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Some interesting things happened this week but not really in the top 25; those all remained the same for the first time this year with a few teams moving up and down a few spots. Minnesota St. by the gravity of it's two first place votes in the actual polls has finally drifted up over a few teams and planted itself right behind Ferris. On the other end of the top 10; Grand Valley has been slowly dropping a spot or two each week even though they continue to win, which is interesting to me since they've actually beaten a couple good teams in that time. Kutztown loss helped move LIU-Post up for the two teams with the greatest down/up movement this week. Pitt St. is another team that is slowly gaining spots after a couple wins.
The biggest shake out happened just past the top 25 and occurred mostly in Region 1. OH Dominicnan (won vs. 1-9 East Stroudsburg), California (lost to Slippery Rock), Assumption (lost to LIU-POst), and New Haven (won vs. 1-7 Stonehill) all drop out of the composite rankings, the only replacement in Region 1 was adding Slippery Rock. Wingate also joins the rankings from SR2 which is interesting as the Gulf South conference is starting to show some cracks and ceding ground to the other conferences in SR2. Also, a minor change in Washburn dropping out and replaced by Central Missouri.
SR1 - I have IUP in and New Haven out at this time; I'm projecting here a bit on New Haven. NE10 is likely only getting one team in the playoffs and that I believe will be LIU-Post which will be settled on the field in two weeks. I will admit I'm not overly committed to IUP even though they historically are a good team; they will not face West Chester, Kutztown, or Slippery Rock this year. So we certainly hate silo scheduling but there are scenarios in split conferences (as we are aware as well, not downplaying the intelligence of the readers) where a team can have a polished record because they avoid the top teams in the conference. Notre Dame as I've said before, I am not convinced at all they are the top team in the region and have them well down.
SR2 - This is where I disagree the most. Starting with Albany St. in the actual regional rankings - I have Morehouse. Yes head to head Albany won over Morehouse but Morehouse still has a 1 game lead (and 1 game better W/L record) in the conference over Albany. Morehouse beat Tuskegee (and FCS Pine Bluff) while Albany lost to Tuskegee. Next Fayetteville or Bowie St. - this one is a tough one as I noted last week Fayetteville is only going to get 8 games this year. I have Fayetteville in over Bowie due to Fayetteville being 6-0 in conference with a win over Chowan, Bowie is 5-1 with a loss to Chowan. The two likely will face each other in a champ game though so will be settled on the field. Wingate or West Alabama - simply put Wingate is playing better football right now than West Alabama. Wingate has won 4 in a row all double digit wins; West Alabama is 3-1 with one of those a 3 point win over 1-7 Delta.
SR3 - Projecting results here a bit; I have Pitt St. in over FHSU that will be determined this weekend, but I could also argue that Pitt St. two losses are to the top 2 teams in the conference while FHSU has lost to teams 5 and 6 in the conference. So while FHSU has the head-to-head; body of work says Pitt is more deserving. S. Arkansas in the GAC has it's fortune in it's hands as well this weekend vs. Ouachita. Similar to the MIAA scenario; Harding losses would be to the top teams, Harding (assuming a loss to Ouachita) would be to 1 and 5; body of work goes to Harding.
SR4 - I agree with everything here other than having Mines over Duluth.
The biggest shake out happened just past the top 25 and occurred mostly in Region 1. OH Dominicnan (won vs. 1-9 East Stroudsburg), California (lost to Slippery Rock), Assumption (lost to LIU-POst), and New Haven (won vs. 1-7 Stonehill) all drop out of the composite rankings, the only replacement in Region 1 was adding Slippery Rock. Wingate also joins the rankings from SR2 which is interesting as the Gulf South conference is starting to show some cracks and ceding ground to the other conferences in SR2. Also, a minor change in Washburn dropping out and replaced by Central Missouri.
SR1 - I have IUP in and New Haven out at this time; I'm projecting here a bit on New Haven. NE10 is likely only getting one team in the playoffs and that I believe will be LIU-Post which will be settled on the field in two weeks. I will admit I'm not overly committed to IUP even though they historically are a good team; they will not face West Chester, Kutztown, or Slippery Rock this year. So we certainly hate silo scheduling but there are scenarios in split conferences (as we are aware as well, not downplaying the intelligence of the readers) where a team can have a polished record because they avoid the top teams in the conference. Notre Dame as I've said before, I am not convinced at all they are the top team in the region and have them well down.
SR2 - This is where I disagree the most. Starting with Albany St. in the actual regional rankings - I have Morehouse. Yes head to head Albany won over Morehouse but Morehouse still has a 1 game lead (and 1 game better W/L record) in the conference over Albany. Morehouse beat Tuskegee (and FCS Pine Bluff) while Albany lost to Tuskegee. Next Fayetteville or Bowie St. - this one is a tough one as I noted last week Fayetteville is only going to get 8 games this year. I have Fayetteville in over Bowie due to Fayetteville being 6-0 in conference with a win over Chowan, Bowie is 5-1 with a loss to Chowan. The two likely will face each other in a champ game though so will be settled on the field. Wingate or West Alabama - simply put Wingate is playing better football right now than West Alabama. Wingate has won 4 in a row all double digit wins; West Alabama is 3-1 with one of those a 3 point win over 1-7 Delta.
SR3 - Projecting results here a bit; I have Pitt St. in over FHSU that will be determined this weekend, but I could also argue that Pitt St. two losses are to the top 2 teams in the conference while FHSU has lost to teams 5 and 6 in the conference. So while FHSU has the head-to-head; body of work says Pitt is more deserving. S. Arkansas in the GAC has it's fortune in it's hands as well this weekend vs. Ouachita. Similar to the MIAA scenario; Harding losses would be to the top teams, Harding (assuming a loss to Ouachita) would be to 1 and 5; body of work goes to Harding.
SR4 - I agree with everything here other than having Mines over Duluth.