53 thoughts on “Immediate thoughts on Week 6”

1. Concerned about: “McDaniel. Even dating to the Week 2 win against Seton Hill (just 28-9) this has 4-6 finish potential, even though the Green Terror are 4-1 right now.”

   C’mon Pat. It’s taken you until Week 5 to be concerned about them??? Cut your losses now and accept the fact that they’re not the same team that beat Bridgewater in Week 1. One point wins against Ursinus and Cathoic and a loss to Gettysburg? C’mon. If they get a vote in this week’s d3football’s top 25 poll, I’ll lose all respect for it, and I think d3football’s top 25 is gospel.

   Maybe it’s time time to look towards another CC team that’s had McDaniel’s number for the past few years and is 5-0……..

2. No. it hasn’t taken until Week 5. I was also concerned about McDaniel in Week 3’s blog post, not to mention all over the message boards the past few weeks. Do a search on McDaniel in the box at the upper right.

   I haven’t had them on my ballot since the Catholic game.

3. Fair enough. Just venting to the other 24 voters then who are in love with the team formerly known as McDaniel, but with all the injuries, are now McDaniel’s JV. I hope you don’t have the team known as JD Ricca and his 21 ensemble supporting cast on your ballot either, because that would even be a bigger travesty.

   What are you doing up so late, Pat?

4. Yes, the Husson football team is very disappointed at not getting the opportunity to play at SVU this weekend. The team did travel by bus, they left on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. and got back to Bangor this morning at 5:00 a.m. A long trip indeed, not to play.

5. Pat,
   Lets give a little creidt to McDaniel, they did beat Bridgewater at Bridgewater. I do agree they should loose there ranking spot, but I also think thay will recover before the last year of the season with the game at home against John Hopklins. I have not really been convinced about John Hopkins, as much as I DONT think HSC deserves to make the playoffs, I think team J.D. Ricca will be able to outscore them.
   Anyways, Ferrum keeps dissappointing me. For the second straight week they scored over 50. Yet when we play the weak teams, our defense does not show up. At Shenandoah, supposedly one of the top conference teams, our team played stingy defense. Against the’powerful’ maryville team, we give up 34. This coming weeks game against Methodist will show everyone if we are for real. Methodist was the only team to really beat Ferrum last year and the team knows its going to be a good one. Also the Averett Cougars, though 2-3 have played pretty competitive ball this year.

6. Also pat, how many teams are still undefeated? Just wondering I am guessing around 30?

7. As was referenced above, some of the key players that beat Bridgewater in Week 1 have not been healthy and haven’t played since. The team that beat Bridgewater no longer exists, basically.

   There are 26 remaining unbeaten teams: Bowdoin, Coe, Colby, Concordia-Moorhead, Delaware Valley, Elmhurst, Ferrum, Hardin-Simmons, Hobart, Ithaca, Johns Hopkins, Linfield, Monmouth, Mount Union, North Central, Occidental, Rowan, St. John’s, St. Olaf, Thiel, Trinity (Conn.), Trinity (Texas), Union, UW-Whitewater, Wabash, Wesley

8. Looks like you guys started the party without me. I’ll just quietly drop my two-cents in the thought-box (plink, plink) and slip into the back so as not to disturb.

   Since I want to be inconspicuous, here are a few teams that are quietly making noise this season…

   Coe: The Kohawks just cracked into the Top 25 last week and should rise after manhandling BVU. Neil Suckow picked up four touchdowns and is now getting more than 100 yards in total offense per contest. But the best news is that Coe has already beaten contenders Luther, Central and BVU. If they get by Wartburg next week, they’ll finish with the bottom four teams in the IIAC standings. Like one of my favorite message board handles, I’m coo-coo for Coe Kohawk.

   Johns Hopkins: After the defense carried the Blue Jays early, the offense is putting some points on the board. Maybe this is the year the Columbia Blue and Black finally get by Muhlenberg (and everyone else) for the CC automatic bid. But they can’t overlook Gettysburg this Friday.

   East Texas Baptist: Yes, they haven’t played HSU or UMHB yet. But they have beaten Howard Payne and squeaked by TLU yesterday. If they can beat one of the two ASC titans, maybe they are the second team from this conference in the playoffs.

