The NCAA released their second 2007 regional rankings today.
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.
East Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. RPI 7-0 7-0
2. New Jersey 7-1 7-1
3. Curry 9-0 9-0
4. St. John Fisher 8-1 8-1
5. Albright 7-1 7-1
6. Alfred 7-1 7-1
7. Hobart 6-2 6-2
8. Union 5-2 5-2
9. Cortland State 5-2 6-2
10. Widener 5-2 6-2
North Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. Mount Union 8-0 8-0
2. Wheaton (Ill.) 8-0 8-0
3. Wabash 8-0 8-0
4. Case Western Reserve 6-0 8-0
5. Franklin 7-1 7-1
6. Mount St. Joseph 7-1 7-1
7. Capital 6-2 6-2
8. Wittenberg 6-2 6-2
9. Illinois Wesleyan 6-2 6-2
10. North Central 6-2 6-2
South Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. Washington and Jefferson 5-0 8-0
2. Wesley 6-1 8-1
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor 7-1 7-1
4. Muhlenberg 8-0 8-0
5. Salisbury 4-1 8-1
6. Waynesburg 6-1 7-1
7. Trinity (Texas) 6-1 7-1
8. Randolph-Macon 7-1 7-1
9. Ursinus 6-1 7-1
10. Hampden-Sydney 5-2 6-2
West Region
No. Name In-Region Overall
1. UW-Whitewater 7-0 7-1
2. St. John’s 8-0 9-0
3. Central 8-0 9-0
4. St. Norbert 8-0 9-0
5. Bethel 7-1 7-1
6. Wartburg 8-1 8-1
7. Linfield 4-1 5-2
8. Occidental 6-1 6-1
9. Redlands 6-1 7-1
10. Whitworth 6-1 6-2
Was I the only person who watched Hobart totally dominate Alfred? The game could have been described as a blow-out and Alfred is ranked higher? Granted, Hobart has two losses, but to undefeated RPI in week 3 by 4 points and an opening day 3 point OT loss at Dickensen. Hobart has now won 5 straight and in those 5 wins, has averaged 48 points. Watch for SJF to also dominate Alfred and Ithaca should handle them almost as easily. If the Staesment run the table with wins at Union and at Rochester, do you see an at large playoff bid?
I know how this stuff works but I still have to laugh with Curry ahead of SJF. I think that would be a great game…..WOW! I need to stop beating the dead horse with this, but man oh man. Statesmen I think Hobart could possibly get a pool C, possibly if they win out. They are a favorite in my mnd heading into Schenectady this weekend.
what about montclair state? they beat wilkes, wesley at wesley, and springfield. i know TCNJ and Cortland beat them, but what if hobart, union, and cortland lose one of their last two games and montclair finishes 8-2?
LOL. Hey Statesmen78. Check out the ATN discussion I have been involved in the past few days. (“What a weekend”) Great minds must think alike. And now that the new rankings are here, I think so even more!
Statesmen: Yeah, winning percentage is a huge deal in these rankings and pretty much always has been.
Statesmen fans, I wouldn’t get too worked up over who’s ranked where. The reality is Hobart needs to beat Union this weekend and Rochester next before any of us can start making NCAA play-off plans.
Regardless of how close they were, the 2 losses hurt Hobart’s shot at a Pool C unless a few things go in their favor (like SJF beating AU this weekend which would help SJF towards obtaining the E8’s Pool A while giving Hobart the edge over Alfred in the Pool C dept).
I believe I acknowledged the 2 losses and I do understand how the playoffs are decided. I was merely noting that the losses were so close, to quality teams, the recent streak of wins (routs) including the absolute trouncing they gave to Alfred as additional factors that could also be considered in the rankings. If you saw that game you’d be scratching your head too. As I indicated, I don’t think SJF will have any trouble vs Alfred and I think Ithaca will beat them too.
Not disagreeing with you 78. Just saying that the only rankings that matter are the final regional rankings out in the next couple of weeks. I think given the way they are playing currently, Hobart would beat RPI in a re-match. Personally I think Hobart would/could beat any of the other teams listed in the East at this point.
96: Yeah, I guess we have to wait and see what transpires. Both of our opponents are tough, on wining streaks and both on the road. However, the Statesmen are clicking on offense right now and if they continue in this fashion, they’ll be tough to beat. SJF may be the one East team that would be favored big over Hobart at this point. I think their loss (was it to Hartwick?) was somewhat of a fluke. SJF is loaded. They gave Mount Union their only scare in recent history, albeit 2006. I’ll also admit I don’t kow much about Curry and Albright. RPI may be fading, but if they can manage to go 9-0, my hat’s off to them! Opining about D-3 is fun, isn’t it?
Yep (thx PC for helping us with that!)
Tell you what – if you look at the Statesmen media guide, there has never been a Hobart team in their 116 yr history that has been on a scoring run (5 consecutive games with over 40 pts scored) like this current one.
