FB: Region 3 fan poll

[Ralph Turner]

First regional rankings for the South:

1. Mary Hardin-Baylor
2. Johns Hopkins
3. Hardin-Simmons
4. Case Western Reserve
5. Thomas More
6. Muhlenberg
7. Berry
8. Maryville
9. East Texas Baptist
10. Randolph-Macon

Playing it safe at the back half. Berry has Centre left, Maryville has Huntingdon, ETBU has HSU. RMC has Guilford and HSC to finish. They are in position to win out and move up in future rankings; the others can be replaced easily, although if ETBU has a close loss to #3 HSU what will be their fate?

Also surprised a little ETBU is ninth. They are ranked #21 in both the d3football.com and AFCA Coaches' polls. 6, 7, 8 are unranked.

Please understand that ETBU has one criterion that help with the rankings for the NCAA, a loss to UMHB.
The isolated ASC doesn't get much out of Texas boost to the OOWP.

Would a 2 loss ETBU stay in the regional rankings?

If ETBU had a win over a Huntingdon or a Hendrix or a Redlands

[Ralph Turner]

Week #10 South Region Poll

Thanks to my fellow pollsters: Hasanova, jknezek, roocru, Scots 13.

1)	UMHB	50	1,1,1,1,1
2)	HSU	44	2,2,2,2,3
3)	JHU	41	2,3,3,3,3
4)	Thomas More	35	4,4,4,4,4
5)	CWRU	28	5,5,5,6,6
.	.	.	.
6)	Muhlenberg	23	5,5,6,7,9
7)	Huntingdon	19	6,7,7,7,9
8)	ETBU	17	6,8,8,8,8
9)	Berry	7	7,8,x,x,x
10)	Randy-Mac	5	10,10,10,10,10
.	.	.	.
RV)	Centre	4	9,9,x,x,x
RV)	Southwestern TX	2	9,x,x,x,x
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.

As always, corrections are appreciated.

[Ralph Turner]

Week #11 South Region Poll

Thanks to my fellow pollsters: Hasanova, jknezek, roocru, Scots 13.

1)	UMHB	50	1,1,1,1,1
2)	HSU	44	2,2,2,2,3
3)	JHU	41	2,3,3,3,3
4)	Thomas More	35	4,4,4,4,4
5T)	Huntingdon	26	5,5,5,6,8
.	.	.	.
5T)	Muhlenberg	26	5,5,6,6,7
7)	Randy Mac	16	7,7,8,8,9
8T)	Wash U StL	17	6,6,10,x,x
8T)	CWRU	11	7,9,9,9,10
10)	Berry	9	7,8,10,10,x
.	.	.	.
RV)	CMU	3	8,x,x,x,x
RV)	ETBU	2	9,x,x,x,x
RV)	Southwestern	1	10,x,x,x,x
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.

As always, corrections are appreciated.

[Ralph Turner]

Final 2016 South Region Poll

Thanks to my fellow pollsters: Hasanova, jknezek, roocru, Scots 13.

1)	UMHB	50	1,1,1,1,1
2)	JHU	44	2,2,2,2,3
3)	HSU	40	2,3,3,3,4
4)	Thomas More	36	3,4,4,4,4
5)	Muhlenberg	29	5,5,5,5,6
.	.	.	.
6)	Huntingdon	21	5,6,7,7,9
7)	CWRU	15	6,7,8,8,x
8T)	Randy Mac	13	6,7,9,10,10
8T)	Berry	13	6,7,9,10,10
10)	Wash U StL	8	8,8,9,x,x,
.	.	.	.
RV	Wash & Jeff	3	8,x,x,x,x
RV)	Westminster PA	2	9,x,x,x,x
RV)	ETBU	1	10,x,x,x,x
.	.	.	.
.	.	.	.

As always, corrections are appreciated.

[Ralph Turner]

I already have received 3 of the 5 ballots.

I will post the poll when the other 2 ballots have returned.

Thanks to all who help, and to you, the reader who posts your own comments on the poll.

Your comments on the poll give feedback to the voters who consider your comments in their own review of the evidence.

[Scots13]

This time next week we'll have a couple FBS games on ESPN, a handful of streamed D3 games, and a long, unproductive Friday at the office waiting on the first Saturday of the season.

[albatross]

I already have received 3 of the 5 ballots.

I will post the poll when the other 2 ballots have returned.

Thanks to all who help, and to you, the reader who posts your own comments on the poll.

Your comments on the poll give feedback to the voters who consider your comments in their own review of the evidence.

anyone have a quick summary to help a newbie understand how these work?

[jknezek]

Sure. A couple of us volunteer every year to be part of the poll. We put out a weekly ranking of just who we think are the Top 10 South Region teams (plus mentions of teams receiving votes but not making the Top 10). Ralph organizes it, 4 or 5 more of us participate, and we usually look like ill-informed monkeys by the end of the season except for the top 2 or 3 teams which tend to be self-evident.

Meanwhile we hope people enjoy it, argue about it, and laugh at our feeble attempts.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks albatross.

