TOP 25

[PA_wesleyfan]

Mates,

The 2,3,4 teams lost. Muhlenberg won. The torrential downpour, the 30-40 mph gusting winds, and a team

hell bent on pulling off the conference upset of the year could not beat them down. The CC conference is much improved, truly giving meaning to the truth that "any given Saturday" any team can win.See the league upsets this year and  the near upsets, every week. Let's give this proven team (2nd round play off  contender last year) and an improved stronger CC a fair shake in the poll voting this week...only what
the continued unbeaten Mules (with a 300lb O line, a 64% qb, and a national top 10 RB)..truly deserve and have earned.

Beat some teams outside the conference with a winning records before you upgrade the whole conference

[muledaddy]

PaWesley,

                 I guess we will have to wait until November to  beat some out of conference winners...

oh, yeah....we have 9 in our conference, not four....seeya in Nov....maybe

[PA_wesleyfan]

PaWesley,

                 I guess we will have to wait until November to  beat some out of conference winners...

oh, yeah....we have 9 in our conference, not four....seeya in Nov....maybe

  OUCH   Try something original..
If the league that was supposed to have been formed had happened then every one would be bitching that Wesley and Salisbury have it too easy.. None of the schools in the ACFC DUCK anyone!!! Two from the MAC backed out of oral commitments for next year after Wesley smoked Widener.

[muledaddy]

PaWesley,

Sorry to hear about the scheduling problems...did DelVal back out?

[PA_wesleyfan]

I know that Lyco did the Monday after Wesley beat Widener because they wanted to play Rowan instead and according to Gordon they agreed to a four year deal. And the word was that Del Val wanted out too

[JT]

I also hope that the men and women that I interviewed from Willamette who were in Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor are still around to see this run by the football team.  Last I heard, they still get together on Saturday's at the local diner before games.  I last heard from one of the group last year.

If they make it to the NCAA's I'd be happy to revisit this story.

[Ralph Turner]

The most recent Top 25 breaks out into some distinct groups.  To me, I see these rankings.

1)
2)
3-4)  #3 Wabash has DePauw.
5-9)  Much uncertainty at this level.  #5 Millsaps is at #14 Trinity.  #7 Cortland St still has Ithaca.  #9 W&J is at Thomas More.
10)  Wesley at #16 Salisbury this week.  Must win game for both teams.
11-15)  More uncertainty
16)
17)
18)
19-20)
21-22)
23-25)

[redswarm81]

The most recent Top 25 breaks out into some distinct groups.  To me, I see these rankings.

1)
2)
3-4)  #3 Wabash has DePauw.
5-9)  Much uncertainty at this level.  #5 Millsaps is at #14 Trinity.  #7 Cortland St still has Ithaca.  #9 W&J is at Thomas More.
10)  Wesley at #16 Salisbury this week.  Must win game for both teams.
11-15)  More uncertainty
16)
17)
18)
19-20)
21-22)
23-25)

Don't forget the converses:

1)
2)
3-4)  #3 Wabash has DePauw.
5-9)  Much uncertainty at this level.  #5 Millsaps is at #14 Trinity.  #7 Cortland St still has Ithaca.  #9 W&J is at Thomas More.
10)  Wesley at #16 Salisbury this week.  Must win game for both teams.
11-15)  More uncertainty, #14 Trinity hosts #5 Millsaps.
16) Salisbury has #10 Wesley this week.
17)
18)
19-20)
21-22) #21 Ithaca still has #7 Cortland St.
23-25)

There's plenty more uncertainty to boot:

#17 UW-Stevens Point still has #19 UW-Eau Claire;
#18 Otterbein still has #1 Mount Union and John Carroll;
#19 UW-Eau Claire still has #17 UW-Stevens Point;
#20 Occidental is at Cal Lutheran;
#22 RPI still has Union and Hobart;
#23 Montclair St. still has Rowan;
#24 Franklin has Rose-Hulman this week;
#25 Trine still has Adrian.

Halloween's coming up--potential bloodbath to come, it appears.

[betty52]

The Bearcats should be ranked higher than MHB.  The polls should reflect SO's loss to Willamette and Linfield, and also the fact that Willamette handled Linfield.  MHB should be lower than Willamette regardless of where Willamette is ranked!!

[redswarm81]

I'm struck by the fact that two consecutive d3football.com Top 25 Polls have zero MIAC teams.  That must be a first, no?

[CobberFvr]

Yeah there's usually one at least. But Concordia and Saint John's both keep winning. And Concordia is only 2 spots away.

[ADL70]

In evaluating UMHB's loss to S Ore shouldn't consideration be given to the fact the S Ore played a diferent QB against the Crusaders?  He had a 66% completion rate and 3 tds.  The QB who faced Linfield and Willamette completed fewer than half of his passes in those games and threw only one td in each.  The new QB started and got a win against Azusa Pacific the week before.

[retagent]

How would one factor that in? It could mean that the QB who played against Linfield and Willamette was inferior to the one who played against UMHB, or it could mean that the Defenses of Linfield and Willamette are superior to the UMHB Defense. Flip a coin?

[Toby Taff]

How would one factor that in? It could mean that the QB who played against Linfield and Willamette was inferior to the one who played against UMHB, or it could mean that the Defenses of Linfield and Willamette are superior to the UMHB Defense. Flip a coin?

You could also factor in travel, an uncharacteristic bad pitch into the end zone, major pass interference penalties that kept SOU drives alive leading to td's for SOU, one that negated a int, the relative health and uncertainty at the RB position for UMHB, the fact that UMHB ran the ball 31 times and passed 24 (if you don't follow UMHB football that is NOT normal) or any other number of things.  The end result was UMHB played one of the worst games I have ever seen it play, and paid the price.  On Saturday, SOU wanted it more and out performed UMHB.  UMHB did not execute its game plan and lost.  You could see the SOU defense grow in confidence with every drive, and ultimately did the job necessary to win.  It was a good win for SOU. 

That said, I don't think you should compare the common opponent here.  Linfield and UMHB have a common opponent in HSU.  Linfield lost, UMHB won.  Is that due to travel? or any other number of circumstances?  What it boils down to is that the game is irrelevant.  It has no impact on the way the playoffs shake out other than to reduce the number of D3 games for UMHB.  Sure the loss dropped UMHB 5 places in the poles, I don't like it but with all the injuries it's probably right.  This isn't the same UMHB I'm used to watching week in and out, but I wouldn't count on the SOU common opponent as a measure of the Crusader football team.  On that given Saturday,  SOU was the dominant team an many other Saturdays they likely would not be..   

[ADL70]

I'm not suggsting figuring it in, except to say thatUMHB did not play the same SOU team as Linfield and Willamette.  To me that calls in question the validity of down-rating UMHB based on results v SOU.

8904, are any of the injured RBs expected to return?