Strongest and Weakest in FCS

[CatMom]

However, would love to take on some of the east coast FCSers too. As that was the initial intent of my reply. Damned AD's

[Screamin_Eagle174]

I'd say that the Great West is right on the bubble of being a top-tier conference, if they aren't already. Cal Poly is a perennial playoff contender, UC-Davis may not always get the wins, but they're tough as nails, and SUU, USD and UND have made some big strides this year. Isn't the Great West ranked the 2nd highest in the GPI?

ND lost to an NAIA this year. USD was demolished by UNI by 60 points...

No way are they even close to being considered with the other top conferences at this point.

Indiana State also lost to UNI by a similar score. Every conference has cellar dwellars. However UND also beat a ranked Cal Poly team last week. UCD hung with Boise State and a close game with the Griz. SUU has beaten a ranked Texas State squad, almost beat both NAU and Cal Poly, and hung with FBS San Diego State and Utah State. MVFC only has 3 good teams (SIU, SDSU, UNI), 3 decent teams (YSU, MSU, and Illinois State), and bottom tier teams (Indiana State, WIU, and NDSU). The Great West has the same distribution of teams, but are just a smaller conference. And ranked higher in the GPI than MVFC. The GWC is a lot closer to being a top-tier conference than I think you care to admit.

[LastMinuteman]

Can't criticize without perspective. Southland's profile:

16-16 non-conference record
7-6 FCS non-conference record

0-4 vs. CUSA
0-2 vs. WAC
0-2 vs. Mountain West
1-0 vs. Sun Belt
0-1 vs. SEC
0-1 vs. Big 12

1-3 vs. Great West
2-1 vs. MVFC
1-1 vs. SWAC
1-0 vs. SoCon
1-0 vs. NEC
1-0 vs. Independents
0-1 vs. OVC

8-0 vs. Division II or worse

Best 8 Non-Conference Opponents Defeated
UCA over W.Kentucky
...
McNeese over App State
SFA over North Dakota
SHSU over NDSU
Texas State over Texas Southern
SFA over W.Illinois
Nicholls State over Duquesne
McNeese over Savannah State

Worst 8 Non-Conference Opponents Defeated by
SHSU vs. Western Illinois
NW State vs. Grambling State
SE Lousiana vs. South Dakota
NW State vs. North Dakota
Texas State vs. Southern Utah
Nicholls State vs. Jacksonville State
...
McNeese vs. Tulane
Nicholls State vs. La Tech

[dbackjon]

Interesting how in the CAA, once you get past the 4 FBS wins, they have not beaten anyone OOC.

[McNeese75]

Interesting how in the CAA, once you get past the 4 FBS wins, they have not beaten anyone OOC.

Play a few second tier FBS teams and if you win, claim superiority to all FBS and then moan and groan about how they beat up each other and should all be in the top 10 because of their superior scheduling playing ranked teams (themselves )

I'm not claiming the SLC is better but we certainly roam the country to play challenging OOC and FBS games.

Step up top dog and either play some good OOC games or play some good FBS teams! (TCU, LSU , heck even try Michigan).

[SuperHornet]

This is a lot like D-I hoops. The power conferences have a bunch of really good teams and a few that don't really belong, and some midmajors have one or two good teams and a bunch of sucky ones. The prototype of this argument is WCC hoops, which is pretty much Gonzaga first tier, Santa Clara, Portland U, and Pepperdine second tier, and then a ton of also-rans. On the other side is the Big Ten, which gets about six in every year, but schools like Northwestern really don't belong.

In the football world, the Big Sky is like the WCC. Montana is always at the top, and EWU/Weber/MSU are generally close. NAU and PSU are dropping, while Sac State is rising. ISU and UNC are bottom-feeders. But it's generally seen to be a Griz show. The Big South is worse: Liberty and the also-rans. The CAA, on the other hand, as much as we hate this out west, has many good teams along with some that should probably be D-II.

My point is that focusing on leagues doesn't always work. Power conferences rely on depth, but that doesn't mean that the depth goes all the way down. Non-power conferences might have "major" quality individual teams, but there's no depth.