   MAC teams that start with W: Some observers thought the MAC title chase would come down to Del Val’s dramatics, John Port’s arm or Chris Jacoubs’ legs. But Widener and Wilkes are still very much in the hunt.

   Widener has dispatched Albright and Moravian, partly thanks to Khalee Prothro (2 TDs on the ground, 4 in the air). Suddenly I don’t feel so bad about having the Pioneers in my preseason Top 25.

   And Wilkes is now 3-1 in conference with a win against Widener and a near miss against Del Val. After the early stumble against WPUNJ, I can’t say enough about how Coach Frank Sheptock and OC McNulty have rebuilt this offense quickly post All-American Brett Trichilo.

   Bubble Trouble? It’s not too early to start thinking about the playoffs, I suppose. If we assume for the moment that two loses puts you on the bubble for a Pool C bid, there are some unlikely candidates for that status already. It’s not an exhaustive list but Capital, Carthage, Hampden-Sydney, ONU, UMHB and Wheaton all have a loss with big game(s) remaining.

   Three cheers: Congrats to Bowdoin who is 3-0 for the first time since the LBJ administration. Nice effort by Huntingdon who hung tough against Trinity (Texas). And kudos to the Kenyon Scot-Slayers. Less than three months ago we were predicting how many guys would be available to play at season’s end. The folks in Gambier should enjoy this one.

9. congrats to the elmhurst blue jays..to a great start..5-0…what about that defense..? and kudos, to the offense..good luck against wheaton…

10. Let’s not overlook that Trinity (Texas) not only shut down Huntingdon pretty completely in the second half (allowing 63 yards), but managed their comeback with a sophomore QB (Blake Barmore) who managed to go 7-of-8 in his first significant collegiate action. Barmore even shares his number with a senior LB, which should say something for how much action he was expected to get this year.

    Well-deserved kudos for Huntingdon, who played a whale of a game but seemed to wear down in the second half. The Hawks offense couldn’t get it going after the break.

    DePauw: the conference’s stealth Pool C contender hung up some big numbers yesterday at Millsaps. They did so by containining UoS QB Wesley Satterfield, who suffered through a 4-of-19 day and was picked off three times.

    Someone turned the lights back on at Centre, now 5-1/2-1 with a big win at home against Millsaps. The Majors were once again without the services of QB Raymece Savage. Tyson Roy returned but his 115 yards rushing weren’t enough to keep the Colonels at bay. Centre visits Trinity in two weeks after a non-conference tilt with struggling Maryville (TN).

    ASC: the conference’s hope for two bids hinges on one of two things:
    – ETBU winning out except against HSU, or
    – UMHB winning out including what seems like an unlikely win at HSU. Then again, the visitor seems to win more often than not in this series. Thanks to yesterday’s loss (and Hurricane Katrina), UMHB is out of the conference championship race unless everyone else in the conference ends up with at least two losses.

    Not sure what to think of East Texas Baptist. They are making their own breaks, but continually winning games by the skin of your teeth is so dangerous. Of course, I cleared my schedule to attend HSU-UMHB in two weeks, so I have too many things on the calendar to visit Abilene next week for ETBU at HSU. It doesn’t seem like the Tiger team which has struggled past so many opponents already this year will be able to challenge the Cowboys, but it also sounds like they’re starting to believe again in Marshall. ETBU seems to be a team that thrives on self-confidence; when the Tigers have it, they play quite well.

11. So here is my opinion of the latest D3football rankings. I am teams dont depend on them as they do in Division 1 A. Ferrum is 6-0 and did not recieve anymore points. I am beginning to believe that Ferrum could be 10-0 and still not recieve any more than 2 points. Ferrum is averaging 43points a game and has won every game without much trouble. Maybe one of the other polls gives some credit where it is deserved.

12. “Maybe one of the other polls gives some credit where it is deserved.”

    Track record suggests otherwise. They have a greater tendency to give undeserved credit.

    You don’t get to automatically move up for winning every week. Did beating Maryville prove something more that beating Shenandoah didn’t already show? Not really. You have the attention of one voter and that’s really it. I don’t know if lots of voters are going to jump on board until the CNU game.

