Top Ten

[Woda]

1) BYU
2) Colorado
3) Oregon
4) Michigan
5) CSU
6) Sonoma
7) Duluth
8 ) Arizona
9) UC - Santa Barbara
10) Florida State

[littleblueman]

That would be your top 11 because you counted both CSU and Michigan at #4.

My top 5 would be:
1. Brigham Young
2. Colorado
3. Michigan
4. Oregon
5. Colorado State

I put Michigan over Oregon because from what I've read in the game summaries, their win over CSU was more that CSU lost it than Oregon won it. And for those of you that haven't been doing your research, Michigan defeated DIII Kenyon, a team that went to the DIII quarterfinals a year ago, if I'm not mistaken.

Either way, this is going to be among the most up-in-the-air polls the MCLA has ever seen. Good luck, pollsters.

[JerzWB]

1. BYU
2. Oregon
3. Colorado
4. Michigan
5. CSU
6. Arizona
7. Sonoma
8. UMD
9. Arizona State
10. UCSB

[EvanFSU]

How do you put Arizona State in the top ten?

[Beta]

How do you put Arizona State in the top ten?

I was thinking the same thing...they got demolished by BYU then beat Utah by 1 and Chapman by 1.

[DwinsChamps]

And for those of you that haven't been doing your research, Michigan defeated DIII Kenyon, a team that went to the DIII quarterfinals a year ago, if I'm not mistaken.

A year ago Kenyon lost to Widener, at home, in the opening round of tournament play...not quite a quarterfinal finisher. Nevertheless, any club victory over a NCAA sanctioned team is huge. Congrats to Michigan and Colorado!

[JerzWB]

How do you put Arizona State in the top ten?

I was thinking the same thing...they got demolished by BYU then beat Utah by 1 and Chapman by 1.

I knew this would come under fire. Here is how I see it.

ASU beat #13 and #15, Arizona has exactly the same record (ASU beat U of A in a scrimmage a week before each of their first official games. I know doesn't mean anything but food for thought). Arizona got blown out by BYU, then beat Chapman in OT, then Utah by 2. I think that RIGHT NOW they (ASU) are the third or fourth best team in the WCLL (with UCSB). I couldn't justify putting any teams ahead of them:

Florida State hasn't beaten anybody in the top 20 and barely beat #23 Georgia (by 1), Auburn (by 2), Tennessee (by 1), and #24 Georgia Tech (by 1).

Lindenwood lost to Cal Poly (#11) and got rocked Duluth (#12), and haven't beaten anybody.

Cal Poly has only beat Lindenwood (see above) by 1, was handled comfortably by UCSB (#6), and beaten up on pretty bad by Duluth (#12)

Utah - Beat 'em

Virginia Tech - Squeaked by Clemson and South Carolina, each by 1. Neither of them ranked.

Chapman Beat 'em

Northeastern and MSU - I don't believe that you can move from 16/17 into the top top by not even playing a game yet. We eill see once they start playing.

[Ben Clark]

I couldn't justify putting any teams ahead of them

I guess I can kind of see where you're coming from Jerz, but the simple fact is that in order to jump 10 spots in the poll a team would have to do something extraordinary. As it stands, AZ State has been very successful, but they haven't necessarily done anything extraordinary. They will move up in the polls for sure, but I don't think they'll crack the top 10.

Personally I'm under the assumption that Duluth is much stronger than originally thought, so Cal Poly's loss to them won't hurt as much as one might think.

By the same token, it is my opinion that BYU is also a stronger team than we all thought, so a loss to them won't hurt you as much either. Not only can you forgive AZ State's loss to them a little bit, but you can also forgive UCSB's loss a little bit.

With all that in mind, I think between Cal Poly, AZ State, and UCSB, I'll rank them like this:

UCSB
Cal Poly
AZ State

Keep in mind, these teams probably won't be ranked right in a row like that - I'm just trying to explain how I was able to justify ranking teams ahead of AZ State.

[Beta]

in order to jump 10 spots in the poll a team would have to do something extraordinary.

...is exactly what I was getting at.

