4 of the ten teams are MAC schools, nice to see:
<a href='http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/powerranking?pollId=2' target='_blank'>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/powerranking?pollId=2</a>
The more the merrier!!
:D
Apparently Toledo will NOT get their 18th consecutive home win, since it would take a win over Ohio, whom they don't play this season.
Roberto, they meant "Miami of Ohio" as we play the Rockettes in T-town this weekend.
These kind of polls are silly I know, but having the MAC at #1 and #2 is nice publicity for the conference, and certainly helps to dispel the notion that a certain other dis-jointed conference of whom we all know is the top non-BCS conference.
Yeah! The MAC should get the FIRST crack at the droppings of the big dogs!
We're a slightly better mongrel than the other mongrels!
Great recognition for the MAC! The top 2 teams overall AND 4 of the top10, that's awesome.
I do think that Marshall is a bit overrated in this ranking though.
My mid-major top10 looks like this...
1. Air Force (6-1)
2. Bowling Green (6-0)
3. Colorado State (6-2)
4. South Florida (5-2)
5. Boise State (6-1)
6. TCU (6-1)
7. Marshall (5-1)
8. Southern Miss (5-2)
9. Toledo (5-2)
10. Miami,OH (5-3)
FWIW, my rankings of all MAC schools looks like this...
#19 Bowling Green
#43 Marshall
#47 Toledo
#48 Miami,OH
#52 Northern Illinois
#81 Ball State
#82 Central Michigan
#83 Central Florida
#89 Western Michigan
#91 Ohio
#98 Eastern Michigan
#99 Kent
#105 Akron
#115 Buffalo
As much as I hate to admit it...the West continues to prove every week that it is the best division in the conference...although the eventual champ will come from the East :).
Interesting that you consider Miami higher than NIU considering NIU won AT Miami, and in the matchup of the two teams against Big Ten teams, Miami lost at home to a (better) Iowa team while NIU lost AT Wisconsin. It's all subjective, I know.
FMJ: I tend to agree with you about Air Force being the top "mid major" so far this year. Even though ND stifled them I watched them dismantle BYU with their option attack and it was a thing of beauty.
I also think many folks have over-looked the MAC defending champ Rockettes this year due to their loss at Minnesota (before anyone knew that the Gophers were pretty decent) and Pitt. Naturally I'm hoping for my RedHawks to out-shoot the Rockets in the Glass Bowl this weekend, but were I a betting man I'd probably have to go with UT at home after seeing how they moved up and down the field at will in the 2nd half against UCF.
I think you have to discount a team that loses those two games. There are a LOT of teams who can play great sometimes or even a lot of the time, but it's a short season and two losses, even to respectable teams, moves you down the ladder. A loss to an undefeated top 10 team (Air Force-ND) doesn't hurt you as much as losses to Minn and Pitt.
UT appears to be playing very well, but has to be at least 3rd rated in the MAC right now, though I don't think you were indicating they were better than that.
They still have the defense of their title in their own hands and the longer the season goes, the better that makes them.
HuskieDan,
There really isn't much differentiation in my ranking between Miami and NIU...the Hawks are a lil' higher, but not by much. While NIU did gain points on Miami from their win in Oxford, the Huskies are still getting clobbered in my rankings due to their loss vs I-AA W.Illinois..Miami has no loss as damaging thusfar. If you look at NIU's losses (WIU, S.Fla and Wisc) they are much more detremental than Miami's losses (NIU, LSU, Iowa), hence the slight nod to the Hawks as they basically have lost to better teams than the Huskies.
I don't put as much weight on head-to-head results as most folks as head-to-head matchups only represent a small portion of a team's performance throughout the entire season.
I'll buy that, but I've always thought that ignoring (or de-emphasizing)head-to-head is a silly way to determine something....especially if you take into consideration where it was played.
LSU and Iowa are certainly better than UW and USF (and WIU - DAMN!!!), UNC/Wake is debatable. But losing a home game to a comparable conference team should cost you some points, or at least bump up the team that beat you. Oh well, it's not like you're runnin' BCS numbers or anything..... :D
exCincy Kid Wrote:Roberto, they meant "Miami of Ohio" as we play the Rockettes in T-town this weekend.
I know - just pointing out yet another
Trev Alberts-esque identity gaffe.