D3 Top 25 Fan Poll

[02 Warhawk]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

[MRMIKESMITH]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

They are great at every other sport in all of DIII if that helps...I would argue as a conference they are Top 5 in all other sports.

[02 Warhawk]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

They are great at every other sport in all of DIII if that helps...I would argue as a conference they are Top 5 in all other sports.

Fair point, but we'll never know for certain unless they change their ways. It's a shame the NESCAC closes its doors to outsiders when it comes to football.

[Baldini]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

They are great at every other sport in all of DIII if that helps...I would argue as a conference they are Top 5 in all other sports.

For my own selfish curiosity I would like to see them play a non-conference game each year, but they probably have no desire to do that.   

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

They are great at every other sport in all of DIII if that helps...I would argue as a conference they are Top 5 in all other sports.

This is exactly my thinking. Take the top NESCAC team in any other sport and they're quite good, and much better than the other conferences in the northeast. I have no reason to believe it's any different in football. The lack of non-conference games means they won't rise any higher, but it's hard to be undefeated this late in the season (they're one of only 12 unbeatens at this point). Also, in the d3football poll they received 5 points.

[TheChucker]

I would suspect it's largely reputation and a feeling that the NESCAC recruits better players than the rest. The writers and coaches know who the best kids are coming out of New England high schools.

That's pretty much my point against NESCAC being a good D3 football conference. There's a huge cluster of D3 programs in the North East part of the country (not to mention all the D1 and D2 programs as well), which I'm sure makes recruiting a nightmare. I don't think it's a coincidence that Non-NESCAC conferences in that region fail to make deep runs in the playoffs. Also D3football.com consistently ranks those conferences towards the bottom of D3 each year. Of the 27 conferences ECFC is 27th, MSCAC 25th, CCC 22nd, NEWMAC 18th.

Point being is that odds are the NESCAC will probably just be as competitive as the other D3 conferences around them, considering how watered down the recruiting pool is in that region. I don't see why they would be an exception to that.

They are great at every other sport in all of DIII if that helps...I would argue as a conference they are Top 5 in all other sports.

Football in D3 is a different animal than other sports. Top teams carry huge rosters often 100 players or more which might not be consistent with the mission for the high academic schools in the NESCAC (to their credit). In a brief review of the last 4 years' playoff quarterfinals, one high academic school in Johns Hopkins made it to the quarterfinal round (last year semifinal loss out of a purely eastern bracket). If you want to be less exclusive and count Rensselaer as a high academic school (ranked #50 national university), they made it to the quarterfinals too.

[Ron Boerger]

Football in D3 is a different animal than other sports. Top teams carry huge rosters often 100 players or more which might not be consistent with the mission for the high academic schools in the NESCAC (to their credit). In a brief review of the last 4 years' playoff quarterfinals, one high academic school in Johns Hopkins made it to the quarterfinal round (last year semifinal loss out of a purely eastern bracket). If you want to be less exclusive and count Rennselaer as a high academic school (ranked #50 national university), they made it to the quarterfinals too.

LOL - don't let the RPI alumni association see this. 

[TheChucker]

Football in D3 is a different animal than other sports. Top teams carry huge rosters often 100 players or more which might not be consistent with the mission for the high academic schools in the NESCAC (to their credit). In a brief review of the last 4 years' playoff quarterfinals, one high academic school in Johns Hopkins made it to the quarterfinal round (last year semifinal loss out of a purely eastern bracket). If you want to be less exclusive and count Rensselaer as a high academic school (ranked #50 national university), they made it to the quarterfinals too.

LOL - don't let the RPI alumni association see this.

I didn't mean to be condescending. US News has them sandwiched between U of Texas, Georgia and Ohio State which most would consider excellent but not high academic institutions [yeah, I know, many don't like the US News rankings].

[smedindy]

Most D3 schools are Liberal Arts, though. Some of the Top Liberal Arts schools are D1, even.

Denison is #43 and they have over 100 players.

[smedindy]

Before people yell, I still have Wartburg over Central (Central is #26 in my eyes). OT losses on the road outweighs Central's loss to Dubuque.

[hazzben]

Before people yell, I still have Wartburg over Central (Central is #26 in my eyes). OT losses on the road outweighs Central's loss to Dubuque.

I wouldn't argue with that. I think I came away rather unimpressed with both teams and their lack of D. But a road OT loss because you didn't stop a two point conversion play isn't a resounding foundation for "But Central beat them in the H2H!"