I also think SJF is a very good team, but I don’t think SJF’s loss to Hartwick was a fluke. The Wick also beat a good IC team 2 weeks prior. Like Wick, Hobart has the ability to score a lot of points (but with a better defense and special teams) and could prevail in a shoot out over SJF.
Curry is from the NEFC (basically the worst conf in terms of overall competition in all of D3). It’s almost a shame the NCAA wastes a Pool A on this team. They do dominate their league, but usually lose by 3-4 TDs once they get into the tournament.
Not sure what to think about Albright. The MAC is probably just below if not on par with the LL or E8 in the East. Albright’s “most impressive” win so far this season has been to a 3-5 Wilkes team that has fallen on tough times.
“I know how this stuff works but I still have to laugh with Curry ahead of SJF.”
Curry beat 2-7 Western New England 48-3. WNEC beat 6-2 Hartwick 48-21, and Hartwick beat 7-1 St. John Fisher 31-28.
It might sound preposterous to those of us who know the history, but there’s a pretty easy-to-find score string to support it.
Statesman 78, I am not sure how “recent” is recent history, but the starting QB for UMHB in 2007 was the QB who beat Mount Union in Alliance in 2004. That semi-final victory was more than a scare.
http://raider.muc.edu/sports/football/2004/mtu-umhb.htm
As for other MUC “scares”, Ohio Northern beat MUC in Alliance in 2005. MCU had to come from behind to beat Capital in the North Region finals in 2005 on their way to a 34-31 win.
http://www.d3football.com/releases.php?release=8341
MUC and Capital were tied at 7-7 going into the 4th Quarter in the 2006 North Region Finals in Alliance.
http://raider.muc.edu/sports/football/2006/mtu-cap2.htm
I saw the 2006 SJF-MUC game on webcast. SJF played gallantly, but I don’t think that MUC was as scared as you imagine. 🙂
I agree D3Keith but I guess I always struggle with the fact “I feel” that Curry, even though they beat WNEC, who beat Hartwick, who beat SJF, is just not on par with a SJF and I don’t feel if they played that the game would be close. I guess what else brings this to the surface is I believe most people would tend to agree with. So I am acknowledging the regional rankings and the system in which they use to come up with these rankings, but I am saying that regarding their ability to realistically represent the actual talent and strength of teams does not work out. If it did you would not see Curry ranked ahead of SJF this year.
I understand all of that, and if SJF played Curry and I were a betting man, I wouldn’t take Curry.
But do you expect the committee to make its rankings off of “feel?”
That’s what we do in the D3football.com poll, we use data and common sense and such to try to identify the best 25 teams in the country.
But when you start allowing lots of leeway for subjectiveness in the committee’s official rankings, used to select the playoff field, you could be setting a dangerous precedent.
That’s why the committee tries to use as many verifiable criteria as possible. If SJF graded higher than Curry in OWP/OOWP and such, then fine.
I realize this isn’t an example of a grave injustice or anything, and I realize that comparing scores isn’t any kind of end-all, be-all of determining which team is better.
But “feel?” Isn’t that what they go on in that BCS that everybody loves so much?
“but there’s a pretty easy-to-find score string to support it” – scoring strings??? When do those ever hold up? Is there a single person who reads this website who believes that WNEC would ever beat Fisher just because they beat Hartwick?
Yes that is truly not a valid argument and i’m a little suprised you would even use that to try and make a point. As a Fisher fan I could only thank the Gods if both teams were to make the playoffs and Fisher would have to square off against Curry.
D3 Keith needs to read Jose Q’s Law of Syllogism post on why Ithaca should have been the BCS champ a few years back.
Someone please explain to me how they choose what region each team gets put into. Im looking at theese rankings and see that teams that are North are in the South Region like Wesley and Slisbury. There are also teams that are more East then some teams in the East Regioin but aren’t in the East Region.
I had to add one more thing Muhlenburg is in the South Region and they are located in Pennsylvania how does that happen someone needs to go back in and re-organize what region each team is in because this is horrible placement.
Division III schools are primarily east of the Mississippi and north of the 36th parallel. There are only 15 schools in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zone combined, so applying conventional map designations to Division III doesn’t make much sense if you want to split evenly into groups of four.
I know sometimes the rankings seem stupid but they are objective. Speaking for a school with a decent but not great football history (Wabash), it is nice for us to probably have two home play-off games this year (assuming we win the Monon Bell). I know two years ago Wabash was ranked 15th and Mount Union 5th but we were 1st in the North Region and they were 2nd although just about everyone on our campus would tell you Mt. Union was the better team. However how can you justify putting Mt. Union first with a loss against a d3 team and Wabash went undefeated. Wabash beat all of their opponents and even though they don’t play in a great conference, they are by far not in the worst (and actually moved out of the HCAC to get into a conference with better competition).
On another note, while I understand the “regions,” I think it is funny that Wabash’s closest opponent is the only opponent in another region. I’m sure there are tons more just like this example.