Ranking the Remaining Playoff Teams

[AZGrizFan]

IMHO, seeds be-damned, the 16 remaining teams are ranked thus:

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Maine
4. Towson
5. Montana
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. Sam Houston State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. South Dakota State
12. Fordham
13. Furman
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Tennessee State
16. Jacksonville State

OVC, CAA & Southland are all guaranteed to get one team into the quarterfinals. Fordham is going to make Towson look better than they really are. Coastal is going to make Montana look better than they really are. Jacksonville State is going to make McNeese St look better than they really are.

Final 8 should be 2 BSC, 2 CAA, 2 Southland, 1 MVC and 1 OVC.

[bluehenbillk]

I'd have Maine much lower - they don't look like the same team. Maybe the week off will help them but I'd pick UNH this weekend - they're on a roll.

[Gil Dobie]

IMHO, seeds be-damned, the 16 remaining teams are ranked thus:

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Maine
4. Towson
5. Montana
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. Sam Houston State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. South Dakota State
12. Fordham
13. Furman
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Tennessee State
16. Jacksonville State

OVC, CAA & Southland are all guaranteed to get one team into the quarterfinals. Fordham is going to make Towson look better than they really are. Coastal is going to make Montana look better than they really are. Jacksonville State is going to make McNeese St look better than they really are.

Final 8 should be 2 BSC, 2 CAA, 2 Southland, 1 MVC and 1 OVC.

MVC is a basketball conference, unless you are an ESPN lackey. Hopefully NDSU can overcome SOUTHERN SPEED to give the MVFC representation in the final 8.

[The Kicker]

Not a bad list I have the upper half a lot different but at least the teams will prove it on the field and not in polls/rankings

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Illinois
3. Towson
4. Sam Houston State
5. Eastern Washington
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. South Dakota State
8. Montana
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. Maine
12. Coastal Carolina
13. Fordham
14. Tennessee State
15. Furman
16. Jacksonville State

[Grizalltheway]

I would drop Maine to 5 and bump Montana and Towson up a spot, but other than that, agree with Z's ranking.

[kalm]

IMHO, seeds be-damned, the 16 remaining teams are ranked thus:

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Maine
4. Towson
5. Montana
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. Sam Houston State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. South Dakota State
12. Fordham
13. Furman
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Tennessee State
16. Jacksonville State

OVC, CAA & Southland are all guaranteed to get one team into the quarterfinals. Fordham is going to make Towson look better than they really are. Coastal is going to make Montana look better than they really are. Jacksonville State is going to make McNeese St look better than they really are.

Final 8 should be 2 BSC, 2 CAA, 2 Southland, 1 MVC and 1 OVC.

NDSU
EWU
EIU
Sela
Towson
Maine
Mcneese
Montana
Sam
SDSU
Fordham
New Hampshire
JSU
Coastal
TSU
Furman

[Gil Dobie]

Furman looks pretty low for a team that beat GSU this year, the same GSU that knocked of Florida.

[Ibanez]

IMHO, seeds be-damned, the 16 remaining teams are ranked thus:

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Maine
4. Towson
5. Montana
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. Sam Houston State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. South Dakota State
12. Fordham
13. Furman
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Tennessee State
16. Jacksonville State

OVC, CAA & Southland are all guaranteed to get one team into the quarterfinals. Fordham is going to make Towson look better than they really are. Coastal is going to make Montana look better than they really are. Jacksonville State is going to make McNeese St look better than they really are.

Final 8 should be 2 BSC, 2 CAA, 2 Southland, 1 MVC and 1 OVC.

Furman, who lost to CCU, is better than CCU?

[89Hen]

I think it's hard to rank the teams that got byes, but the teams that were in action last week...

South Dakota State
New Hampshire
Sam Houston State
Tennessee State
Jacksonville State
Coastal Carolina
Furman
Fordham

[jcfrancis]

Not having EIU ranked in the top 5 is ridiculous. I don't care what argument you come up with (OVC sucks, "My team" is superior because it is "My team", etc.), EIU's team is balanced, beat a BCS, hung with a RANKED BCS team (closest game NIU had all year at home), Top 3 offense, Top 20 scoring defense. And they are 3-0 vs. FCS top 25.

Montana lost to NAU (no longer in the playoffs) and Eastern Washington (looks to be a fantastic team).
Towson lost to Delaware and Villanova, both at home (not in playoffs, but maybe should have been)
SELA lost to SDSU (still in playoffs)
Maine lost to Northwestern (who turned out to be a bust this year) and New Hampshire.

I am not saying these teams are not good teams, as they do have impressive resumes. I just think you are underestimating EIU. I understands there is history on the side of other teams and against the OVC, so we will have to prove it by making it to the Semifinals at least.

