FB: Region 6 fan poll

[TwoArmedScot]

Don't count out Monmouth. They have been banged up to start the season and are starting to get healthy. Had a few d-linemen and O-linemen out vs wartburg and hope. Starting to get healthy. Held Macalester to -14 yards rushing and Lawerence to 49 total yards in their last two games. Defense finished #1 in the nation last year and is close to full strength again. Still missing the big horse in #2. Should be back soon hopefully.

Agreed!  Monmouth's D-Line, when completely healthy, is as good as I've seen in D3.  That makes their defense really tough.  To me their biggest question mark is at QB and on offense.  Their offense this year is not at the same level as last year's squad.

[smedindy]

And we're shufflin'...

[USTBench]

Don't count out Monmouth. They have been banged up to start the season and are starting to get healthy. Had a few d-linemen and O-linemen out vs wartburg and hope. Starting to get healthy. Held Macalester to -14 yards rushing and Lawerence to 49 total yards in their last two games. Defense finished #1 in the nation last year and is close to full strength again. Still missing the big horse in #2. Should be back soon hopefully.

Agreed!  Monmouth's D-Line, when completely healthy, is as good as I've seen in D3.  That makes their defense really tough.  To me their biggest question mark is at QB and on offense.  Their offense this year is not at the same level as last year's squad.

Counterpoint:

Macalester, Lawerence and Grinnell are not exactly a murderer's row of opponents. Wartburg put up 526 yards on them.

[02 Warhawk]

As this season unfolds, Stout beating St. Thomas is making less and less sense. It has to be a classic case of looking ahead, right? No way they took Stout seriously with St. John's looming in Minneapolis.....

[jamtod]

As this season unfolds, Stout beating St. Thomas is making less and less sense. It has to be a classic case of looking ahead, right? No way they took Stout seriously with St. John's looming in Minneapolis.....

I can't completely deny that some looking ahead could be involved (and aiming to rest a couple of key players, figuring that they won't be necessary), but I'd say it is more a combo of: Stout game-planning really well to hit our weaknesses AND early season disjointedness. We've made a lot of progress in recent weeks to be a better team.

[USTBench]

As this season unfolds, Stout beating St. Thomas is making less and less sense. It has to be a classic case of looking ahead, right? No way they took Stout seriously with St. John's looming in Minneapolis.....

I can't completely deny that some looking ahead could be involved (and aiming to rest a couple of key players, figuring that they won't be necessary), but I'd say it is more a combo of: Stout game-planning really well to hit our weaknesses AND early season disjointedness. We've made a lot of progress in recent weeks to be a better team.

It does appear to be an anomaly, however, despite Stout's recent showing at UWW, I would say they are a decidedly improved football team, and if you don't come out at their place firing on all cylinders, you will go home with an "L", no matter who you are. They still took UWP to the wire on the road two weeks ago. The most recent UWW game may also prove to be Stout's outlier. Two weeks off, then having to go on the road to UWP and UWW is not ideal. Even if they kept the home game against Trinity BC, what good would that have done them?

The next few weeks in the WIAC will be crazy. I still like UWO to finish on top, but La Crosse is getting overlooked, UWP is still rolling, UWW may have figured something out, and Stout ain't bad.  UWO still has to Platteville, La Crosse and Stout. It is entirely possible the Titans finish with two L's.

[jamtod]

Haven't UW-SP and UW-RF been somewhat feisty the last few years at times also?

[HansenRatings]

Haven't UW-SP and UW-RF been somewhat feisty the last few years at times also?

Feisty is probably a good descriptor for UWRF--they were able to keep a couple games against the "big 3" in the WIAC close in recent years through clever game-planning--but they never really upset the apple cart in any meaningful way. UWSP though has been a solid #4 team in the WIAC ever since UWO & UWP rose to be consistently in the top 3, until apparently this season.

[02 Warhawk]

             2017 Week 6 West Fan Poll

Rank      Team           Previous    Points   
1)   UW-Oshkosh (10)        1         100     
2)   St. Thomas             2          84   
3t)  UW-Platteville         3          72   
3t)  Linfield               4          72     
5)   St. John's             5          70     
6)   Wartburg               7          43   
7)   Concordia-Moorhead     6          31     
8)   George Fox            N/A         29     
9)   UW-LaCrosse            9          23   
10)  Redlands              N/A         12

Dropped Out: Whitworth, UW-Stout

RV)  UW-Whitewater (7), Lake Forest (4), Monmouth (2), Luther (1)


Thanks to those who participated this week: art76, wartnight, wm4, astro9046, doolittledog, desercat1, HansenRatings, TwoArmedScot, smedindy and 02 Warhawk.

[02 Warhawk]

 
1)  UW-Oshkosh (10)      100      ( 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1)
2)  St. Thomas            84      ( 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4)
3t) UW-Platteville        72      ( 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5)
3t) Linfield              72      ( 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7)
5)  St. John's            70      ( 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5)
6)  Wartburg              43      ( 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9,10)
7)  Concordia-Moorhead    31      ( 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8,10, -)
8)  George Fox            29      ( 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9,10, -)
9)  UW-LaCrosse           23      ( 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8,10,10, -, -)
10) Redlands              12      ( 8, 9, 9, 9, 9,10, -, -, -, -)

RV) UW-Whitewater          7      ( 7, 9,10, -, -, -, -, -, -, -)
RV) Lake Forest            4      ( 9, 9, -, -, -, -, -, -, -, -)
RV) Monmouth               2      (10,10, -, -, -, -, -, -, -, -)
RV) Luther                 1      (10, -, -, -, -, -, -, -, -, -)

[wm4]

So we learned where Concordia and Stout stack up at this point of the season.  Next up is LaCrosse at Whitewater (Friday) and Oshkosh at Platteville.  I have Platteville behind St John's and Linefield, but how they fare this weekend could change things.

As for Concordia, they appear to be just a shell of themselves on offense, without Herzog.  I dropped them from my top 10 for that reason.  They'll probably will their games between now and St John's, but I just don't feel they're a top 10 team in the West, currently. 

[art76]

On the podcast this morning, Keith brought up an interesting point concerning 4 West teams: St. Thomas has beaten Concordia Moorhead, Concordia Moorhead has beaten UW Whitewater, UW Whitewater has beaten UW Stout, and UW Stout has beaten St. Thomas. Quite a conundrum.

[smedindy]

I see C-M being 8-1 going into the St. John's game.

As for my ballot, the merry-go-round in the WIAC and MIAC, and the dearth of a good SCIAC candidate has caused some consideration for...Lake Forest, but I didn't go there yet.

[02 Warhawk]

I'm confident in my top 8 this week, but the last two spots were a toss up for me. Nobody really stands out for the 9th and 10th spot.

I just need two more ballots and I'll post the results (so hopefully tomorrow).

[02 Warhawk]

             2017 Week 7 West Fan Poll

Rank      Team           Previous    Points   
1)   UW-Oshkosh (10)        1         100     
2)   St. Thomas             2          86   
3)   Linfield               3          70   
4)   St. John's             5          69     
5)   UW-Platteville         3          67     
6)   Wartburg               6          46   
7)   Concordia-Moorhead     7          40     
8)   George Fox             8          32     
9)   UW-Whitewater         N/A         17   
10t) Lake Forest           N/A          8
10t) UW-LaCrosse            9           8

Dropped Out: Redlands

RV)  Monmouth (3), Luther (2), MacMurray (1), Chapman (1)


Thanks to those who participated this week: art76, wartnight, wm4, astro9046, doolittledog, desercat1, HansenRatings, TwoArmedScot, smedindy and 02 Warhawk.