Top 25 rankings

[Llamaguy]

AFCA released it. It's just not a high priority for me to post it. It's behind Around the Region, Team of the Week, not to mention feeding my kids and putting them to bed.

Not busting you Pat! I must not have hit the refresh button because I went to the NCAA site and it wasn't there. I didn't expect you to release it pronto as D3Football.com's is the gold standard by me anyway.

Check that Pat. They still have not loaded it onto NCAAsports.com. Guess its not that important to them in the whole realm of college football.

[smedindy]

For fun, I did my final power ranking compendium of the year.

Basically, I take three power ranking,  SOS, and another factor and see what the results are. Just for fun.

Here's the top 25.

1. Wisc - Whitewater
2. St. John's
3. Augustana
4. Linfield (SOS weaker than Augie)
5. North Central
6. Central
7. Concodria - Moorehead
8. Mt. Union
9. Coe
10. Wesley
11. Mary Hardin-Baylor
12. Delaware Valley
13. St. Olaf (the power rankings have always liked them)
14. Trinity (TX)
15. Capital
16. Rowan
17. Wabash
18. Union
19. Ohio Northern
20. Wisc - Oshkosh
21. Thiel
22. Wheaton
23. Monmouth
24. Carthage
25. Occidental (the power rankings have always disliked them)

Other Playoff teams:

26. Cortland State
27. Hobart
31. Ithaca
34. Wilkes
36. Washington & Jefferson
40. Mt. St. Joseph
45. Ferrum
48. Bridgewater
53. Lakeland
54. Albion
62. Johns Hopkins
93. Curry

And for fun, the Bottom 10

219. Nichols
218. Mass Maritime
217. Concordia (IL)
216. Becker
215. Principia (hey, they WON a game!)
214. Macalester
213. Eureka
212. Mt. Ida
211. Hiram
210. Tri-State

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Where is Trinity bible college?  Are they considered DIII?  I thought they would make the bottom for sure.

[smedindy]

They're not D-3. I don't know what they are, really, but they're not D-3. They may not have been last, they did win a game as well.

[Ron Boerger]

TBC is a Division II member of the NCCAA (the extra "C" is "Christian")  and a football-only member of the mixed division UMAC. 

[K-Mack]

Not bad, really ...

For fun, I did my final power ranking compendium of the year.

Basically, I take three power ranking,  SOS, and another factor and see what the results are. Just for fun.

Here's the top 25.

1. Wisc - Whitewater
2. St. John's
3. Augustana
4. Linfield (SOS weaker than Augie)
5. North Central
6. Central
7. Concodria - Moorehead
8. Mt. Union
9. Coe
10. Wesley
11. Mary Hardin-Baylor
12. Delaware Valley
13. St. Olaf (the power rankings have always liked them)
14. Trinity (TX)
15. Capital
16. Rowan
17. Wabash
18. Union
19. Ohio Northern
20. Wisc - Oshkosh
21. Thiel
22. Wheaton
23. Monmouth
24. Carthage
25. Occidental (the power rankings have always disliked them)

Other Playoff teams:

26. Cortland State
27. Hobart
31. Ithaca
34. Wilkes
36. Washington & Jefferson
40. Mt. St. Joseph
45. Ferrum
48. Bridgewater
53. Lakeland
54. Albion
62. Johns Hopkins
93. Curry

And for fun, the Bottom 10

219. Nichols
218. Mass Maritime
217. Concordia (IL)
216. Becker
215. Principia (hey, they WON a game!)
214. Macalester
213. Eureka
212. Mt. Ida
211. Hiram
210. Tri-State

[smedindy]

See, it all sorts out in the end. Just like I said! 

[Pat Coleman]

The poll is back.
http://www.d3football.com/top25/

[OldPhart]

Kind of curious on how the voters' minds operate on this.  While I probably could dig through the beginnings of the last few seasons to divine a few inferences I am particularly interested in the dive in the rankings that W&J took and the dropping out by Thiel - despite their 7-0 win over the #20 NAIA team.

My speculation is that the factors that play into this are 1) some teams that weren't expected to impress in week #1 actually did impress (UW-LAX especially) - now room has to be made for them in the top 25 and 2) W&J's fall from grace and the generally poor performance of the PAC this week had a trickle down effect on Thiel.  Perhaps that is why 0-0 Whitworth moves ahead of Thiel.  Regardless,  I'm betting that Thiel would have dropped out even if W&J had won - due to the need to make room for LAX.  I'm just guessing it wouldn't have been quite as far of a drop if the rest of the PAC had played better.

Any insights from voters? Are there other factors I should be considering that play into your deliberations?

[Pat Coleman]

I think you're right about making room for UW-La Crosse. I also think there was some room made for Ithaca, which had some questions to answer about its freshman quarterback.

[Josh Bowerman]

Trinity was impressive in their opener against ETBU, as well--which was surprising to many in the South.  At first blush it looks like the predictions for that game were 50-50, one way or the other.  Nobody was expecting a blowout, though, which might lead voters to believe that Trinity is stronger than first expected.

[K-Mack]

You guys nailed three teams that moved up or into my poll, and I did some serious juggling after Week 1, although I admit I wasn't voting for Thiel either week.

As a voter, I tend not to follow the "win and move up by however many teams ahead of you lost" theory. I like to re-rank from scratch every week, especially in the early going. Quite often, a lot of my ballot stays the same, but some teams make big moves up or down for different reasons.

The reasons aren't always the same, but there is a reason for why every team is where it is.

That said, I hate for a team to not play and move too far either way, and wins generally shouldn't move teams too far down, although unimpressive wins can cost a team. The deal is in D3, there's 10-15 teams knocking at the top 25s door each week, and if one scores a big win and another doesn't, the right thing to do is rank the team you think is better/deserves it.

Then there's also the voters who project how good a team is/will be, even if it hasn't proven anything yet, and those who go only by past results ... early in the season, deviations from expectations built on past results can cause wild swings in the polls.

I'll discuss my own ballot further in ATN, but I thought it was a good discussion to contribute to.

[D O.C.]

This place is as good as any to catch up on...

Which will be the first highly ranked team to lose?

Who was it please?
I'm guessing UMHB-
then LINFIELD?

[Mr. Ypsi]

This place is as good as any to catch up on...

Which will be the first highly ranked team to lose?

Who was it please?
I'm guessing UMHB-
then LINFIELD?

Not sure, but I think Augie's loss was earlier in the day (unless they're not included as 'highly' ranked).

[K-Mack]

No hatred for the poll?

Odd, but I'll take it.