FB: Region 4 fan poll

[JCUStreaks70]

I'm column 4 this week.  I nearly substituted Marietta for either Bald Wally or MSJ, but they haven't beaten anyone (unless you wanna count ONU, and giving up 50 to 0-4 Capital was a deal-breaker for me.  I also gave strong consideration to Albion, but the thought of TWO MIAA teams was a bit much, even for this Michigan guy.

At the moment, I think we have a top 8, then throw darts at the wall.

Who knew that adding Gray turf was all Marietta needed to start winning some ball games?

[HOPEful]

At the moment, I think we have a top 8, then throw darts at the wall.

Row 8 for me. And yes, 9 and 10 were indeed darts at the wall. I went Millikin at 10 solely because they were the next "best" team from the CCIW. I'll probably put Albion on here if they beat Hope on Saturday.

BW finishes the season @ Marietta, ONU, @ John Carroll. I think I'll have a difficult time putting them in my rankings before that Marietta game...

[smedindy]

I'm column 12.

[wally_wabash]

The interesting activity for me this week was with Wittenberg, John Carroll, and the CCIW triumverate.  Most people clustered IWU/Wheaton/NCC together, in that order, which is what makes sense to me.  A couple of people moved Wheaton ahead of IWU, which, sure, I guess.  I think I need more information on IWU and North Central before I'm comfortable overruling the h2h's there. 

Now, what's really interesting is whether people kept Wittenberg ahead of the CCIWs or moved them behind and also where people wanted to squeeze John Carroll into that quagmire.  I went JCU 2 (I was an early adopter on JCU and had them there last week), then the CCIWs (IWU>Wheaton>NCC), then Witt.  You guys know I love me some me Denison, but I can't talk myself into Witt doing a 68-66 game with Denison and being in the same ballpark as JCU's UMU result or either of the three CCIW teams.  So Witt fell a bit for me this week behind all of those teams- and in my mind clearly behind them. 

BTW, I'm either column 4 or 9...Mr. Y and I had the same 10 in the same order this week. 

[Dr. Acula]

I'm column 2.   

[USee]

I'm column 11.

I think the CCIW/JCU cluster belongs together for now and I bumped Witt below that because of the game vs Denison, whom is no slouch but I couldn't rationalize putting Witt ahead of that group based on that result though I did drop NCC to 8 because their defense is atrocious. I also dropped undefeated Trine from 4 to 7 as a close loss to Hope doesn't match up with the other.

Basically I looked at these teams comparatively based on what is now several regional results against ranked teams. When I look at this way I find the following:

Rank/Record vs RRO
Mt. Union 2-0 (JCU, BW)
Wheaton 3-1 (Monmouth, Millikin, NCC-IWU)
IWU 1-1 (Wheaton-UWL)
JCU 0-1 (Mt Union)
Witt 0-0 (I don't count Denison as a RRO, yet)
Wabash 0-0
Trine 1-0 (Hope)
North Central 1-1 (WashU-Wheaton)

Baldwin Wallace and Marietta rounded out the bottom of my poll.

[Li'l Giant]

I went JCU 2 (I was an early adopter on JCU and had them there last week), then the CCIWs (IWU>Wheaton>NCC), then Witt.  You guys know I love me some me Denison, but I can't talk myself into Witt doing a 68-66 game with Denison and being in the same ballpark as JCU's UMU result or either of the three CCIW teams.  So Witt fell a bit for me this week behind all of those teams- and in my mind clearly behind them. 

I'm column 6.

Wally's analysis re: the UMU/JCU and the CCIW triplets is pretty much how I feel. I think there's a clear divide between the bottom of that CCIW cluster and Witt/Wabash/Trine et al.

No 10 was basically a dart throw and it landed on Denison for me.

[Mr. Ypsi]

The interesting activity for me this week was with Wittenberg, John Carroll, and the CCIW triumverate.  Most people clustered IWU/Wheaton/NCC together, in that order, which is what makes sense to me.  A couple of people moved Wheaton ahead of IWU, which, sure, I guess.  I think I need more information on IWU and North Central before I'm comfortable overruling the h2h's there. 

Now, what's really interesting is whether people kept Wittenberg ahead of the CCIWs or moved them behind and also where people wanted to squeeze John Carroll into that quagmire.  I went JCU 2 (I was an early adopter on JCU and had them there last week), then the CCIWs (IWU>Wheaton>NCC), then Witt.  You guys know I love me some me Denison, but I can't talk myself into Witt doing a 68-66 game with Denison and being in the same ballpark as JCU's UMU result or either of the three CCIW teams.  So Witt fell a bit for me this week behind all of those teams- and in my mind clearly behind them. 

