The first set of Regional Rankings is due to come out tomorrow, so I thought I would put up my calculations and see how well they match up with what the real rankings end up being. Out of the eighteen teams with two or less losses going into Week 8, five lost their third game of the season. And for the second week in a row, two undefeated teams lost, leaving Northwest Missouri St. as the lone undefeated team in the region. With the losses in Week 8, and the fact that one-loss teams Minnesota St. and Sioux Falls play each other, we are guaranteed at least two 2-loss teams will make the playoffs. So here is how things will look tomorrow if they go strictly by the numbers:

Humboldt 0.857143 0.648649 0.555066 0.617454 1.474597
NWMSU 1.000000 0.446429 0.511161 0.468006 1.468006
Henderson 0.875000 0.589286 0.486607 0.555060 1.430060
USF 0.875000 0.517857 0.544643 0.526786 1.401786
ESU 0.875000 0.500000 0.526786 0.508929 1.383929
Mankato 0.875000 0.446429 0.526786 0.473214 1.348214
Augustana 0.750000 0.642857 0.473214 0.586310 1.336310
SW Minn 0.750000 0.607143 0.477679 0.563988 1.313988
UMD 0.750000 0.517857 0.500000 0.511905 1.261905
WOU 0.714286 0.500000 0.581522 0.527174 1.241460
ATU 0.750000 0.464286 0.526786 0.485119 1.235119
Harding 0.750000 0.464286 0.526786 0.485119 1.235119
UCM 0.750000 0.482143 0.484375 0.482887 1.232887

So, by the math through Week 8, Humboldt St. holds onto the #1 spot over Northwest. Three NSIC teams would be in the playoffs if they started today (again, going strictly off the math), two MIAA teams, and one each from the GNAC and GAC. Of course, a lot is still going to happen over the course of the next three weeks. Here are the remaining schedules for the thirteen teams above (bold games are between teams still "alive")

Humboldt: Simon Frasier, at Dixie St., at Western Oregon
Northwest: at Missouri Western, Emporia St., Washburn
Henderson: Southern Nazarene, at Oklahoma Baptist, at Ouachita Baptist
USF: at Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota St., at Upper Iowa
Emporia: Washburn, at Northwest, Nebraska-Kearney
Minn St.: at SW Minn, at USF, Wayne St. (NE)
Augustana: Upper Iowa, at Winona, Concordia-St.Paul
SW Minn: Minn St, at Concordia-St. Paul, Winona
UMD: at Northern St., at Bemidji St, Minot St.
WOU: Azusa Pacific, SD Mines, Humboldt
ATU: at NW OK, SW OK, Harding
Harding: SW OK, at NW OK, ATU
UCM: Lindenwood, at Pitt St., Ft. Hays


Week 9 is shaping up to be another fantastic week in SR3.