FB: American Southwest Conference

[jknezek]

Regional Rankings are out... Hardin-Simmons sits behind Birmingham-Southern. That makes for a tougher hill to climb assuming nothing changes in the "secret rankings" next weekend.

[CowboyAlum261]

New Regional Rankings are out and BSC is ranked one spot above HSU. That should certainly make all of us Cowboy fans very nervous. Depending on how things shake out we could very well end up on the outside looking in.

[CowboyAlum261]

Regional Rankings are out... Hardin-Simmons sits behind Birmingham-Southern. That makes for a tougher hill to climb assuming nothing changes in the "secret rankings" next weekend.

Great minds think alike!

[jknezek]

Regional Rankings are out... Hardin-Simmons sits behind Birmingham-Southern. That makes for a tougher hill to climb assuming nothing changes in the "secret rankings" next weekend.

Great minds think alike!

Ha. Yes. Very close posts right then. Hopefully Region 3 will get 2 Pool C's and both will get in.

[CowboyAlum261]

Regional Rankings are out... Hardin-Simmons sits behind Birmingham-Southern. That makes for a tougher hill to climb assuming nothing changes in the "secret rankings" next weekend.

Great minds think alike!

Ha. Yes. Very close posts right then. Hopefully Region 3 will get 2 Pool C's and both will get in.

I agree. It seems that Wheaton and BW are locks if they both win. Then you have whoever ends up second out of the Union/Ithaca/RPI mess. That only leaves two spots. Do BSC and HSU go in over UWLC and Bethel? I'm not sure. UWLC only has one D3 loss and has an RR win. Bethel, assuming they lose, is 8-2 but both losses are to St. John's. I don't know how you pick from those. And that doesn't even mention a lot of other potential candidates.

[Ron Boerger]

Man, 2 Pool Cs from this region are going to be really, really tough given the crummy SOS and lack of wins vs. RROs.   HSU has crummy TLU who will be <.333 after this week, BSC has even crummier Millsaps who also will be <.333 so don't see any way HSU can climb over BSC.   So Trinity @ UMHB next week. 

[SW1]

Man, 2 Pool Cs from this region are going to be really, really tough given the crummy SOS and lack of wins vs. RROs.   HSU has crummy TLU who will be <.333 after this week, BSC has even crummier Millsaps who also will be <.333 so don't see any way HSU can climb over BSC.   So Trinity @ UMHB next week.

Wheaton has a lower SOS than both of these schools and most think they are a lock. So I am confused as to why because they have a 0-1 RR record also. I think RR is so overblown because some regions have weak schools but you still have to rank them and the wins bolster your resume but are they really quality wins?

[HSUCowboy2015]

Man, 2 Pool Cs from this region are going to be really, really tough given the crummy SOS and lack of wins vs. RROs.   HSU has crummy TLU who will be <.333 after this week, BSC has even crummier Millsaps who also will be <.333 so don't see any way HSU can climb over BSC.   So Trinity @ UMHB next week.

Wheaton has a lower SOS than both of these schools and most think they are a lock. So I am confused as to why because they have a 0-1 RR record also. I think RR is so overblown because some regions have weak schools but you still have to rank them and the wins bolster your resume but are they really quality wins?

I agree with this statement. Wheaton's SOS is below HSU's and they both play a 3-6 team this weekend. I know my homer is going to come up here, but could the argument be made that BSC and HSU should go in before Wheaton? BSC bc they are ranked higher than HSU in the region have a win against a RRO, a narrow loss to a RRO, and a better SOS. HSU before Wheaton because technically a "better" loss to their regions #1 team and a higher SOS. They eye test tells a different story in my opinion where Wheaton should be the first team off the board, but if you're going strictly by "numbers" then Wheaton should be left at home.

End of the day HSU gets what they deserve, 1 for scheduling a NAIA school to open the season, and 2 blowing at 21 point halftime lead against MHB to put us in this position.

[Ron Boerger]

All I can say is I'll be very happy to be wrong.  There are still a lot of moving parts outside the region that could help (or hurt) both BSC and HSU's chances. 

[Ron Boerger]

And here's Greg Thomas' (aka @wally_wabash) take on participants, prior to this week's games.   

https://www.d3football.com/columns/around-the-nation/2021/playoff-projection

[crufootball]

Obviously we will never know but would be interesting to see what the rankings would be if HSU had scored one more TD and PAT and won 35-34. Where would UMHB be on these projections as there SOS is going to be sub .500 since Simpson is going to finish 1-9.

[jknezek]

Obviously we will never know but would be interesting to see what the rankings would be if HSU had scored one more TD and PAT and won 35-34. Where would UMHB be on these projections as there SOS is going to be sub .500 since Simpson is going to finish 1-9.

Speculation but I bet they'd be where HSU is now. By the criteria, B-SC and Trinity would look better, though UMHB would have a better D3 winning percentage than HSU does now because of HSU's non-D3 game. But no way UMHB would be any lower than the second 1 loss team. W&L doesn't have the resume to support being above, and R-MC seems capped by the loss to W&L.

[justafan12]

Having a total of 5 at-large births does not seem like many.  I am not a D3 football historian; is that the normal amount or has it been bigger?

[Hawks88]

Having a total of 5 at-large births does not seem like many.  I am not a D3 football historian; is that the normal amount or has it been bigger?

The amount has gotten smaller as more and more conferences have added teams to get the AQ.

[SW1]

Problem lies in going with eye test for Wheaton and then SOS with other schools. If you use it for one then use it for all. I am a MHB homer but I believe HSU should pass the eye test from what I have seen.