Weekly poll

[Long Time Cat]

Anyone else like me and don’t want to be #1 until the last poll comes out on Selection Sunday? I remember when Ash had us at #1 and the Griz kick our asses in our own stadium. That kind of made me a hater of being ranked #1 I guess. Haha!

Similarities between Vigen and Ash begin and end with the fact they both seem to be nice guys. I am not the least bit worried about a gris beatdown this year! Not saying we can't lose but the difference between this years team and last years team is significant and I believe there's a zero chance we have a repeat of last year.

[ClowderUp]

Anyone else like me and don’t want to be #1 until the last poll comes out on Selection Sunday? I remember when Ash had us at #1 and the Griz kick our asses in our own stadium. That kind of made me a hater of being ranked #1 I guess. Haha!

You're giving me some Monday morning PTSD!

I have vivid memories of that game; bitterly cold, Cats sported an all-blue look, including a never-before-seen blue helmet, and I watched for the first time, the griz seemingly stealing our calls while they masked their own. Rough. And the post-game coping consumption was brutal.

I remember we had a special blue helmet for that game, and pretty much trashed them after the game. Never wore a blue helmet again.

[Cledus]

Wow. Maybe this can put to rest the "everyone is biased in favor of NDSU/SDSU" mentality that seems to have been pretty pervasive around here lately.

The poll voters and the committee are not the same individuals, though. If the DSU's both blow out every team to the end and MSU ends up in close games but wins them all, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see a screw job similar to 2022.

But it certainly does look good for MSU right now.

[MSU01]

Wow. Maybe this can put to rest the "everyone is biased in favor of NDSU/SDSU" mentality that seems to have been pretty pervasive around here lately.

The poll voters and the committee are not the same individuals, though. If the DSU's both blow out every team to the end and MSU ends up in close games but wins them all, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see a screw job similar to 2022.

But it certainly does look good for MSU right now.

There's one gigantic difference between this year and 2022, which is that we aren't going to have two undefeated Big Sky co-champs who can't both get the #2 seed. If MSU goes 12-0 they'll almost certainly be seeded #2 just like Sac State was two years ago, or even #1 if NDSU drops a game down the stretch.

[TomCat88]

Well, you're all using the wrong assumptions. University of South Dakota is going to beat both NDSU and SDSU. They get NDSU at home. NDSU and SDSU both have Missouri State to play. The Bears only lost by 5 at UM and by 8 at FBS Ball State. They've won five straight since then. Get SDSU at home. Work those games into the equation.

[cats2506]

Anyone else like me and don’t want to be #1 until the last poll comes out on Selection Sunday? I remember when Ash had us at #1 and the Griz kick our asses in our own stadium. That kind of made me a hater of being ranked #1 I guess. Haha!

Honestly no…Ash teams always seemed to get weaker as the season wore on. Choate and Vigen both were/are better at developing depth, IMO, and current Bobcat teams, for the most part, tend to get stronger/better as the season goes on.

100% that is the main difference between the Ash teams and Choate/Vigen teams

[onceacat]

Wow. Maybe this can put to rest the "everyone is biased in favor of NDSU/SDSU" mentality that seems to have been pretty pervasive around here lately.

The poll voters and the committee are not the same individuals, though. If the DSU's both blow out every team to the end and MSU ends up in close games but wins them all, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see a screw job similar to 2022.

But it certainly does look good for MSU right now.

A screw job? Get real.

SDSU had one loss, and got the #1. Sac State was undefeated & got the 2. NDSU had 2 'quality' losses and go the #3. MSU had a weaker schecule, but only 1 loss in a massive blowout & got the #4.

If the committee pulls a 'screw job' as you so laughingly call it, just like they did in 2022, the Cats will get the #2.

You guys need to get a grip.

[CodyCat]

Well, you're all using the wrong assumptions. University of South Dakota is going to beat both NDSU and SDSU. They get NDSU at home. NDSU and SDSU both have Missouri State to play. The Bears only lost by 5 at UM and by 8 at FBS Ball State. They've won five straight since then. Get SDSU at home. Work those games into the equation.

So, USD is the #1 seed followed by MSU?

[tetoncat]

Anyone else like me and don’t want to be #1 until the last poll comes out on Selection Sunday? I remember when Ash had us at #1 and the Griz kick our asses in our own stadium. That kind of made me a hater of being ranked #1 I guess. Haha!

Honestly no…Ash teams always seemed to get weaker as the season wore on. Choate and Vigen both were/are better at developing depth, IMO, and current Bobcat teams, for the most part, tend to get stronger/better as the season goes on.

100% that is the main difference between the Ash teams and Choate/Vigen teams

Last year I believe was the exception. Cats were not getting better. A lot of dynamics seemed to happen culmi aging by the loss to Griz. I do think the game vs NDSU was best they played in 2nd half of season,

[BleedingBLue]

1 North Dakota State 8-1 1387 1
2 Montana State 8-0 1350 2
3 South Dakota State 6-2 1290 3
4 UC Davis 7-1 1196 5
5 South Dakota 6-2 1175 4
6 Southeast Missouri State 8-1 1106 6
7 Tarleton State 7-1 1012 8
8 Montana 6-2 941 9
9 UIW 6-2 904 10
10 Idaho 6-3 860 11
11 Central Arkansas 6-2 794 12
12 Mercer 7-1 777 14
13 Villanova 6-2 708 13
14 Rhode Island 7-1 705 15
15 North Dakota 5-3 645 7
16 Richmond 6-2 566 18
17 Abilene Christian 5-3 512 17
18 Chattanooga 5-3 452 19
19 North Carolina Central 6-2 263 20
20 Stony Brook 6-2 259 NR
21 Illinois State 5-3 241 21
22 Dartmouth 6-0 227 22
23 ETSU 5-3 199 23
24 William & Mary 5-3 170 16
25 Tennessee State 6-2 137 25

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): UT Martin (5-3, 2-1 Big South-OVC), 119; Duquesne (5-2, 3-0 NEC), 47; Harvard (5-1, 2-1 Ivy), 37; Northern Arizona (4-4, 2-2 Big Sky), 27; Jackson State (6-2, 4-0 SWAC), 25; Western Carolina (4-4, 3-1 SoCon), 21; Lamar (5-3, 2-1 Southland), 9; Drake (5-1, 4-0 Pioneer), 8; Stephen F. Austin (5-3, 3-2 Southland), 8; Southern Utah (4-4, 3-1 UAC), 7; Florida A&M (4-3, 2-1 SWAC), 4



Interesting info from Hero Sports on this year's committee data usage.

https://herosports.com/fcs-notebook-pla ... king-bzbz/

The playoff committee will no longer use the Stats Perform Media Poll and AFCA Coaches Poll on its list of data points that committee members can utilize. They can now consider rankings in the KPI, Massey Ratings, and ESPN’s Football Power Index, although each member can choose what to weigh the most when making selections (record, strength of schedule, quality wins, metrics, etc.)

“The committee was focused on expanding the use of metrics-based tools to replace the polls we had used in years past,” HERO Sports was told. “We were able to get those three on board to give us a good mix of both predictive (Massey & FPI) and results (KPI & SOS) based metrics.”

[MSU01]

Let's take a look at the current Top 10 rankings of the "KPI" which is apparently better to use than the poll actual people are voting on...thank goodness we actually get to see tomorrow how the committee itself is ranking the teams at this point.

1. NDSU
2. Dartmouth
3. Rhode Island
4. Drake
5. SDSU
6. MSU
7. Missouri State
8. UM
9. Villanova
10. Mercer