AP Top 25 Final Rankings

[DofR]

AP Top 25
------------------------------------
1 Alabama (55) 12-1 1495 2
2 LSU (1) 13-1 1425 1
3 OK State (4) 12-1 1399 3
4 Oregon 12-2 1250 6
5 Arkansas 11-2 1198 7
6 USC 10-2 1181 5
7 Stanford 11-2 1167 4
8 Boise State 12-1 1127 8
9 South Carolina 11-2 1013 10
10 Wisconsin 11-3 905 9
11 Michigan State 11-3 873 12
12 Michigan 11-2 839 13
13 Baylor 10-3 780 15
14 TCU 11-2 653 16
15 Kansas State 10-3 621 11
16 Oklahoma 10-3 572 19
17 West Virginia 10-3 547 23
18 Houston 13-1 518 20
19 Georgia 10-4 439 18
20 Southern Miss 12-2 411 22
21 Virginia Tech 11-3 329 17
22 Clemson 10-4 188 14
23 Florida State 9-4 154 25
24 Nebraska 9-4 143 21
25 Cincinnati 10-3 103 NR
Others receiving votes: Brigham Young 51, Auburn 40, Northern Illinois 33, Missouri 23, Texas 15, Rutgers 3, North Dakota State 2, Penn State 2, Virginia 1

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings

[westnodak93bison]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm

#37

[WYOBISONMAN]

I bet that is the first time the BISON have received votes!!

[tony]

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2012/1/10/2696198/ap-poll-college-football-rankings-alabama-lsu-oklahoma-state

Twice as many votes as Virginia. :)

[scbison91]

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2012/1/10/2696198/ap-poll-college-football-rankings-alabama-lsu-oklahoma-state

Twice as many votes as Virginia. :) tied with Penn State.

[Hammerhead]

The final Sagarin rankings have NDSU ranked #37. Not to give Lakes any ammunition, but that ranking would theoretically put us in the following places among all FBS conferences:

Big 12 -- 8th
SEC -- 9th
Big 10 -- 6th
Pac 12 -- 4th
Big East -- 4th
Independents -- Between BYU and Navy
ACC -- 4th
C-USA -- 4th
Mount. West -- 3rd
WAC -- 1st
MAC - 1st
Sun Belt -- 1st

[RedRiver]

AP Top 25
------------------------------------
1 Alabama (55) 12-1 1495 2
2 LSU (1) 13-1 1425 1
3 OK State (4) 12-1 1399 3
4 Oregon 12-2 1250 6
5 Arkansas 11-2 1198 7
6 USC 10-2 1181 5
7 Stanford 11-2 1167 4
8 Boise State 12-1 1127 8
9 South Carolina 11-2 1013 10
10 Wisconsin 11-3 905 9
11 Michigan State 11-3 873 12
12 Michigan 11-2 839 13
13 Baylor 10-3 780 15
14 TCU 11-2 653 16
15 Kansas State 10-3 621 11
16 Oklahoma 10-3 572 19
17 West Virginia 10-3 547 23
18 Houston 13-1 518 20
19 Georgia 10-4 439 18
20 Southern Miss 12-2 411 22
21 Virginia Tech 11-3 329 17
22 Clemson 10-4 188 14
23 Florida State 9-4 154 25
24 Nebraska 9-4 143 21
25 Cincinnati 10-3 103 NR
Others receiving votes: Brigham Young 51, Auburn 40, Northern Illinois 33, Missouri 23, Texas 15, Rutgers 3, North Dakota State 2, Penn State 2, Virginia 1

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings
That is indeed pretty neat!!

[squarepeg]

The FCS champ always gets some votes in the final poll. I don't know if it's the same voter every year or what.

[semobison]

The FCS champ always gets some votes in the final poll. I don't know if it's the same voter every year or what.
\
Yep, EWU got 1 vote last year, Villinova 2 the year before. App State got 5 votes in 2007. Still, very cool though!

[IndyBison]

The final Sagarin rankings have NDSU ranked #37. Not to give Lakes any ammunition, but that ranking would theoretically put us in the following places among all FBS conferences:

Big 12 -- 8th
SEC -- 9th
Big 10 -- 6th
Pac 12 -- 4th
Big East -- 4th
Independents -- Between BYU and Navy
ACC -- 4th
C-USA -- 4th
Mount. West -- 3rd
WAC -- 1st
MAC - 1st
Sun Belt -- 1st
Seems about right.

[Vitojr130]

\
Yep, EWU got 1 vote last year, Villinova 2 the year before. App State got 5 votes in 2007. Still, very cool though!

App State got their 5 votes for taking down (at the time) #5 Michigan. That was probably the biggest upset in the FCS/FBS football world EVER. Still nice to see some votes coming in though!

[TateMosersneighbor]

We finished with the 12th ranked defense in the nation, regardless of division. That's F-n awesome.

*per Massey's site

[Go_Herd]

Sent an email to Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, who voted us #25 in his poll.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/top25/index.php?SITE=AP&name=HLAS

Good Morning Mike,
I would like to say thank you as a NDSU alumnus for voting us into the AP top 25. Whether you did it because you appreciate FCS football or to say 'screw u' to the BCS system, we still appreciate it up here in balmy Fargo, ND. Hopefully you did watch the FCS championship to the see the quality of product that FCS can put on the field. It's just a shame in a way that the American people would rather watch a boring bowl game (SMU vs Pitt) instead of a national championship game. But that's what the great ESPN pushes and shows to the masses.

