FB: Region 3 fan poll

[Ralph Turner]

For UMHB, the problem I see is that when they have played a good(ranked) team, they have lost.  Had they won at least one of those I could possibly see it another way.  For the UMHB fans, that team hasn't lost 3 games in a season since 1999, much less losing 3 in a row.  The best wins they have are over teams that are currently 5-4 a piece.  UMHB could end the season without a win over a team with a winning record. 

Berry has destroyed everyone they played, except Trinity.

RMC has destroyed everyone they played, period. 

I would love to see more bowl games for these teams.  For sure there have been teams in the past couple years in R3 that deserved some sort of reward for their season.

McMurry is 5-4 and favored over longest rival SRSU. McM has an OT loss to HSU and 1-point losses to BSC and ETBU.
UMHB destroyed McMurry, 50-9.

[BSCpanthers]

For UMHB, the problem I see is that when they have played a good(ranked) team, they have lost.  Had they won at least one of those I could possibly see it another way.  For the UMHB fans, that team hasn't lost 3 games in a season since 1999, much less losing 3 in a row.  The best wins they have are over teams that are currently 5-4 a piece.  UMHB could end the season without a win over a team with a winning record. 

Berry has destroyed everyone they played, except Trinity.

RMC has destroyed everyone they played, period. 

I would love to see more bowl games for these teams.  For sure there have been teams in the past couple years in R3 that deserved some sort of reward for their season.

McMurry is 5-4 and favored over longest rival SRSU. McM has an OT loss to HSU and 1-point losses to BSC and ETBU.
UMHB destroyed McMurry, 50-9.

All I posted was the truth.  Your response doesn't change my mind. 

[Wild Horse Rider]

Based on the non-scientific approach of looking at the D3Football top 25 it does look rather promising for Randy Mac.  They have the "easiest" bracket in terms of possible ranked opponents.  The bracket where all the other representatives from Region 3 were slotted looks to be the hardest with 5 ranked teams in the top 15 (though Mount's bracket has 6 of the top 18 but from what the internet is telling me it isn't that hard and Mount should coast to the semi-finals).  With that being said this is the week where much like selection Sunday for March Madness where people lose their mind over who the 68th and 69th best teams in the country are or in our case the 33rd and 32nd team.  I know that 32 is a much smaller number and the limited amount of at large bids is very small leading to good teams watching from home but everyone starts out with the same opportunity in an AQ conference.  With only 4 of the 28 conferences getting two teams in it always seems unfair for teams like Berry, Muhlenberg, and other deserving 1-2 loss teams but I still fall back on what the tournament is designed to do and that is crown a champion.  It would be nice to get the 32 best teams in a tournament but how do you determine which 32 of the 241 are the best?  I personally like the AQ system (though I can see going back to a time where you needed 7 teams in a conference to earn an AQ) and only needing to select a few deserving at large teams.  So long as the tournament gets #1 team in the country on December 16th I will be happy.

[Ron Boerger]

Based on the non-scientific approach of looking at the D3Football top 25 it does look rather promising for Randy Mac.  They have the "easiest" bracket in terms of possible ranked opponents.  The bracket where all the other representatives from Region 3 were slotted looks to be the hardest with 5 ranked teams in the top 15 (though Mount's bracket has 6 of the top 18 but from what the internet is telling me it isn't that hard and Mount should coast to the semi-finals).  With that being said this is the week where much like selection Sunday for March Madness where people lose their mind over who the 68th and 69th best teams in the country are or in our case the 33rd and 32nd team.  I know that 32 is a much smaller number and the limited amount of at large bids is very small leading to good teams watching from home but everyone starts out with the same opportunity in an AQ conference.  With only 4 of the 28 conferences getting two teams in it always seems unfair for teams like Berry, Muhlenberg, and other deserving 1-2 loss teams but I still fall back on what the tournament is designed to do and that is crown a champion.  It would be nice to get the 32 best teams in a tournament but how do you determine which 32 of the 241 are the best?  I personally like the AQ system (though I can see going back to a time where you needed 7 teams in a conference to earn an AQ) and only needing to select a few deserving at large teams.  So long as the tournament gets #1 team in the country on December 16th I will be happy.

