Top 25 rankings

[Toby Taff]

Another neat thing is that people at McMurry knew about the HSU game and cared (some) ... Very rare you talk to anyone in town besides alumni (or people connected in some other way) of a D3 school, and they know now only who is playing that day, but how significant.

Then again, that might just be Texas. Where the ladies, the geeks, the children, they can all talk football right along with your stereotypical guy fan.

I know ladies that talk football so much that they could make the typical guy fan question his guyness.
And yes, that is probably a Texas thing.

[HScoach]

Another neat thing is that people at McMurry knew about the HSU game and cared (some) ... Very rare you talk to anyone in town besides alumni (or people connected in some other way) of a D3 school, and they know now only who is playing that day, but how significant.

Then again, that might just be Texas. Where the ladies, the geeks, the children, they can all talk football right along with your stereotypical guy fan.

I know ladies that talk football so much that they could make the typical guy fan question his guyness.
And yes, that is probably a Texas thing.

And I've seen plently of ladies that should be PLAYING football. 

That must be a Midwest thing

[Josh Bowerman]

I'm not suggesting the Polar Bears shouldn't be ranked--even in the top 20.  But only dropping them two spots after getting blown out is giving way too much of a Mt. Union cushion.  They should be somewhere between 15-20 after a--wait on it--44 point blowout loss.

Nobody should get a pass for losing by 44, smed.  Keeping it close or even respectable is a different story--but not the case, here.  You've been around these boards long enough that you should know that by now. 

What about a 47-14 loss? How much cushion do you allow for that?

Sorry. That was mean. Couldn't resist.

You don't allow any--that's why HSU falls out of the poll, and rightly so, IMO.  I'd be willing to give a first-loss ONU a three TD cushion against Mount Union without dropping them more than 3-5 slots, but not a six TD cushion.

[Ralph Turner]

Another neat thing is that people at McMurry knew about the HSU game and cared (some) ... Very rare you talk to anyone in town besides alumni (or people connected in some other way) of a D3 school, and they know now only who is playing that day, but how significant.

Then again, that might just be Texas. Where the ladies, the geeks, the children, they can all talk football right along with your stereotypical guy fan.

I know ladies that talk football so much that they could make the typical guy fan question his guyness.
And yes, that is probably a Texas thing.

And I've seen plently of ladies that should be PLAYING football. 

That must be a Midwest thing

It's a Texas thing when the first pick for your flag football team is also your date for Saturday night, but you chose her because she is a great receiver. 

[repete]

Kind of like when you choose your date for a Minnesota snowmobile party. Find one who can help get you unstuck.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to "Beef" Wallace ... well, not really.

[TC]

It's a Texas thing when the first pick for your flag football team is also your date for Saturday night, but you chose her because she is a great receiver. 

Umm... for the date or the football game?

[Ralph Turner]

It's a Texas thing when the first pick for your flag football team is also your date for Saturday night, but you chose her because she is a great receiver. 

Umm... for the date or the football game?

Texas women are the finest in the world!

[Foss]

Statistically speaking, roughly 300 points from 25 voters equates out to a poll position of 14--straight average.  Since they're in at 11, it can only mean that there's a polar bi-modal distribution of votes........

ONU, more than any other team by far, must benefit from this polar bi-modal distribution of votes. Add in the fact we ARE talking about a pole (oh, did I misspell that - my bad  ) and I can see where they would have an advantage.

Sorry, I couldn't resist anymore. Surely I was not the only person to spot this, maybe just the cheesiest to actually write it. Josh, I actually thought ONU might fall a little further myself (even with the three other teams in that area of the poll losing), but only to about 13th, so 11th wasn't a huge deal to me.

