FB: Region 4 fan poll

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Still waiting on two ballots and this poll is a doozy.

[HOPEful]

Still waiting on two ballots and this poll is a doozy.

That I can believe! I got through the top 4 and didn't want to go any further. 5-10 was rough to try and rank.

[Captain_Joe08]

Still waiting on two ballots and this poll is a doozy.

I managed to send mine in before falling asleep last night during a livestream. Like Hopeful said, I had a hard time ranking the bottom half. Also I couldn't find a pen for a bit  .

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I believe this ties the record for teams in a single poll.

Week 3


The NRFP is voted on by: Captain_Joe08, CollegeGolf18, Dr. Acula, FCGrizzliesGrad, HOPEful, Li'l Giant, NCF,  smedindy, thunderdog, and wally wabash.

[Dr. Acula]

Still waiting on two ballots and this poll is a doozy.

That I can believe! I got through the top 4 and didn't want to go any further. 5-10 was rough to try and rank.

Exactly.  I felt like there was a Grand Canyon between 4 and 5 and I could talk myself into about a dozen teams for those bottom 6 slots.  I literally went from thinking I should drop IWU out altogether to thinking maybe I should just leave them at 5!  It was a complete mess.  I'm the high water guy for Trine (#5) and that was honestly just a shot in the dark because I had to put someone there to keep my ballot moving. 

[formerd3db]

Still waiting on two ballots and this poll is a doozy.

That I can believe! I got through the top 4 and didn't want to go any further. 5-10 was rough to try and rank.

Exactly.  I felt like there was a Grand Canyon between 4 and 5 and I could talk myself into about a dozen teams for those bottom 6 slots.  I literally went from thinking I should drop IWU out altogether to thinking maybe I should just leave them at 5!  It was a complete mess.  I'm the high water guy for Trine (#5) and that was honestly just a shot in the dark because I had to put someone there to keep my ballot moving.

Well, Dr., we'll see if your intuition is right in two weeks when Trine meets Hope at their place!

[HOPEful]

I'm column 5. My thoughts are...

1-3  - Same and everyone else.

4 - I went very high on Millikin. Reasoning is simple. I took the 2-0 CCIW team with a quality win over Hope. I also have the 1 week advantage of dropping them if they get obliterated by Wheaton, or leaving them if they win.

5 - John Carroll - That win was ugly. At least for one week, I felt the need to punish them in my rankings. And I can't erase the way they were bounced from the playoffs last season out of my mind. I can't drop them further and they'll very likely be my number 4 team next week when Wheaton beats Millikin, but I have little confidence in that offense right now. Of course, there's a chance they're number 1 on my list next week, but I don't really see how they pull off the upset right now.

6 - Denison - 2-0 team that has actually impressed me with their wins, although against ONU and Hiram.

7-8 - How low do you drop IWU and Wash U? For me it was to 7 and 8, giving benefit of the doubt to the CCIW. I still think these teams crush anyone left below them on a neutral field. For instance, as a fan, I want to rank Hope, but I think that IWU would beat them in Holland and do so comfortably.

9-10 - I went Wittenberg and Baldwin Wallace. I can't rank an MIAA team yet. I will. But it won't be until the winner of the Hope v. Trine game. And if Albion stays unbeaten and beats Hope the following week, it'll be them. From what I've seen from Hope and Trine this season, I'm currently expecting Hope to win that game and the game against Albion to be an unofficial MIAA championship game.

[thunderdog]

I was column 6. Glad to hear everyone struggled with their #5-#10 teams, in particular #8-#10. I was the lone vote for Heidelberg @ #8. I'm pretty convinced the OAC #3 team deserves this spot, just not sure if that's Berg or BW at this point (but we'll find out this weekend, won't we?

I struggled to keep WashU in the top 10. Losing to #2 NCC shouldn't (normally) knock them out, but it was a pretty convincing loss.

[wally_wabash]

I am column 2.  Not sure what you all are talking about, I thought 4-10 was pretty straightforward.  [/sarcasm]

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

CCIW (6 teams; 241 points): North Central, Wheaton, Illinois Wesleyan, WashU, Millikin, Augustana
OAC (4 teams; 180 points): Mount Union, John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Heidelberg
NCAC (3 teams; 100 points): Denison, Wittenberg, Wabash
MIAA (3 teams; 28 points): Trine, Albion, Hope
NACC (1 team; 1 point): Aurora
HCAC (0): 

[smedindy]

When even the HCAC homer can't put an HCAC team in this mess of a Top 10....

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

When even the HCAC homer can't put an HCAC team in this mess of a Top 10....

Doubly bad because this has been the best non-conference performance (not counting the three "non-conference" games last week) since 2010. A mighty 6-10 so far (and MSJ finishes the season with SUNY Maritime who they should beat for a 7th win (not holding my breath for Rose against St John's). You'd have to go back to 2009, before Earlham left the NCAC, to find a season with 7 wins. The conference went 7-17 that year as they had 6 more non-conference games than this year.
Mount St Joseph is still unbeaten (hopefully not for much longer though) so if we get another chaotic week who knows.

[Dr. Acula]

I was 3 yards away from booting BW this week.  But nooooo, Berg can't convert the 2 point try!  That looked like (on paper) it was a great game though.  Berg is definitely better than I expected.

Also, for the record I hate the NRFP this year beyond the top 3 spots.  Every single team I look at their resume and think "no way, that's not a top 5 team" and then realize I just said that about every team except the top 3 and I still have to hold my nose and choose 2 of them.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Still one ballot missing. I'll have the poll up tonight regardless.

[CollegeGolf18]

Sorry, guys. I am an awful person.