The Division III philosophy is all about the the AQ, not the best 32 (or whatever number) of teams.  That is one reason why is is so wildly successful (in terms of number of participants) - every school knows that if they win their conference they get to keep playing and the fortunate few actually win championships.

That said there is no doubt whatsoever that football is treated inequitably compared to all other sports which supply one playoff spot for every 6.5 schools participating in a sport.   The division and its presidents have had excuses (cost, time) for limiting the number to 32 (1 in 7.3 schools if you exclude the NESCAC schools who do not participate in the postseason).

[jknezek]

We are down a voter in this last week before the playoffs, but since the poll was static I don't think it matters much. Everyone held serve and now it is time for the post-season.

Trinity will host Hardin-Simmons in Round 1
R-MC hosts Christopher Newport in Round 1
Belhaven travels to defending champ NCC in Round 1

In the first of 4 contracted Chesapeake Bowls between the ODAC and Landmark:
W&L hosts Lycoming
Bridgewater travels to Wilkes

Region 3 (South Atlantic-Ish) Fan Poll Week 11

Conferences: ASC, ODAC, SAA, USASAC

Rank			School			Points			Weekly Change			Voter Breakdown
1			Trinity (TX) (5)			35			0			1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1
2			R-MC			30			0			2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2
3			Berry			24			0			3 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 3
4			Hardin-Simmons			21			0			4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 4
5			Belhaven			12			0			6 , 5 , 5 , 7 , 5
6			W&L			10			0			5 , 7 , 7 , 5 , 6
7			Huntingdon			6			0			7 , 6 , 6 , 7

Also Receiving Votes:
UMHB (2)

Newly Ranked: None
Dropped Out: None

1 = 1st Place Vote, 7 = 7th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: jknezek, BSCpanthers, Wild Horse Rider, Ralph Turner, Hawks88

[Cowboy2]

We are down a voter in this last week before the playoffs, but since the poll was static I don't think it matters much. Everyone held serve and now it is time for the post-season.

Trinity will host Hardin-Simmons in Round 1
R-MC hosts Christopher Newport in Round 1
Belhaven travels to defending champ NCC in Round 1

In the first of 4 contracted Chesapeake Bowls between the ODAC and Landmark:
W&L hosts Lycoming
Bridgewater travels to Wilkes

Region 3 (South Atlantic-Ish) Fan Poll Week 11

Conferences: ASC, ODAC, SAA, USASAC

Rank			School			Points			Weekly Change			Voter Breakdown
1			Trinity (TX) (5)			35			0			1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1
2			R-MC			30			0			2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2
3			Berry			24			0			3 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 3
4			Hardin-Simmons			21			0			4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 4
5			Belhaven			12			0			6 , 5 , 5 , 7 , 5
6			W&L			10			0			5 , 7 , 7 , 5 , 6
7			Huntingdon			6			0			7 , 6 , 6 , 7

Also Receiving Votes:
UMHB (2)

Newly Ranked: None
Dropped Out: None

1 = 1st Place Vote, 7 = 7th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: jknezek, BSCpanthers, Wild Horse Rider, Ralph Turner, Hawks88

Apologies for dropping the ball. My ranks are the same as above. With a toss up of the last two just because I wasn't able to watch their last game this week

[Ralph Turner]

I am looking forward to the Chesapeake Bowls.

We on this end of Region 3 have not played an ODAC team in the playoffs in 2 decades. The last one that I recall that was anywhere near that part of the region was ETBU's loss 13-7 loss at Lycoming (Mid-Atlantic Conference) and Trinity's 38-32 win over Bridgewater (ODAC) in the quarterfinals in 2002.

UMHB gave W&J a 63-7 beat-down in the 2008 quarterfinals and so we have seldom been sent to the "eastern" bracket since then, especially since the closure if Wesley College.