[Theee Catrabbit]

North Dakota State
Towson
Sam Houston State
Eastern Washington U
South Dakota State
SELA
Eastern Illinois
Montana
New Hampshire
Maine
McNeese State
Fordham
Coastal Carolina
Furman
Tennessee State
Jacksonville State

Sorry but I just can't rank SELA ahead of SDSU, we won in a head-to-head matchup. NAU beat Montana, Montana barely beat USD. Down they go! McNeese got hammered by UNI and SELA, SDSU beat both of those teams. SHSU beat EWU. EWU is lower than SDSU in the Sag ratings, only having a 1 pt advantage because of being at home this week. So I'll let them be ahead of us with their 1 pt differential. New Hampshire just beat Maine handily like 2 weeks ago...has something drastically changed since then? I'll be honest I know nothing about Towson, they look solid. I don't believe for a second EIU has some sort of defense. We flat out throttled them last year, how can they have a 30 point swing in defense in a year? Granted they beat SIU in OT, and we lost to SIU by a field goal, so I could creep them up, I think SIU wasn't playing very good football around that time, and we weren't playing very good football when we took on SIU.
But this is just my opinion......

[AZGrizFan]

Not having EIU ranked in the top 5 is ridiculous. I don't care what argument you come up with (OVC sucks, "My team" is superior because it is "My team", etc.), EIU's team is balanced, beat a BCS, hung with a RANKED BCS team (closest game NIU had all year at home), Top 3 offense, Top 20 scoring defense. And they are 3-0 vs. FCS top 25.

I am not saying these teams are not good teams, as they do have impressive resumes. I just think you are underestimating EIU. I understands there is history on the side of other teams and against the OVC, so we will have to prove it by making it to the Semifinals at least.

I really, really, REALLY hope I am underestimating EIU. But much like the BSC bashing on teams not named Montana and EWU, ANY team that comes out of the OVC is automatically suspect until they prove otherwise.

[Ibanez]

Not having EIU ranked in the top 5 is ridiculous. I don't care what argument you come up with (OVC sucks, "My team" is superior because it is "My team", etc.), EIU's team is balanced, beat a BCS, hung with a RANKED BCS team (closest game NIU had all year at home), Top 3 offense, Top 20 scoring defense. And they are 3-0 vs. FCS top 25.

I am not saying these teams are not good teams, as they do have impressive resumes. I just think you are underestimating EIU. I understands there is history on the side of other teams and against the OVC, so we will have to prove it by making it to the Semifinals at least.

I really, really, REALLY hope I am underestimating EIU. But much like the BSC bashing on teams not named Montana and EWU, ANY team that comes out of the OVC or Big South or CAA is automatically suspect until they prove otherwise.

FIFY

[AZGrizFan]

North Dakota State
Towson
Sam Houston State
Eastern Washington U
South Dakota State
Eastern Illinois
Southeast Louisiana
Montana
New Hampshire
Maine
McNeese State
Fordham
Furman
Coastal Carolina
Tennessee State
Jacksonville State

Sorry but I just can't rank SELA ahead of SDSU, we won in a head-to-head matchup. NAU beat Montana, Montana barely beat USD. Down they go! McNeese got hammered by UNI and SELA, SDSU beat both of those teams. SHSU beat EWU. EWU is lower than SDSU in the Sag ratings, only having a 1 pt advantage because of being at home this week. So I'll let them be ahead of us with their 1 pt differential. New Hampshire just beat Maine handily like 2 weeks ago...has something drastically changed since then? I'll be honest I know nothing about Towson, they look solid. I don't believe for a second EIU has some sort of defense.
But this is just my opinion......

Love the application of the transitive property.

NAU beat Montana AT HOME.
Montana beat USD ON THE ROAD.
SDSU's win over SELA (again, AT HOME) was like 6 months ago...much like SHSU's victory over EWU (again, AT HOME).

[AZGrizFan]

I really, really, REALLY hope I am underestimating EIU. But much like the BSC bashing on teams not named Montana and EWU, ANY team that comes out of the OVC or Big South or CAA is automatically suspect until they prove otherwise.

FIFY

I think you meant Pioneer & Patriot as well.

[Ibanez]

FIFY

I think you meant Pioneer & Patriot as well.

I knew I left out a conference or two. Thanks, Tom.

