SoCon 2024 Predictions and Power Rankings - Week 11

[The Cats]

from the first trophy game, 6 years ago...

[Reign of Terrier]

Chatt is in if they win out. Western may have a bad loss on their resume, but they themselves aren't a bad loss. Starting the season 0-3, having 8 D1 wins, playing 2 FBS teams, and winning 7 of your last 8 means, unequivocally, you get a bid. Especially with wins over ETSU and curb stomping Wofford. If Richmond doesn't get a CAA autobid, they have an edge over the spiders ( I would pull for W&M maybe when they play in a couple weeks?)

ETSU needs to win out. Maybe the NDSU loss looks good. Maybe not. But only having 6 D1 wins looks bad on the resume. If ETSU's best win is 6-6 Wofford, that's not the best thing. The Richmond principle applies.

So, ideally, I'd say the socon is getting 3. If they get 4, I'd rather that fourth team be ETSU because they don't have a bad loss like western. So go catamounts next week I guess. I would bet on the over.

Historically, the committee HATES 8-4 socon teams, but thankfully we did good enough OOC to maybe make a difference. It would be a slam dunk 4 team thing if ETSU didn't schedule UVA Wise and if Western didn't lose to Campbell.

[wcugrad95]

Certainly agree on your last statement. If that is even a Pioneer-team win for both squads we would both be looking at bids. WCU could even afford to lose this game had we gone 2-2 OOC. I know historically the committee might not like 8-4 SOCON teams, but I think there is more evidence they don't hate 6-2 conference records by the top 4 leagues. But I have no doubts Western has no shot if we don't win 'em all. We have 2 "quality losses" to top-10 teams that we led, and we lost our FBS game. But the Campbell game is there to really hurt if we let it.

[Reign of Terrier]

to be fair, the “committee hates 8-4 teams” is exclusively true about Chattanooga. I think it happened to them twice under Huesman. Milltruck can correct me on that. But the socon is definitely deeper now.

the other thing that will help western (again, gotta beat ETSU) is Montana continuing to play well. And yes, selfishly, Wofford playing well will help ETSU because that may turn out to be the Bucs best win and a mutual opponent that they look better against compared to another playoff team.

[FUBeAR]

Sorry Catamounts. The LandPirates will OWN the 4th quarter after Hootie croons Wagon Wheel during the quarter break…

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Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long toke
But he's a-headin' west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

…even tho his Philly trucker is completely lost. Johnson City is EAST of the Cumberland Gap. He was on the right track heading south out of Roanoke, but then…maybe too much toking. He’s never gonna die in Raleigh goin’ that way...free or not free.

[wcugrad95]

But his target was to make it to NC so he could die free. So he obviously would back the NC-based team, right???

[wcugrad95]

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That is a pretty crazy stat. How many other teams in the country could sustain an injury to their possible Conference OPOTY QB and not really miss a beat? I'd venture to guess not too many. I think we have (and have had) some talented QBs in Cullowhee the last few years, but this kind of blew me away and shows that if you go to Western and have some talent and take time to get command of this offense, Coach Bell's scheme will help you put up some big time numbers.

Of course we need it to also include wins, but it has to be good marketing material for guys who don't sign with the big boys to think about playing in Bell's offense.

[FU_Paladin08]

Week 11 Rankings:
Mercer
WCU
Chatt
ETSU
Wofford
Samford
CIT
VMI
Furman


Picks:
Wofford beats Furman
UTC beats The Citadel
WCU beats ETSU
Mercer beats VMI
Samford beats Tenn Tech