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I've wondered most of the season why people aren't ranking Susquehanna higher (especially the d3f voters). Their only loss was in OT @ Muhlenberg who everyone has ranked around 5 or so but Susquehanna sits at 16 in the d3f poll (behind 6 one loss teams and a 2 loss team) and have been bouncing around 13-14 here for half the season with myself as the only one putting them in the top 10.

[smedindy]

I have Susquehanna at #13 (Muhlenberg at #4). It's a tough call.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

D3 Football Map



2019 WEEK 10 TOP 25 FAN POLL

Rank	Team	Points	Prev
1)	Mount Union (7)	199	1
2)	Mary Hardin-Baylor (1)	192	2
T3)	UW-Whitewater	180	3
T3)	Wheaton	180	4
5)	Muhlenberg	168	5
6)	Salisbury	149	6
7)	North Central	146	7
8)	St John's	130	8
T9)	Bethel	124	10
T9)	Chapman	124	T12
11)	Delaware Valley	120	11
12)	Susquehanna	108	14
13)	Union	106	T12
14)	Wesley	104	15
15)	John Carroll	94	16
T16)	Case Western Reserve	63	17
T16)	Redlands	63	19
18)	Linfield	56	20
19)	Hardin-Simmons	53	18
20)	Berry	45	24
T21)	Bridgewater	40	NR
T21)	St Thomas	40	23
23)	Brockport	35	25
24)	Wartburg	25	9
25)	Central	21	NR

Dropped Out: #21 Ithaca, #22 Texas Lutheran

Also Receiving Votes: Cortland 7, UW-Oshkosh 7, UW-Platteville 7, UW-La Crosse 5, W New England 3, Trinity (TX) 2, Wabash 2, Middlebury 1, WPI 1

Voters: 02 Warhawk, bluestreak66, desertcat1, FCGG, MANDGSU, NCF, Oline89, and smedindy

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

  1)   Mount Union         199     ( 1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  1,  2)
  2)   Mary Hardin-Baylor  192     ( 1,  2,  2,  2,  2,  2,  2,  3)
T3)   UW-Whitewater       180     ( 3,  3,  3,  3,  4,  4,  4,  4)
T3)   Wheaton             180     ( 2,  3,  3,  3,  4,  4,  4,  5)
  5)   Muhlenberg          168     ( 4,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  5,  6)
  6)   Salisbury           149     ( 5,  6,  6,  7,  7,  8,  9, 11)
  7)   North Central       146     ( 6,  6,  6,  7,  9,  9,  9, 10)
  8)   St John's           130     ( 7,  8,  8,  8,  9, 12, 13, 13)
  9)   Bethel              124     ( 6,  6,  8,  9,  9, 12, 14, 20)
10)   Chapman             124     ( 7,  8, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12, 15)
11)   Delaware Valley     120     ( 7,  8, 10, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13)
12)   Susquehanna         108     ( 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 16)
13)   Union               106     ( 7,  8,  9, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19)
14)   Wesley              104     (11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 14, 14, 19)
15)   John Carroll         94     (10, 10, 10, 14, 15, 16, 16, 23)
T16)   Case Western Reserve 63     (13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 19, 21, 24)
T16)   Redlands             63     (15, 16, 17, 17, 18, 20, 20, 22)
18)   Linfield             56     (11, 16, 17, 20, 20, 21, 21, --)
19)   Hardin-Simmons       53     (14, 15, 15, 16, 17, --, --, --)
20)   Berry                45     (17, 18, 19, 20, 20, 21, 22, --)
T21)   Bridgewater          40     (16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 22, 25, 25)
T21)   St Thomas            40     (14, 15, 17, 19, 25, --, --, --)
23)   Brockport            35     (18, 18, 18, 20, 21, --, --, --)
24)   Wartburg             25     (18, 22, 22, 23, 24, 24, 24, --)
25)   Central              21     (21, 22, 23, 23, 23, 24, 25, --)

T26)   Cortland              7     (19)
T26)   UW-Oshkosh            7     (23, 23, 25)
T26)   UW-Platteville        7     (21, 24)
29)   UW-La Crosse          5     (22, 25)
30)   W New England         3     (23)
T31)   Trinity (TX)          2     (24)
T31)   Wabash                2     (24)
T33)   Middlebury            1     (25)
T33)   WPI                   1     (25)