Preseason Top 25

[FurmAlum]

I fail to see what Holy Cross and William & Mary have done to be ranked ahead of Furman in any poll?

[The Jackal]

I fail to see what Holy Cross and William & Mary have done to be ranked ahead of Furman in any poll?

Holy Cross was 12-1 and return their do everything QB. They blasted New Hampshire in the second round. They exited the playoffs to eventual champs South Dakota State in a game closer than the final score - the game was tied until the fourth quarter.

HC is objectively good.

William and Mary, I guess, has a good number of returning players. Other than that, I've got no really good answers. They had some wins against ranked CAA teams. I think the playoffs showed how overrated the CAA was. W&M also lost to Elon, which Furman blew off the field in the post season.

[FUBeAR]

I fail to see what Holy Cross and William & Mary have done to be ranked ahead of Furman in any poll?

Holy Cross was 12-1 and return their do everything QB. They blasted New Hampshire in the second round. They exited the playoffs to eventual champs South Dakota State in a game closer than the final score - the game was tied until the fourth quarter.

HC is objectively good.

William and Mary, I guess, has a good number of returning players. Other than that, I've got no really good answers. They had some wins against ranked CAA teams. I think the playoffs showed how overrated the CAA was. W&M also lost to Elon, which Furman blew off the field in the post season.

In a break with custom, FUBeAR concurs entirely with Jackal.

FUBeAR would add the he thinks, but is not sure, that W&M has a 1 or 2 guys on D that have strong NFL grades. That stuff inordinately influences people that don’t really understand Football.

And, FUBeAR thinks there’s a little bit of Mike London Love built into W&M’s ranking. “He was a P5 FBS HC. He has to be better than these FCS hacks.” …and he HAS won some awards…

AFCA FCS Coach of the Year (2008)
BCA National Coach of the Year (2008)
ACC Coach of the Year (2011)

All that said - the ‘23 Paladins would treat the ‘23 Tribe as Dr. Potts & Captain Tucker treated Opechancanough and his Team during a prior ‘23 season get-together … 400 years ago.

[FUBeAR]

Sagarin updated his rankings to his "Season Start" status. He loves him some MVFC, Big Sky, and Ivy...

RANK TEAM RATING Conference Playoff Projection Status
1 Seed South Dakota State 73.08 MVFC AQ1 - Seed1
2 Seed North Dakota State 68.59 MVFC At-Large1 - Seed2
3 Seed Montana State 68.04 Big Sky AQ2 - Seed1
4 Seed Northern Iowa 62.08 MVFC At-Large2 - Seed3
5 Seed Sacramento State 60.45 Big Sky At-Large1 - Seed2
6 Seed Southern Illinois 59.25 MVFC At-Large3 - Seed4
7 Seed North Dakota 57.90 MVFC At-Large4 - Seed5
8 Seed UC Davis 57.65 Big Sky At-Large2 - Seed3

9 Idaho 57.61 Big Sky At-Large3
10 Montana 57.34 Big Sky At-Large4
11 Weber State 56.77 Big Sky At-Large5
12 Furman 56.52 SoCon AQ3
13 Incarnate Word 55.33 Southland AQ4
14 Youngstown State 54.00 MVFC At-Large5
15 Yale 53.88
16 William & Mary 53.23 CAA AQ5
17 SE Louisiana 53.13 Southland At-Large1
18 Mercer 52.60 SoCon At-Large1
19 Samford 51.42 SoCon At-Large2
20 Missouri State 51.34 MVFC At-Large6
21 Central Arkansas 51.08 UAC AQ6
22 Princeton 50.77
23 Illinois State 50.72
24 Richmond 50.40
25 Eastern Washington 49.85

26 SE Missouri State 49.82 Big South/OVC AQ7
28 Chattanooga 49.64
30 Kennesaw State 48.61
31 Holy Cross 48.57 Patriot AQ8
34 Western Carolina 47.12
44 East Tennessee State 44.86
55 Saint Francis-Pa. 41.61 NEC AQ9
57 Wofford 41.43
68 VMI 38.57
79 The Citadel 35.78
80 Tennessee Tech 35.74
102 Davidson 29.69 PFL AQ10

[The Jackal]

Mercer has quietly gotten a lot of preseason top 25 hype.

Playing the Bears early has some good potential for Furman. Mercer, I suspect, will be 2-1 coming into Greenville and will be a likely top 20 ranked opponent. Will be a nice resume booster if Furman can get the win.

[palafan]

The only poll that truly matters is the last one. We have to play to win every game.

[The Jackal]

The only poll that truly matters is the last one. We have to play to win every game.

Just the commentary from players and coaches, I get the impression that the team is focused on the prize. All of this preseason stuff is for the keyboard warriors to discuss.

Every team on the schedule with the exception of USC is going to be gunning for us. I suspect we are the most important game on just about everyone's schedule this year.

[apaladin]

The only poll that truly matters is the last one. We have to play to win every game.

Not true. All polls matter. Can’t be in the last one if you’re not in the previous ones.

[FUBeAR]

The only poll that truly matters is the last one. We have to play to win every game.

Not true. All polls matter.

...EXCEPT the last one - We settle it ON THE FIELD in FCS Football.

[FUBeAR]

FYI & necessary personal calendar actions...