    Hey, if you want to feel good, sure, look at another ranking. Then look at how high that ranking ranked Texas Lutheran (if you are into the Football Gazette ranking) or Wooster and UW-Stout (if you prefer the AFCA poll). But if you want to know where you really stand, look at ours.

13. I never once said Ferrum deserves to be ranked. My problem is that we still have the same number of points as we had a few weeks ago. Beating CNU is going to prove what? When that game comes, voters will just say that CNU was really weak this year. Ferrum has to make the playoffs, and then next year when almost all of the players on both side return, we may recieve more than two votes. So the thing I do not understand is how other teams win and at least go up a piont or so and Ferrum stays complacent. I am willing to bet Ferrum could go 10-0 and still not recieve more than 10 points.

14. “I never once said Ferrum deserves to be ranked. My problem is that we still have the same number of points as we had a few weeks ago.”

    Well, if you’re going to split hairs, then there’s not much point in continuing to have this discussion. I’m sure you understand that getting more points every week means you would get ranked eventually, so it’s kind of silly to try to draw that kind of distinction.

    Also, I never once said that you said Ferrum deserves to be ranked.

15. The arguement is over why Ferrum has not recieved any more points. Personally I believe Ferrum is a top 25 team. I understand that with 26 teams still without a loss, its hard to drop teams out. To just watch Ferrum’s offensive machine totally dominate teams is amazing. Last time I checked we are top 5 in the nation in rushing. To insinuate that an increase in points weekly will eventually make a team ranked is obvious. The Silly thing is that the voters seem complacent with giving Ferrum just two points week end week out. That us the problem. You mentioned voters won’t jump on board unless we beat CNU, I dont think the voters will jump on board if Ferrum is 10-0. Thank God for Playoffs. Maybe the voters that can make it need to come watch Ferrum and that offense.

16. Gordon – I really don’t think Wooster will be a pool C contender with two losses. I think the only “C” contender in the NCAC would be Wabash, and they’d have to be 9-1 as well.

    BFB – DePauw isn’t a ‘stealth’ contender. They would have been a “C” last year if the playoffs had expanded. The Monon Bell game may well be one of the biggest ever!

17. When is Trinity, Connecticut going to get some love on this board? 25 straight wins over 3 years, two consecutive 8-0 seasons and a 3-0 start this year and they’re still not good enough to be ranked? This is a dominant team playing in one of the best DIII conferences in the country. The fact that Trinity’s conference does not allow its season champ to participate in the post-season tournament shouldn’t be held against these guys. With or without a post-season tournament, the NESCAC is always one of the top DIII conferences in the country, and when its members do get to compete for a NCAA championship, they often win the thing, as recent NESCAC national titles in men’s basketball and hockey demonstrate and final four spots in soccer, lacrosse and tennis evidence. What’s amazing to me is the way Trinity has absolutely dominated a very good football conference over the past 3 years. The rest of the country is very lucky Trinity can’t participate in the NCAA tournament because it’s got the talent to win it this year, as it has in each of the previous two seasons. I think it’s high-time for Trinity to get some respect and some well deserved Top 25 recognition. And I’m not even a Trinity grad!

18. You can’t draw the connection between a sport like basketball, with five starters, and a sport like football, with 22, and assume that the NESCAC automatically is “one of the best DIII conferences in the country.”

    Fact of the matter is, even if you have the very best New England Division III football players (and I believe that is correct), that means very little on the national scene.

    This was beat to death last week. I’m not going to repeat all this again.
    http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?p=105#comments

19. Ferrum fans, you are someone’s radar screen. As other teams lose, you will rise. However, you must win the first round game really to vault into the Top 15-20.

    The USAC has had 2 playoff teams and only CNU has won a post-season game. There are plenty of conferences with better playoff records. There are still lots of good teams out there, but if Ferrum is for real, then we will still be blogging about them in late November.

20. I agree that Ferrum needs to win in the post-season to be vaulted into the top 15-20. Ferrum is for real this year. Finally healthy and experienced from a year ago, in which their record was very misleading. This upcoming game against Methodist should be a nice test for the Panthers. I believe that Ferrum’s Fans are just a little tired of recieving the same points week in week out when they keep winning.

