How bout them Wolverines!

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 939

Whohoo! Good job #5 team in the country.

All kidding aside App State is 2 time defending 1-AA champions. They are not a team to just brush aside as Michigan found out.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:08 pm

TripwireDuel wrote:

Whohoo! Good job #5 team in the country.

All kidding aside App State is 2 time defending 1-AA champions. They are not a team to just brush aside as Michigan found out.

I think it is pretty funny. Big 10 is always overrated anyway. Nice job Michigan!

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:47 pm

I love it when any small school beat the bigger boys.

But it does once again show the need for some type of playoff system in college football.

In no other sport can you be eliminated from winning the championship on the 1st game?

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 939

They definately are not eliminated. This is the best time for a loss, 1st game of the season. If they run the table they will win the Big 10 and possibly go to the NC game.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:13 pm

The BCS rankings decided who makes it into the National Championship game, not conference championship. BCS rankings are based in part on Strength of Schedule. Losing to a team that is going to have a low SOS will kill there BCS ranking.

So unless all the other teams in the nation lose atleast 1 game, they are eliminated. The odds of that happening are very slim and in reality they will need everyone to lose 2 games for them to make up for losing to ASU to have a realistic chance.

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 939

Well here is the kicker to that. App State will go undefeated and WILL be ranked in the top 25. Their SOS is horrible, but will be bumped up tremendously due to the Michigan defeat. We will see I guess.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 1316

TripwireDuel wrote:

Well here is the kicker to that. App State will go undefeated and WILL be ranked in the top 25. Their SOS is horrible, but will be bumped up tremendously due to the Michigan defeat. We will see I guess.

FCS (old I-AA) can be ranked in the polls? I thought it was the FBS (I-A) schools only in the AP and other rankings...

It will be something to see if it happens.

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 939

As far as I know they can. I seem to recall Georgia Southern up there in years past. Hell maybe they can't, I cant remember.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 1316

TripwireDuel wrote:

As far as I know they can. I seem to recall Georgia Southern up there in years past. Hell maybe they can't, I cant remember.

I looked it up, and they cannot be in the AP rankings and such. They have a I-AA/FCS poll for those teams.

...Michigan can take heart in the fact they lost to the #1 team...

...in that FCS poll. Twisted Evil

It's early too, but how about those Tigers. I bet Wayne is enjoying it right now. Maybe FSU is over-rated?

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:46 pm

JGW wrote:

Maybe FSU is over-rated?

Were you able to say that with a straight face? Wink

People have to realize that EVERY program goes through it's ebbs and flows. Florida St. was nothing special until Bobby Bowden came along and brought that program to national prominence. Their inability to recruit quality offensive players (most notably at QB) has seen them gradually slide down the rankings to levels they haven't visited in years. The only thing that will bring them back will be better coaching/recruiting -- which will be hard since they're competing with Florida and Miami for recruits. Good thing the state of Florida isn't lacking for talent.

As a Southern Cal fan I'm not going to lose any sleep over how far they seem to have fallen. Southern Cal was mediocre for 20 years before Pete Carroll arrived yet they ALWAYS seemed to start the season ranked in the Top 20. It was always disappointing to see them prove to the nation through their play that they had no business (usually) being ranked the way they were. Suffice it to say, I am NOT a big fan of pre-season rankings. I would love to see the polls begin in mid-October. Why so late? Because by then everyone is done playing all the patsies on their "preseason" schedule and have begun league play.

By the way, big props to Appalachian State. Michigan has no excuses for losing to a lower division school like that but at least they lost to the best D2 team out there.

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:51 am

Mannequin wrote:

JGW wrote:

Maybe FSU is over-rated?

Were you able to say that with a straight face? Wink

People have to realize that EVERY program goes through it's ebbs and flows. Florida St. was nothing special until Bobby Bowden came along and brought that program to national prominence. Their inability to recruit quality offensive players (most notably at QB) has seen them gradually slide down the rankings to levels they haven't visited in years. The only thing that will bring them back will be better coaching/recruiting -- which will be hard since they're competing with Florida and Miami for recruits. Good thing the state of Florida isn't lacking for talent.

As a Southern Cal fan I'm not going to lose any sleep over how far they seem to have fallen. Southern Cal was mediocre for 20 years before Pete Carroll arrived yet they ALWAYS seemed to start the season ranked in the Top 20. It was always disappointing to see them prove to the nation through their play that they had no business (usually) being ranked the way they were. Suffice it to say, I am NOT a big fan of pre-season rankings. I would love to see the polls begin in mid-October. Why so late? Because by then everyone is done playing all the patsies on their "preseason" schedule and have begun league play.

By the way, big props to Appalachian State. Michigan has no excuses for losing to a lower division school like that but at least they lost to the best D2 team out there.

Hmmmm. That Mannequin is always picking on us. He is! The way we see it, FSU is not overrated at all. Indeed, they deserve higher. They are currently the #2 team in the country! Wink

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:10 pm

[quote="RTR"]

TripwireDuel wrote:

I think it is pretty funny. Big 10 is always overrated anyway. Nice job Michigan!

