TOP 25

[JT]

In any case, I value the insights of the people on the board who have seen other teams or have the insight you can get seeing a team several times.

Uh, Mount Union is pretty good.

How's that for some insight?

Going out on a limb there coach, or are you sure about this one 

[retagent]

I guess I have my answer. I wish I could be sure that they have it wrong, but the fact is, I'm not sure myself. It could be that the Pool A MIAC team gets to play UWW at UWW, or UWSP at Stevens Point. Not a trip I would want to take.

[Ralph Turner]

Look at the way the top 11 moved their vote totals from week 9 to week 10.  There was no change in the order, only a change in the vote totals.

Team............	Position.....	Votes #10.....	Votes #9
MUC	1	625	625
NCC	2	582	583
Wabash	3	533	558
M'saps	4	521	508
UWW	5	507	499
Muhl	6	504	496
Cort	7	465	467
UMHB	8	464	459
Wesley	9	421	418
W'lam	10	420	389
HSU	11	383	364

Net vote gainers are in bold.


Wabash lost 25 votes or the equivalent of 1 ranking after their 27-7  60-7 win over Oberlin.  Wabash plays DePauw this week.  It looks like Millsaps, UWW and Muhlenberg picked up some of those votes.

[wesleydad]

ralph, thanks for the breakdown.  looks like voters are readjusting which is how it should be this late in the season.

[labart96]

nice to see hobart back in the top 25.  could have been earlier if not for the slip up vs. union.  still - given it's been 2 years - this hobart fan is enjoying seeing the statesmen up there.

[WAF78]

Ralph...not to nit pick...but Wabash beat Oberlin 60-7...not 27-7....and that was in week 9.  Also...we dropped votes this week after beating Hiram 63-0 in week 10. Our second team played all but one series in the second half...on the road...so maybe we should have left the first team in and beaten them 94-0...maybe then we wouldn't have lost any votes?  Yes...we play DePauw this week for the Monon Bell. Looking forward to a great game.

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph...not to nit pick...but Wabash beat Oberlin 60-7...not 27-7.

My bad!  I got the "27-7" off the Wooster page on this site!

http://www.d3football.com/school/WOO/2008

Thanks! 


Maybe Wooster loaded the score wrong!

Boink! 

[Pat Coleman]

I doubt any Hiram score would've made a difference.

[K-Mack]

Taking the risk of being misconstrued, as jam40 appears to have been, I'm just wondering whether either Carleton or St John's will get into the top 25 this week. I guess it all depends on whether you see the MIAC glass as being half-full or half empty. It goes without saying that parity has come to that league. Whether the voters believe that means that all teams have gone down, or that the traditional lesser teams have risen, is the question.

Strangely, I think the quality of play in that league has been up this year, and I don't think that's always the case in a league with a close race. The MIAC was pretty good in non-conference play this year, which is a good indicatior.

Still, I didn't vote for a MIAC team this week. It might still be too difficult to tell which is the one that's top 25 worthy, although we have narrowed the title picture down to two.

How odd if the MIAC had knocked SJU down a peg and they still rebounded to win the conference?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I have a (granted, very trivial) question about #20 and #21: Franklin and Trine.  Since Trine is undefeated, while Franklin's only loss is at Trine, they have two common opponents (Defiance and Manchester) that Franklin dispatched by a combined 61-34 but Trine downed by a combined 83-27, and both have pretty mediocre schedules (signature wins probably being Franklin over RHIT [and perhaps BW, but that was before Trine beat them, so IMO should be discounted] and Trine over Adrian), why is Franklin ahead of Trine?

As I said, trivial - but these sort of obscure anomalies pique my interest!

[Pat Coleman]

I can only speak for myself -- Trine's struggles to put Kalamazoo, Hope and Olivet away made it difficult for me to vote for them very highly.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I can only speak for myself -- Trine's struggles to put Kalamazoo, Hope and Olivet away made it difficult for me to vote for them very highly.

Yeah, that's what I figured, too - but I can't lay ALL my cards on the table when I'm lodging a 'protest'!

I still would have figured that h-to-h and common opponents ought to lead to 1-slot away the other way.

[Superfoot Wallace]

That logic seems to say Franklin wouldn't have issue putting those same teams away.  Should place some value, if any, on an ability to win the close game. 

Franklin has let some big early leads slip, but this might be attributable to the way the FC defense is tailored to fit their offense.

For some reason these two Indiana teams' compositions are remniscent of championship teams from the far West and Northwest, whereas the dynamic of Indiana's third playoff representative appears more akin to those of the nearer West and East recent championship teams.

Weather very well might play a significant role in these teams' fortunes.  There is a significant argument why Big Ten teams don't perform as well in the sunshine weather of bowl games where the fair weather conferences' teams might not be built for the plodding style of ball found to be most frequented in the colder climes.

signed,
Frosty the Snowman

[criswyly]

I suspect that Willamette is the most underated team....and will make a big statement in the playoffs....and may have not even peaked as yet.

[HScoach]

I have a (granted, very trivial) question about #20 and #21: Franklin and Trine.  Since Trine is undefeated, while Franklin's only loss is at Trine, they have two common opponents (Defiance and Manchester) that Franklin dispatched by a combined 61-34 but Trine downed by a combined 83-27, and both have pretty mediocre schedules (signature wins probably being Franklin over RHIT [and perhaps BW, but that was before Trine beat them, so IMO should be discounted] and Trine over Adrian), why is Franklin ahead of Trine?

As I said, trivial - but these sort of obscure anomalies pique my interest!

I would bet name recognition also has something to do with it.  Plus the HCAC has shown pretty well with Franklin and Mt. St. Joe recently.  When was the last time a MIAA team has made any noise in the playoffs?