BTW, I'm either column 4 or 9...Mr. Y and I had the same 10 in the same order this week.

Is that evidence that 'great minds think alike' or that both our minds are flowing down the same gutter?!

(When I claimed column 4, I hadn't noticed that column 9 was exactly identical! )

[CollegeGolf18]

Alright, here is my weekly rundown of my ballot. I am column #3.

1. Mount Union - They won't move for me.

2. John Carroll - They too, won't move. I think a close loss to Mount Union is going to be better than any other result in the North this year.

3. Wittenberg - I think that Denison's offense is really good and I think Witt's offense is really good. Not sure how they let Denison come back from 25 down, but that's moot. I didn't think anyone else gave me enough to put over Witt at the three spot.

4. Illinois Wesleyan - IWU has the best resume in my opinion over the teams below. I thought about putting them up at number 3, but Jake Kennedy.

5. Wheaton - Well, Wheaton had a convincing win this week over North Central. So they move up four spots for me. I think they are really good when they come out and play but that seems to be hit or miss this year.

6. North Central - They got destroyed by Wheaton, but I don't think that should move them down below Wabash because NCC had some good wins this year.

7. Wabash - I think Wabash is really good. They just haven't played anyone yet. This weekend against Denison is going to be a game that I'll be watching closely.

8. Trine - I had Trine up at #2 in the preseason, but they keep slipping. They are winning but just not convincingly over lesser teams. I do think they can score on anyone though.

9. Albion - I can't really justify anyone else here. But Albion gets the nod because they are still undefeated.

10. Denison - They scored 66 points against Witt, who I don't think has that bad of a defense. Gebele is a rock solid QB and I think that Denison will lose just one more game this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

HUGE Saturday around D3 (10 Top 25 teams played each other), but almost all of it was elsewhere.  Not that much to unsettle the NRFP standings, though Wabash got absolutely drilled at Denison and previously unbeaten Albion lost at home to Hope.  In other action that might be relevant to voters, IWU needed 2 OTs to down Carthage, Witt (47-28 at home to Hiram) and MSJ (49-27 at home to Manchester) both had far more trouble than most probably expected.  Marietta moved to 5-0, but beat "Heidelbein" by a 20 point smaller margin than Bald Wally did (38-34 vs. 34-10).

My "Top 8, then throw darts at the wall" has become a top 7 with The Little Giants living up to only the second word of their slogan.  I know who my top 7 will be (though not necessarily the order); my bottom three is a real puzzle.

[wally_wabash]

Wittenberg was up 47-7 45 seconds into the 4th quarter, so nobody needs to be fooled into thinking they had any trouble whatsoever with Hiram.  They cruised. 

[smedindy]

My ballot is.."Going through changes...."

[Mr. Ypsi]

An additional note to any voters who have yet to submit (or wanna file an 'amended return' ):  in addition to the teams I mentioned in my earlier post, there are still two other 5-0 teams in the region: neither Kalamazoo nor Eureka has beaten anyone of note, but if you're searching for a 9 or a 10, they might be worth a flyer.  Teams can only play who's on the schedule, so a team in a bad conference could conceivably be really, really good with no way to prove it.  (I have my doubts about either of these being 'really, really good', but who can say - neither is on my ballot, but they are on my radar.)

[Ryan Stoppable]

An additional note to any voters who have yet to submit (or wanna file an 'amended return' ):  in addition to the teams I mentioned in my earlier post, there are still two other 5-0 teams in the region: neither Kalamazoo nor Eureka has beaten anyone of note, but if you're searching for a 9 or a 10, they might be worth a flyer.  Teams can only play who's on the schedule, so a team in a bad conference could conceivably be really, really good with no way to prove it.  (I have my doubts about either of these being 'really, really good', but who can say - neither is on my ballot, but they are on my radar.)

None of the teams Eureka has beaten thus far have more than one win yet, and only one remaining on the schedule does. I don't think I'd call them "really, really good" either - good enough to win the NACC, certainly, but even if they run the table, I'm not sure how much that says in the bigger picture.

Kalamazoo, on the other hand, I can't speak to what they have but they will have chances to "prove it" in the back half of MIAA play.

[CollegeGolf18]

Am I allowed to pick just a top 7? I might just randomly pick teams to fill out my ballot by favorite colors or something.