The Unofficial Furman Football Page

Western up to #11, from #17. Chattanooga in at #24.

Well, we've largely gotten what we wanted.

We're sitting at 4 or 5 in a lot of polls. Two of the teams in front of us (Idaho and Montana State) still play one another.

So, it's "just win baby" now. Al lot of the stuff we needed to happen has happened, and a few teams in front of us have cleared out.

As I was thinking, NDSU drops big.............

Ahead of us...... South Dakota St. and Idaho play on the road this week, Montana St. is off

4. Sacramento State (4-1, 1-1 Big Sky), 1,145
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 5: 31-30 win over Northern Arizona; Week 6: No game
5. Furman (3-1, 1-0 SoCon), 1,114
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 5: No game; Week 6: The Citadel


Northern Arizona is 1-4


Make it make sense to FUBeAR

FUBeAR wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:24 pm

4. Sacramento State (4-1, 1-1 Big Sky), 1,145
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 5: 31-30 win over Northern Arizona; Week 6: No game
5. Furman (3-1, 1-0 SoCon), 1,114
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 5: No game; Week 6: The Citadel


Northern Arizona is 1-4


Make it make sense to FUBeAR

Watched the game, what's worse is Sac. St. had a clear fumble late (lateral backwards) that would have had the losing no doubt at home to bad Northern Arizona and got bailed out by poor officiating and no replay done................ Them jumping us is classic Big Sky and MVFC BS we have come to know so well...........

FUBeAR wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:24 pm

4. Sacramento State (4-1, 1-1 Big Sky), 1,145
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 5: 31-30 win over Northern Arizona; Week 6: No game
5. Furman (3-1, 1-0 SoCon), 1,114
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 5: No game; Week 6: The Citadel


Northern Arizona is 1-4


Make it make sense to FUBeAR

Yea doesn’t make any sense. I would have thought it would be S Illinois that jumped us if I had to pick someone.

Having a P5 win carries a lot of weight with voters as it probably should.

Someone on AGS - Chalaupa Bison (or something like that ) - splained it …

Posted by Chalupa Batman
Some (but not all) of this is probably due to a fair number of voters having HC & W&M behind Furman but ahead of Sac State, so when they do their typical slot voting Sac State gains 2 points in those polls while Furman doesn't gain any. That scenario at least makes sense as to why Sac gains points on the Paladins.

So…due to voting points assigned by multiple voters, it is possible that SacSt, could have passed FU without a single voter who had FU ahead of SacState last week changing that positioning.

Not logical, not about Football … just a Math thing. FUBeAR hates math!

#5 right now is a nice advantage... and I think we're around the teams that I believe could be on par with us. But we don't exactly have a bunch of quality wins so I can understand the case for someone like SIU being just ahead until we prove ourselves.

The bigger example of bias is in the "Also receiving votes" category. There, a 2-3 UNH team from the CAA with ONE D-1 win receives 143 votes while Mercer, 3-2 with THREE D-1 wins gets a measly 29. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE TO FUPALADIN01

fupaladin01 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 02, 2023 2:52 pm

#5 right now is a nice advantage... and I think we're around the teams that I believe could be on par with us. But we don't exactly have a bunch of quality wins so I can understand the case for someone like SIU being just ahead until we prove ourselves.

The bigger example of bias is in the "Also receiving votes" category. There, a 2-3 UNH team from the CAA with ONE D-1 win receives 143 votes while Mercer, 3-2 with THREE D-1 wins gets a measly 29. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE TO FUPALADIN01

It doesn't make sense at all, though UNH has 2 D1 wins - Stonehill is D1 - but it also doesn't really matter for Mercer. It kinda, sorta does for Furman because of x value of the defeat of a currently-ranked-opponent vs. the x-y value of the defeat of a ranked-at-the-time-opponent...

...but rankings aren't going to help/hurt Mercer. Due to the blowout loss @ Ole Miss, the loss (perceived to have been a blowout) to Furman, the perceived 'bad' win over North Alabama, and the perceived 'not-so-great' win over Morehead, Mercer will not get a Seed even if they win out beating every team the face 100-0, going 9-2/7-1 and 9-1 in FCS. But, they will be in the Playoffs if they finish 9-2. 50/50 chance of an at-large bid if they finish 8-3 depending on who they lose to and who that team beats/loses to. 7-4, they are out. All about wins/losses for the Bears at this point - not rankings.

But EVERYTHING matters to FU right now - WINNING is, of course, REQUIRED...but things breaking right (actually way more than 'right' ... cuz 'right' won't be enough to overcome the BS) to get a Top 4 Seed... or Allah be praised - a Top 2 Seed - could make all the difference for FU's National Championship hopes. The Team that wins the National Championship will be ... A) The Team that PLAYS the best...B) The Team that has the best path to the Championship ... and C) The best Team .... in that order.

Don't want to say too much here for several reasons, but I'll just say this. I simply can't wrap my head around how anyone could vote for one team well ahead of another when:
1. That first team just lost to the other in a non-fluke way.
2. That other team was in control start to finish.
3. On the first team's home field.
4. They have similar records
5. They have similar strengths of schedule.

Per Massey (which also seems out of whack this season, but I don't know a clearer space to find strength of schedule), NDSU's SoS is No. 41. South Dakota is No. 28.

For the record, my top 5 this week was:
1. SDSU
2. Montana St.
3. Idaho
4. Furman
5. So. Illinois

Other rankings I had:
7. Sacramento St.
10. South Dakota
14. NDSU
17. Harvard
22. Holy Cross
24. William & Mary

Furman Sports Report wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 02, 2023 3:46 pm

Don't want to say too much here for several reasons, but I'll just say this. I simply can't wrap my head around how anyone could vote for one team well ahead of another when:
1. That first team just lost to the other in a non-fluke way.
2. That other team was in control start to finish.
3. On the first team's home field.
4. They have similar records
5. They have similar strengths of schedule.

Per Massey (which also seems out of whack this season, but I don't know a clearer space to find strength of schedule), NDSU's SoS is No. 41. South Dakota is No. 28.

For the record, my top 5 this week was:
1. SDSU
2. Montana St.
3. Idaho
4. Furman
5. So. Illinois

Other rankings I had:
7. Sacramento St.
10. South Dakota
14. NDSU
17. Harvard
22. Holy Cross
24. William & Mary

Not in vigorous disagreement. Y’know, everybody’s doing it. Just want to learn how an FU / FU-ish person can justify it… Why Idaho ahead of FU?

But…before you answer…

…consider Nevada is 0-5 this season. Nevada is 0-15 in their last 15 games with 2 of those losses coming to FCS Teams. A win over FBSINO Nevada is equivalent to a win over an unranked FCS Team.
…consider Eastern Washington is 2-3 with wins over winless SELU and UC-Davis, whose best win is over a 1-4 Team
…consider SacState’s marquee win is over Stanford, whose only win is over Hawaii…that would just barely make into the FCS Top 20
…consider Lamar just picked up their 1st D1 win over another Southland bottom-feeder
…consider Idaho, like Furman, lost by double digits in their (only real) FBS game

This Bracket has Furman as a 3 seed and FOUR SoCon teams in the field.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fc ... acketology