Polls and how other teams did

[HerdBot]

Looking at the polls, we should definitely go up.

2008 FCS Coaches Poll
NDSU is tied for #24

These teams lost
5. Wofford (1) 6-1 588 6
9. Central Arkansas 7-1 453 12
14. Western Illinois 5-2 342 14
17. Liberty 7-1 204 21
18. Northern Arizona 6-2 197 15
22. Lafayette 6-1 131 NR

5 of the top 8 other vote getters lost including Jacksonville State, Florida A&M, Eastern Washington, Texas State, and Hampton.

Prediction: 3 teams will drop below NDSU so we should move up to #21. Western Illinois holds on at #20




2008 Sports Network Division I FCS Poll (NDSU is unranked but has the 30th most votes)

These teams lost
3. Wofford (2) 6-1 2,324 4
11. Central Arkansas 7-1 1,514 13
12. Western Illinois 5-2 1,473 12
17. Liberty 7-1 763 20
19. Northern Arizona 6-2 715 15
21. Lafayette 6-1 585 24

These are the teams that got votes

Texas State 127 LOST!
South Dakota State 95 WON!
Maine 70 WON
Jacksonville State 67 LOST
North Dakota State 66 WON

Prairie View 63 WON
Georgia Southern 60 WON
Hampton 54 LOST
Florida A&M 47 LOST
Colgate 44 WON
Northwestern State 33 WON
Eastern Washington 32 LOST
Grambling 27, WON
Penn 26, LOST
Albany 25, WON
UC Davis 25, IDLE
Eastern Kentucky 24 WON,
San Diego 14, LOST
Holy Cross 11, WON
Sacred Heart 10, WON
Monmouth 4, LOST
North Dakota 4, LOST
Morgan State 3, WON
Dayton 2. WON


PREDICTION: 3 teams drop out of the top 25 and are replaced by NDSU, SDSU, and Maine. NDSU is #25. SDSU is #24. Maine is #23.

With some key losses and a decisive win over SDSU (who will be ranked when we play), we sneak in and snag the last spot.

[NDSUstudent]

Teams to cheer for next week...

SIU over WIU A loss eliminates WIU
Samford over GSU
Hofstra over Richmond
WCU over Elon
EIU over Tennessee State
Citadel over Wofford
Idaho State over Weber State
Montana State over NAU
Northeastern over W&M
NCCU over Cal Poly

[extremerouge]

thanks for the info you two! I like knowing who to cheer for as well

[CaBisonFan]

Gabe,

Do you think that if we won out that there'd be any chance at all of a playoff? Seriously

[tjbison]

Gabe,

Do you think that if we won out that there'd be any chance at all of a playoff? Seriously

Sorry but I don't!!:hide:

[TheBisonator]

Gabe,

Do you think that if we won out that there'd be any chance at all of a playoff? Seriously

We're not eliminated if we won out, because we'll have 7 DI wins. But I don't think we'd have a good chance then.

[TheBisonator]

Sorry but I don't!!:hide:

Wrong, there will be a chance, but not a good one.

[tjbison]

Wrong, there will be a chance, but not a good one.

I never said we were eliminated, just don't feel anyone will give us any playoff respect!

[99Bison]

Gabe,

Do you think that if we won out that there'd be any chance at all of a playoff? Seriously

Try this exercise... It's helped me a get a perspective.

Go make your own top 25.

ie. Look at the current rankings, who's lost, etc, records, who teams have played, do they have scholarships, etc and then see what you think.

[JSUBison]

Also, Harvard and Central Arkansas are both ahead of NDSU now. If my memory is correct, Harvard doesn't participate in the playoffs, and Cent. Arkansas is a transitional, so no playoffs for them either.

[HerdBot]

Gabe,

Do you think that if we won out that there'd be any chance at all of a playoff? Seriously

Absolutely! It will take 2 wins and some help but it's possible. Tomorrows poll is key.

We have 3 weeks to move up to #16. We will probably be ranked 25 (SN) and 22 (CP). That includes a bye week in which we may gain by watching other teams lose.

Coaches poll
Tomorrow: 22 cp
Next week bye: 21 cp
Missouri win: 19
SDSU win: 16

Teams have made the playoffs with 4 losses, I think 4 years in a row.

Keep the faith!

[GPSIT]

We all know the Bison need to win out to make the playoffs.

