FB: Region 4 fan poll

[USee]

I'm column 5. I went with Marietta, Millikin, and Denison in the 8-10. Baldwin Wallace, FWIW, is my 11.

Marietta is undefeated and at least beat ONU. Do I think they'll get shellacked by John Carroll and Mount Union. Yep. Could they lose to BW, yep. Do I have any faith whatsoever in any team past 7? Nope.
My vote for Millikin was less a vote for Big Blue and more a vote for the CCIW. Washington is very much on the radar but haven't played anyone yet. Excited to see what they do against Wheaton this weekend. If they beat Wheaton they will most likely jump to 8 on my rankings.
Denison? I don't know. I just can't put in the best team from HCAC or NACC this year. Already gave an extra vote to the CCIW. So... OAC or NCAC? Coin flip between Denison and BW.  Tie breaker went to the team that took Wittenberg to OT and whompped Wabash last week...

WashU pounded Carthage and kept it pretty close with North Central, who appears to be someone. Carthage hasn't had the results on the field but as a common opponent they lost at the end to UWO, got smoked by WashU and were a lineman downfield away from beating IWU in OT. To me WashU has a better resume than anyone in the 7-10 range

[HOPEful]

I'm column 5. I went with Marietta, Millikin, and Denison in the 8-10. Baldwin Wallace, FWIW, is my 11.

Marietta is undefeated and at least beat ONU. Do I think they'll get shellacked by John Carroll and Mount Union. Yep. Could they lose to BW, yep. Do I have any faith whatsoever in any team past 7? Nope.
My vote for Millikin was less a vote for Big Blue and more a vote for the CCIW. Washington is very much on the radar but haven't played anyone yet. Excited to see what they do against Wheaton this weekend. If they beat Wheaton they will most likely jump to 8 on my rankings.
Denison? I don't know. I just can't put in the best team from HCAC or NACC this year. Already gave an extra vote to the CCIW. So... OAC or NCAC? Coin flip between Denison and BW.  Tie breaker went to the team that took Wittenberg to OT and whompped Wabash last week...

WashU pounded Carthage and kept it pretty close with North Central, who appears to be someone. Carthage hasn't had the results on the field but as a common opponent they lost at the end to UWO, got smoked by WashU and were a lineman downfield away from beating IWU in OT. To me WashU has a better resume than anyone in the 7-10 range

Probably poor choice of words. Yes, North Central is someone. But it was a loss and they were down 22-0 at half. I don't have enough info to go on at this point in the season to determine if they came back or NC took their foot off the accelerator. I have a hard time pointing to a win against a 2-3 team and a 32-19 loss as milestones. A close week 1 against Chicago just adds to my uncertainty... But that's all about to change! Back to back games against Wheaton and IWU means the Bears have two opportunities to sky rocket up my rankings with wins. Even losses but good showings will probably be enough for me to launch them into the 8 or 9 range.

[bluestreak66]

The fact we have a season where a team lime Marietta is in the top 10 after 6 weeks makes me happy in so many ways!

[USee]

I'm column 5. I went with Marietta, Millikin, and Denison in the 8-10. Baldwin Wallace, FWIW, is my 11.

Marietta is undefeated and at least beat ONU. Do I think they'll get shellacked by John Carroll and Mount Union. Yep. Could they lose to BW, yep. Do I have any faith whatsoever in any team past 7? Nope.
My vote for Millikin was less a vote for Big Blue and more a vote for the CCIW. Washington is very much on the radar but haven't played anyone yet. Excited to see what they do against Wheaton this weekend. If they beat Wheaton they will most likely jump to 8 on my rankings.
Denison? I don't know. I just can't put in the best team from HCAC or NACC this year. Already gave an extra vote to the CCIW. So... OAC or NCAC? Coin flip between Denison and BW.  Tie breaker went to the team that took Wittenberg to OT and whompped Wabash last week...

WashU pounded Carthage and kept it pretty close with North Central, who appears to be someone. Carthage hasn't had the results on the field but as a common opponent they lost at the end to UWO, got smoked by WashU and were a lineman downfield away from beating IWU in OT. To me WashU has a better resume than anyone in the 7-10 range

Probably poor choice of words. Yes, North Central is someone. But it was a loss and they were down 22-0 at half. I don't have enough info to go on at this point in the season to determine if they came back or NC took their foot off the accelerator. I have a hard time pointing to a win against a 2-3 team and a 32-19 loss as milestones. A close week 1 against Chicago just adds to my uncertainty... But that's all about to change! Back to back games against Wheaton and IWU means the Polar Bears have two opportunities to sky rocket up my rankings with wins. Even losses but good showings will probably be enough for me to launch them into the 8 or 9 range.

