FB: Region 3 fan poll

[Ralph Turner]

For UMHB, the problem I see is that when they have played a good(ranked) team, they have lost.  Had they won at least one of those I could possibly see it another way.  For the UMHB fans, that team hasn’t lost 3 games in a season since 1999, much less losing 3 in a row.  The best wins they have are over teams that are currently 5-4 a piece.  UMHB could end the season without a win over a team with a winning record. 

Berry has destroyed everyone they played, except Trinity.

RMC has destroyed everyone they played, period. 

I would love to see more bowl games for these teams.  For sure there have been teams in the past couple years in R3 that deserved some sort of reward for their season.

McMurry is 5-4 and favored over longest rival SRSU. McM has an OT loss to HSU and 1-point losses to BSC and ETBU.
UMHB destroyed McMurry, 50-9.

[BSCpanthers]

For UMHB, the problem I see is that when they have played a good(ranked) team, they have lost.  Had they won at least one of those I could possibly see it another way.  For the UMHB fans, that team hasn’t lost 3 games in a season since 1999, much less losing 3 in a row.  The best wins they have are over teams that are currently 5-4 a piece.  UMHB could end the season without a win over a team with a winning record. 

Berry has destroyed everyone they played, except Trinity.

RMC has destroyed everyone they played, period. 

I would love to see more bowl games for these teams.  For sure there have been teams in the past couple years in R3 that deserved some sort of reward for their season.

McMurry is 5-4 and favored over longest rival SRSU. McM has an OT loss to HSU and 1-point losses to BSC and ETBU.
UMHB destroyed McMurry, 50-9.

All I posted was the truth.  Your response doesn’t change my mind. 

[Wild Horse Rider]

Based on the non-scientific approach of looking at the D3Football top 25 it does look rather promising for Randy Mac.  They have the "easiest" bracket in terms of possible ranked opponents.  The bracket where all the other representatives from Region 3 were slotted looks to be the hardest with 5 ranked teams in the top 15 (though Mount's bracket has 6 of the top 18 but from what the internet is telling me it isn't that hard and Mount should coast to the semi-finals).  With that being said this is the week where much like selection Sunday for March Madness where people lose their mind over who the 68th and 69th best teams in the country are or in our case the 33rd and 32nd team.  I know that 32 is a much smaller number and the limited amount of at large bids is very small leading to good teams watching from home but everyone starts out with the same opportunity in an AQ conference.  With only 4 of the 28 conferences getting two teams in it always seems unfair for teams like Berry, Muhlenberg, and other deserving 1-2 loss teams but I still fall back on what the tournament is designed to do and that is crown a champion.  It would be nice to get the 32 best teams in a tournament but how do you determine which 32 of the 241 are the best?  I personally like the AQ system (though I can see going back to a time where you needed 7 teams in a conference to earn an AQ) and only needing to select a few deserving at large teams.  So long as the tournament gets #1 team in the country on December 16th I will be happy.

[Ron Boerger]

Based on the non-scientific approach of looking at the D3Football top 25 it does look rather promising for Randy Mac.  They have the "easiest" bracket in terms of possible ranked opponents.  The bracket where all the other representatives from Region 3 were slotted looks to be the hardest with 5 ranked teams in the top 15 (though Mount's bracket has 6 of the top 18 but from what the internet is telling me it isn't that hard and Mount should coast to the semi-finals).  With that being said this is the week where much like selection Sunday for March Madness where people lose their mind over who the 68th and 69th best teams in the country are or in our case the 33rd and 32nd team.  I know that 32 is a much smaller number and the limited amount of at large bids is very small leading to good teams watching from home but everyone starts out with the same opportunity in an AQ conference.  With only 4 of the 28 conferences getting two teams in it always seems unfair for teams like Berry, Muhlenberg, and other deserving 1-2 loss teams but I still fall back on what the tournament is designed to do and that is crown a champion.  It would be nice to get the 32 best teams in a tournament but how do you determine which 32 of the 241 are the best?  I personally like the AQ system (though I can see going back to a time where you needed 7 teams in a conference to earn an AQ) and only needing to select a few deserving at large teams.  So long as the tournament gets #1 team in the country on December 16th I will be happy.