21. You haven’t played one single team that is ranked ahead of you in this week’s poll. You’re lucky you have what you get, to be brutally honest.

    Meanwhile, fans of the rest of Division III are just a little tired of receiving the same posts from Ferrum fans. Enough already.

22. Well I most certainly haven’t read all of this, skimmed a few things …

    McDaniel did get exactly one vote … and no it wasn’t me. 🙂

    I too think Monon Bell will be huge, and I hope to be there. The DePauw-Trinity result really would have helped us sort things out in the poll.

    For the rest of you, if you read this week’s ATN or you’re tired of this Ferrum discussion, stop here.

    Rbrockwell … You and I have traded e-mails, and I have been pretty frank with you about Ferrum’s situation. You hit it on the head in your first e-mail to me (I think) … you’ll have to beat CNU to make some noise.

    Take a look at a undefeated team like Wesley, and then look at Ferrum, and tell me what you see different about the opponents & results. Then you’ll see why one is ranked, and one is not. Even Wabash, you can compare schedule and results favorably.

    Frankly, the mid-Atlantic is not looking too strong right now. If Bridgewater, Salisbury are the power teams, and CNU/Shenandoah are also the reigning playoff teams from this region … Each of them have some significant losses or four.

    Trust me, the voters are given information every week ranging from who was at home/on the road, who has beaten who, weather and other minor points to overlook … It takes quite some time out of our Saturday nights and Sunday mornings to digest it all, and while the results are not infallible, I can assure you that at least some us are looking at these things very closely, and not as a fanboy for a certain team.

    We know Ferrum can only play the teams on its schedule. But as a voter who has to consider 50 teams each week for 25 spots, I can’t very well assume a team who has beaten teams that are 1-4, 2-3, 1-5, 0-5, 1-4 and 2-3 to be better than some teams who have played better competition … not to mention you’ve surrendered 74 points the past few weeks.

    A lot of teams have similar gripes. Hobart, Union, Trinity (Conn.), St. Olaf, Wabash, Johns Hopkins, Monmouth are all unbeaten and unranked as well. There simply isn’t room for everyone in the top 25.

23. Frankly, I am appalled at the aggressiveness from writer and voter Pat Coleman. Rbrockwell is not demanding that Ferrum be put into the top 25, yet (if I am interrupting this correctly) why Ferrum and many other teams are not receiving points after they continue to win week in week out. Keith is correct by saying that Ferrum cannot help who they play. Looking at Ferrum’s record this year and last year, they seem night and day, thus reaffirming rbrockwells comments about health and experience. Pat maybe you need to rethink how you react towards comments from fans. Follow Keith’s lead and try and explain. He seems to be more level headed.

24. rbrockwell

    With all due respect to Ferum

    Conference rank preseason 14 of 25
    Ferum preseason rank 5 in your conference
    D3 Preseason rank 123
    Conference record in NCAA tourney #20 of 25
    Current opponets played combined record 7-25
    Future opponents combined record YTD 9-11

    Play somebody to earn the respect.

    Win out.

    Victory over CNU will surely give you some additional exposure. That will get you a shot in the show.

    Next year a team from your conference will have a chance to show their stuff in week one when a certain team from Alliance will visit Averett.

    Sincerly congratulations on 6-0. Keep up the good work. The rest will come. Now you have someone else keeping an eye on you except I don’t get to vote.

25. Flyin High, you Ferrum folks can gang up on me all you want (you students here on the blog and the alumni on the message board) but it won’t outweigh the facts.

    After a dozen comments posted on the blog and another dozen from the message board, I’ve said everything that can be said politely. If you need politeness, go try tennis. 🙂

26. Seriously — I did my explaining in my first couple of responses on this topic, in previous weeks. When the same people start making the same complaints week after week without getting it, I have to change my approach. Keith doesn’t post as often, so he has a little patience left … and as he said, he didn’t even read all of the posts!

27. I reallly enjoy these discussions and the banter about the Top 25. In more than a decade of being heavily involved in D3 football and watching playoff teams and potential playoff teams and Top 25 candidates, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about how to read teams that are out of my region.

