(09-11-2017 07:59 AM)JMU08 Wrote:  

(09-11-2017 07:12 AM)91Alum Wrote:  

(09-10-2017 11:39 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(09-10-2017 11:24 PM)olddawg Wrote:  New Massey Ratings out- We moved up 4 spots to 51 in the combined FBS/FCS rankings. 2nd to NDSU in FCS.
https://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?s...&sub=11590

Sagarin, AGS, Coaches and Stats polls to follow.

It's early, and the rankings ultimately mean nothing in FCS as the best team is determined on the field through a real playoff system, however, the placement of NDSU in a higher position (than JMU) in rankings like Sagarin exposes how biased or meaningless these "polls" truly are. It's only through some person's guess that NDSU has begun the season ranked so much higher than JMU, and until (and if) JMU gets the chance to play and beat NDSU will there be an adjustment. Even then, after a loss to JMU, NDSU could theoretically remain higher ranked. My complaint holds true for the "power" rankings of conferences too. With New Hamphire's win over an FBS team, and even Elon's win over Furman, you might expect the CAA to get a bump, but somehow in the polls equation NDSU + SDSU > JMU + NHU.

I'm surprised our strength of schedule rankings seem to be so close. It's to the point where we don't even get credit for beating our FBS opponents any more. Their toughest opponent so far has been a down Easten Washington (who is 0-2).

Just so long as we stay Top 2 in the seedlings, we don't have to go back to Fargo and everything in the playoffs comes through BFS.

Strength of schedule is dynamic. There's a reason the old BCS system didn't release rankings until week 5. Computed factors, like SoS, don't mean much after 2 weeks. Currently, it sees ECU as almost the same as an FCS team(1 FCS loss, 1 FBS loss), but that'll change as ECU plays more games against FBS teams. The goal of these rankings and systems is to be correct at the end of the regular season, and even then, as we all know, it's just one tool, that's still not perfect.

Bingo. These computer rankings are pretty worthless until you're closer to halfway through the season. Only 2 full weeks to go on (and a few teams only 1 game with either byes or hurricane postponements/cancellations). I wouldn't pay them any attention, much less complain or get bent out of shape, until Oct..