East Region Fan Poll

[theoriginalupstate]

I do not see the SC loss as so brutal.  Afterall SC almost won on the road against the 7th ranked team that was #1 at one point this season I believe

Dude, SC sucks.  They were all but handed the SJF game and managed to screw it up despite having great field position the majority of the game and getting 4 turnovers from the SJF QB....

[Knightstalker]

East Region Fan Poll - Week 10 (11/10/08)

Finally I am posting this!!  We have one absent ballot this week so highest point total is 90. 

#	School (1st votes)	Record	Pts	Prev.	This Week
1	Cortland State ( 9 )	9-0	90	1	vs. #2 Ithaca
2	Ithaca	8-1	80	3	at #1 Cortland
3	Montclair State	8-1	73	6	at Kean
4	Hobart	7-1	62	7	vs. Rochester
5	RPI	7-1	52	2	at Merchant Marine
6	Rowan	7-2	37	5	at New Jersey
7	Albright	7-2	36	9	at Delaware Valley
8	St. John Fisher	6-3	24	NR	at #10 Alfred
9	Hartwick	6-2	12	4	vs. Utica
10	Alfred	6-3	8	10	vs. #8 St. John Fisher

As a comparison.

East Region
1. Cortland State 9-0 9-0
2. Ithaca 7-1 8-1
3. Montclair State 8-1 8-1
4. Hobart 7-1 7-1
5. RPI 7-1 7-1
6. Hartwick 6-2 6-2
7. Plymouth State 8-1 9-1
8. Rowan 7-2 7-2
9. Curry 8-1 9-1
10. Albright 6-1 7-2

[pg04]

I guess I should have mentioned this prior but I would like to have one last regular season poll this week then one at the end of the Eastern Region Playoffs. 

If anyone doesn't want to do this just let me know... 

[labart96]

I guess I should have mentioned this prior but I would like to have one last regular season poll this week then one at the end of the Eastern Region Playoffs. 

If anyone doesn't want to do this just let me know... 

sent mine in but i think i've forgotten the poll line up already - damn vino!

thx again and k+ for coordinating thru - out the season!

[pg04]

I guess I should have mentioned this prior but I would like to have one last regular season poll this week then one at the end of the Eastern Region Playoffs. 

If anyone doesn't want to do this just let me know... 

sent mine in but i think i've forgotten the poll line up already - damn vino!

thx again and k+ for coordinating thru - out the season!

Thanks +K in return.  I'm a numbers guy so I like putting these things together...  It certainly has been an interesting year. 

Good luck to Hobart vs. Lycoming.    It will be interesting, yet scary to see them go to Alliance if they win...

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for running the fan poll!  It has been insightful!   

[pg04]

Thanks for running the fan poll!  It has been insightful!   

Thanks for reading  . 

I find it VERY interesting that only the #1,#2, and #4 teams from the Week 10 poll made the playoffs while Lycoming, Plymouth, and Curry make it in outside of the poll... 

I almost think that these teams will hardly make it into the season ending poll too...  Very interesting to compare People's perception vs. the Raw numeric data that the NCAA uses. 

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for running the fan poll!  It has been insightful!   

Thanks for reading  . 

I find it VERY interesting that only the #1,#2, and #4 teams from the Week 10 poll made the playoffs while Lycoming, Plymouth, and Curry make it in outside of the poll... 

I almost think that these teams will hardly make it into the season ending poll too...  Very interesting to compare People's perception vs. the Raw numeric data that the NCAA uses. 

Respectfully, it seems as tho' most of the pollsters are living in some timewarp that has not allowed them to see the changes in D-III.

In the last 10 years, the NWC has joined D-III and taken home 2 Staggs!

UMHB has started a football program from scratch and has beaten MUC in Alliance in 2004, has lost to the national champion twice (2004, 2007) and lost to the runner-up a third time (2002) in the playoffs.

Millsaps is coached by a former SEC head coach!

Programs around the country are popping up yearly...Anna Marie and Castleton State in 2009 in your neighborhood.

The virtual lock on Pool B bids that the upstate NY teams had in the early part of this decade has consolidated into 2-3 Pool A bids that are fought over like hungry dogs after a bone.  The LL, the E8 and the NJAC cannibalized the FFC for affiliates to access Pool A bids.

November 11th, 2001 bracket projection.  Please look at the wording that Pat Coleman uses..."Bracket 1" ("Widener bracket") not East Region.

The 7 Pool B's in 2001 have now consolidated into the PresAC, the NWC, the E8, the LL, and the SCIAC.  Another Pool B disappears in 2010 when the SLIAC earns its Pool A bid.

[DanPadavona]

+K PG04.  Great job keeping this going!

Del Valley made the jump to #3 for me this week.  Looking over the entire season, yes there are some weird losses but they came to quality competition.  Beating the heck out of Albright got my attention, and they still hold those wins over Wesley and Salisbury.  And frankly I cannot think of anyone on my list between #4 and #10 who could beat them this year.

[labart96]

Thanks for running the fan poll!  It has been insightful!   

Thanks for reading  . 

I find it VERY interesting that only the #1,#2, and #4 teams from the Week 10 poll made the playoffs while Lycoming, Plymouth, and Curry make it in outside of the poll... 

I almost think that these teams will hardly make it into the season ending poll too...  Very interesting to compare People's perception vs. the Raw numeric data that the NCAA uses. 

