1st MDIA Div. A Poll (2/23/05) is out

[bste_lax]

Lindenwood's big win over Rhodes College will really impress the voters. Lindenwood hasn't played anyone yet. Once Lindenwood plays someone of importance and wins (i.e. their games this weekend), the I see voters giving them more "love".

It also looks like voters most likely based some of their votes off the pre-season poll hence Mizzou's slight drop. Also Mizzou has played top level teams and not two Div. B teams. That's probably how the voters voted. I could be totally wrong but based on previous comments on this thread, some others feel the same way.

[culax]

you caught me red handed bluevelvet. i'm making facts up again. bottom line is whether tech should be ranked lower than a&m. tech beat a&m and they both lost to csu.

[Andy Sharp]

Regarding the A&M upset by Tech (or perhaps you speak of Creighton's 12-10 "upset" of Harding), it is understandable if voters discount a close 1st game loss/win a touch.

While the scores remain on record, a match-up mid-season has more weight than one's 1st game. There are always instances to illustrate otherwise, I'm just saying it takes more than a 1st game to establish a leg up. The lack of practice facilities or cooperative weather early in the season can also delay a team's rise to full strength. It's still very early.

[OAKS]

UCSD (24-18 ) and GaTech (17-15) and Utah (26-20) moved up after losing to top 6 teams. It looks like aggressive scheduling will help a team so long as the team is competitive despite losing. But if the game is not competitive, look out! eg. MO, TX, TAMU. The one exception to this rule was Texas Tech who moved up on the strength of their win over TAMU, despite their 21-7 slaughter at the hands of CSU.

Also, don't forget that 6 teams in the preseason top 25 have not yet played games, which makes it even harder on the voters:

Pre Now
12 11 Boston College
3 3 Brigham Young
9 9 Colorado
18 17 Miami
25 27 New Hampshire
16 16 Virginia Tech

[Sonny]

was looking around, but couldn't find it, maybe I didn't look hard enough, but how do the "points" for the votes get broken down.

I think it works that a 1st place vote is worth 25 points, 2nd place is worth 24 points, etc. down to 1 point for a 25th place vote.

Correct.

[CzechLax33]

I think the whole reason that Tech is below A&M is that it is too early in the season to tell....It was a pretty close game and both teams lost to CSU by a difference of 3 goals [Tech 7-21] [A&M 7-24]. If this win would have come mid to late season the story would be totally different...more will be known after a few more weekends...especially after the Houston Invitational....only time will tell

[benji]

I'm not really surprised to see A&M at 19 and Tech behind them...it all goes back to preseason rankings. I would be hesitant to make the argument that a team should be ranked ahead of another team because they beat them head to head...not that, that isn't right...but it rarely happens when a team is ranked several spots higher (i.e. - Cal Poly & A&M last year...the extra spots cost A&M and several other teams in similar situations an at large bid). At least in the Tech vs. A&M case it will be settled in the playoffs.

It is surprising. I may be a little bitter here, but if you beat a team at a nuetral site, and statistically do better against an opponent (CSU) than the opposing team did (TAMU), it boils down to whether your assessment of a team is founded purely on the basis of opinion, or founded on statistical and accurate evaluation.

Pre-season rankings SHOULD have NOTHING to do with this poll, maybe with the exception of a very general starting point. Teams like UCSB and CSU have equally proved that they are currently unmatched in the USLIA, and for this reason they have both earned #1 votes.

As far as TAMU not recieving votes because of reputation, you might want to consider how they were defeated in the LSA Championship by U Texas, yet were ranked ahead of them in the preseason poll. Unless voters scouted both teams before the season, their votes were surely the cause of impression and reputation. That should be well understood by now.

I'm done flaming. It is good to see Tech given such a dramatic jump in the polls. Hopefully the trend will continue.

[LaxC21]

benji - If you read my post carefully you will see that I explained why I thought it wasn't a surprise and explained how I thought that it wasn't necessarily right for Tech to be behind A&M in the polls.

Again, this is a situation that has occurred in the past (i.e. - A&M vs. CPoly - '04) and will continue to happen throughout this season. At least in this case, Tech moves up substantially, and will have ample opportunities throughout the season to prove they are a better team than A&M and the polls will correct themselves (i.e. - this weekend vs. Oakland & New Hampshire and in the LSA playoffs).

With regards to the CSU vs. A&M game...be careful before you start to compare scores of other games with how you played those opponents. There are always various factors in games that can cause the score to be different and in this case both teams got slaughtered so it doesn't really matter.

[CATLAX MAN]

With the A & M loss to unranked UNH tonight, it doesn't look like we will have to discuss this subject any more after the next poll.

[onpoint]

For that matter, it seems like the entire LSA is in a rush to get out of the poll. It's not like previous years when there aren't enough teams to fill the top 25, now if you start losing, that's it, you're out. TAMU has some good games left on the schedule, but they need to show something against their last seven ranked opponents (Utah, UCSD, BYU, Colorado, Michigan, Oakland, Texas). Looking at that schedule, it is realistic they could lose ALL those games if they are not careful. It's only February still, but has Texas A&M and Missouri sealed their own fates with shoddy early season performances?

[CATLAX MAN]

It's sealed as far as the at-large is concerned. The AQ is still there for both those teams.

[Dan Wishengrad]

Just reported on PNCLL Forum --

Oregon 11 Chico 10

Will a close loss at #8 boost Chico State's poll ranking? Or does it depend on the game against Simon Fraser on Saturday?

[Timbalaned]

Granted we didn't play our best at times, they are way better than a 22 ranking...

[Danny Hogan]

where they that much better than their ranking last year as wel?

[CATLAX MAN]

Chico was definitely under ranked both last year and so far this year as well. Look for them to move up in the polls before the year is out.