to EWU on this one. As much as it pains me to say it, we were outplayed, and though by all that's right we should have won, we didn't. The contested call may have changed the outcome of the game, but so would have a number of other things that were fully in control of Delaware during that game.


Ya, I watched the game. Game is still 4 quarters......sometimes alittle more...ask NDSU....

[GreatAppSt]

A couple more hours of voting time left.

[Eaglesrus]

If so.... why have a ballot at all?

I don't vote because I just don't study teams outside the SoCon enough to do it justice. However, after GSU had a less than stellar first 2/3rds of the season, not being ranked for most of the season and then ending up being among the final four I'm anxiously awaiting the final poll to see where we end up.

[Big Al]

Winning the playoffs doesn't automatically mean you're the best team in the country. Nor does making the semis mean you're among the 4 best in the country.

Since the comparative sample size is so small and the number of variables so large, it is silly to look at a poll and think that it definitively answers the question of "Who's On First?"

If we really wanted to definitively answer the question of where each team belongs in the ranking, we would need to play an order of magnitude more games and conduct a playoffs consisting of "best-of" series to determine proper ranking.

15 games just isn't enough to end all debate.

EDIT: Don't take any of this to mean that EWU aren't deserving national champs. They won the hardware, fair and square.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I think the key here is: I am not disputing that EWU are national champions. I'm just voting a different team than the national champion as my No. 1 team in the country.

[boonegoon]

I find all this a little disrespectful. I mean, we bang our collective chests about a playoff and how we determine our champion "on the field" . Now, some of us choose to not abide by our system and not vote EWU champion because you don't "believe" they are the champs. Go watch BCS football,you hippocrite.

[Rekdiver]

You can't dispute a team being #1 that wins a playoff. YOu probably think that the landing on the moon was staged too.......

[Big Al]

I find all this a little disrespectful. I mean, we bang our collective chests about a playoff and how we determine our champion "on the field" . Now, some of us choose to not abide by our system and not vote EWU champion because you don't "believe" they are the champs. Go watch BCS football,you hippocrite.

I don't think there's any hypocrisy in what LFN is saying (although I do think his reasoning in this particular instance isn't sound). A poll does not determine the champ; that can only rightly be done on the field. Being champion, however, and being "the best team" are not one and the same.

[Big Al]

You can't dispute a team being #1 that wins a playoff.

Sure you can. Doesn't mean they aren't champs. They are.

I suspect, however, that if the NC was determined like in MLB, we'd be talking about UD as national champs, right now.

Frankly, however, I enjoyed watching UD choke a sure win away while EWU capitalized on every opportunity much, much more.

[DJKyR0]

When does this go final?

[gsugt1]

To not vote EWU #1 is crazy. They have earned it.

[fball27]

To not vote EWU #1 is crazy. They have earned it.

Does it really matter? They won where it counted, on the field, and they did it without their star RB. They clearly are the #1 team. No vote can change the outcome of the game.

[Eaglesrus]

...........Nor does making the semis mean you're among the 4 best in the country.

................................

IF you were referring to my comment earlier that's not what I meant and I, in fact, agree with you. I was just expressing curiosity as to where we would land after all was said and done. I'm frankly surprised that we finished as high as #5, if I'd voted I probably wouldn't have put us quite that high.

[Big Al]

IF you were referring to my comment earlier that's not what I meant and I, in fact, agree with you. I was just expressing curiosity as to where we would land after all was said and done. I'm frankly surprised that we finished as high as #5, if I'd voted I probably wouldn't have put us quite that high.

No, not you in particular -- rather, it seems that some people think if you make it to a certain round of the playoffs, that slots where you should land on the poll. Not all playoff brackets are equal, so it isn't a simple calculation.

A good example is the Sporting News poll that just came out -- NDSU is 9th, but WIU is 17th? Never mind that WIU handled NDSU in the regular season and NDSU had the easier bracket in the playoffs.

Silly.