The South Region Fan Poll was started by Matt Barnhart, (kid) who was at Bridgewater at the time,  about 2001 or 2002.  He invited 4 pollsters to participate on a weekly basis. He chose from fans who showed a wide grasp of the South Region, not only by geography but by the information and quality of the posts that they made on the South Region boards.  When I asked about the Poll in 2008, he gave it to me. (Be careful what you get volunteered to do.  LOL  :-)  )

I have chosen to keep the poll at the same number and have invited pollsters to continue contributing annually, if they wish. I have found them to be deferentially fair in their ballots, often judging the teams and conferences that they know very well harsher than other teams and conferences in the region.

This year, we have roocru, who played at Austin College and had a son play for UMHB . roocru even has old friends from the ODAC from his trip(s) to the Stagg.

jknezek contributes from the southeast. He shares with me valuable insight on his ballot and why he votes the way that he does. I like his objective assessment.

Scots13 filled a gap that we had in coverage of the USA South several years ago and has stayed on to serve us well.

I think that Hasanova even predates me in participation on the poll. He follows the ODAC and USA South closely and also picks up the Centennial and President AC.

Having a consistent group of pollsters allows us to look across seasons for relative strengths. I am grateful for how committed each one is. They intentionally dedicate time in busy work and travel schedules to get their ballots back in a timely fashion. I ask them early in the summer if they can participate and they step up in fine fashion.

Please feel free to comment on the poll. We have a large number of readers from other regions who like to see the comments of the fans to keep up what is happening in the region. I encourage all to drop in on the East North and West Region polls, too.  I find those other polls give me a quick insight into the Region, especially come Pool B and C time.

[Ralph Turner]

South Region Fan Poll (Preseason)

1)  UMHB	50	1,1,1,1,1	.	.
2)  HSU	43	2,2,2,3,3	.	.
3)  JHU	40	2,3,3,3,4	.	.
4)  Thomas More	36	2,4,4,4,6	.	.
5)  CWRU	31	4,5,5,5,5	.	.
.	.	.	.	.
6)  W&J	21	5,6,6,7,10	.	.
7)  Muhlenberg	19	6,6,7,7,10	.	.
8)  Huntingdon	15	8,8,8,8,8	.	.
9T) Berry	6	7,10,10,x,x	.	.
9T) Westminster PA	6	7,9,x,x,x	.	.
.	.	.	.	.
RV  Centre	4	9,9,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Carnegie-Mellon	2	9,x,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Maryville	2	9,x,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Emory & Henry	1	10,x,x,x,x	.	.

Corrections are always appreciated.

[Scots13]

South Region Fan Poll (Preseason)

1)  UMHB	50	1,1,1,1,1	.	.
2)  HSU	43	2,2,2,3,3	.	.
3)  JHU	40	2,3,3,3,4	.	.
4)  Thomas More	36	2,4,4,4,6	.	.
5)  CWRU	31	4,5,5,5,5	.	.
.	.	.	.	.
6)  W&J	21	5,6,6,7,10	.	.
7)  Muhlenberg	19	6,6,7,7,10	.	.
8)  Huntingdon	15	8,8,8,8,8	.	.
9T) Berry	6	7,10,10,x,x	.	.
9T) Westminster PA	6	7,9,x,x,x	.	.
.	.	.	.	.
RV  Centre	4	9,9,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Carnegie-Mellon	2	9,x,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Maryville	2	9,x,x,x,x	.	.
RV  Emory & Henry	1	10,x,x,x,x	.	.

Corrections are always appreciated.

Not too shabby to start the year in terms of number of teams RV. Consensus on the Top 8 is a pleasant surprise. Assuming the 8 win this weekend we might have a consensus on the top 9 Week 1 with the Maryville/Berry game on Saturday.

Thanks for the MC vote, but I'm waiting to see how we do against a strongly previewed Berry team. Didn't want to homer a spot when I'm not sure how we'll do at QB. 

[Ralph Turner]

It is hard for me to give four slots to the Pres AC, considering how they fare when they play the ASC in post-season.  We don't have out-of-conference games, but then nobody else does in this era of 9-, 10- and 11-team conferences.

If SRSU stays close to a second season UT Permian Basin (D-2) then they get my vote next week.

[GillCJ1]

If SRSU stays close to a second season UT Permian Basin (D-2) then they get my vote next week.

I'm not a voter, but if I were SRSU would absolutely be knocking just outside that Top 10.  Their performance this week and next (against UMHB) should go a long in determining just how much they deserve one of those spots.

[jknezek]

Isn't UTPB a second year program whose only 2 wins last year came outside of DII? Including beating SRSU pretty badly in their very first game? I'm not sure what we will learn about the Lobos this week. I'll hold off until they play UMHB. My problem with the 3rd team in the ASC is they usually get pasted just as badly by the first two as anyone else from DIII who comes to visit. Other than HSU last year, every playoff opponent was closer in terms of score to UMHB than anyone else in the ASC. Granted none of those teams last year were other South Region schools, but it kind of makes me wary of saying the third team in the ASC is better than the top team or two from other South Region conferences.

Results will tell. The Lobos don't need to win either of their first two games to catch my eye, but right now I'm just not all that excited about them.

[GillCJ1]

That's the fun part about this whole process.  Letting the games play out and confirming/adjusting what we think are the best teams in the region.  In my case, I'm just doing it in my head as I go.  Probably a good thing, too, since you all are much better at it.  Good work as always.

Football is back!