1. James Madison
2. Appalachian State
3. Villanova
4. Jacksonville State
5. Delaware
6. Stephen F. Austin
7. Massachusetts
8. South Carolina State
9. William & Mary
10. Montana State
11. Richmond
12. New Hampshire
13. North Dakota State
14. Northern Iowa
15. Eastern Washington
16. Cal Poly
17. Texas State
18. Furman
19. Georgia Southern
20. Youngstown State
21. Illinois State
22. Central Arkansas
23. South Dakota
24. Montana
25. Southern Illinois
Mayforth's Take: James Madison has put together quite the season so far and I finally decided to give the Dukes the respect they deserve. Villanova, who was my No. 1 last week, dropped to No. 3 this week. While Pennsylvania always plays the Wildcats tough, I wanted to see 'Nova assert itself a bit more. Delaware jumped Stephen F. Austin because I looked at the overall body of work and the Blue Hens have victories against two then-Top 10 teams (South Dakota State and Richmond) by a combined 44 points while the Lumberjacks have only played Northern Iowa. Otherwise I don't see many points for contention other than Cal Poly ranked ahead of Texas State. While the Bobcats did beat the Mustangs two weeks ago, Cal Poly owns wins against then-No. 1 Montana and then-ranked McNeese State (on the road) while Texas State's quality FCS wins are against the Mustangs and unranked Southern Utah (both at home).
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4 comments:
So, the fact that Texas State has yet to lose to an FCS team, while Cal Poly has obviously lost an FCS game, to Texas State doesn't matter?
Anonymous — I did take into account Texas State is undefeated in FCS games while Cal Poly has one loss (to the Bobcats for that matter).
Then I checked out the RPIs of the respective opponents.
Take out Cal Poly and Texas State only played Southern Utah who checks in at 175. Take out Texas State and Cal Poly still has faced Montana (88) and McNeese State (122) — which were both wins.
Leave both Cal Poly and Texas State in their respective schedules, the Bobcats' RPI of FCS opponents averages out to 143.5 while the Mustangs' mean is 101.
I've looked at this from every angle and right now, Cal Poly gets a slight nod over Texas State.
And it seems as if the discrepancy between the Bobcats and Mustangs is a bit more significant to voters in the FCS Coaches (18th/215 points and 14th/301 points) and The Sports Network's Poll (20th/693 and 15th/1,530 points).
And McNeese gets too much weight and ranking due to PAST HOSTORY and being undeservedly ranked pre-season, as was Montana, apparently.
@Anonymous - McNeese returned 11 on defense and a whole bunch on offense from a team that went to the FCS playoffs last year. The Cowboys deserved to be ranked in the preseason poll and in every poll until they proved themselves not worthy.
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