Still no love....9-26 TSN Poll

[Wildcatpast]

Name one "recognizable" name other than Appy State. And yeah, they are freakin good almost every year. I doubt the likes of Delaware and McNeese State consider themselves "recognizable."

I know others have noted this, and trying not to be critical, but you must not have followed FCS [IAA] football for long. Delaware is historically good [heck, last year they were in the championship game; btw, produced Joe Flacco a couple of years ago]. McNeese St. has been to the playoffs 10+ times. Appalachian State is actually kinduv a new phenomenon, with trips to the finals in '05, '06 and'07. Georgia Southern has been to the championship game 8 times [late 80's, late 90's]; Youngstown State [all through the 90's]. Etc. etc.

The reason I bring all of that up is that there is definitely an east, south and midwest bias and it will always be so in the polls [and even in 'at large' picks and seeding]. Makes a bunch of sense: if you drew a north - south line from the Dakotas through Texas, there are only 18 FCS teams in the entire "West" [including the 4 Dakota schools, but not including the Southland Conference (East Tex, Ark, Louisiana)] and 108 FCS schools in the rest of the country!! That's a bunch of 'regional bias' to overcome. And, of course, a lot of the schools in those conferences are relatively close to each other [many in each confence are within a couple of hours of each other (heck, Delaware is within an hour of Villanova, Towson, Delaware State, etc.)], so the rivalries are intense and generate a bunch of regional buzz. Really, the only team the East and Midwest has historically paid attention to is Montana, b/c it has been in the national champ game 7, or so, times. Since 1984 [Montana State] I think EWU is the first other West team to make it.

Also, it just seems the rest of the country is 'into' the non-FBS leagues and teams more than the west. Having lived in the midwest and east, they are die hard fans of even small DIII schools - and can tell you all about them and their programs - not just their own programs, but the others too. How many out west, other than some transplants, know that DePauw and Wabash have played for the last 120 years, or that UW-Whitewater and Mount Union have played each other in the DIII championship game the last 6 years - or even where those 4 schools are at [I guarantee you most in the midwest and east can]. Of course, it goes both ways: no one in the east can tell you where Weber State or SUU is either!

Bottom line is that the lack of recognition/bias is something we'll just have to deal with - and when we and other West schools make it to the playoffs we'll have to prove 'em wrong on the field!

 

[Skippy]

Montana is there at #19 and they are only there because of their name. A 2-2 team should not be there unless those two loses are to FBS schools. They lost at Tennessee and that is to be expected. They beat Cal Poly and EWU at home, both respectable teams and good wins.
Losing to Sac on the road? I think they should have dropped out of the rankings at that point.

As a voter in the TSN poll, I can tell you Waldo that if you don't have 2-2 teams in the rankings, you'll have a hard time coming up with a Top 25. Unlike the FBS rankings, most FCS schools lose games early in the year, because they are playing up. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't deserve to be in the Top 25. There aren't many 3-1 or 4-0 teams left in the entire FCS right now, so voters have to strain through a lot of 2-2 teams in order to come up with a top 25. Things get better as the year goes on, because FCS teams are playing mostly in their own conferences. But still at the end of the year, I guarantee you there will be several 7-4 or 6-5 teams at or near the top 25.

BTW, I put Weber in my top 20 this week.

 

[webercat]

Montana is there at #19 and they are only there because of their name. A 2-2 team should not be there unless those two loses are to FBS schools. They lost at Tennessee and that is to be expected. They beat Cal Poly and EWU at home, both respectable teams and good wins.
Losing to Sac on the road? I think they should have dropped out of the rankings at that point.

As a voter in the TSN poll, I can tell you Waldo that if you don't have 2-2 teams in the rankings, you'll have a hard time coming up with a Top 25. Unlike the FBS rankings, most FCS schools lose games early in the year, because they are playing up. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't deserve to be in the Top 25. There aren't many 3-1 or 4-0 teams left in the entire FCS right now, so voters have to strain through a lot of 2-2 teams in order to come up with a top 25. Things get better as the year goes on, because FCS teams are playing mostly in their own conferences. But still at the end of the year, I guarantee you there will be several 7-4 or 6-5 teams at or near the top 25.

BTW, I put Weber in my top 20 this week.

From what I understood from waldo is that waldo is fine with a 2-2 team that played and lost to FBS opponents. But Montana losing to Sac St is not playing up. In fact Montana's record vs Sac St is 16-1. Weber and SUU manhandled Sac. So those two teams should be ranked higher than Montana. Sac should also be ranked higher than Montana because they have the same record, but Sac beat Oregon State and manhandled Montana. Both are better wins than Montana beating UC Davis and an 0-4 EWU. But rankings aren't as important in the FCS as they are in the FBS. Thank goodness we have a playoff.