    I talked to Pat and he said he didn’t mind me posting about the poll process so I hope he doesn’t mind what I’m about to do. Here’s a look at the type of info we receive from him each week to vote. This is Ferrum’s breakdown.

    Ferrum (6-0):
    Sep 03 HOME Guilford (1-4) W 41-7
    Sep 10 AWAY Emory and Henry (0-5) W 13-29
    Sep 17 AWAY Chowan (D-II prov., 2-4) W 26-43
    Sep 24 AWAY Shenandoah (1-4) W 13-34
    Oct 01 HOME Averett (2-3) W 55-40
    Oct 08 AWAY Maryville (Tenn.) (1-5) W 34-56
    Oct 14 HOME Methodist (4-1) –

    Now, I don’t know a lot about too many of these teams. I know E&H has the former Mount Union assistant and was supposed to be pretty good. That win caught my eye back in early September but now I can see that E&H is 0-5 and I can’t do too much with that game. Shenandoah was good enough to make the playoffs last year I know but now they are 1-5. And I have to wonder how good a team is that gives up 74 points in back to back weeks, to teams with losing records, one of them at home.

    Here’s teams in my bottom spots:

    Central (5-1):
    Sep 03 AWAY Augustana (4-1) W 24-25
    Sep 10 AWAY Bethel (2-3) W 21-29
    Sep 17 HOME Coe (5-0) L 14-17
    Sep 24 AWAY Loras (2-3) W 0-21
    Oct 01 AWAY Simpson (2-3) W 7-10
    Oct 08 HOME Cornell (1-4) W 41-6

    Washington and Jefferson (5-1):
    Sep 03 AWAY Tri-State (0-5) W 0-42
    Sep 10 HOME Hanover (3-3) W 56-20
    Sep 17 HOME Allegheny (0-5) W 45-21
    Sep 24 AWAY Emory and Henry (0-5) W 0-50
    Oct 01 HOME Thiel (5-0) L 35-38
    Oct 08 AWAY Westminster (Pa.) (2-3) W 20-45

    Wesley (6-0):
    Sep 03 AWAY DePauw (3-1) W 26-31
    Sep 10 AWAY Averett (2-3) W 9-49
    Sep 17 HOME Buffalo State (1-3) W 45-9
    Sep 24 HOME Kean (2-3) W 49-19
    Oct 01 AWAY Seton Hill (NAIA first-year) W 10-48
    Oct 08 HOME Frostburg State (2-3) W 35-10

    These are the ones you’re fighting with. I feel very good about W&J and Wesley against common opponents with Ferrum and while Central doesn’t have any common opponents they have beaten a team in the poll and their only loss is to another.

    There are also probably 50 other teams in the weekly e-mail to consider.

    Hope that wasn’t too boring.

28. Enough about the USAC “Weak Sisters of the Poor,” despite my following the Panthers when Moncrief was in the backfield, and rooting for the Captains since they began the sport, when I was assigned to Langley.

    BREAK, BREAK…

    Chris Berman just gave some “love” to Northwestern (MN), and D3 football as a whole (he actually said the words “Division III”), ranking them #8 of 10 in his “Plays of the Day,” for playing two games…a “Doubleheader”…in one day…as Pat said, the first time in “modern football history.” Can’t figure out why this event is not getting 99% of the votes on the D3 Football.com home page (“What was the most unlikely performance today?”) Upsets will happen almost every weekend, and the Vikings are likely to pass for a score again this year, but how often does a team play two games in one day? Never before “in the modern era,” according to Pat and his understudy, Chris Berman!

    Say what? The other 1%? Yeah…those votes should go to Kenyon for beating “Big Woo!!!”

29. I voted for Kenyon, as it wasn’t that unlikely that Northwestern would beat those two opponents. And Kenyon has had some rough years.

    If they beat St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus in the same day, then I’d be like whoa!

    For ESPN, now back to ignoring us! (Seriously, we can’t get a 30-second D3 top 25 roundup, featuring me as anchor of course, instead of the extended Duke-Miami or Missouri-Oklahoma St. highlight?)

    Those teams that Central Time mentioned are some of the same teams I look at too, although some end up quite higher or lower the more you break it down … Central’s first three games were probably tougher than Ferrum’s toughest.

