Rank from Massey et al (10/16)

Just realized Colgate, Lehigh, Georgetown, and Bucknell are a combined 3-22 thus far this year. 😱

And one of those wins is when Colgate played Georgetown (somebody has to win).

Massey and the FCS Coaches Poll (last week) had HC in essentially the same spot (7,8).

Interestingly, FCS Coaches Poll (last week) had Fordham at 17 while Massey had them way down at 45.

I believe HC held its spot because our defeated opponents won this week.

Massey Composite is incomplete. Still waiting on more computer rankings and tomorrow's polls.

Our defeated opponents lost and the first of the upsets in front of us occurred. Looking forward to the Polls and scoring more points than anyone vs the Pards.

Harvard, Yale, Buffalo and Merrimack all won, those are the ones that matter.

Not yet: Bucknell is 0-6 heading into Lehigh.

bucknellbison.com/sports/football/schedule

www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs-football/bracketology

ahead of NDSU? Ok let's keep climbing! I think Weber and Sac State might be two of the best in the country. Having them and NDSU on our side of the bracket does not make me happy! I want to know how W&M and UIW pass us. Presumably Fordham would not have been first out if they beat us, so it is a 11-0 HC team getting bumped by W&M? They lost to Elon who lost to URI and might have tough fames vs URI and at Richmond. Oh well. Fun to spitball a bit.

FCS Top 25: Sam Herder’s Ballot For The Week Of 10-17-2022
Sam Herder by Sam Herder
October 16, 2022
Idaho football Top 25
Idaho Athletics
I am grateful to again have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2022 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.

Notes at the bottom.

FCS Top 25
25. Rhode Island

24. Austin Peay

23. Fordham

22. Southeastern Louisiana University

21. Campbell

20. Richmond

19. North Dakota

18. Samford

17. Southern Illinois

16. SEMO

15. Chattanooga

14. Incarnate Word

13. Elon

12. Jackson State

11. Montana

10. Delaware

9. William & Mary

8. Idaho

7. Holy Cross

6. Mercer

5. Montana State

4. Sacramento State

3. North Dakota State

2. Weber State

1. South Dakota State

Notes
I reevaluate my order every week, which can result in big jumps and falls. I don’t like to slot teams based on last week’s order since every week of more games we get a clearer picture. So Team A can jump Team B even if both teams had similar wins.

The teams dropping out of my ballot were Eastern Kentucky and UT Martin. EKU lost in the final seconds to an OK Sam Houston team who is redshirting a lot of would-be starters as it transitions to the FBS. EKU is now 3-3 overall and 2-2 vs. the FCS. UT Martin was already hanging on by a thread in its ranking on my ballot, and Rhode Island and Idaho bumped them out. New Hampshire (5-2 overall, 5-1 vs. FCS) is close to making it in my Top 25, but I still need to see a more convincing win.

Rhode Island handed ranked Elon its first FCS loss, improving to 4-2 overall and 4-1 vs. the FCS (loss to Delaware). Kudos to the Rams, as I wasn’t totally sold on them as a ranked team last Monday.

I know some voters don’t like making drastic moves, but I like to start over every ballot and not let where I had teams last week impact where I put them this week. Or else you run into hard-headedness. So I had no problem moving Idaho from just outside my Top 25 last week to in my Top 10. Idaho won at No. 3 Montana in an upset-but-don’t-you-dare-call-it-an-upset win. The Vandals are playing at a really high level, improving to 4-2 overall (with two competitive P5 losses) and 4-0 vs. the FCS. This was the FCS win needed to show it belongs, and boy did they show it. That’s a Top 10 resume, even if they weren’t in the poll last week. Idaho was up two scores in the last minute on the Griz, who drop out of my Top 10 for now after suffering their first loss. But they have a few upcoming opportunities against Top 10 opponents to climb back in, including this week at Sac State.

SDSU is the new No. 1 after being my No. 2 last week and beating No. 1 NDSU in Fargo, coming back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to win 23-21. The Jacks are now 6-1 overall and 6-0 vs. the FCS. SDSU will be favored to win out, but its program is known for disappointing losses here and there, and a tough road trip to home giants UND comes this week. This looks like the best team the Jacks have had to win an FCS natty, and they should be experienced enough to play like the top team and avoid hangover performances.

I moved NDSU to No. 3. You could argue for any spot from 2-5. The Bison lost by two points to the No. 2 team in a 50/50 game. One could argue that NDSU and SDSU were viewed as 1a and 1b most of the offseason and this season, and the game played out like that with NDSU dominating the first half and SDSU dominating the second half. So a huge drop may not be necessary. Yet you could also make the argument that the Bison haven’t really looked sharp all season and being ranked No. 2 would be more about what they’ve done in the past and not what they have done this year. But we have seen this team ho-hum its way through the regular season and lose (even more decisively last year) to the Jacks and still show they are the best team in the FCS by year’s end. So I didn’t drop the Bison too far, because I still wouldn’t pick many teams to beat them on a neutral field. Weber State is one team I would. The more I watch the Wildcats, the more I like and see a team built to make a run to the title game. Weber is 6-0 with an FBS win against Utah State. Bronson Barron looks like the missing piece for a Weber program that’s been a QB away from competing legitimately for an FCS championship.

Sac State is looking really good at 6-0 with an FBS win against Colorado State. I like Weber a bit better than Sac State through seven weeks. Weber is better defensively, and pretty close on offense. And I still don’t know if the Hornets would beat SDSU or NDSU if they played. But they do look primed to get over the 0-2 playoff hump. I’m very intrigued with Sac State hosting Montana this week, as the team can continue to prove it is among the FCS top tier and past postseason performances should be ignored. Montana State rounds out the Top 5. The Bobcats continue to win at 6-1 overall and 6-0 vs. the FCS. An opportunity to move up the rankings is there as Weber comes to town this week.

There aren’t a ton of changes from there. I’m still very high on Mercer at No. 6 with a 6-0 record vs. the FCS and looking awesome on offense. Elon got bumped out of my Top 10 after losing to Rhody. They did beat my No. 9 William & Mary earlier this season, but I like W&M’s resume a bit more at 5-1 overall with an FBS win (Charlotte) and beating my No. 10 Delaware.

The teams mostly stayed the same from there besides Rhody coming in at No. 25. Some teams were just maneuvered around a little bit. And obviously, with Idaho climbing so high, that’s going to result in some teams dropping even if they won or had a bye.

Interesting that Idaho seems to have rebounded after dropping back down to FCS from FBS a couple of seasons ago. No idea how they look this year but I'm glad they are having some success now.

I'm assuming, with the regionalization that takes place with the playoff pairings, that if we were to go 11-0, we wouldn't be sent out to play the Dakotas, Sac St, Montana etc. until probably the sem-final round or so.

All well down the road of course...let's go undefeated this weekend.

Missouri State 2-4, 0-3
Tie for 25 ??

It sounds as though they are taking pointers from HC.