IdaGriz01
Well-known member
I wouldn’t normally bother with this for another couple weeks, at least. However, the start of the season, with so many ranked teams playing at FBS opponents, proved very interesting. So I thought it would be fun to speculate on what the next poll might look like.
Guess, Team, (Record), [Current Ranking]
1 North Dakota State (1-0) [1]
2 James Madison (0-1) [2]
3 South Dakota State (0-1) [3]
4 EWU (0-1) [4]
5 UC Davis (0-1) [5]
6 Maine (1-0) [7]
7 Weber State (0-1) [8]
8 Kennesaw State (1-0) [10]
9 Towson (1-0) [11]
10 Nicholls (0-1) [12]
11 Indiana State (0-1) [16]
12 Illinois State (0-1) [15]
13 Northern Iowa (0-1) [18]
14 Jacksonville State (0-1) [6]
15 SE Missouri State (1-0) [17]
16 Montana State (0-1) [14]
17 Wofford (0-1) [9]
18 Furman (1-0) [19]
19 North Carolina A&T (1-0) [20]
20 Delaware (1-0) [22]
21 SHSU (0-1) [23]
22 Central Arkansas (1-0) NR
23 Colgate (0-2) [13]
24 Princeton (0-0) [24]
25 Montana (1-0) [25]
NR Elon (0-1) [21]
Most of the losses to FBS teams were expected and won’t, by themselves, have much of an impact on the rankings. It’s what went on around those games that could make some big differences.
That starts with two top-10 teams losing to unranked FCS opponents. Jacksonville State got pounded, even though they actually out-gained SE Louisiana in total yardage. They lit it up passing but had no running game to put the ball in the end zone. It would not surprise me to see them drop even more than my guess.
Wofford was a somewhat different story: They too out-gained their opponent, but gifted them with 4 turnovers, all interceptions. Which is weird, since Wofford is not normally a passing team. Be that as it may, South Carolina State got zero points in the pre-season poll, so this loss is likely to hurt Wofford, big-time.
Some may think I was hatin’ on the kitties by dropping them two spots after their FBS loss, but that’s not actually the case. It’s just that Illinois State and Indiana State both had “good losses” to their FBS opponents. I’m looking for them to get major bumps, just like Northern Iowa. In fact, I can see UNI moving ahead of the two I-States.
I hesitated a bit before dropping Elon out of the top-25 … but I needed some place to put Central Arkansas. I know Western Kentucky is not an FBS powerhouse, but I feel like the pollsters will reward the Bears for that upset. Of course, they might well drop Colgate instead, since they did get pounded by unranked Villanova.
But that leaves one question. The Griz had what we consider an impressive road win. So … will they move up? Much as I’d like to see that happen, I’m guessing it won’t, basically because there’s no place for them to move up to. Sam Houston (#23) looked really good against New Mexico, and #19, #20, and #22 all won. The Griz might nudge ahead of Princeton, I suppose, but that’s likely it.
Guess, Team, (Record), [Current Ranking]
1 North Dakota State (1-0) [1]
2 James Madison (0-1) [2]
3 South Dakota State (0-1) [3]
4 EWU (0-1) [4]
5 UC Davis (0-1) [5]
6 Maine (1-0) [7]
7 Weber State (0-1) [8]
8 Kennesaw State (1-0) [10]
9 Towson (1-0) [11]
10 Nicholls (0-1) [12]
11 Indiana State (0-1) [16]
12 Illinois State (0-1) [15]
13 Northern Iowa (0-1) [18]
14 Jacksonville State (0-1) [6]
15 SE Missouri State (1-0) [17]
16 Montana State (0-1) [14]
17 Wofford (0-1) [9]
18 Furman (1-0) [19]
19 North Carolina A&T (1-0) [20]
20 Delaware (1-0) [22]
21 SHSU (0-1) [23]
22 Central Arkansas (1-0) NR
23 Colgate (0-2) [13]
24 Princeton (0-0) [24]
25 Montana (1-0) [25]
NR Elon (0-1) [21]
Most of the losses to FBS teams were expected and won’t, by themselves, have much of an impact on the rankings. It’s what went on around those games that could make some big differences.
That starts with two top-10 teams losing to unranked FCS opponents. Jacksonville State got pounded, even though they actually out-gained SE Louisiana in total yardage. They lit it up passing but had no running game to put the ball in the end zone. It would not surprise me to see them drop even more than my guess.
Wofford was a somewhat different story: They too out-gained their opponent, but gifted them with 4 turnovers, all interceptions. Which is weird, since Wofford is not normally a passing team. Be that as it may, South Carolina State got zero points in the pre-season poll, so this loss is likely to hurt Wofford, big-time.
Some may think I was hatin’ on the kitties by dropping them two spots after their FBS loss, but that’s not actually the case. It’s just that Illinois State and Indiana State both had “good losses” to their FBS opponents. I’m looking for them to get major bumps, just like Northern Iowa. In fact, I can see UNI moving ahead of the two I-States.
I hesitated a bit before dropping Elon out of the top-25 … but I needed some place to put Central Arkansas. I know Western Kentucky is not an FBS powerhouse, but I feel like the pollsters will reward the Bears for that upset. Of course, they might well drop Colgate instead, since they did get pounded by unranked Villanova.
But that leaves one question. The Griz had what we consider an impressive road win. So … will they move up? Much as I’d like to see that happen, I’m guessing it won’t, basically because there’s no place for them to move up to. Sam Houston (#23) looked really good against New Mexico, and #19, #20, and #22 all won. The Griz might nudge ahead of Princeton, I suppose, but that’s likely it.
