FB: Region 6 fan poll

[DuffMan]

But I think some on here are waiting to see how they do down the stretch, rather than assuming.

I can't blame them.  If there were a way for both Bethel and U$T to lose their matchup, I'd be all for it. 

[smedindy]

I still threw a bone to Central, and don't have LAX in my 10. I have Bethel low at 9, but I am in wait in see mode. The win against Simpson is offset by the squeaker against River Falls.

[OzJohnnie]

I'm guessing people are waiting to see how they perform against these three remaining solid MIAC teams before giving them the benefit of the doubt.

There is zero chance they'll lose to St. Olaf, and I would be very surprised if they don't Double Stomp GAC.  Bethel will be a bit more of a challenge, but I still envision a Stomp.

One thing that hurt U$T against the Johnnies is that they hadn't played a complete game.  They'd outscored opponents 306-28 up to that point.  No one had come out, moved the ball fairly easily, and scored multiple times on their starters.  Every time U$T would make a big play, the Johnnies would come out confident and respond.  That's tough on the psyche.

Agree with you on all accounts. But I think some on here are waiting to see how they do down the stretch, rather than assuming.

The Johnnie victory was due to the assets of the Jays rather than the deficiencies of the Toms. 

But seriously, the Toms are big and strong and fast.  No common D3 team will have any chance against them,  Duffman is right, the Tommies will be serving up Stomp and DoubleStomps with extra sauce from now until selection day.  We'll obviously see how it plays out (and i would love to see a Royal victory) but there will be no surprise ending in this movie.  Unfortunately.

[hazzben]

Based on the resume: record and SOS, I could see putting Bethel ahead of UST, but none of the others.

This is exactly why I have Bethel in front of St. Thomas. That, and BU seemed to be a better match for the Johnnies. Week 11 is definitely a showdown.

I'm surprised by the number that have Linfield and Whitworth as high as they do. And Monmouth for that matter. Bethel utterly dominated a Cobber team that was at least a little competition for UWW and UST. Their two scores came on a muffed punt return with the wind (and a subsequent Rumble 6 for BU that got dubiously whistled dead for forward progress) and against BU's third stringers on D.

It doesn't matter for much of anything. Bethel will have every chance to prove their mettle against UST to end the season. But I'd feel confident in Bethel against all three of the teams ranked immediately above them. If I had to read the tea leaves, I'm guessing the voters from out West appear to have inflated the resumes of Whitworth and Linfield (the latter especially). Linfield at 4 in the Regions seems like a stretch and an outlier.

[wm4]

On Monmouth, they beat Wartburg early and in my case I had Wartburg rated highly so I then put a lot of value on Monmouth.  However, as the season has played out, both Wartburg and Wheaton (their other quality opponent) really haven't distinguished themselves.  For me then, I've got Monmouth drifting back to #7 in my poll, when at one time I had them rated as high as #5.

On Linfield, I have them at #6.  I wasn't impressed w/ them coming into the season and they gave me no reason to change that view as they first half of the season unfolded.  However as the season has continued to unfold and other teams have gone by the wayside (LaCrosse, Platteville, Central), I've moved Linfield up.  I do believe they're better than Monmouth, but with the head to head loss to Whitworth, I've got them at 6.

[USTBench]

I'm guessing people are waiting to see how they perform against these three remaining solid MIAC teams before giving them the benefit of the doubt.

There is zero chance they'll lose to St. Olaf, and I would be very surprised if they don't Double Stomp GAC.  Bethel will be a bit more of a challenge, but I still envision a Stomp.

One thing that hurt U$T against the Johnnies is that they hadn't played a complete game.  They'd outscored opponents 306-28 up to that point.  No one had come out, moved the ball fairly easily, and scored multiple times on their starters.  Every time U$T would make a big play, the Johnnies would come out confident and respond.  That's tough on the psyche.

Agree with you on all accounts. But I think some on here are waiting to see how they do down the stretch, rather than assuming.

The Johnnie victory was due to the assets of the Jays rather than the deficiencies of the Toms. 

But seriously, the Toms are big and strong and fast.  No common D3 team will have any chance against them,  Duffman is right, the Tommies will be serving up Stomp and DoubleStomps with extra sauce from now until selection day.  We'll obviously see how it plays out (and i would love to see a Royal victory) but there will be no surprise ending in this movie.  Unfortunately.