Always overrated? Please, Michigan losing is embarrassing to the Big Ten, but it isn't indicative of the Big Ten as a whole. Everyone is always picking on the Big Ten & The Pac 10. USC lost one game last year, Ohio St. lost one game, Michigan lost 2 (to OSU & USC). The Big Ten was 2-1 vs' SEC in Bowl games with Tennessee (now there's a consistently overrated team) losing to Penn St. and Ark losing to Wisc. (I could be wrong, that was like 6 months ago...). Only lose was Ohio St. to Florida in the NC game. Show some love.

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:14 pm

TripwireDuel wrote:

Well here is the kicker to that. App State will go undefeated and WILL be ranked in the top 25. Their SOS is horrible, but will be bumped up tremendously due to the Michigan defeat. We will see I guess.

App st. is in a completly different league. 1AA is not the same as 1A. 1A Divisions are Big Ten, PAC10, SEC, WAC, MAC, Big East, ACC. I might be missing one.

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:20 pm

The Consortium wrote:

Hmmmm. That Mannequin is always picking on us. He is! The way we see it, FSU is not overrated at all. Indeed, they deserve higher. They are currently the #2 team in the country! Wink

Which country would that be?

The Mexican AP media poll isn't recognized by the BCS.

PS - I don't pick on you. I pick on your personalities.

Grandmaster Poster Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 939

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3008022

After pulling off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, Appalachian State is still shaking things up.

The Associated Press said Thursday that lower-division schools -- that means you, Mountaineers -- are now eligible for its 71-year-old poll.

"It's great they opened the door," Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore said. "Certainly we're not going to be the No. 1 team in the country. We know that. We're not even going to be in the top 10. But if you have a win over a nice football team, I like that it's not out of the realm of possibility for a school like us to be one of the top 20 or 25 teams in the country."

Several AP voters expressed interest in putting Appalachian State on their ballots after a shocking 34-32 upset at then-No. 5 Michigan last weekend. But the poll guidelines, which mirrored the coaches' rankings conducted by USA Today, limited eligibility to teams competing in the former NCAA Division I-A, now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Mountaineers compete in the Football Championship Subdivision, known before this season as Division I-AA.

The AP decided to make the change because schools that show they can compete with big-time teams on the field should have a chance to be recognized with them in the top 25, Sports Editor Terry Taylor said.

"Why not? The poll was always intended to measure teams that compete against each other, regardless of division, based solely on on-field performance," she said. "It was that way long before Division I was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978."

One poll voter, Adam Van Brimmer, said he wanted to put Appalachian State at No. 25 after their win over the Wolverines, largely as a symbolic gesture. He might still do it next week, assuming the Mountaineers beat Division II Lenoir-Rhyne.

"If I have any openings in my poll, they would certainly be strongly considered," said Van Brimmer, who works for the Georgia-based Morris News Service.

In a previous job, he covered longtime Division I-AA powerhouse Georgia Southern, which, like Appalachian State, is a member of the Southern Conference.

"Having spent so much time watching those Georgia Southern teams, I'm sure the top teams in the Southern Conference are as good as any mid majors," Van Brimmer said. "They're probably as good as anybody in the MAC (Mid-American Conference). They're probably better than most in the Sun Belt."

Joe Giglio of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., said he would have voted for the Mountaineers this week, though he never considered where to put them after being told they weren't eligible.

He's not sure if Appalachian State will get another chance to crack his top 25 since the school doesn't face another big-time opponent, which affects strength of schedule. After Lenoir-Rhyne, the Mountaineers take on Northern Arizona before getting into their conference schedule.

"They could go unbeaten the rest of the way, which is certainly a possibility," Giglio said. "But that would be a problem, particularly in the methodology I use. They would never have a chance to improve their ranking."

USA Today plans no change in its poll, which will continue to be limited to schools in the division formerly known as I-A.

As Giglio pointed out, the Football Championship Subdivision has its own poll (Appalachian State was a unanimous choice at No. 1) and a playoff system to determine its champion (the Mountaineers have won the last two titles).

"We're probably better off just separating church and state, so to speak," he said. "How long is the shelf life for beating Michigan? At some point, it wouldn't be enough" to keep them in the top 25.

Another AP voter, John Heuser of The Ann Arbor (Mich.) News, agreed that Appalachian State might be able to crack the poll next week, but would have a hard time staying there the rest of the season.

"It would be pretty difficult to evaluate some of the I-AA teams they play, because they don't have the same exposure as I-A teams," said Heuser, who covered Saturday's shocking upset. "We know how good Appalachian State is because they beat Michigan. But I would not really be able to assess how good their opponents are the rest of the season."

Taylor said those sort of issues should be up to the voters, not the news cooperative that organizes the poll and tallies up the ballots.

"This was an issue we never had to face before," she said. "But we thought about it and decided there should be no rule against ranking a I-AA team, as long as that team competed against a I-A opponent.

"Oddities of one sort or the other frequently crop up where the poll is concerned, and it's not unusual for us to make adjustments. This one was just the fair and right thing to do."

Heuser said the Mountaineers were certainly deserving of being in the top 25 for at least one week.

"They are an impressive team," he said. "I thought they were Michigan's equal on the field. I didn't think it was a fluke at all."