[codenthal]

What are the opinions of those about the spots outside the Top 10? There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of movement within those last 10 or 15. Are there any obvious changes?

[CPLaxGM]

I couldn't justify putting any teams ahead of them

I guess I can kind of see where you're coming from Jerz, but the simple fact is that in order to jump 10 spots in the poll a team would have to do something extraordinary. As it stands, AZ State has been very successful, but they haven't necessarily done anything extraordinary. They will move up in the polls for sure, but I don't think they'll crack the top 10.

I actually like the pre-season poll; it's harmless enough and stimulates discussion, but this is one of the common and valid arguments against having one. Who cares if AZ State jumps 10 spots or 25 spots in this poll? The only poll conducted so far is a pre-season poll, based purely on speculation from last year's finish and maybe a sliver of analysis on their graduation losses or big impact freshman coming in. Teams can use the pre-season poll for motivation and fans can use the poll to give them something to talk about over the long, cold winter, but that's all it's good for. The pre-season poll should definitely NOT be used to create the upcoming poll, since we're talking about the difference between utter speculation and actual results. And that's why some people would like it done away with, because they fear that pollsters simply take the pre-season poll and then adjust it a bit instead of taking a fresh look at how everyone is doing. I don't have any stake where AZ State ends up getting ranked, but their ranking should have everything to do with where people think they belong and absolutely nothing to do with how many spots they will move in comparison with the pre-season poll.

[schelitzche]

I am very biased because I am a Duluth Alum but certainly speak the truth. I saw the games this weekend and can tell you that Duluth is has a very strong team this season. I am only going off of the rankings of Lindenwood and CPSLO but after Lindenwood scored the first goal of the game, it wasn't even close with Lindenwood getting 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the game.

The real test will be when Duluth visits Salt Lake in a few weeks. If they get at least 1 and maybe two wins (which no one is expecting), then they will have proven themselves as a top 5 team.

[EvanFSU]

What would really mess things up in the polls is if FSU can beat Michigan on Wednesday.

[Jolly Roger]

Luckily that will impact the next poll.

I'll bet this one is tough enough on the voters.

[Zamboni_Driver]

I couldn't justify putting any teams ahead of them

I guess I can kind of see where you're coming from Jerz, but the simple fact is that in order to jump 10 spots in the poll a team would have to do something extraordinary. As it stands, AZ State has been very successful, but they haven't necessarily done anything extraordinary. They will move up in the polls for sure, but I don't think they'll crack the top 10.

I actually like the pre-season poll; it's harmless enough and stimulates discussion, but this is one of the common and valid arguments against having one. Who cares if AZ State jumps 10 spots or 25 spots in this poll? The only poll conducted so far is a pre-season poll, based purely on speculation from last year's finish and maybe a sliver of analysis on their graduation losses or big impact freshman coming in. Teams can use the pre-season poll for motivation and fans can use the poll to give them something to talk about over the long, cold winter, but that's all it's good for. The pre-season poll should definitely NOT be used to create the upcoming poll, since we're talking about the difference between utter speculation and actual results. And that's why some people would like it done away with, because they fear that pollsters simply take the pre-season poll and then adjust it a bit instead of taking a fresh look at how everyone is doing. I don't have any stake where AZ State ends up getting ranked, but their ranking should have everything to do with where people think they belong and absolutely nothing to do with how many spots they will move in comparison with the pre-season poll.

I'll state here that I am opposed to preseason polls as well. BUT, the pollsters will have to take into consideration the same items that were used in the making of the pre-season poll (i.e. history, fall ball, returning talent).

If they simply go by how teams are playing there would be no way to evaluate Michigan State or Northeastern (who haven't played yet) and they would have to be out of the poll. And if you allow that for these two teams, you'd need to allow it when looking at a team like Virginia Tech, where their performance could be explained as simply first weekend (2 games) rust.

I wish there would be no polls till after each team has played a minimum of 3 games (or each league has had a set number of games played within its members).

However, no preseason poll with a first poll into March makes for some awfully boring press releases.....which is what I believe polls are for anyway (until the last one ofcourse).