FB: Region 4 fan poll

[ExTartanPlayer]

Apologies for the non-specific post, but I've got a general observation to make about the first couple weeks of the season, so I'm going to post this in each of the respective "fan poll" threads since they will typically get some readership from many different conferences / audiences (of course, within each thread, it can and likely will spawn some discussion specific to that region):

The first couple weeks of the season feel like we're seeing one of the more "wide open" seasons in D3 football in several years, IMHO.  It's not just about UWW losing a few games; all over the Division, we've seen signs that some leagues may not adhere to a traditional hierarchy. 

- Thomas More has already lost to two other conference rivals, turning the PAC into a potentially entertaining four-team horse race;

- Wabash had to scrap their way past an admittedly-improved Hiram team, leaving several NRFP voters believing that Denison and/or DePauw are the teams Wittenberg really needs to be worried about;

- Whitewater already has two losses on the board to "very good but not great; teams that you wouldn't normally expect them to lose to" opponents and travels to UW-Oshkosh this week facing the prospect of their earliest "likely elimination from playoff contention" since 2002;

- St. Thomas picked up an early loss to UW-Stout (?!) and now likely has to play the season under "win the MIAC or risk missing the playoffs" pressure;

- John Carroll, fresh off a season where they snapped Mount Union's forever-long OAC win streak and made an appearance in the national semifinals, took it on the chin from Heidelberg, leaving us wondering if maybe Heidelberg is the real "second banana" to challenge Mount this year rather than JCU

- Wesley, who has had as much success as any non-Purple (UMU, UWW, Linfield, UMHB, UST) in the last decade, took a loss in Week 1 - admittedly against a quality opponent, a much less surprising loss than Stout vs. UST - but, similarly to UST, likely will play the season under "win the league or you might be home for the holidays" pressure

I know there have been some early surprises in other seasons, too, but this just feels like a season that's elicited a lot more "Whoa! That happened?" reactions in the first few weeks than seasons past.  Instead of the inevitable slog to the playoffs where it feels like we already know who lots of the players will be, several leagues feel more open top-to-bottom than usual and we're seeing some fun teams getting votes in the poll who may or may not deserve to be there, but are sitting there currently lacking any other evidence that someone else is definitively better.  Raise your hand if you thought UW-Stout would appear in a D3fb top 25 this season.  Or if you thought Frostburg State would be ranked 11th in the same week UW-Whitewater is barely holding onto a few votes. 

It could be a wild second half, folks, and we're not even out of September.  Yee-haw!  High times for Division III football, if you ask me.

[Dr. Acula]

I'm the far right.

I was interested to see how my positioning of Berg (5) would align with the group.  Pretty close.  I slotted them just ahead of Witt based largely on the fact that I feel they've been more impressive against better competition than Witt to date. 

Because I'm an OAC homer I also wanted to see if anyone left JCU on their ballot.  Pretty much as expected there.  Mount's drubbing of BW didn't make JCU squeaking out a win in Berea look good.  And I always dislike splitting QB snaps as JCU has done (albeit more in a starter/reliever way as opposed to rotating series).

I dropped Wabash a little this week after watching the 2nd half of that game.  I was underwhelmed by the LG's.  Those teams didn't look mismatched which can be both a credit to Hiram improving and a cause for concern (especially at QB) for Wabash.

[wally_wabash]

I dropped Wabash a little this week after watching the 2nd half of that game.  I was underwhelmed by the LG's.  Those teams didn't look mismatched which can be both a credit to Hiram improving and a cause for concern (especially at QB) for Wabash.

Thank goodness you didn't see the first half! 

[Dr. Acula]

I dropped Wabash a little this week after watching the 2nd half of that game.  I was underwhelmed by the LG's.  Those teams didn't look mismatched which can be both a credit to Hiram improving and a cause for concern (especially at QB) for Wabash.

Thank goodness you didn't see the first half!

That doesn't sound good.  To be honest, it didn't even occur to me to watch because it was Hiram.  It wasn't until I saw the score that I hopped on the feed to see what the heck was going on. 

[smedindy]

I'm the Trine voter, and the Carthage non-voter. Still a tough choice for the bottom.

ETP - Yeah, except for UMHB and Mt. Union, this...this is an interesting year. I was surprised how easily UMHB beat Linfield, until I read the Linfield posters. They're really worried about Whitworth.

[wally_wabash]

I dropped Wabash a little this week after watching the 2nd half of that game.  I was underwhelmed by the LG's.  Those teams didn't look mismatched which can be both a credit to Hiram improving and a cause for concern (especially at QB) for Wabash.

Thank goodness you didn't see the first half!

That doesn't sound good.  To be honest, it didn't even occur to me to watch because it was Hiram.  It wasn't until I saw the score that I hopped on the feed to see what the heck was going on.