    Right now, the leagues like the IIAC and MIAC compare very favorably to a lot of East/mid-Atlantic teams, in addition to the usual WIAC, CCIW and OAC teams … and a lot of the mid-Atlantic power teams have suffered losses.

    But as I rank these teams, I see only a few that are *likely* to run the table. A lot of teams, even ones as good as Rowan (vs. Cortland, could slip in tough conference games like W&J did …

    I think what a lot of fans could use, with respect to the top 25, is patience. When your team wins week in and week out, and is consistent with it (most voters will let a close loss to a good team, or a struggle-but-we-won victory slide once or twice), you build a name for yourself as other teams fall. Past conference success, or past playoff success, puts your team or your conference on the voters radars. If you don’t start there, you really have to do some convincing things to get there. Either way, by the end of the season, there should be a body of evidence that says ‘yes, we are/aren’t top 25 material,’ and then there are those 32 beautiful little invitations that say “Game 11, next week vs. …”

    Wish they had 32 bids when my teams were going 7-3 and 8-2 …

    Well, since I have a column for this sort of thing, guess I shouldn’t waste any more valuable public time or (cyber)space

30. “Frankly, I am appalled at the aggressiveness from writer and voter Pat Coleman.”

    Well, low-hanging fruit, if people kept coming after you with the same lame complaints week after week after week after week, perhaps you would understand where Pat Coleman (who, btw, is also the one who makes it possible for you to air your dirty laundry in public) is coming from.

    As to Ferrum … funny how I have not seen any Huntingdon (AL) fans complaining about lack of respect. They too were undefeated before this weekend’s play. They went 800+ miles on a bus to play #10 Trinity and led going into the fourth quarter. They haven’t gotten so much as one vote all season. Perhaps it’s because they know you actually have to beat somebody on a national radar before complaining about respect.

    BTW, Trinity’s reward for defeating an undefeated team was to drop two places in the polls to twelfth, because the voters (a) expected them to do better and (b) they lost their starting QB to a concussion, which could make future wins less likely. The D3football.com voters actually think about what their ratings mean, unlike most of the other polls.

31. To Ferrum and other USA South wannabes – face it guys, you have a weak conference. Many of your out-of league opponents (see ODAC, SVU, Chowan, etc.) are also relatively weak. We (USA South and the ODAC) are not going to get national respect until we advance far in the playoffs and have other quality wins outside the conference. With the exception of Bridgewater in the DIII title game a few years ago and CNU winning a few playoff games, what have you done for me lately? Granted, my alma mater Guilford lost to Ferrum 41-7 in the first game of the season (new coach, new QB, away game, etc.), but the Quakers have a ways to go to be a good football program. However, we’ve played and will play many of Ferrum’s other common regional opponents tough. We beat Greensboro, lost to Hampden-Sydney by 2 and I think, if we played Averett and Methodist again at this stage in the season, we would beat them. When Ferrum beats some quality opposition, then I’ll listen.

    Oh, and one other thing … I hope some of you guys (not all) are just fans and not college graduates. I know this is a football forum and not English class, but the spelling and grammar are, well, a fumble and an incomplete pass. lol

32. Well Hasanova, When I asked A friend and a Starter at HSC about what happened at Guilford, I was told that HSC took you lightly. Come on you lost to Averett and Methodist(granted Methodist is a solid team). You won by a point against the lowest team in the USA South. Hasanova, until your team can achieve a winning record, Dont Talk. As for BedTimeForBonzo, this is exactly what I am talking about. I am assuming you were either 4-0 or 5-0 before this last game, and you recieve no credit. Thats the point at hand, that in week 5 an undefeated team cannot recieve any points. There are 26 undefeated teams left according to Pat, each of these teams should keep gaining points after each win.

33. rbrockwell – I will talk all I want. I acknowleged we don’t have a very good team, so what’s your issuef? HSC can make all the excuses they want. I was at the HSC/Guilford game, the Averett/Guilford game and the Methodist/Guilford game. HSC is not as good as they think they are and Guilford is not as bad (now) as you think they are. Historically, Ferrum has had some good teams and they have a good team now, but I bet there are over 40 DIII teams that could beat them regularly. DIII is supposed to be about scholarship first and athletics second, but admit it, the only reason you ever got Chris Warren was because he flunked out at UVa. lol

34. BFB’s team is Trinity (Texas), and rest assured they got plenty of votes at 4-0 and at 5-0.

    And I guess that leads me back to my earlier point on the subject, a point on which you and I disagree. “You don’t get to automatically move up for winning every week.”