[LastMinuteman]

If someone takes the time to type out the profiles of all the other conferences, I think you'll find that nobody is playing anybody except the lower tier conferences and the Great West (and the two Dakota States). I've already done the SoCon's two closest major conference neighbors and turned up only one SoCon game.

[89Hen]

Interesting how in the CAA, once you get past the 4 FBS wins, they have not beaten anyone OOC.

Still 4 more than anyone else.

[89Hen]

I'm not claiming the SLC is better but we certainly roam the country to play challenging OOC and FBS games.

Step up top dog and either play some good OOC games or play some good FBS teams! (TCU, LSU , heck even try Michigan).

So which is better... playing I-A's you have a chance against and actually beating them, or playing I-A's who you have little chance against and losing to them?

[McNeese75]

I'm not claiming the SLC is better but we certainly roam the country to play challenging OOC and FBS games.

Step up top dog and either play some good OOC games or play some good FBS teams! (TCU, LSU , heck even try Michigan).

So which is better... playing I-A's you have a chance against and actually beating them, or playing I-A's who you have little chance against and losing to them?

That's easy, who is paying more???

I think the FBS wins are usually overrrated and do influence the polls and possibly the committee at year end. If you are going to throw out the D-II games the FBS games should be tossed as well. (IMO of course)

And as a disclaimer I do not live in a glass house. McNeese will play both Missouri and LSU next year and it is all about the $$$$. That schedule and a new QB will likely kill any chance they have of making the playoffs outside of the AQ.

Now if somehow one of those FBS games is a win then of course all bets are off and I will be back with a differnt hat on.

[tampajag]

how do you figure, unless you're saying they're so bad they can't help but improve. the SWAC is at an all time low.

SWAC FCS non-conference record

2008: 1-12
2009: 6-4


The SWAC still isn't all that good, but it's way better than last year's dismal performance

yeah the wins have improved (they really couldn't be worse than last year) but the quality of play isn't very good.

[89Hen]

I think the FBS wins are usually overrrated and do influence the polls and possibly the committee at year end

Sometimes. But don't you think a win over a bowl eligible Temple or Duke is better than a loss to a 2-6 Tulane or Hawaii?

[blukeys]

Strongest for this year is CAA.

Weakest is Pioneer.

I will debate about the strongest but for the weakest there is no competition unless we are talking about D-2 and D-3

[Col Hogan]

Strongest for this year is CAA.

Weakest is Pioneer.

I will debate about the strongest but for the weakest there is no competition unless we are talking about D-2 and D-3

Welcome to cs...

[CatMom]

I think the FBS wins are usually overrrated and do influence the polls and possibly the committee at year end

Sometimes. But don't you think a win over a bowl eligible Temple or Duke is better than a loss to a 2-6 Tulane or Hawaii?

What about a loss to a 9-0 FBS team where you have scored more against them than anyone else this year and last(same # as OU last year)? I'm sorry. I'll take the loss against a really good team. It showed me something and it showed some of our strengths and weaknesses. I'd rather impress TCU's fans, players and coaches than Temple's (as an example). Course we got some injuries and then played like crap against SUU but I'd rather the TCU loss than a win over WKU or any of the weaker FBS teams...

[McNeese75]

I think the FBS wins are usually overrrated and do influence the polls and possibly the committee at year end

Sometimes. But don't you think a win over a bowl eligible Temple or Duke is better than a loss to a 2-6 Tulane or Hawaii?

A win is always better than a loss regardless of who it is over. Bowl eligible in FBS sounds like HS football these days. Win half your games and you can go to the playoffs or some obscure bowl IMO there is nothing spectacular about beating Duke and Temple. McNeese should have beaten Tulane but that is water under the bridge at this point in time.

So is a team that beat Duke or Temple better than than one that lost to Tulane or TCU? Certainly not just because of those events

[native]

Strongest this year:
1. CAA
2. MVFC

Weakest:
1. Pioneer
2. SWAC
3. MEAC

With five teams in the GPI top 25, the Big Sky, on average, is stronger this year than the MVFC.

[JayJ79]

This is a lot like D-I hoops. The power conferences have a bunch of really good teams and a few that don't really belong, and some midmajors have one or two good teams and a bunch of sucky ones.
...
My point is that focusing on leagues doesn't always work. Power conferences rely on depth, but that doesn't mean that the depth goes all the way down. Non-power conferences might have "major" quality individual teams, but there's no depth.