[Theee Catrabbit]

North Dakota State
Towson
Sam Houston State
Eastern Washington U
South Dakota State
Eastern Illinois
Southeast Louisiana
Montana
New Hampshire
Maine
McNeese State
Fordham
Furman
Coastal Carolina
Tennessee State
Jacksonville State

Sorry but I just can't rank SELA ahead of SDSU, we won in a head-to-head matchup. NAU beat Montana, Montana barely beat USD. Down they go! McNeese got hammered by UNI and SELA, SDSU beat both of those teams. SHSU beat EWU. EWU is lower than SDSU in the Sag ratings, only having a 1 pt advantage because of being at home this week. So I'll let them be ahead of us with their 1 pt differential. New Hampshire just beat Maine handily like 2 weeks ago...has something drastically changed since then? I'll be honest I know nothing about Towson, they look solid. I don't believe for a second EIU has some sort of defense.
But this is just my opinion......

Love the application of the transitive property.

NAU beat Montana AT HOME.
Montana beat USD ON THE ROAD.
SDSU's win over SELA (again, AT HOME) was like 6 months ago...much like SHSU's victory over EWU (again, AT HOME).

Hey it's all we got isn't it? Sagarin and all the other ranking systems use it. Not sure that's a bad transitive property when UNI and SELA both laid into McNeese by 40+. Also, most will say we played one of our worst games against SELA, SELA claims the same. We owned SELA two years in a row. Good teams win on the road. You know like SDSU at NAU last week ON THE ROAD! SDSU beat USD ON THE ROAD handily! SO Montana should be ranked higher for losing or winning on the road? Wow. No wonder they get ranked so high without much accomplishment.
Montana fan 1:"Hey we lost!"
Montana fan 2:"Yes but it was on the road, so we should move up two spots."
EWU Fan: "Hey that sounds great! Can we use that?"

[jcfrancis]

Yeah, I thought about commenting on that part. I hate the transitive property. But if you are looking at the entire season for all teams, ranking team X over team Y with the evidence shown, it is hard to see what Y is higher.

[Theee Catrabbit]

I would also have to figure out with SELA beating Sam Houston State. I'd almost have to put
SELA
EWU
SDSU
SHSU

in a tie. I do think they all are pretty evenly matched. Well fuck it, we'll find out more on Saturday!

[Brock Landers]

1. North Dakota State
2. Southeast Louisiana
3. Eastern Illinois
4. Eastern Washington
5. Towson
6. Maine
7. Sam Houston State
8. Montana
9. South Dakota State
10. McNeese State
11. New Hampshire
12. Coastal Carolina
13. Fordham
14. Jacksonville State
15. Furman
16. Tennessee State

[AZGrizFan]

Hey it's all we got isn't it? Sagarin and all the other ranking systems use it. Not sure that's a bad transitive property when UNI and SELA both laid into McNeese by 40+. Also, most will say we played one of our worst games against SELA, SELA claims the same. We owned SELA two years in a row. Good teams win on the road. You know like SDSU at NAU last week ON THE ROAD! SDSU beat USD ON THE ROAD handily! SO Montana should be ranked higher for losing or winning on the road? Wow. No wonder they get ranked so high without much accomplishment.

Good teams win on the road. Montana was 5-1 on the road this year. Most will say we played our WORST game (not ONE of) against NAU. Beating UM was NAU's high point of the year. Everything after that was just gravy. USD's head coach was the former coach of Montana...you don't think they were geeked up for that game?

Oh, and I love how you selectively choose the USD game for comparison purposes, but conveniently ignore the UND comparison.

[dbackjon]

IMHO, seeds be-damned, the 16 remaining teams are ranked thus:

1. North Dakota State
2. Eastern Washington
3. Maine
4. Towson
5. Montana
6. Southeast Louisiana
7. Sam Houston State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. McNeese State
10. New Hampshire
11. South Dakota State
12. Fordham
13. Furman
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Tennessee State
16. Jacksonville State

OVC, CAA & Southland are all guaranteed to get one team into the quarterfinals. Fordham is going to make Towson look better than they really are. Coastal is going to make Montana look better than they really are. Jacksonville State is going to make McNeese St look better than they really are.

Final 8 should be 2 BSC, 2 CAA, 2 Southland, 1 MVC and 1 OVC.

Furman, who lost to CCU, is better than CCU?

Head to head is irrelevant in Montana, unless it is Cat-Jizz

[Grizalltheway]

Furman, who lost to CCU, is better than CCU?

Head to head is irrelevant in Montana, unless it is Cat-Jizz

In case you didn't figure it out on Saturday, games played in September don't have much bearing on how you fare in December.

Both Furman and CCU are playing tough teams in hostile environments on Saturday, so we'll see what they're both really made of.

[AZGrizFan]

Head to head is irrelevant in Montana, unless it is Cat-Jizz

Finally back to take your medicine like a man?

[mainejeff]

Don't know where Maine should be placed on the list but they should definitely be behind UNH and Towson right now. I guess I'd say around #10-#12ish.