The NCAA released its third 2009 regional rankings today. This is the last one we will see before they select the teams.
Teams are listed with their regional record first, followed by their overall record. For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.
Through games of Saturday, Nov. 7:
East Region
1. Delaware Valley 8-1 8-1
2. Alfred 7-1 7-1
3. Kean 8-1 8-1
4. Albright 7-1 8-1
5. Lebanon Valley 8-1 8-1
6. Montclair State 8-1 8-1
7. Curry 8-1 8-2
8. Springfield 7-2 7-2
9. Maine Maritime 8-1 8-1
10. Union 7-1 7-2
North Region
1. Mount Union 8-0 9-0
2. Wittenberg 7-0 9-0
3. Mount St. Joseph 9-0 9-0
4. Case Western Reserve 7-0 9-0
5. Illinois Wesleyan 8-1 8-1
6. Wabash 7-1 8-1
7. Trine 8-1 8-1
8. Ohio Northern 7-2 7-2
9. North Central (Ill.) 7-2 7-2
10. Concordia (Ill.) 8-1 8-1
South Region
1. Wesley 5-0 9-0
2. Hampden-Sydney 9-0 9-0
3. Thomas More 9-0 9-0
4. Huntingdon 5-0 8-1
5. Mississippi College 7-1 7-2
6. Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-1 8-1
7. Dickinson 8-1 8-1
8. Washington and Jefferson 8-1 8-1
9. DePauw 7-1 7-1
10. Johns Hopkins 7-2 7-2
West Region
1. UW-Whitewater 7-0 9-0
2. St. John’s 9-0 9-0
3. Linfield 7-0 8-0
4. Central 10-0 10-0
5. Monmouth 10-0 10-0
6. St. Thomas 8-1 8-1
7. Coe 8-1 8-1
8. Cal Lutheran 7-1 7-1
9. Redlands 7-1 7-1
10. St. Norbert 9-1 9-1
What are the chances that Huntingdon will get to play at home, assuming they make it into the playoffs? Also, I read somewhere that they were counting Greenville and Westminster as in region games, have they not accounted for that yet?
Things seem to be crystalizing a bit with one very important week left! With UWW now moving to the top seed in the West by the Regional Rankers, it appears more likely that the overall #1 and #2 seeds will be MUC and UWW.
Hawks: I think a fairly good chance. However, it appears we were told wrong about Greenville and Westminster. I pointed that out to the NCAA and got no response.
Pat or Keith,
How would you assess the North Region as it’s currently laid out. One poster suggested the two strongest teams (assuming a Mount Union move east) may be #5 Illinois Wesleyan and #8 Ohio Northern. Do you think these two teams would be favored against the current 2,3, and 4 teams?
Yeah, without Greenville and Westminster I think it takes our OWP down to .500. I was worried about how secure our one spot lead over MC would be going into the weekend until I see that their OWP will take a big hit Saturday against 0-9 Texas Lutheran. I just don’t know if/how a (heaven forbid) loss to South Alabama tomorrow night would affect things.
Very glad to see Ohio Northern ranked and Otterbein left out.
I think they put NCC in the rankings to make the case for ONU stronger (win against regionally ranked opponent).
UWWRocks-I would rate IWU and ONU as better teams than the current 2,3,4 teams in the North. Witt may be an exception but its hard to say because Wabash is the only decent team they played. I think NCC is also better. Last year a 2 loss Wheaton got in as a 7 seed and won the North Region so a strong OAC/CCIW team is definitely a good bet.
Huntingdon’s game with South Alabama won’t affect their rankings.
Is South Alabama a “real” team or is it just club status this year? (Are those athletes using a year of eligibility to play this season?)
HC looks like the most creditable opponent that they have played.
I’m pretty sure it is considered a real team, not club, and they are using eligibility. I know from this on their web page(http://www.usajaguars.com/pdf4/392237.pdf?ATCLID=3699528&SPSID=99695&SPID=12275&DB_OEM_ID=8300) that they don’t yet have an official NCAA classification.
Removing those two games actually improves Huntingdon’s SOS number from 603 to 605.
It seems to me the “diamond in the rough” this year is UMHB. I know they are a familiar name, but unless the National Committee takes a very different view, they could be ranked low (currently 6th in the south). UWW lost a conference game last year and went to the Stagg Bowl, losing by a TD to Mount. Could UMHB make a similar run this year? Time will tell….
In addiiton to UMHB as a sleeper (and I hope they do get a Pool C bid), the University of Saint Thomas-MN team is another one worthy to watch (going on a gut feeling based on their wins and the close loss to Saint John’s). I think they are right up there with Saint John’s and Linfield and think their regional seed is too low, compared to the schools that are between them and Saint John’s in the West. I will be curious if granted a Pool C bid, the damage they will do in the playoffs.
I am less sold on Central and Monmouth going far into the playoff rounds. We will see.
I agree with USee that IWU and ONU are better teams than those ranked 2, 3, 4 in the North. It seems clear that the committee is basing the regional rankings this year on Win % first, then maybe SOS. These are among the criteria for determining at-large bids, although they are not supposed to be used hierarchically.
There aren’t any stated criteria for how the regional rankings are to be done, but they seem to be equating them with the at-large criteria, rather than trying to actually rank the teams in order of who is best. If they did that, I would think Wheaton and Otterbein show up, definitely not Concordia IL, probably not Trine, and at least MSJ raks lower. Compare with the d3football.com poll, where Conc.IL isn’t even getting votes.
I wish they would use this opportunity to try to rank the teams in a true “who is best” way. If anything it should be easier than the polls because they only have to do one region at a time.