[Foss]

On a different note and in the same vein with the St. Olaf poll move, I heard an interview with ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit today, who I think has to be one of the best that covers the FBS division. He said after watching the Cal-Oregon game last week (where #6 at the time California defeated #11 at the time Oregon by a touchdown) he actually moved Oregon UP to #5 on his ballot. He said he wasn't going to penalize Oregon for losing to a top team when they basically played Cal (his #3 that week) even (Oregon gave Cal a couple of gift turnovers in the 4th quarter and their WR had the ball knocked out while reaching for the tying score in the final seconds). He said he was surprised to see Oregon actually fall a few spots to #14 after such an impressive performance. But, he said, after having a bye this week, they moved up 5 whole spots to #9! (Probably due to a number of teams ahead of them losing)

[bashbrother]

What if St. Johns just had an off game? 

Everyone that is a fan of the "Even though they lost, they get moved up 5 spots"  if St. Olaf loses to Concordia-Moorehead this weekend, would you then support St. Olaf dropping 13 spots out of the Top 25?

and no, I am not posting this because Wabash is #14, I actually think they are ranked a little too high.

One person moving a team up (Oregon) on their personal ballot, did not affect the poll as a whole. 

I completely admit that this is the best poll by far covering D3, but a jump like that after a loss would never happen in the AP or even USA Today.

Even Stanford has a good game every once in awhile 

[Foss]

Wouldn't think that anyone would believe that one person's vote in the AP or USA Today poll would influence the poll as a whole. It was one voter's opinion and vote.

[Ryan Tipps]

I do like the work/analyzation that must have went into moving St. Olaf up in the poll from #18 to #13 after almost upsetting St. Johns in Collegeville, and that being its only loss. In most other polls, they would have moved down, or at the best stayed where they were, simply because they lost.

Foss, you beat me to posting about this very thing.

I think it's great that Olaf moved up five spots despite losing. That's a testiment to them being a good team -- which is what I think is the case -- rather than to thinking that the Johnnies weren't playing up to snuff. The poll accepts the very real likelihood that that MIAC has two very good teams in it this year.

But, I have to ask, is this the biggest jump in the Top 25 poll that a team has made after losing? Obviously, I'm not questioning it, just asking the Web site of record. 

Ryan,

Sorry -- I don't have an easy way to research that, sorry.

How about the hard way then? A slow night at work inspired me to do just that.

From what I could tell, clicking on every week going back to 2003, there has been only one other time that a team has lost and moved up in the rankings. And, the funny thing is, that loss was also to St. John's. In Week 7 of 2005, Concordia-Moorhead went from 13th up to 12th after losing 20-16 to the Johnnies.

It's good to have St. John's as a conference foe, it seems.

Feel free to point out my uber-retentiveness now. 

[repete]

And that was a pretty amazing finish as well:

00:13 SJU - K. Gearman 74 yd pass from A. Kofoed (A. Schmidt kick failed), 1-74 0:12, SJU 20 - CC 16

[smedindy]

I completely admit that this is the best poll by far covering D3, but a jump like that after a loss would never happen in the AP or even USA Today.

Remember, the voting totals this week were all kinds of funky, and apparently lots of spread on some teams. So I'm not shocked, nor stunned.

However, just because it doesn't happen in the AP and USA Today polls doesn't mean it's right. Many times, a team loses a close game to the top ranked team on the road, shows their mettle, and gets penalized for losing when they showed they may be second or third best team.

[bashbrother]

Smed  -

Agreed, with so much shuffling in the poll, it becomes somewhat crazy. 

Case in point, I went and watched the 2nd half of the South Florida / FAU game.  South Florida is a very good football team, but are they the 5th best team in the country? Nope, don't think so.  Top 15..yes   But the Top ten has been a revolving door this year and thus, S. Florida, B. College and others are most likely ranked too high. 

I would not have a problem with a team losing to a highly ranked opponent and not moving in the poll (up or down) or even moving a spot or two. 

I am sure St. Olaf is a talented team and may even deserve the ranking, my posts have really had nothing to do with their team.  Just something I have never seen before, thats all.