FB: Region 3 fan poll

FCGrizzliesGrad · September 05, 2021, 04:26:36 AM

The West and North are going to continue with the old regions at least for this year so I'd suggest the South does the same. Easier to get back into the swing of things with some familiarity. Maybe next year we'll consider dividing up into 6 regions.

Ralph Turner · September 05, 2021, 01:33:37 PM

I have a lot on my plate with work, so I need someone else to take over, especially since the ASC was moved to an already overloaded and overstocked Region 6. I will participate; I just don't have the time to compile.

As I have noted elsewhere, there have been 21 Stagg Bowls in the AQ era and there are 21 Stagg contestants (counting the Tommies, and not counting Trinity TX who is an affiliate in the SAA) from the new Region 6. Region 3 could have used a few more teams to "balance" the numbers.

jknezek · September 15, 2021, 10:26:12 AM

I can probably do it. I'll make a recruiting run through Region 3 boards and see if I can round up a balanced voting panel.

Posted in our conference boards:

Alright Region III fans, I'm willing to run the Regional Weekly Top 10 if I can get a balanced panel. If you are interested, you can either PM me or reply to this message and if I get enough responses maybe we can start next week. Looking for 1 or 2 people from each conference, but if I can get 5 voters total spread through at least 3 of our conferences I'll take it.

We'll run it mostly the same way Ralph has been doing it for years. Ranked 1-10 votes are due to me by PM by Tuesday at midnight, so if you can't commit to that, please don't offer. It's just not going to be worth it for me if I have to track people down every week. Votes will be anonymous in the published poll, but voters are free to discuss or post their own submissions.

It's a lot of fun, you learn about a lot of teams, and sometimes generates some good discussion. I always like being challenged on why I did things, but if you don't want to engage, that's fine also.

Ralph Turner · September 15, 2021, 08:19:18 PM

Thanks, jknezek.

I "inherited" it from "Kid" the Bridgewater fan who moved on to other career responsibilities in summer of 2008.

I know you will do well. You always gave excellent analyses to your ballots.

Have fun and best wishes.

Seriously, he needs committed fans who will put 30-60 minutes in on the Poll each week. You do learn a lot about the South Region. The balance in Region 3 should make this a fun poll!

jknezek · September 20, 2021, 11:26:16 AM

Thanks to a couple committed fans it looks like we will have a Region 3 Fan Poll starting this week. We are only going 7 teams deep, since there are now more regions and we only have 4 conferences in our region. Frankly I just don't see the need to rank 10 teams in this region. But I want to thank Hawks88, ADL70, Wild Horse Rider, and BSCpanthers for joining me. I'm looking forward to what we come up with and pleased with the balance in voters as we have at least one voter with an interest in each of our Region 3 conferences.

Toby Taff · September 21, 2021, 01:53:43 PM

Interestingly enoughthis leaves the ASC without a regional fan poll for the season because they aren't doing a region 6 poll this year but are keeping the west region fan poll.

jknezek · September 21, 2021, 01:58:37 PM

Thanks to all the voters coming in early this week, here is the inaugural Region 3 Fan Poll.

Region 3 (South Atlantic-ish) Fan Poll

Conferences: ODAC, PAC, SAA, USASAC

Rank	School	Points	Voter Breakdown
1	W&J	33	7,6,6,7,7,
2	R-MC	32	6,7,7,6,6,
3	B-SC	19	5,2,5,4,3,
4	Trinity	13	1,4,2,5,1,
T5	Centre	11	4,3,1,1,2,
T5	Westminster	11	3,1,2,5,
7	Ferrum	10	2,5,3,

Also Receiving Votes:
Berry (7)
Grove City (4)

7 points = 1st Place Vote, 1 point = 7th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: Hawks88, BSCpanthers, Wild Horse Rider, ADL70 and, for disclosure, jknezek

Games of note this week:
W&J at Case
R-MC hosting W&L
Westminster hosting Grove City -- only game involving 2 teams in the Poll, with Grove in the ARV category.

jknezek · September 21, 2021, 02:02:46 PM

Quote from: Toby Taff on September 21, 2021, 01:53:43 PM
Interestingly enoughthis leaves the ASC without a regional fan poll for the season because they aren't doing a region 6 poll this year but are keeping the west region fan poll.