Pat, what number are you using for LaGrange? I figure if they don’t count for us then the ex-SLIAC games don’t count for them either. That would make their region record 1-3 instead of 4-3.
It’s probable that Ohio Northern and Bethel get left out of the field, even though they are better than over half the teams in it.
It’s no newsflash to say the OAC #2 and the CCIW champ are stronger than the UAA, HCAC and NCAC champ. Traditionally, that’s been the case.
When picking brackets, that’s likely one of the first places people will look for seed upsets, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Wittenberg, Case or MSJ can’t advance, especially playing at home. Those teams seem better than usual, especially if you look at the Witt defense, and Case’s QB. And I’m not quite sure what to make of IWU … which means there’ll actually be some intrigue.
I was responding to you, UWWRocks, above. And below.
And keeping them on separate sides of the bracket. But not only that, with SJU dropping behind UWW, it means we might be less likely to see the four No. 1 seeds. … they could revert to the old days and just make Del Val the No. 1 in the East, although I still prefer MUC, UWW, Wesley and SJU as No. 1s.
Keith,
I would be very surprised if the #1’s you cite are NOT #1’s (assuming they all win on Saturday). The question would fall between Del Val and St. John’s. It seems like the Johnnies would have the advantage. Both Mount and UWW are “travel friendly” moves, so it seems like the obvious choice. But it would be fun for UWW to stay in the west. A rematch against Linfield would be especially fun to see.
Keith-IWU starts 16 Srs and 4 Jrs. That’s a recipe for success in the CCIW. They are good defensively and potentially very good on offense. Their defense doesn’t give up big plays and will keep them in most games. They have an atrocious kicking game but good returners. depending on their draw they could easily make it to the regional final. Also, their qb went down last week vs wheaton but the backup came in and had a huge day (after being mediocre in 2 other starts).
I know its been stated before, but could someone tell me who the selection committee is made of?
UWWRocks: I hope you are right about UMHB….they too went to the Stagg (in 2004) after losing a conference game…..won week after week on the road….and beat Mount Union…… ALL is well with UMHB except for penalties …they are averaging close to 100 yards a game……
USee,
thanks for the insight. The Millikin loss and the 7-0 win against Augustana were the games that had me wondering if they were maybe not truly dominant, but on the other hand, the CCIW seems even more loaded than normal this year, so there were no easy wins (okay, one) and getting through with one loss might be a really significant accomplishment.
Keith-millikin was the game they lost their qb in the 1st quarter. Augie was the next game and he didn’t play. NCC was his first game back and you can see what he did there. Vs wheaton they lost him again (non throwing shoulder) but the same backup came in and had a huge day.
Keep in mind Millikin is a win saturday away from putting up a 7-3 season.
One should also point out that the IWU loss to Millikin was very misleading. IWU completely dominated the game in almost every way possible, except for the turnovers and the score.
First downs: IWU 27, Millikin 8
Total yards: IWU 418, Millikin 158
Offensive plays: IWU 90, Millikin 47
This list goes on…
If you look at the stats, one would ask how is it possible IWU lost? USee touched on part of it. IWU lost their outstanding, senior QB who completes nearly 70% of his passes. The backup threw 3 picks, including 1 for 73 yard pick 6.
Millikin jumped out to a 17-0 lead based on a blocked FG, a blocked punt and a pick 6. They capped off their scoring in the 4th quarter by returning the a blocked extra point for 2 points.
As you can see a serious achilles heel for IWU is their kicking game. Could prove their downfall in the playoffs.
Wow, I really don’t like how the West region rankings are shaping up. Does anyone not notice the level of play in the WIAC conference versus some of these other conferences? When you have a guaranteed a loss against Whitewater every year it shouldn’t discount the fact that you aren’t better than some of the top teams in other conferences. St. Norbert for instance got worked by Monmouth, than they beat up on the little sisters of the poor (a.k.a. other conference opponents) and beat a .500 out of conference opponent. How is that a better resume that UW-Stevens Point that has been impressive all season that lost by a point on the road to open the season against Central, an unbeaten highly acclaimed team. Or UW-Stout that is now 7-2 that has lost to Whitewater and lost on a missed extra point to Stevens Point. Not exactly bad losses. What I’m saying is are those two losses really less impressive than St. Norbert’s wins????
Also, I’m not sold on Cal Lutheran and Redlands but I’m not as familiar with the teams that far west in all honesty, so it will be interesting to see how good they are if they get into the big dance. I don’t see them fairing very well against Whitewater.
John, I think that WIAC strength lies in the realm just beyond the Regional Rankings, e.g., #11-#20. As a result, the WIAC teams cannot get enough separation to offset a second loss in conference.
The decision to play one more conference opponent is not going to help that “separation”. I think that the conference needs to work extra hard to get that quality non-conference/in-region game.
Ralph – This has been well documented however. D-II schools won’t play D-III schools unless it is a cupcake game. In the past, La Crosse, Whitewater, Stout, and Stevens Point have beat over half the big schools they have played. The net result, look at everyone’s non conference schedule for the WIAC. It is extremely difficult to find a decent D-III school to play or to get a D-II school to risk a loss. The WIAC had to play a lot of NAIA teams this year which they shouldn’t be faulted for.
It’s a joke when teams like St. Norberts get into the bracket when everyone regionally here knows that conference is inferior teams playing where one team still needs to win, so those 9-1 marks are tainted. I’ll be waiting to see St. Norbert’s travel to a WIAC school for a road non-conference next year. Yeah, thats probably not going to happen.