We have more information on WashU than almost anyone ranked 5 or lower. It's all uncertain but I can tell you I feel a lot better about WashU's place in the world order than Marietta, Baldwin Wallace, or Eureka. You categorize Carthage as a "2-3 team" but I look through that a little deeper. I find it compelling that WashU soundly beat a Carthage team at home that Unanimous Top 5 pick IWU needed a penalty flag to beat at home. There's is a direct, comparative result there. For me that's more info than we have for most of these teams. We will certainly know more about WashU in 2 weeks than we know now, but that doesn't help me fill out this weeks poll.

[HOPEful]

We have more information on WashU than almost anyone ranked 5 or lower. It's all uncertain but I can tell you I feel a lot better about WashU's place in the world order than Marietta, Baldwin Wallace, or Eureka

FWIW, there is a zero percent change Eureka makes my rankings this season.

[ADL70]

Somehow we ended up with one more ORV than last week.  I think we've set a new highwater mark for number of teams receiving votes in the NRFP. 

2018 Week 6 NRFP:


click to enlarge

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

Interesting contrast - SRFP had only 11 teams receive votes this week.  Of course we only have five participants.

[Gregory Sager]

I'm column 5. I went with Marietta, Millikin, and Denison in the 8-10. Baldwin Wallace, FWIW, is my 11.

Marietta is undefeated and at least beat ONU. Do I think they'll get shellacked by John Carroll and Mount Union. Yep. Could they lose to BW, yep. Do I have any faith whatsoever in any team past 7? Nope.
My vote for Millikin was less a vote for Big Blue and more a vote for the CCIW. Washington is very much on the radar but haven't played anyone yet. Excited to see what they do against Wheaton this weekend. If they beat Wheaton they will most likely jump to 8 on my rankings.
Denison? I don't know. I just can't put in the best team from HCAC or NACC this year. Already gave an extra vote to the CCIW. So... OAC or NCAC? Coin flip between Denison and BW.  Tie breaker went to the team that took Wittenberg to OT and whompped Wabash last week...

WashU pounded Carthage and kept it pretty close with North Central, who appears to be someone. Carthage hasn't had the results on the field but as a common opponent they lost at the end to UWO, got smoked by WashU and were a lineman downfield away from beating IWU in OT. To me WashU has a better resume than anyone in the 7-10 range

Probably poor choice of words. Yes, North Central is someone. But it was a loss and they were down 22-0 at half. I don't have enough info to go on at this point in the season to determine if they came back or NC took their foot off the accelerator. I have a hard time pointing to a win against a 2-3 team and a 32-19 loss as milestones. A close week 1 against Chicago just adds to my uncertainty... But that's all about to change! Back to back games against Wheaton and IWU means the Polar Bears have two opportunities to sky rocket up my rankings with wins. Even losses but good showings will probably be enough for me to launch them into the 8 or 9 range.

Ohio Northern is the Polar Bears. Wash U is simply the Bears. As anyone who has been to St. Louis between the months of May and September will tell you, there's nothing the least bit polar about the Gateway City.

[HOPEful]

Ohio Northern is the Polar Bears. Wash U is simply the Bears. As anyone who has been to St. Louis between the months of May and September will tell you, there's nothing the least bit polar about the Gateway City.

Silly mistake. Thank you Mr. Sager for the correction!

[JCUStreaks70]

I'm column 5. I went with Marietta, Millikin, and Denison in the 8-10. Baldwin Wallace, FWIW, is my 11.

Marietta is undefeated and at least beat ONU. Do I think they'll get shellacked by John Carroll and Mount Union. Yep. Could they lose to BW, yep. Do I have any faith whatsoever in any team past 7? Nope.
My vote for Millikin was less a vote for Big Blue and more a vote for the CCIW. Washington is very much on the radar but haven't played anyone yet. Excited to see what they do against Wheaton this weekend. If they beat Wheaton they will most likely jump to 8 on my rankings.
Denison? I don't know. I just can't put in the best team from HCAC or NACC this year. Already gave an extra vote to the CCIW. So... OAC or NCAC? Coin flip between Denison and BW.  Tie breaker went to the team that took Wittenberg to OT and whompped Wabash last week...

WashU pounded Carthage and kept it pretty close with North Central, who appears to be someone. Carthage hasn't had the results on the field but as a common opponent they lost at the end to UWO, got smoked by WashU and were a lineman downfield away from beating IWU in OT. To me WashU has a better resume than anyone in the 7-10 range

Probably poor choice of words. Yes, North Central is someone. But it was a loss and they were down 22-0 at half. I don't have enough info to go on at this point in the season to determine if they came back or NC took their foot off the accelerator. I have a hard time pointing to a win against a 2-3 team and a 32-19 loss as milestones. A close week 1 against Chicago just adds to my uncertainty... But that's all about to change! Back to back games against Wheaton and IWU means the Polar Bears have two opportunities to sky rocket up my rankings with wins. Even losses but good showings will probably be enough for me to launch them into the 8 or 9 range.