    It just doesn’t work that way. Continuing to win doesn’t automatically mean you’re better than you were the week before. Beating Maryville simply means you did what was expected.

    Our voters don’t as a general rule automatically promote teams, and they never have. That’s why Salisbury never made our Top 25 two years ago, even as they continued winning and the AFCA poll bowed down in front of them and moved them up to #15. Salisbury, of course, lost its last two games that year to unranked teams and ended up out of the coaches poll. But we were right on them all along. Last year the coaches pushed Wabash up as high as #13 when they were 6-0 but Wabash went on to finish 6-4. We never had them higher than #23.

    This is what I was referring to earlier. History continues to prove our voters’ general approach to be the right one. The approach you want is the one the AFCA voters generally use. It does not result in a mor accurate poll.

35. Actually, we were 5-0, not 6-0. And we lost to an undefeated Wooster at home, which started our slide.

    I can see the reluctance to rank Wabash this year, and even beating Wooster at Wooster may not garner a top-25 even though we’re 6-0, especially since Wooster lost to Kenyon.

    The only poll many of us are worried about isn’t even a poll at all. It’s how they stack up in the playoffs, if and when it comes to pass.

36. The funny thing is Pat said it perfectly, that we disagree over rankings and points. I believe that Ferrum and other schools that consistently win should keep moving up and gaining points, Pat looks at it from another angle.
    Hasanova, you talk about a better Guilford team? This is a joke. Ferrum could have kept the game scoreless, except when we were up by 41, we allowed you to score against a third string team. Congratulations, you scored in the last two minutes of the game. Granted you may have played your best game against HSC, they are good, which shocked a whole lot of people. (In my opinion not as good as Ferrum but still very solid) To try and justify a 1-4 record with the only win against a 0-5 team is pretty pathetic. I am arguing for a 6-0 team, not a team that is 1-4.
    Personally I do not think there are 40 teams which could beat us. I think we could play with any team in the nation. The comment Chris Warren flunking out of UVA does what for your argument? Simply says that an ALL-American type of player, at ANY DIVISION, wants to play for a good team. Warren got his act together and went to summer school to raise his academic level to be eligible to play for and attend Ferrum College. He then had a very successful career in the NFL. Sorry he thought so little of a Guilford team which Ferrum has went 5-1 over the last 6 years. Guilford will be lucky to only win 2 more games, RMC and EH. Have fun at 3-7! Remember Ferrum was over looked by a lot of people because of last year and their pre-season ranking. Next year will be an even better Ferrum Team.

37. Gee if only Wesley and Ferrum would have played each other!!!!! I guess we might not be having all this TA DO.
    RBROCk one other thing you have to look at is history. Not many teams get a big upsid ein the polls their first year of winnig unless they beat High Quality teams!!!!
    Winj out and win your conference then CROW all you want..

38. If Union’s next three outings, F&M, Coast Guard, and St. Lawrence, go according to script (wins), the Hobart game should be a barn burner followed by the finale with RPI. The Liberty League looks very, very interesting at this juncture!

39. this ferrum top 25 thing is getting old – if mc had played chowan instead of salisbury i GUARANTEE that the monarchs would be 5-0…and i also guarantee that all mc fans would be more than happy with 2 votes in the top 25 and the monarchs are coming off a 7-3 season in which they beat ferrum handily – ferrum is greatly improved, and i’m very nervous that they may just run the monarchs out of franklin county high school’s stadium on friday night, but c’mon…emailing top 25 voters, continuously posting on these blogs and post patterns…sounds like a concerted effort to garner additional votes for the panthers to me – i guess if my monarchs take care of business on friday evening, the panthers fans will go back into the den that they’ve been in for the last 6 or 7 years – i think i’ve seen a TOTAL of 10-12 ferrum posts prior to this season – i guess 6-0 brings some folks out of the woodwork – good luck this weekend…friday night should be a donnybrook