A most excellent and accurate evaluation of the situation.

[native]

I think the FBS wins are usually overrrated and do influence the polls and possibly the committee at year end

Sometimes. But don't you think a win over a bowl eligible Temple or Duke is better than a loss to a 2-6 Tulane or Hawaii?

Yes. Of course. No style points for losing compared to winning, but tiny few style points for playing a close games versus an FBS team is in order, a close loss to an FBS team is better than a win over a DII or NAIA team.

At the end of the day, it is the DI wins that count, and some wins count more than others. Everything else is rubbish.

[SuperHornet]

Strongest for this year is CAA.

Weakest is Pioneer.

I will debate about the strongest but for the weakest there is no competition unless we are talking about D-2 and D-3

I disagree about CAA being strongest, but that just comes from my inherent myopianism. I concur about the Pioneer.

Heck, I'll take Grand Valley State, Mount Union, Evangel, and Carroll over any Pioneer team.

[kalm]

One of the cool things about the GPI is their computer ranking of conferences (I believe it's the only one)

Perhaphs we should start a CS.com conference poll. You could balance it by limiting the number of voters through representation, say two voters/conference. That way you would have rival conferences like the SoCon and CAA cancelling each other out. And you would have weaker conferences like Patriot fairly propped up by the power conferences that play them.

Might be kind of interesting to look at and at least unique to the other human polls.

[89Hen]

What about a loss to a 9-0 FBS team where you have scored more against them than anyone else this year and last(same # as OU last year)? I'm sorry. I'll take the loss against a really good team. It showed me something and it showed some of our strengths and weaknesses. I'd rather impress TCU's fans, players and coaches than Temple's (as an example). Course we got some injuries and then played like crap against SUU but I'd rather the TCU loss than a win over WKU or any of the weaker FBS teams...

No offense Mom, but please tell me you're joking. TSU may have scored more points against TCU than anyone, they also gave up more points than anyone. Do you REALLY think TCU fans were impressed with your 56-21 loss? The 28-14 haftime score may have been less than comforable for fans but they doubled your offensive output and more than doubled up the score. I can't imagine TCU fans really even think of the game other than to say "Ouch, that's really hurting our SOS".

[89Hen]

So is a team that beat Duke or Temple better than than one that lost to Tulane or TCU? Certainly not just because of those events

Never made that claim, but when building a resume, which is stronger? A win over Temple or Duke or a loss to Tulane or Hawaii?

56. Temple
62. Duke
118. Hawaii
140. Tulane

[AZGrizFan]

Interesting how in the CAA, once you get past the 4 FBS wins, they have not beaten anyone OOC.

Still 4 more than anyone else.

CAA D-II Wins:
Westchester
St Cloud State (7-4)

CAA FCS wins:
Lehigh (2-7)
Penn (6-2)
VMI (2) (2-7)
St. Francis (PA) (2-7)
Dartmouth (2-6)
Albany (6-4)
Stonybrook (5-4)
Bryant (3-6)
Delaware State (3-5)
Liberty (7-2)
Fordham (4-5)
Coastal Carolina (4-5)

CAA FBS Wins:
Temple (7-2)
Duke (5-4)
Ball State (1-8)
Virginia (3-6)

CAA FBS Losses:
Kansas State (6-4)
Western Michigan (4-6)
Syracuse (3-6)
Maryland (2-7)
Navy (you KNOW it's gonna happen) (7-3)
Connecticut (4-5)
Northwestern (6-4)
Boston College (6-3)

CAA FCS Losses:
Albany (6-4, NEC juggernaut)
Brown (5-3, perennial powerhouse in the Ivy League)
Morgan State (5-4, powerful MEAC conference)
Youngstown State (4-5)
Holy Cross (8-1)

A veritable "who's who" of sub-standard, D-II level powderpuffs.

edited for 89Hen's bitching pleasure.

[89Hen]

Still 4 more than anyone else.

A veritable "who's who" of sub-standard, D-II level powderpuffs.

And yet still 4 more. Don't like the question... just answer a different one.