Ohio Northern is the Polar Bears. Wash U is simply the Bears. As anyone who has been to St. Louis between the months of May and September will tell you, there's nothing the least bit polar about the Gateway City.

Especially because the Blues are usually out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by then!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Major upsets are always possible, of course, but it looks to be a fairly quiet Saturday in the North.  The games most likely to affect voting (in no particular order) include 4-1 JCU @ 4-1 ONU, 4-1 Wheaton @ 4-1 WashU, 4-1 Franklin @ 5-1 MSJ, 5-0 Kazoo @ 4-1 Albion, and 5-0 Trine @ 4-1 Olivet (and perhaps 4-1 Millikin @ 2-3 Carthage).

(Carthage may well be the best 2-3 team in the country [no way will I spend any time investigating such a trivial claim!]: they led Oshkosh with 90 seconds to go; took IWU to double OT, and would have won if not for a really stupid penalty; only WashU has beaten them soundly; and their two wins were both blowouts.  Someone is still giving Millikin a vote, but I suspect Carthage will win by a monkey-stomp - IF Millikin wins, I'll get them on my ballot somehow!)

[Dr. Acula]

I'm column 3.  My biggest move this week actually had more to do with last week.  I moved Witt from 2 to 5 mainly because I meant to move them down last week, but didn't and immediately had buyer's remorse once I sent my ballot in with them at 2.  I would have moved them to 6, but Denison's performance against Wabash lessened the blow and I ended up slotting Witt behind Wheaton.  8-10 continue to be a crap shoot as they seem to be for everyone else.

[Mr. Ypsi]

WashU knocking off Wheaton is gonna wreak havoc on ballots!  Instead of the three-headed CCIW monster, it's now FOUR-headed!  And instead of bemoaning the lack of decent candidates for the nether reaches of the ballot, there is a glut of candidates.  In no particular order, there is Franklin moving to 5-1, knocking off MSJ;  Olivet coming within a blown two-point conversion of knocking Trine from the unbeaten ranks; Kalamazoo remaining unbeaten by edging Albion; Millikin downing Carthage to move to 5-1; etc.

[Ralph Turner]

Somehow we ended up with one more ORV than last week.  I think we've set a new highwater mark for number of teams receiving votes in the NRFP. 

2018 Week 6 NRFP:


click to enlarge

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

Interesting contrast - SRFP had only 11 teams receive votes this week.  Of course we only have five participants.

I think that the NRFP was relatively homogenous.  If you drop the teams that only appeared on 1 ballot (or rather did not appear on any of the other 11 ballots), then you are down to 12 teams.  The questionable ballot that I see is Albion as a #8. Respectfully, I have real problems giving the MIAA 2 teams on the Region Fan Poll.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Somehow we ended up with one more ORV than last week.  I think we've set a new highwater mark for number of teams receiving votes in the NRFP. 

2018 Week 6 NRFP:


click to enlarge

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

Interesting contrast - SRFP had only 11 teams receive votes this week.  Of course we only have five participants.

I think that the NRFP was relatively homogenous.  If you drop the teams that only appeared on 1 ballot (or rather did not appear on any of the other 11 ballots), then you are down to 12 teams.  The questionable ballot that I see is Albion as a #8. Respectfully, I have real problems giving the MIAA 2 teams on the Region Fan Poll.

Me too.  On the other hand, Kalamazoo is now 6-0, having defeated Albion. while Trine was a muffed two-point conversion away from falling from the undefeated against Olivet.  I MIGHT make an exception for Trine and Kazoo, but too early to say.

While only a week ago I scrambled to fill my ballot, now I have like 15 tempting options for the top 10!

And I said it looked like a quiet week in the North!

[Titan Q]

WashU knocking off Wheaton is gonna wreak havoc on ballots!  Instead of the three-headed CCIW monster, it's now FOUR-headed! 

I'm not exactly sure what four CCIW teams you are referring to (whether you are including Wheaton or Millikin), but I'd say the CCIW currently has five title contenders, not four...

(conference record)

IWU (5-0) - @ Wash U, @ Millikin, vs NCC, @ North Park
Millikin (4-1) - @ Elmhurst, vs IWU, vs Wash U, @ NCC
Wash U (4-1) - vs IWU, @ Augustana, @ Millikin, vs Carroll
NCC (4-1) - @ Carthage, vs Elmhurst, @ IWU, vs Millikin
Wheaton (3-2) - @ Augustana, vs Carroll, @ Carthage, vs Elmhurst

As of today, I believe all five have a legitimate shot of winning a piece of the championship.

In terms of a national or regional ranking order, seems at this point it has to be: IWU, North Central, Wash U,  Wheaton, Millikin. That order should be very fluid as the games play out.