Thanks again
Nathan G

His response:
Thanks for the note. I did it because I respect the FCS division, and its champion has to be a heck of a team. It certainly handled Minnesota a lot easier than USC did.
Mike

[heffray]

Sent an email to Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, who voted us #25 in his poll.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/top25/index.php?SITE=AP&name=HLAS

Good Morning Mike,
I would like to say thank you as a NDSU alumnus for voting us into the AP top 25. Whether you did it because you appreciate FCS football or to say 'screw u' to the BCS system, we still appreciate it up here in balmy Fargo, ND. Hopefully you did watch the FCS championship to the see the quality of product that FCS can put on the field. It's just a shame in a way that the American people would rather watch a boring bowl game (SMU vs Pitt) instead of a national championship game. But that's what the great ESPN pushes and shows to the masses.

Thanks again
Nathan G

His response:
Thanks for the note. I did it because I respect the FCS division, and its champion has to be a heck of a team. It certainly handled Minnesota a lot easier than USC did.
Mike

That's a great quote. Well done, BISON! I think it's awesome that we are the 12th Ranked Defense in all of D1. With a defense like that, you can keep a game close with anyone, yes ANYONE.

[heffray]

We finished with the 12th ranked defense in the nation, regardless of division. That's F-n awesome.

*per Massey's site

do you have a link to this?

[squarepeg]

Sent an email to Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, who voted us #25 in his poll.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/top25/index.php?SITE=AP&name=HLAS

Good Morning Mike,
I would like to say thank you as a NDSU alumnus for voting us into the AP top 25. Whether you did it because you appreciate FCS football or to say 'screw u' to the BCS system, we still appreciate it up here in balmy Fargo, ND. Hopefully you did watch the FCS championship to the see the quality of product that FCS can put on the field. It's just a shame in a way that the American people would rather watch a boring bowl game (SMU vs Pitt) instead of a national championship game. But that's what the great ESPN pushes and shows to the masses.

Thanks again
Nathan G

His response:
Thanks for the note. I did it because I respect the FCS division, and its champion has to be a heck of a team. It certainly handled Minnesota a lot easier than USC did.
Mike

Where was Hlas last year? Ray Ratto of the SF Chronicle is the guy you should thank. He voted for the FCS champ last year too and Mike Hlas didn't.

[heffray]

Where was Hlas last year? Ray Ratto of the SF Chronicle is the guy you should thank. He voted for the FCS champ last year too and Mike Hlas didn't.

I think that makes his vote more legit.

[squarepeg]

I think that makes his vote more legit.

More legit for us, but it makes his comment about respecting the FCS champ less authentic. Ray Ratto is consistent.

[heffray]

More legit for us, but it makes his comment about respecting the FCS champ less authentic. Ray Ratto is consistent.

That or he just didn't like Eastern Washington after he saw they should have lost to a 8-4 BISON team in the quarters.

[IndyBison]

It's just a shame in a way that the American people would rather watch a boring bowl game (SMU vs Pitt) instead of a national championship game. But that's what the great ESPN pushes and shows to the masses.
If the SMU-Pitt game and the FCS Championship game were both available at the same level (i.e. NBC and CBS) at the same time with the same promotion and available to the same number of people, the bowl game would probably still have a larger audience. ESPN knows that which is why they got ESPN and we got ESPN2. Does anyone have access to the share information from the games this past Saturday?


That's a great quote. Well done, BISON! I think it's awesome that we are the 12th Ranked Defense in all of D1. With a defense like that, you can keep a game close with anyone, yes ANYONE.
We wouldn't have the 12th ranked defense if we played in a BCS conference all year. Our defense is very good and it would keep us in the game with many BCS schools, but that is a different level. One of these years we'll get a crack at a higher tier BCS school (i.e. Nebraska or Wisconsin) and it will be interesting to see how we do.

[westnodak93bison]

do you have a link to this?


http://masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cf

[NDSUBowler]

I remembered Ray Ratto from before on BV (not to mention I read his columns on CBSsportsline all the time) and I decided to look a bit further...

Right after the NDSU loss to YSU, I remember GSU appearing in the AP poll with one vote and people were wondering who voted them in. I remember seeing a Ratto column where he explained why he picked the teams he did, and remember GSU being 25th on the team because, I believe, he said something like "no other Georgia team was worthy enough of it" on his little one-liner under each team.

I did some digging and found this.

http://www.stp.georgiasouthern.edu/index.php/news/39-local-sports/3237-gsu-recieves-votes-in-ap-top-25-poll


Georgia Southern University received its first Associated Press vote this week with one 25th place vote from Ray Ratto.


Ratto is a sports writer based out of San Fransisco, Calif.

In an email, Ratto said, “Simply put, I wearied of trying to find three-loss FBS teams with no signature wins and some good losses, and look at the best FCS teams, because I believe the elite FCS teams hold their own with all but the best 20 to 30 FBS teams. North Dakota State, which would have been my first choice, lost to Youngstown State, and Montana State didn’t play. Thus, it was Georgia Southern or Sam Houston State and Georgia Southern was both ranked higher and play in a tougher conference.”

Ratto has been willing to vote for FCS teams in the past, glad to see him pick NDSU for his final poll of the season.