FB: Region 3 fan poll

[Ralph Turner]

I think being able to see so many more teams the last few years play at Wesley has given me a better idea of how much  stronger some conferences are than others.

Wesley matches up the best of anyone else in the South against the ASC.

[Ralph Turner]

Week #5  (Corrections appreciated)  Results

1)  UMHB            (6)    60   (1,1,1,1,1,1) beat Mississippi College 35-12
2)  Thomas More         52   (2,2,2,2,3,3) beat Grove City 37-3
3)  Wesley                  49   (2,2,3,3,3,4) beat Frostburg State 45-17
4)  JHU                       39  (3,4,4,4,6,6)  Open date
5)  Salisbury                32  (4,5,5,6,6,8)  beat Springfield 65-23
6)  BSC                       18  (5,8,8,8,8,x)  Open date
7T) Trinity                   15  (7,7,7,9,10,x)  beat Sewanee 27-9
7T) LaCollege               15  (4,7,9,10,10,x)  beat ETBU 31-24
9T)   McMurry                12  (5,5,x,x,x,x)   beat Sul Ross State 41-13
9T)   Centre                  12  (6,6,9,x,x,x)   Open date

RV)  W&L                       9    (7,8,9,x,x,x)  beat Emory & Henry 17-14
RV)  H-SC                      8   (5,9,x,x,x,x)  beat Bridgewater VA 28-14
RV)  W&J                       6    (7,10,10,x,x,x) lost to St Vincent 35-27
RV)  Huntingdon              3    (9,10,x,x,x,x)  beat Wittenberg 38-20

VOTERS:  Matt Barnhart, PA_Wesleyan, Ralph Turner, SaintsFAN, Toby Taff, Wes Anderson

[jknezek]

I would have thought Huntingdon would have had a little more interest with two straight wins over (at the time) nationally ranked opponents. Fortunately, looking forward, we have a couple big games this week including Centre at B-SC, Salisbury at Alfred, and Huntingdon at Trinity. A pair of interesting votes that I see, 3 loss W&J with a 7 and H-SC with a 5 while Huntingdon can't have higher than 9 on the same ballot. Both are stuck in the receiving votes category, so certainly not a big deal, just interesting... The other one I'd say is interesting is the W&L 7, but I'm assuming it is paired with a Centre 6. Logically consistent, especially on a ballot that wouldn't be as ASC heavy as the overall poll outcome.

FWIW, I'm not criticizing anyone (especially since I'm not a voter!). I'm just interested in looking at these kinds of things.

[Ralph Turner]

I like Huntingdon, but they are behind a logjam because of the loss to BSC.

I picked Huntingdon to beat Witt in the ASC Pick'em so that was not a surprise to me.

My current ballot is this:

1) UMHB
2) Wesley
3) Thomas More  (Running away from the Pres AC field)
4) Salisbury  (They just devastated a highly-respected Springfield team yesterday and are my pick to win the Empire 8).
5) McMurry (UT-SA is looking very strong for a first year program. It appears that we messed up Stephen F Austin's mind and ruined them for the season.  McMurry had a better showing against UMHB than LaCollege. We go to Pineville.)

6) JHU (Probably has the Centennial locked up.)
7) LaCollege (Still has the best chance at a Pool C bid, especially if they beat McMurry.)
8) BSC  (The SCAC will be a great race to watch.)
9) Centre ( ditto)
10) Huntingdon (Only 10th because of the loss to BSC. Theirs is the Pool B to win vs Wesley.)

Trinity is on the watch list.  They had more trouble against HPU than I think that they should have.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity is on the watch list.  They had more trouble against HPU than I think that they should have.

You're seriously using an easy 24-7 win in the opening game of the season (where HPU was held to 135 total yards) to justify leaving them out of the region top ten?    I guess the 43-14 defeat of TLU (the only loss the 4-1 Bulldogs have suffered) the next week is irrelevant.

They've outscored their opponents 166-40.   Not top ten worthy?  Your ballot, but I hope TU will prove you wrong next week. 

[Ralph Turner]

Trinity is on the watch list.  They had more trouble against HPU than I think that they should have.

You're seriously using an easy 24-7 win in the opening game of the season (where HPU was held to 135 total yards) to justify leaving them out of the region top ten?    I guess the 43-14 defeat of TLU (the only loss the 4-1 Bulldogs have suffered) the next week is irrelevant.

They've outscored their opponents 166-40.   Not top ten worthy?  Your ballot, but I hope TU will prove you wrong next week.

Thanks, Ron.

Everyone has held the HPU offense.

Trinity only beat Millsaps, 10-3.  LaCollege dominated Millsaps, 56-0.

I want to see what Trinity does against a team with athleticism and talent such as Huntingdon.

[Ron Boerger]

Which would be fine if I was comparing them to LC, but I'm not.   

BSC had to come from behind to get by the same Sewanee team that Trinity easily handled, and that result's a whole lot more recent (and this more relevant) than a week 1 outing. 

Going strictly off of results to date, I'd rank Centre highest of the three SCAC schools; they have a quality win over W&L in OT and haven't really had a close result beside that.  That they are being overlooked totally by the D3football.com voters - not a single vote - is surprising.   