You do NOT need to be in the top 16 in the polls at the end of the season to go post season. The last couple years teams in the low 20's made the playoffs. We need the teams above us with 2 and definately 3 losses to lose to improve our standing. We don't need loses by teams with 1 loss. I question if we will get a look as we have not proven ourselves in the FCS division. We need to get waaaay better to be competitive in the playoffs. The defense is doing a great job, but the offense is out to lunch.

[BisonNeil]

Teams have made the playoffs with 4 losses, I think 4 years in a row.


Not true. From McFeely's blog on Oct 3:

http://www.areavoices.com/mcfeely/?archive=2008-10

Dave Coulson, who covers FCS for The Sports Network, passed along a couple of nuggets to me when I chatted with him:

Since 1995, only three teams have made the FCS playoffs as at-large choices with four losses. Two of those could be considered special circumstances. In 2006, Montana State finished 7-4 regular season but beat Colorado. That quality win got the Bobcats in. Same year, Eastern Illinois had a special 12-game schedule because they played at Hawaii. They finished 8-4, but the eight wins was good enough to get the Panthers in.

Last year, New Hampshire was 7-4 and received an at-large bid that raised some eyebrows.

[HandoEX]

Last year, New Hampshire was 7-4 and received an at-large bid that raised some eyebrows.

New Hampshire beat I-A Marshall last year too so FBS victories are pretty important. NH did get beat by 18 at home by Northeastern (NE finished with only 3 wins) in their 3rd to last game in 2007 though.

[HerdBot]

Not true. From McFeely's blog on Oct 3:

http://www.areavoices.com/mcfeely/?archive=2008-10

Dave Coulson, who covers FCS for The Sports Network, passed along a couple of nuggets to me when I chatted with him:

Since 1995, only three teams have made the FCS playoffs as at-large choices with four losses. Two of those could be considered special circumstances. In 2006, Montana State finished 7-4 regular season but beat Colorado. That quality win got the Bobcats in. Same year, Eastern Illinois had a special 12-game schedule because they played at Hawaii. They finished 8-4, but the eight wins was good enough to get the Panthers in.

Last year, New Hampshire was 7-4 and received an at-large bid that raised some eyebrows.

Looking back to 1995 doesn't matter. Fact is it's happened recently 3 consecutive years! (you forgot 2005 and Eastern Washington)

They must feel strongly about it since they are going to a 20 team playoff.

2005- Eastern Washington 7-4

2006- Montana St. 7-4, Eastern Illinois 8-4

2007- New Hampshire 7-4

[Hammersmith]

Looking back to 1995 doesn't matter. Fact is it's happened recently 3 consecutive years! (you forgot 2005 and Eastern Washington)

They must feel strongly about it since they are going to a 20 team playoff.

2005- Eastern Washington 7-4

2006- Montana St. 7-4, Eastern Illinois 8-4

2007- New Hampshire 7-4

Eastern Washington was not an at-large selection in 2005. That year, they won the Big Sky autobid.

[stevdock]

Not to rain on your parade here, but this was posted on AGS and shows what kind of uphill battle there is left just to be considered. And what is posted doesn't include us.

I know 7 D-I wins is the general rule for at-large play-off teams, but its looking like 8 will more likely be the case this year.

Looking at the Division, there are 39 teams that could still get to 8 D-I wins.

Two of those are Ivy Schools (Harvard and Brown), one is Grambling and also out, a fourth is transitional Central Arkansas.

That leaves 35 teams. 3 Pioneer League schools (Dayton, San Diego, and Jacksonville), 2 NEC schools (Sacred Heart and Albany), Liberty from the Big South and Cal-Poly from the Great West leave 28 schools from auto-bid leagues. Of these non-auto-bid representatives, Cal-Poly has the best shot providing they can get to 7 D-I wins, that assumes the committee gives thought to the cancelled McNeese game (never been tested) and/or weight to the FBS win (has been tested the last two years- Montana State in '06 and UNH last year). Of the others, Liberty has what would have been a nice win pre-season over YSU, and a game yet with Elon, but I'm not sure it will be enough. San Diego, Jacksonville, and Sacred Heart are all not even leading their conferences and none have a good OOC win. Likewise, Albany and Dayton do not have quality OOC wins, with the best being Dayton over Fordham (4-4).

That leaves 28 teams from the auto-bid leagues that could get to 8 D-I wins. 7 of those will win their conference auto-bids (nobody in the Southland can get to 8).

So 21 teams are still alive to get to 8 D-I wins, there will probably be 7 at-large slots available. 3 weeks of fun.