[BSCpanthers]

If R-MC finishes off Johns Hopkins today, they will be my region 3 champs. I know Trinity had a tough draw having to play North Central, but R-MC will have made it to the semis. 

Keep representing Region 3 R-MC, make us proud.

[tigerguy]

Not sure why you'd choose to rank RMC over Trinity merely because they made Semis and Trinity didn't. If you put Trinity in RMCs spot in the bracket, do they make the Semis? Is RMCs result any better against NC?

Not saying RMC isn't deserving of being ranked ahead of Trinity, but I don't think thats the reason for it. Pretty sure Hansen ratings' model said RMC had the easiest path to the semis/finals of any team in the bracket.

[rmc1982]

We were lucky to win that one! When they had us on the ropes in the 3rd quarter I thought we might be done but we fought back! We made them run out a lot of clock to tie us and when we got it with 90 seconds left I thought we had a good shot! David Wallis was HUGE for us today!! Gotta hand it to JHU..... THEIR QB played one helluva game as did their OL.....they kept the QB mostly clean today!! It was a classic " who was the last team with the ball" kinda game and luckily it was us!! GO JACKETS!!!

[BSCpanthers]

Trinity ended the season with 2 losses, one to North Central to who everyone is losing this year.  The other to a non-playoff team in St Johns.  R-MC has destroyed everyone up until today, and finally proved they can win a game when it gets tough.  To me, R-MC now has a better resume then Trinity ended with.  Trinity's best win was against Berry, who didn't even get a sniff as a Pool C, even though I thought they should have.  Everyone here was quick to tell me nope, wasn't going to happen.  All you Trinity folks needed to get on the Vikings bandwagon and get them into that Pool C slot.

R-MC is my Region 3 #1 team. 

[rmc1982]

We should be home vs Cortland next weekend!! They were tough last year at our place and I expect the same kind of hard hitting game it was last year! We are TOUGH TO BEAT IN THE COTU!!

[Ralph Turner]

Trinity ended the season with 2 losses, one to North Central to who everyone is losing this year.  The other to a non-playoff team in St Johns.  R-MC has destroyed everyone up until today, and finally proved they can win a game when it gets tough.  To me, R-MC now has a better resume then Trinity ended with.  Trinity's best win was against Berry, who didn't even get a sniff as a Pool C, even though I thought they should have.  Everyone here was quick to tell me nope, wasn't going to happen.  All you Trinity folks needed to get on the Vikings bandwagon and get them into that Pool C slot.

R-MC is my Region 3 #1 team.

SJU was my 4th Pool C team. Coe was a 20-7 loser to Aurora. I am waiting the see the Cortland RMC game.

[Hawks88]

If RMC and NCC both win next week then we'll get to have a common opponent to compare RMC and Trinity. 

[Cowboy2]

Trinity ended the season with 2 losses, one to North Central to who everyone is losing this year.  The other to a non-playoff team in St Johns.  R-MC has destroyed everyone up until today, and finally proved they can win a game when it gets tough.  To me, R-MC now has a better resume then Trinity ended with.  Trinity's best win was against Berry, who didn't even get a sniff as a Pool C, even though I thought they should have.  Everyone here was quick to tell me nope, wasn't going to happen.  All you Trinity folks needed to get on the Vikings bandwagon and get them into that Pool C slot.

R-MC is my Region 3 #1 team.

Well RMC is playing good ball that's for sure!

However, until it's over and there is a common opponent, not at a neutral field, I'll still have Trinity at #1. I mean Trinity did beat HSU who beat UWL. They had a bad game against NCC. It happens, but that team is legit.

Your take is about like Trinity losing to UMHB in the first round (3-13) the year they won a natty and BSC losing to them the second round. So was BSC better than Trinity that year because they beat Huntingdon the first round and Trinity lost?

Each game has different game plans. Some players are healthy. Some teams match up better. I also think Trinity fans were on the bandwagon for Berry to get a Pool C just like they all were the last couple of years for BSC getting in the discussion.