40. I dont think Ferrum Fans have been in the “Den” over the past 6-7 years, We have finally decided to get online and chat about the Panthers. Yes Methodist was the only team to beat Ferrum pretty handily, yet that was last year when Ferrum was hurt and inexperienced. Your right, Friday night should be a good one. A win against Methodist should help the Panthers. You guys are ranked higher in the conference. You guys are the favorites. But I think Ferrum will be around for a few years, The program in general is back on the upswing, Hell, Ferrum could have easily been 9-1 last year. It should be a fun game on Friday night

41. I agree with rbrockwell. Teams that win every week should continue to move up and gain points. Why has Linfield stayed at 625 all year when they have averaged 45 points a game and are 4-0?

    I have seen a lot of “could have” and “should be” as an overall theme to your writing. Instead, wait til they beat a team ranked in the top 15-20, and say, Who is your daddy?

42. fatman76, I think that the Linfield contingent has gotten to you. There are 25 voters giving the maximum 25 points to Linfield and now you think that Linfield ought to get 26 or 27 or 74 points for a first place vote? Whew…this blog just morphed into another Catdome!!!

43. That was sarcasm directed at rbrockwell.

    Thanks for the explaination though.

44. Fatman76, good friend, anything that I can do to save you from the Linfield effect!:-)

45. rbrockwell – Aren’t you touchy? How sad. lol You often see that when people try desperately to defend schools with very little other claims to fame. As I have mentioned several times, Guilford is not now a good team, so I don’t see that I am defending a 1-4 record. We are not in the top 150 in the country, because we aren’t very good. We do not have a stellar football history. We are everyone’s homecoming game. We don’t deserve any (football ) respect until we beat someone. Ferrum is a better team. Ferrum is a good team. You are the God of all football knowledge. What else do you want? lol Ferrum is just not as good nationally as you think they are. I’ll stand by that assessment until I see you go all the way through the USA South and beat a Top 40 team in the playoffs. And by the way, the Chris Warren observation was simply to highlight the widely held regional assessment of Ferrum – namely, that you have good teams partly because you admit some (not all) players that many other teams will not touch academically. We didn’t want Chris Warren, but I am glad he is succeeding. Ferrum has many good students and, I’m sure, many good student/athletes, but you have some flaws in your priority system. You might fool some of the guys on this site, but I grew up next door in Patrick County, VA, so I know. You can get upset if you want, but show me a poll that ranks Ferrum where it really matters – at all schools but particulary in DIII – academics. I will respond no further to this inane discussion. Good luck to you and Ferrum.

46. I believe Wabash will move up into the Top 25 this week, IF they can keep Wooster out of the end zone. The Little Giant defence is only giving up under 7 point per game (no one has scored above 9 point against them). I think that in Div III that should count for something.

47. Ferrum – Blah Blah Blah. They don’t get the votes because they don’t play anyone worth a crap! They are just like Monmouth College – they don’t play anyone either!

    If Either of those two teams were in the CCIW they wouldn’t even be talked about, other than to talk about how bad they got beat!

    Augustana would destroy both of those cream puffs.

    Also, Ferrum and Monmouth should be greatful they have not had to play anyone with a UW in front of it.

48. I totally agree with what SeanGOP just said. The CCIW is an underrated conference that will get more national recognition this year. Look at the stats people, 21-3 non-conference record? That is ridiculous! And two of those losses came from one team! Wartburg beat Augsburg earlier this year by 3, and Wartburg is 4-2, a pretty respectable record. But the next week, North Central beat Augsburg 64-25! Wartburg also lost to Millikin 34-7, who took Wheaton to triple overtime. I think that people need to pay more attention to the CCIW. There might be a tougher conference out there but if you slack for one minute in the CCIW, you WILL lose the game.

49. The CCIW is consistently rated as one of the top confverences. It’s not underrated.

    I might point you to last week’s Around the Nation, where Keith McMillan wrote extensively on this topic:

    http://www.d3football.com/atn.php?id=78

50. Changes in the wind at Lyco. Could be big upset this week in Williamsport against the Bombers.

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