TSN Poll (Nov 11): Griz #7

[kemajic]

I just don't understand having South Dakota State, New Hampshire, and Wofford in the top 25 anymore. Just astounding.

It's pretty hard to find 25 that belong...

 

[IdaGriz01]

I just don't understand having South Dakota State, New Hampshire, and Wofford in the top 25 anymore. Just astounding.

It's pretty hard to find 25 that belong...

Surprisingly few when you look at the details.

Where else do we look for really good records? From the Ohio Valley, there’s Tennessee State (8-3), which has been ranked before and just missed by a couple spots in the last poll. They were essentially bumped by Jacksonville State, which gave the OVC two ranked teams.

One of the more “deserving” of a spot is actually Southern Utah (7-3), which has been receiving votes. But that would mean the Big Sky had five ranked teams ... and (obviously ) only the CAA “deserves” five ranked teams.

Harvard (7-1) also looks good, but the pollsters already squeezed in Princeton, which beat Harvard in the head-to-head.

From the MEAC, we have South Carolina State (7-3), which is also receiving votes. But the MEAC ranks 11th -- even behind the “Independents” -- in Gridiron Power Index, so the most they can expect is one ranked team: #18 Bethune-Cookman, which beat SC State in the head-to-head.

How about Sacred Heart (9-2) from the Northeast Conference? No need to belabor this one: The GPI for the NEC is even worse than the MEAC, and Heart’s two losses are to really bad teams. There are also some gaudy records in the SWAC (Jackson State at 8-2, Alcorn at 8-3) and the Pioneer League (San Diego at 7-3, etc.). However, those conference are right at the bottom of the GPI rankings: Most Pioneer League teams seem to play two D-II opponents, and some play three.

Beyond those possibilities, there are five teams with 6-4 records: Liberty (but the weak Big South already has two ranked clubs), James Madison (which moves in and out of the top-25), Eastern Kentucky (which is 4th in the OVC), UT Martin (5th in the OVC), and Samford (which just dropped out of the top-25).

So there you have it: Not including the bottom-feeders from the NEC, SWAC, and Pioneer, you have just four teams with more than minimally winning records, and five at 6-4. When you consider head-to-head, position in conference, and so on, not really a lot to choose from.