Unfortunately for UST they went into the SJU game without any significant resistance from anyone save for the first quarter of the Augsburg game. Couple that with some breakout performances from SJU wide receivers, the best QB I've seen in D3 since Alex Tanney, a program playing inspired for Gags, and offense largely kept under wraps for the early part of the season, the result was an absolute blitzkrieg. UST probably should have and could have slowed the game down significantly by pounding Parks 35 times, but Parks was not without his faults that game, including swing pass Parks just careened like a rugby lateral into the arms of a waiting Johnnie and a fumble on the one that SJU housed were absolute back breakers.

All things aside, it didn't sound to me like Caruso was a) surprised by the outcome; and b) all that disappointed. I don't think if that game is played 10 times on a neutral site UST would get beat all 10, so I'm not too nervous about the team from here-on-out. That said, a loss is a loss, and it was, at least from a score perspective, more lopsided than I would like. I think the absence of Trettel, while beneficial to Parks getting a rhythm going and really showing what he's capable of, will ultimately hurt UST unless they can establish a true RB2 that they can count on for 10+ carries a game. Loeffler, Pallini and Green are all capable weapons, but I'd like to see them come up big the next 3 weeks.

I still think UST is a top 5/6 team in the country and can compete to get to a Stagg Bowl. I think Bethel plays a brand of football that will suit UST's strengths well on defense and the Tommies get in at 9-1. That said, St. Olaf will have a chip on their shoulder, especially after what happened last year; GAC has shown in the recent past they can give UST issues; and the Bethel game will most likely be for an at-large bid, so there will be extra implications for that match up. UST needs to be in playoff mode now.

[02 Warhawk]

Same exact here. right now I have Monmouth 7, Bethel 8

On Monmouth, they beat Wartburg early and in my case I had Wartburg rated highly so I then put a lot of value on Monmouth.  However, as the season has played out, both Wartburg and Wheaton (their other quality opponent) really haven't distinguished themselves.  For me then, I've got Monmouth drifting back to #7 in my poll, when at one time I had them rated as high as #5.

On Linfield, I have them at #6.  I wasn't impressed w/ them coming into the season and they gave me no reason to change that view as they first half of the season unfolded.  However as the season has continued to unfold and other teams have gone by the wayside (LaCrosse, Platteville, Central), I've moved Linfield up.  I do believe they're better than Monmouth, but with the head to head loss to Whitworth, I've got them at 6.

Pretty much my train of thought as well. Since that impressive win (at the time)  against Wartburg, Monmouth has been on an absolute tear the past 5 games:

37-0
49-0
55-0
45-13
51-0

I know they play in a weak conference. But good teams are suppose to win games like this against lesser foes. Just ask UST and Mount Union against the bottom of the MIAC and OAC. And no, I'm not saying Monmouth is at the same level as those purple powers...that would be silly. I still have St. Thomas #3 in the West.

I also have Whitworth 5, Linfield 6, Monmouth 7 and Bethel 8.

[jamtod]

Trettel is supposed to be back this week for UST. We'll see how he looks though.

[hazzben]

@USTBench ... Agree on most of that. If UST wins out, the loss could actually be a blessing in disguise. If they stay healthy down this stretch run, it puts their backs to the wall in a way that UST doesn't usually have to worry about. The added focus and intensity gained could be a major asset. Something similar happened for BU in 2006, 2007, and 2010. At most, a 9-1 UST team will have maybe lost out on the chance to host a region final game (I'm assuming they'd be on the road for the semi's with Mount and UMHB top seeds). Maybe they have to go on the road in rd 2, but unless they got screwed by their matchup, I'd heavily favor UST against any likely Rd 2 opponent.

@02 Warhawk:

Monmouth has a good looking home win against Wartburg. But that's a wash IMO when compared with BU's win @Simpson, who beat Wart on the road at Walston-Hoover (as tough a road location as there is in the ARC).

And I just put zero significance in the lopsided scores Monmouth has put up since. The other MWC teams are terrible. Concordia, GAC, St. Olaf would all be unbeaten outside of Monmouth. Shoot, even Augsburg beat Ripon, and Augsburg is B-A-D bad this year. It's not a huge deal, and fun to discuss on these boards obviously  , but I'd love BU's chances against Monmouth. And their scores would look just as nice as Monmouth if they could play Carleton level teams every week (which is essentially what the MWC is made up of).

The only anomaly on BU's schedule is the win against UWRF, and BU's freshman QB was getting his first start that game. He's grown immensely since then. As has the team's confidence.