Respectfully, it seems as tho' most of the pollsters are living in some timewarp that has not allowed them to see the changes in D-III.

In the last 10 years, the NWC has joined D-III and taken home 2 Staggs!

Once again - respectfully - you've completely missed the point. 

The fan poll created by pg04 was solely for the sake of teams based in the aforementioned "East Region" (ie, NE/NY, etc - so the NWC or other national conferences outside of the LL, E8, MAC, NJAC and NEFC need not apply).  That has been clearly stated in the past.  Maybe now we should just call it the #1-4 (bear with me for a minute as I am playing devil's advocate here) whatever "region" since apparently the "east" doesn't truly apply?

Needless to say - now that more of us realize there really isn't a distinction (at least in the NCAA's eyes) between the LL, E8, CC, PAC and other previously mentioned east/south conferences, then maybe this "East Region" poll can become more national in scope,?  However, since I am not up for the task of voting for more that 10-15 teams a week, I'll leave that to Pg04 to determine whether or not he's up for figuring that out?

Until then, this poll is only in scope of being truly "eastern" (ie, the 5 relevant "east coast" conferences mentioned previously) - at this present day and age.  If it no longer merits consideration given the day and age - (ie to avoid the time warp) just let us "pollsters" (who are barely that) know to take it elsewhere.

Try not to judge it as anything but a "fan" thing please.  If that's the case, the only one in a "time warp" is you for not seeing the forest thru the trees on a very specific view of a handful of football teams just for the sake of (get this) the fun of it.

[DanPadavona]

I'm not sure if Ralph was referring to our pollsters, or the NCAA's, with that quip.  I assumed he was talking about the NCAA but I could be wrong.

No question the other 3 regions are much stronger than the East, as Ralph alludes to.  I would not have sent another Eastern team into Pool C this season, much less an unproven team like Curry.  Salisbury would beat Curry by at least 4 touchdowns.  Any one of a myriad of Southern or Northern region teams could have filled our final bracket position.

[labart96]

I'm not sure if Ralph was referring to our pollsters, or the NCAA's, with that quip.  I assumed he was talking about the NCAA but I could be wrong.

No question the other 3 regions are much stronger than the East, as Ralph alludes to.  I would not have sent another Eastern team into Pool C this season, much less an unproven team like Curry.  Salisbury would beat Curry by at least 4 touchdowns.  Any one of a myriad of Southern or Northern region teams could have filled our final bracket position.

hard to understand context from a PP board.

that being said - the point of "our EPP fan regional" rankings is for fun/discussion not for whether a "south" (ie, salisbury) or other non-"region" team is better than who's currently in the LL, E8, NEFC, MAC, etc. 

maybe the scope of the poll - per Ralph's suggestion - is the problem, but it's been  very clearly stated as such from day one so calling into question now is pretty lame IMO.

regardless expansion of d3fb into places like tx, and other regions is GREAT for the game - just don't ding some of us eastern homers for doing something that's specific to our world and is organized accordingly.

[Ralph Turner]

Good morning, gentlemen. 

Thanks for the comments.  +1!

TGP and Dan, this poll really helps me understand the interesting nature of "East Region Football".

Dan's comment about Del Valley is reassuring.  I was impressed with their play as well.  The FDU-Florham loss really knocked them back.  The MAC Pool A bid was theirs, if they had won that game.

The Salisbury team also is still getting votes on our South Region poll. I think they would beat Curry, too.  There is a "big log jam" in the middle of the region.

Thanks for running the poll.  It brings out more constructive discussion to assist us fans in learning about your Region of D-III.   

[DanPadavona]

Ralph,

I try to support my understanding of other conferences other than our NJAC by closely following a lot of the computer algorithm polls like Massey, Laz, etc.  I also run my own ratings system (actually there are 3 I've written) coded in C++.  I don't think any of these polls are nearly robust enough to absolutely solve rankings or determine playoff participants.

But what they do all provide is unbiased generalized information about teams.  If a Cinderella team is coming in with a "high power rating," I might not have the confidence to rank them absolutely, but I am comfortable in believing that they are a lot better than people realize.  Computer ratings were the first signal I received 2 years ago that Kean was pretty good, and no longer a door mat.  I'm certainly open to the belief that Husson could be very good down the road...though right now they rate out as a mid pack E8 team.  If you go back through my posts from one year ago, I picked Curry to beat Hartwick in the playoffs.  My rating system believed in Curry, and my own analysis of the game scores and stats supported it.

What do the ratings tell me these days?  They tell me that the MAC is solid, top to bottom, if not dominant.  And that Del Valley is really, really good.  You won't find a NY/NJ bias in me, other than to say I am a fan of football in NY and NJ.

They also tell me that even the best teams in the East would have a hard time finishing better than third in the OAC, or fifth in the WIAC.  And that UMHB, Millsaps, St John's, and in other years Linfield, offer a whole other level of competition.

We've theorized elsewhere what is wrong with Eastern football.  I don't think anyone knows for sure, though my belief is the density of NY teams is to blame.  If you asked me to rank the top 25 teams in D3, I'd have Ithaca in there, and maybe Cortland or Del Valley at the bottom.  Nobody else.  That's the current reality as I see it.

[Knightstalker]

I will get you my poll in later today if I have time or by 9:00 9:30 this evening.