The Division III philosophy is all about the the AQ, not the best 32 (or whatever number) of teams.  That is one reason why is is so wildly successful (in terms of number of participants) - every school knows that if they win their conference they get to keep playing and the fortunate few actually win championships.

That said there is no doubt whatsoever that football is treated inequitably compared to all other sports which supply one playoff spot for every 6.5 schools participating in a sport.   The division and its presidents have had excuses (cost, time) for limiting the number to 32 (1 in 7.3 schools if you exclude the NESCAC schools who do not participate in the postseason).

[jknezek]

We are down a voter in this last week before the playoffs, but since the poll was static I don't think it matters much. Everyone held serve and now it is time for the post-season.

Trinity will host Hardin-Simmons in Round 1
R-MC hosts Christopher Newport in Round 1
Belhaven travels to defending champ NCC in Round 1

In the first of 4 contracted Chesapeake Bowls between the ODAC and Landmark:
W&L hosts Lycoming
Bridgewater travels to Wilkes

Region 3 (South Atlantic-Ish) Fan Poll Week 11

Conferences: ASC, ODAC, SAA, USASAC

Rank			School			Points			Weekly Change			Voter Breakdown
1			Trinity (TX) (5)			35			0			1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1
2			R-MC			30			0			2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2
3			Berry			24			0			3 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 3
4			Hardin-Simmons			21			0			4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 4
5			Belhaven			12			0			6 , 5 , 5 , 7 , 5
6			W&L			10			0			5 , 7 , 7 , 5 , 6
7			Huntingdon			6			0			7 , 6 , 6 , 7

Also Receiving Votes:
UMHB (2)

Newly Ranked: None
Dropped Out: None

1 = 1st Place Vote, 7 = 7th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: jknezek, BSCpanthers, Wild Horse Rider, Ralph Turner, Hawks88

[Cowboy2]

We are down a voter in this last week before the playoffs, but since the poll was static I don't think it matters much. Everyone held serve and now it is time for the post-season.

Trinity will host Hardin-Simmons in Round 1
R-MC hosts Christopher Newport in Round 1
Belhaven travels to defending champ NCC in Round 1

In the first of 4 contracted Chesapeake Bowls between the ODAC and Landmark:
W&L hosts Lycoming
Bridgewater travels to Wilkes

Region 3 (South Atlantic-Ish) Fan Poll Week 11

Conferences: ASC, ODAC, SAA, USASAC

Rank			School			Points			Weekly Change			Voter Breakdown
1			Trinity (TX) (5)			35			0			1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1
2			R-MC			30			0			2 , 2 , 2 , 2 , 2
3			Berry			24			0			3 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 3
4			Hardin-Simmons			21			0			4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 4
5			Belhaven			12			0			6 , 5 , 5 , 7 , 5
6			W&L			10			0			5 , 7 , 7 , 5 , 6
7			Huntingdon			6			0			7 , 6 , 6 , 7

Also Receiving Votes:
UMHB (2)

Newly Ranked: None
Dropped Out: None

1 = 1st Place Vote, 7 = 7th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: jknezek, BSCpanthers, Wild Horse Rider, Ralph Turner, Hawks88

Apologies for dropping the ball. My ranks are the same as above. With a toss up of the last two just because I wasn’t able to watch their last game this week

[Ralph Turner]

I am looking forward to the Chesapeake Bowls.

We on this end of Region 3 have not played an ODAC team in the playoffs in 2 decades. The last one that I recall that was anywhere near that part of the region was ETBU's loss 13-7 loss at Lycoming (Mid-Atlantic Conference) and Trinity's 38-32 win over Bridgewater (ODAC) in the quarterfinals in 2002.

UMHB gave W&J a 63-7 beat-down in the 2008 quarterfinals and so we have seldom been sent to the "eastern" bracket since then, especially since the closure if Wesley College.