FB: Northwest Conference

[George Thompson]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

[MonroviaCat]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

Yeah---but without SOS you have a bunch of undefeated teams with no good way of comparing them vs. each other......bottom line--you gotta win the games you get no matter who they are against and where they are played!

[wildcat11]

ADvantage 'Catdome 'Cats Win!!! Linfield leaves Willamette grounded in a 56-15 shellacking.

[bluenote]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

With so little "cross pollination"......I have no idea how they can ever be objective when calculating SOS.

[MonroviaCat]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

With so little "cross pollination"......I have no idea how they can ever be objective when calculating SOS.

Blue--SOS is totally objective---it's based on your opponents winning percentage as well as the winning percentages of the teams they played (which helps ensure that you don't get too much credit for playing a bunch of teams that had great records but only played a bunch of losers).....

[Mr. Ypsi]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

With so little "cross pollination"......I have no idea how they can ever be objective when calculating SOS.

In football (esp. in d3 with such a short season, and, as you say, so little "cross pollination"), that's precisely the problem with SOS - it is TOTALLY objective, with no room for judgement.

It's another 'data point', but IMO not much more than that (except at the extremes).

The calculation of SOS is totally objective, but I wish regional committees would use more judgement in applying it.  We seem to seesaw from season to season on relative impact of the various primary criteria.  Perhaps that is judgement at work, but it seems that various years are way too heavy on SOS, then way to heavy on winning % in other years, with all other primary criteria (except, perhaps, h-to-h) being nothing more than tie-breakers.

[bluenote]

The regional rankings come out on Wednesday I believe. It might shed some light on how the playoff brackets will look. Pat and the gang usually start making playoff pairing predictions at that point. And they've been pretty accurate in the past. Remember UWW or some other team usually gets shipped North or East and out of the West because of how stacked the West is.

Not sure how much SOS plays a factor? Probably some % of consideration.

I'll be rooting for SJU in 2 weeks. Behtel vs. SJU @ SJU

SOS will be key in the West unless some undefeated teams lose during the last two weeks.

The problem with SOS is that it is hard to predict before the season.   The Wildcats purposely schedule tough non-conference games.   But this year, all 3 opponents had down years.   Hardin-Simmons will have their worst year since the 1990s.   CLU their worst since 2007.   Wasn't expected that way.   Oh well.   

GT

With so little "cross pollination"......I have no idea how they can ever be objective when calculating SOS.

Blue--SOS is totally objective---it's based on your opponents winning percentage as well as the winning percentages of the teams they played (which helps ensure that you don't get too much credit for playing a bunch of teams that had great records but only played a bunch of losers).....

Oh...it's one of "those" charts where L&C can be number 1 in D1 because they beat them and they beat them and so on....I get it.

Just because you win or loose has nothing to do with how "strong" you are on the national scene. There's too much variation in the quality of teams and leagues.

[MonroviaCat]

So what you really meant was you wanted something more SUBJECTIVE, eh Blue?

[bluenote]

So what you really meant was you wanted something more SUBJECTIVE, eh Blue?

Ya.....I guess something like that! Good call!!! 

[MonroviaCat]

So what you really meant was you wanted something more SUBJECTIVE, eh Blue?

Ya.....I guess something like that! Good call!!! 

its what every fan looks for when the system in place doesn't favor their team! 

[Wildcat'64]

Just keep winning Cats and SOS will take care of itself!  Go cats... the loggers truck made loose their load on Saturday.

[desertcat1]

Just keep winning Cats and SOS will take care of itself!  Go cats... the loggers truck made loose their load on Saturday.

nice job 64,

the cats will be sharping up their claws on the loggers,   scratching  off  the  bark this week..
  could be BIG    FOR  the YOMAN and crew...

Go Cats
Go BIG D

[bluenote]

So, with all this SOS talk it would probably in the best interest of Linfield that Pacific beats Willamette this weekend, so when Linfield plays Pacific they would most likely be a regionally ranked opponent.

[MonroviaCat]

So, with all this SOS talk it would probably in the best interest of Linfield that Pacific beats Willamette this weekend, so when Linfield plays Pacific they would most likely be a regionally ranked opponent.

That kind of depends on what the regional rankings look like this week.  I believe that once a team is regionally ranked once, that is all that matters.  So if Pacific were ranked this week they would count as regionally ranked opponent regardless of what happens in next weeks rankings.  I guess, if they are ranked this week, it would be better for Willamette to win with this weekend giving them a chance (though it could be slim) to make the rankings next week which would help the Cats by giving us 3 (PLU, Pacific, and Willamette) wins against RR opponents......of course this is all based on several hypotheticals so I guess we should see what happens tomorrow and then Saturday!

[d-train]

So, with all this SOS talk it would probably in the best interest of Linfield that Pacific beats Willamette this weekend, so when Linfield plays Pacific they would most likely be a regionally ranked opponent.

That kind of depends on what the regional rankings look like this week.  I believe that once a team is regionally ranked once, that is all that matters.  So if Pacific were ranked this week they would count as regionally ranked opponent regardless of what happens in next weeks rankings.  I guess, if they are ranked this week, it would be better for Willamette to win with this weekend giving them a chance (though it could be slim) to make the rankings next week which would help the Cats by giving us 3 (PLU, Pacific, and Willamette) wins against RR opponents......of course this is all based on several hypotheticals so I guess we should see what happens tomorrow and then Saturday!

+1. There is a 'once ranked, always counts as ranked' clause. In other words, if Pacific makes the West RR's this week it doesn't matter if they lose to Willamette and drop out before playing Linfield - it'll still count as a win over a regional ranked opponent.  Also, a +1 in hoping Willamette sneeks into that 10th place if they win.  A Concordia loss might help...but maybe not if that means UST or SJU makes the list. Redlands making the list at some point would really help PLU.