Yeah. I just waited until the regions got set up on here before worrying about it. But since I despise pre-season polls anyway, giving us a few weeks to get going, especially after a very odd 2020 season, it all worked out. To me, pre-season polls just lock in bias and make it hard to overcome. With a couple results under our belts I think we do a better job.

ADL70 · September 21, 2021, 06:36:02 PM

Ferrum huh. Weren't on my radar and I considered a total of 12 teams. Need to keep an eye on them. They face Macon on 10/2

jknezek · September 21, 2021, 09:53:14 PM

Quote from: ADL70 on September 21, 2021, 06:36:02 PM
Ferrum huh. Weren't on my radar and I considered a total of 12 teams. Need to keep an eye on them. They face Macon on 10/2

Wins over Averett and CNU are good wins. Averett or Huntingdon are most likely the class of the USASAC and CNU has had 3 very competitive game against Ferrum, Averett, and W&L. Will get a better feel from W&L this weekend at R-MC, but I suspect the Generals are a 7 or 8 win team, Averwtt the same. So Ferrum has done well so far. Definitely worthy of being where they are, but so are some other squads at this point.

Wild Horse Rider · September 22, 2021, 01:22:22 PM

I felt good about my top 4 but the next 3 I I was torn. I considered all 5 of the teams receiving votes and a few more. I believe I was one of only 2 who voted for Berry and honestly I was likely influenced by past success and pre-season expectations/rankings. Berry has a bye this week and then the game against Trinity at home to help sort it out. Next week should really help shape things in the ODAC with Randy-Mac vs Ferrum and Shenandoah vs Bridgewater. We should know about Huntingdon after these next two games against Brevard and Methodist. If the Hawks win that could set up a matchup of two teams undefeated in conference against Averett on 10/16

Ron Boerger · September 22, 2021, 01:43:46 PM

Quote from: Wild Horse Rider on September 22, 2021, 01:22:22 PM
I felt good about my top 4 but the next 3 I I was torn. I considered all 5 of the teams receiving votes and a few more. I believe I was one of only 2 who voted for Berry and honestly I was likely influenced by past success and pre-season expectations/rankings. Berry has a bye this week and then the game against Trinity at home to help sort it out. Next week should really help shape things in the ODAC with Randy-Mac vs Ferrum and Shenandoah vs Bridgewater. We should know about Huntingdon after these next two games against Brevard and Methodist. If the Hawks win that could set up a matchup of two teams undefeated in conference against Averett on 10/16

Given the craziness with teams playing few to no games last year and all the unknowns about which teams have super seniors playing their fifth year and two years of new recruits, nobody should feel badly about not having all the answers at this stage. Appreciate all the pollsters who are giving it their best shot!

BSCpanthers · September 22, 2021, 03:37:48 PM

I considered keeping Berry in the top 7. A loss the the #3 team nationally isn't a terrible thing, but being dismantled by them is a terrible thing. At least Huntingdon gave W-Oshkosh a game before losing by 4.

jknezek · September 22, 2021, 04:21:14 PM

Being crushed by UWW is kind of a neutral for me. It doesn't mean you can't be in the poll, but it doesn't help either. My issue with Berry is a lackluster home win over 0-3 M'Ville, who lost much worse to Centre and Methodist, both with M'Ville on the road, and a mediocre win over LaGrange, who was beaten much more soundly by B-SC (though there home and away were reversed). Basically there is nothing to recommend Berry versus other teams in the poll. At least not YET this year.

10/2 hosting Trinity might be that moment, or it might be confirmation that this isn't their year to be Top 7 so far. We will see.

Wild Horse Rider · September 28, 2021, 02:49:40 PM

Weekly rankings are in. Here is what I am looking at this weekend in Region 3:

In the ODAC Randolph Macon is on the road at Ferrum. Can the Yellow Jackets bounce back or are the Panthers for real?

In the SAA Berry hosts Trinity after both of their bye weeks. Have the Vikings recovered from what I can only assume was a physical game against UWW or can the Tigers maintain their impressive margin of victory (50 PPG)?

In the USAC Huntingdon hosts Methodist. I know that the Hawks record is not great but they have represented the conference in the playoffs 4 out of the last 5 seasons and won the spring championship. That championship game in the spring was against the visiting Monarchs. Right now Averett looks like the top dog in the conference but I would give the winner of this game a a shot.

In the PAC I would expect chalk at the top.