I haven't had Wabash in my top 10 here yet this year (and was the only one until this week).  Last season some things happened that gave me pause.  Wabash started giving up a lot of points to the mid-level teams in the NCAC.  Wabash's offense looked great against teams that were just physically overmatched.  Teams that could hold their own even a little bit against Wabash's offensive line, caused significant problems that in most cases never got solved during the course of a game...lack of the adjustment-to-the-adjustment kind of thing.  Wabash won some games last year in spite of an offense that often just looked really confused.   That all happened with experienced personnel.  This year with key positions to be filled with new starters and no obvious indicators that the offense was going to be any more creative or efficient, I've taken a wait and see approach with the LGs.  I don't think you score points by blasting Kenyon 62-7 and in Wabash's other two games, they've been ok but not near top 10 quality, IMO.  Maybe I'm judging too harshly using pre-2016 Wabash as a measuring stick?  Wabash gets a tricky road game this weekend.  Then back home against Denison the week after.  The offense can not be confused or stale or inefficient in these next 10 days.  My hope is that last Saturday is a bit of a wake up call for everybody, Wabash dominates this weekend, and gets momentum into the juicy part of the schedule.  Wabash can certainly be in my top 10, but they haven't played well enough this season.  Yet.   

[DPU3619]

Just for the sake of discussion, I think it's interesting that one voter thinks Wabash is better than both Denison and DePauw. Denison might be the best of the three, truthfully. They're second in the country in scoring and fifth in total offense. That said, I also get that there's no concrete evidence of how good Denison might be because they've played 3 pretty bad teams. We'll learn more about Denison this weekend in Springfield.

DePauw A) just beat Wabash last year and B) DePauw and Wabash played Hiram a week apart. DePauw beat them by 27. Wabash beat them by 4. I think that matters when it comes how those two are ranked.

[wally_wabash]

Just for the sake of discussion, I think it's interesting that one voter thinks Wabash is better than both Denison and DePauw. Denison might be the best of the three, truthfully. They're second in the country in scoring and fifth in total offense. That said, I also get that there's no concrete evidence of how good Denison might be because they've played 3 pretty bad teams. We'll learn more about Denison this weekend in Springfield.

DePauw A) just beat Wabash last year and B) DePauw and Wabash played Hiram a week apart. DePauw beat them by 27. Wabash beat them by 4. I think that matters when it comes how those two are ranked.

I think it is two voters and your point is valid.  Wabash being ranked ahead of Denison and DePauw right now is a vote based on what was versus a vote based on what is.  It may work out that way in the end, but through three games in 2017 Wabash is not playing better than those two squads. 

[Dr. Acula]

I ordered them Denison, DPU, Wabash.  I knew I was putting Wabash 3rd of the trio, but I debated 1-2 a little.  The NCAC is going to be a battle this year as I don't think Witt is a clear cut favorite by any means. 

[Li'l Giant]

Just for the sake of discussion, I think it's interesting that one voter thinks Wabash is better than both Denison and DePauw. Denison might be the best of the three, truthfully. They're second in the country in scoring and fifth in total offense. That said, I also get that there's no concrete evidence of how good Denison might be because they've played 3 pretty bad teams. We'll learn more about Denison this weekend in Springfield.

DePauw A) just beat Wabash last year and B) DePauw and Wabash played Hiram a week apart. DePauw beat them by 27. Wabash beat them by 4. I think that matters when it comes how those two are ranked.

I agree with this. On my ballot I had Denison at 7, Depauw at 10, and Wabash unranked.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Last week I had DePauw 9 and Wabash 10.  They both won today, but very unimpressively.  I'm seriously considering replacing them with Hope and Trine;  neither has played anyone all that impressive, but at least they are rather soundly defeating them.  My usual go-to-team, Franklin, lost to TM who is now 1-4 with their ONLY win over Franklin - no thanks!  JCU gets no chance to prove themselves until they face UMU, but UWO finally looked like a top five team today, so maybe I'll give JCU another chance just through lack of alternatives.

I think I just talked myself into Hope 9 and Trine 10 for THIS week; next week it will probably be different.

Fascinating mayhem at the top: with about 11 seconds left, and IWU on Wheaton's 12,  Brandon Bauer got sacked and the Titans had no time-outs left - game over, Wheaton wins, 10-7.  WAIT, hold the bus!  Someone on Wheaton had called time before the snap!!  Given a second chance after all, Bauer connected with Walsh (who made a FANTASTIC one-handed catch while falling out of bounds!!) for a game-winning TD, Titans 14, Thunder 10!

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

My usual go-to-team, Franklin, lost to TM who is now 1-4 with their ONLY win over Franklin - no thanks! 

Thomas More's schedule was incredibly front-loaded and they should cruise to a 6-4 record. Their four losses are to teams that are a combined 14-2 at the moment and 3 of those losses were 1 score games including today's OT game. I'd still pick TM to beat any team out of the MIAA right now.

[Mr. Ypsi]

My usual go-to-team, Franklin, lost to TM who is now 1-4 with their ONLY win over Franklin - no thanks! 

Thomas More's schedule was incredibly front-loaded and they should cruise to a 6-4 record. Their four losses are to teams that are a combined 14-2 at the moment and 3 of those losses were 1 score games including today's OT game. I'd still pick TM to beat any team out of the MIAA right now.

And it would not surprise me terribly if Franklin could beat any team in the MIAA more often than not.  But the HCAC just doesn't really give you a chance (most years) to demonstrate it.

[Dr. Acula]

This week's last couple spots on my ballot is an absolute bear.  Good grief.  It's like no one wants to be in the poll!

[wally_wabash]

NRFP through games of Week 5:


click to enlarge

The NRFP is voted on by: Captain_Joe08, Dr. Acula, FCGrizzliesGrad, Li'l Giant, Mr Ypsi, NCF,  smedindy, USee, and wally wabash.