[02 Warhawk]

@USTBench ... Agree on most of that. If UST wins out, the loss could actually be a blessing in disguise. If they stay healthy down this stretch run, it puts their backs to the wall in a way that UST doesn't usually have to worry about. The added focus and intensity gained could be a major asset. Something similar happened for BU in 2006, 2007, and 2010. At most, a 9-1 UST team will have maybe lost out on the chance to host a region final game (I'm assuming they'd be on the road for the semi's with Mount and UMHB top seeds). Maybe they have to go on the road in rd 2, but unless they got screwed by their matchup, I'd heavily favor UST against any likely Rd 2 opponent.

@02 Warhawk:

Monmouth has a good looking home win against Wartburg. But that's a wash IMO when compared with BU's win @Simpson, who beat Wart on the road at Walston-Hoover (as tough a road location as there is in the ARC).

And I just put zero significance in the lopsided scores Monmouth has put up since. The other MWC teams are terrible. Concordia, GAC, St. Olaf would all be unbeaten outside of Monmouth. Shoot, even Augsburg beat Ripon, and Augsburg is B-A-D bad this year. It's not a huge deal, and fun to discuss on these boards obviously  , but I'd love BU's chances against Monmouth. And their scores would look just as nice as Monmouth if they could play Carleton level teams every week (which is essentially what the MWC is made up of).

The only anomaly on BU's schedule is the win against UWRF, and BU's freshman QB was getting his first start that game. He's grown immensely since then. As has the team's confidence.

Wartburg is a tough one to figure out. They had that close loss to Simpson, then they just destroyed a very solid Central team...which was a great win in my opinion.

I just think Monmouth beating Wartburg (by a touchdown) is that signature win which gives them that ever-so-slight edge over Bethel. Bethel destroying Concordia was impressive, but they're about to be 3-5 after this Saturday.

I'm not saying the two teams are worlds apart, I have one team BARELY over the other. I'm just splitting hairs.

[smedindy]

Whitworth is one behind Bethel in the Massey Ratings. So that's a toss up.

Logan Hansen has Whitworth 15th and Bethel 13th.

I think voters are ranking Whitworth properly and not giving Bethel the credit they're due.

THat's all timing, I think. I know it is for me. When they only beat W-RF by five, I moved them out. There's a lot of competition from 6 downward in my ballot. I have Whitworth at 4 because they haven't done anything for me to downgrade them, they have a decent power rating resume (as seen above) and others (Platteville, Linfield, Central, Wartburg, LaCrosse) have lost to clear them out.

Whitworth's schedule was also front loaded, as opposed to Bethel having St. Thomas to end the season. Bethel's also hurt a bit by the MIAC middle not being as impressive as in the past (a down C-M year hurts the league

[hazzben]

I'm not saying the two teams are worlds apart, I have one team BARELY over the other. I'm just splitting hairs.

Agreed, but the hair splitting is 'Oh so fun' 

Whitworth is one behind Bethel in the Massey Ratings. So that's a toss up.

Logan Hansen has Whitworth 15th and Bethel 13th.

I think voters are ranking Whitworth properly and not giving Bethel the credit they're due.

I wouldn't argue with this. Those close to the program knew this was going to be a very good team, if they could find a solid QB. They've definitely got their guy in Roste and he's only going to improve going forward. But when expectations are so low, it takes time to change them. And beating Simpson isn't near as helpful as beating SJU or UST when it comes to accomplishing that.

[OzJohnnie]

Oh, some work to be done this week.  The Iowa and Wisconsin results will have the panelists earning their pay.

[smedindy]

Placing teams 8 - 10 was not easy. I barely have 2 WIAC teams in there.

[02 Warhawk]

       2018 Week 9 West Region Fan Poll

Rank      Team           Previous    Points   
1)   St. John's (6)        1          87   
2)   UW-Whitewater (3)     2          84 
3)   St. Thomas            3          66         
4)   Whitworth             5          65
5)   Linfield              6          47       
6)   Bethel                8          46
7)   Monmouth              7          38
8)   UW-Oshkosh            4          17 
9)   UW-LaCrosse           9          14
10)   Wartburg             10          13

Dropped Out: N/A

RV)   Simpson (8), St. Norbert (4), Dubuque (4), Redlands (2)


Thanks to those who participated this week: art76, wartnight, wm4, doolittledog, desercat1, TwoArmedScot, smedindy, Hemingway13 and 02 Warhawk.