So this weekend should go a long way towards telling us who's what in the SCAC.  Centre travels to BSC and as previously mentioned Huntingdon goes to Trinity. 

[Ralph Turner]

Which would be fine if I was comparing them to LC, but I'm not.   

BSC had to come from behind to get by the same Sewanee team that Trinity easily handled, and that result's a whole lot more recent (and this more relevant) than a week 1 outing. 

Going strictly off of results to date, I'd rank Centre highest of the three SCAC schools; they have a quality win over W&L in OT and haven't really had a close result beside that.  That they are being overlooked totally by the D3football.com voters - not a single vote - is surprising.   

So this weekend should go a long way towards telling us who's what in the SCAC.  Centre travels to BSC and as previously mentioned Huntingdon goes to Trinity.

Top 25  BSC is #24 (61 votes). Trinity has 28 votes.  Yes, Centre has been shut out this week, again.

[ExTartanPlayer]

W&J loss to St. Vincent?  Wow...I knew that the Presidents had fallen juuust a tad, but their first two losses this year were understandable (20-19 to undefeated Del Val and 35-32 to undefeated TMC).  This, however, is a new low.

Re: McMurry, I'm in the small minority with Ralph that McMurry should be ranked, perhaps as high as #5.  A one-point loss to UMHB and three straight blowout wins; they'll have their chance to earn it in the next three weeks.

Re: Trinity's low ranking in this poll and Centre's lack of votes in the top 25, I think their relative low ranking is more reflective of the SCAC's fall from glory than anything else.  The 2010 champ got shellacked twice to end the season.  The 2009 champ did the same.  Obviously, a voter's opinion of a respective conference will influence how you rank a team from that conference...and I think that a 4-2 McMurry team (with a one-point loss to UMHB and the other against an FCS team in Week 1) has a more impressive resume than a 5-0 Trinity team (at least until Trinity plays/beats Centre and BSC)

[ExTartanPlayer]

5) McMurry (UT-SA is looking very strong for a first year program. It appears that we messed up Stephen F Austin's mind and ruined them for the season.  McMurry had a better showing against UMHB than LaCollege. We go to Pineville.)

Amusing note:  Trying to make head or tail of McMurry's games against FCS teams is fun.

They lost 82-6 to defending conference champ, Stephen F. Austin.
They then beat a first-year program, Texas-San Antonio, by the score of 24-21. 

At the time, these results seemed to jibe...SFA is a traditionally strong team, and UTSA is a first-year program. 

But then, the wheels came off for SFA with five straight losses.
Meanwhile, UTSA has won twice and lost a third game in OT.

Huh?

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

To be honest, I was a huge fan of Trinity early in the season. I believe at one point, I was the only person voting for them. However, since then, I have moved teams passed them - and my week 6 poll actually has Trinity #9. (I had them #7 two weeks ago).

So I agree with a little of what Ron and Ralph are saying about them. This week is a big test. We will see if I've wasted votes on them thus far, or if I was justified.

And even though I'm an ODAC guy, I think the best team in the conference (HSC) would finish seventh in the ASC and fourth in the SCAC. Not sure why then I'm still voting for them!

[Matt Barnhart (kid)]

5) McMurry (UT-SA is looking very strong for a first year program. It appears that we messed up Stephen F Austin's mind and ruined them for the season.  McMurry had a better showing against UMHB than LaCollege. We go to Pineville.)

Amusing note:  Trying to make head or tail of McMurry's games against FCS teams is fun.

They lost 82-6 to defending conference champ, Stephen F. Austin.
They then beat a first-year program, Texas-San Antonio, by the score of 24-21. 

At the time, these results seemed to jibe...SFA is a traditionally strong team, and UTSA is a first-year program. 

But then, the wheels came off for SFA with five straight losses.
Meanwhile, UTSA has won twice and lost a third game in OT.

Huh?

Great example of why I think it's misinformed to compare like results when voting on a poll or picking a game. Stats and gut instinct are what I look at.

[Ralph Turner]

To be honest, I was a huge fan of Trinity early in the season. I believe at one point, I was the only person voting for them. However, since then, I have moved teams passed them - and my week 6 poll actually has Trinity #9. (I had them #7 two weeks ago).

So I agree with a little of what Ron and Ralph are saying about them. This week is a big test. We will see if I've wasted votes on them thus far, or if I was justified.

And even though I'm an ODAC guy, I think the best team in the conference (HSC) would finish seventh in the ASC and fourth in the SCAC. Not sure why then I'm still voting for them!

I don't see much difference between #7 in the South and #13!  I see four tiers at this time.

UMHB, Wesley.

TMC and Salisbury and either McMurry or LaCollege

JHU, which is geographically likely to get a favorable draw, Trinity, Huntingdon, Centre, BSC.

ODAC contingent which is still sorting itself out, followed by CNU.

[wesleydad]

matt, i agree with you.  i like the gut feeling stuff, especially if it is backed by actually seeing the teams.  i will be interested in seeing what wesley does with huntington.  that will tell me a lot about the odac since i saw bridgewater and they only lost to hs by 14.  if wesley beats huntington easily which i think they will, then the odac rep will be in tough shape in playoffs.

[Ralph Turner]

One more ballot to go.

I will post the poll tonight.