 

[Waldo2]

From what I understood from waldo is that waldo is fine with a 2-2 team that played and lost to FBS opponents. But Montana losing to Sac St is not playing up. In fact Montana's record vs Sac St is 16-1. Weber and SUU manhandled Sac. So those two teams should be ranked higher than Montana. Sac should also be ranked higher than Montana because they have the same record, but Sac beat Oregon State and manhandled Montana. Both are better wins than Montana beating UC Davis and an 0-4 EWU. But rankings aren't as important in the FCS as they are in the FBS. Thank goodness we have a playoff.

Great points and I agree. This illustrates the bias present in the ranking system.

 

[walkon79]

Montana is there at #19 and they are only there because of their name. A 2-2 team should not be there unless those two loses are to FBS schools. They lost at Tennessee and that is to be expected. They beat Cal Poly and EWU at home, both respectable teams and good wins.
Losing to Sac on the road? I think they should have dropped out of the rankings at that point.

As a voter in the TSN poll, I can tell you Waldo that if you don't have 2-2 teams in the rankings, you'll have a hard time coming up with a Top 25. Unlike the FBS rankings, most FCS schools lose games early in the year, because they are playing up. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't deserve to be in the Top 25. There aren't many 3-1 or 4-0 teams left in the entire FCS right now, so voters have to strain through a lot of 2-2 teams in order to come up with a top 25. Things get better as the year goes on, because FCS teams are playing mostly in their own conferences. But still at the end of the year, I guarantee you there will be several 7-4 or 6-5 teams at or near the top 25.

BTW, I put Weber in my top 20 this week.

From what I understood from waldo is that waldo is fine with a 2-2 team that played and lost to FBS opponents. But Montana losing to Sac St is not playing up. In fact Montana's record vs Sac St is 16-1. Weber and SUU manhandled Sac. So those two teams should be ranked higher than Montana. Sac should also be ranked higher than Montana because they have the same record, but Sac beat Oregon State and manhandled Montana. Both are better wins than Montana beating UC Davis and an 0-4 EWU. But rankings aren't as important in the FCS as they are in the FBS. Thank goodness we have a playoff.

Somewhere in there, I think you meant Montana STATE. I don't think the Griz played UC Davis.

 

[walkon79]

Oh, and good luck against EWU. I'm new to your board but a long-time poster on BN. I'll check in from time to time as November 5th draws closer. I think that game will be for the BSC championship.

 

[hawkssb04]

Montana is there at #19 and they are only there because of their name. A 2-2 team should not be there unless those two loses are to FBS schools. They lost at Tennessee and that is to be expected. They beat Cal Poly and EWU at home, both respectable teams and good wins.
Losing to Sac on the road? I think they should have dropped out of the rankings at that point.

As a voter in the TSN poll, I can tell you Waldo that if you don't have 2-2 teams in the rankings, you'll have a hard time coming up with a Top 25. Unlike the FBS rankings, most FCS schools lose games early in the year, because they are playing up. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't deserve to be in the Top 25. There aren't many 3-1 or 4-0 teams left in the entire FCS right now, so voters have to strain through a lot of 2-2 teams in order to come up with a top 25. Things get better as the year goes on, because FCS teams are playing mostly in their own conferences. But still at the end of the year, I guarantee you there will be several 7-4 or 6-5 teams at or near the top 25.

BTW, I put Weber in my top 20 this week.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. :clap:

 

[webercat]

Montana is there at #19 and they are only there because of their name. A 2-2 team should not be there unless those two loses are to FBS schools. They lost at Tennessee and that is to be expected. They beat Cal Poly and EWU at home, both respectable teams and good wins.
Losing to Sac on the road? I think they should have dropped out of the rankings at that point.

As a voter in the TSN poll, I can tell you Waldo that if you don't have 2-2 teams in the rankings, you'll have a hard time coming up with a Top 25. Unlike the FBS rankings, most FCS schools lose games early in the year, because they are playing up. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't deserve to be in the Top 25. There aren't many 3-1 or 4-0 teams left in the entire FCS right now, so voters have to strain through a lot of 2-2 teams in order to come up with a top 25. Things get better as the year goes on, because FCS teams are playing mostly in their own conferences. But still at the end of the year, I guarantee you there will be several 7-4 or 6-5 teams at or near the top 25.

BTW, I put Weber in my top 20 this week.

From what I understood from waldo is that waldo is fine with a 2-2 team that played and lost to FBS opponents. But Montana losing to Sac St is not playing up. In fact Montana's record vs Sac St is 16-1. Weber and SUU manhandled Sac. So those two teams should be ranked higher than Montana. Sac should also be ranked higher than Montana because they have the same record, but Sac beat Oregon State and manhandled Montana. Both are better wins than Montana beating UC Davis and an 0-4 EWU. But rankings aren't as important in the FCS as they are in the FBS. Thank goodness we have a playoff.

Somewhere in there, I think you meant Montana STATE. I don't think the Griz played UC Davis.

No I meant Cal Poly. The Griz played Cal Poly this year. Not UC Davis. Thanks though, I was wrong.