Top 25 Poll

[EastHallApp]

Ok so Clemson didn’t destroy a horrible Syracuse team who they were favored over by close to 50 points and then Saturday had to rally to beat a middle of the conference BC team at home yet are still ranked number 1. Isn’t it important to beat the teams you play? Does anyone really think that voters have analyzed our win last week? Would 10 more points have made a huge difference? Again, CCU is doing great and they have some nice wins but if they are unbeaten and ranked like 10th in the country when we meet and we win will that victory get logged into our history book and the second biggest ever over a ranked team (behind Michigan)? Just throwing out something for debate. I’m not butt hurt over the rankings and I’m not belittling CCU’s accomplishments?

That's an interesting question. Literally, of course, they're ranked wherever they're ranked, so it would be recorded as such. But I would agree with what (I think) you're implying, in that it would not be perceived as the sort of landmark win that ranking would suggest.

[BambooRdApp]

Ok so Clemson didn’t destroy a horrible Syracuse team who they were favored over by close to 50 points and then Saturday had to rally to beat a middle of the conference BC team at home yet are still ranked number 1. Isn’t it important to beat the teams you play? Does anyone really think that voters have analyzed our win last week? Would 10 more points have made a huge difference? Again, CCU is doing great and they have some nice wins but if they are unbeaten and ranked like 10th in the country when we meet and we win will that victory get logged into our history book and the second biggest ever over a ranked team (behind Michigan)? Just throwing out something for debate. I’m not butt hurt over the rankings and I’m not belittling CCU’s accomplishments?

That's an interesting question. Literally, of course, they're ranked wherever they're ranked, so it would be recorded as such. But I would agree with what (I think) you're implying, in that it would not be perceived as the sort of landmark win that ranking would suggest.

Would have to be P5 team that is top 10. Changing teams in this hypothetical, even if it were Cincy, which is legitimately good G5 team, no one outside of App fans would remember in a year or 2. For the polls, may get ranked in 20s after a win over Cincy.. But that is it. I like being ranked for sole purpose it helps recruiting.

[AppStFan1]

Who cares where so and so is or isn't ranked, we're not. We just need to focus on winning the games on our schedule.

Agreed. If CCU, UL, and Marshall keep winning then it sets us up to finish in a good spot. CCU and UL could turn out to be huge wins. We just need to keep getting better because we are nowhere near worthy of top 25 talk right now.

[hotrod2001]

Then if all stays the same, Coastal's got Liberty as their final game of the regular season. That's going to be interesting too.

[ah59396]

Then if all stays the same, Coastal's got Liberty as their final game of the regular season. That's going to be interesting too.

I’m very confident Liberty will not be ranked by that point. 6-0 just like Coastal but their wins are:

2-5 Western Kentucky
0-3 FIU
0-2 (FCS) N Alabama
0-7 ULM
1-6 Syracuse
1-5 Southern Miss

Liberty has 2x wins (6) than the combined wins of their opponents (4).

Coastal at the very least has a victory over a ranked team and two wins over teams with winning records. Their opponents have a combined (14) wins.

[ah59396]

Ok so Clemson didn’t destroy a horrible Syracuse team who they were favored over by close to 50 points and then Saturday had to rally to beat a middle of the conference BC team at home yet are still ranked number 1. Isn’t it important to beat the teams you play? Does anyone really think that voters have analyzed our win last week? Would 10 more points have made a huge difference? Again, CCU is doing great and they have some nice wins but if they are unbeaten and ranked like 10th in the country when we meet and we win will that victory get logged into our history book and the second biggest ever over a ranked team (behind Michigan)? Just throwing out something for debate. I’m not butt hurt over the rankings and I’m not belittling CCU’s accomplishments?

I think it depends on what you mean by “biggest victory”, but I understand your larger point.

I think in terms of what it does for national perception or brand, the answer is: very little. I suppose it would make it clear that we still own the Sun Belt. Put us in the driver seat for another conference title. Launch us back into the top 25 with a chance to finish ranked for a second straight season.

Long term all of those are probably really valuable.

[WASU 93]

Then if all stays the same, Coastal's got Liberty as their final game of the regular season. That's going to be interesting too.

I’m very confident Liberty will not be ranked by that point. 6-0 just like Coastal but their wins are:

2-5 Western Kentucky
0-3 FIU
0-2 (FCS) N Alabama
0-7 ULM
1-6 Syracuse
1-5 Southern Miss

Liberty has 2x wins (6) than the combined wins of their opponents (4).

Coastal at the very least has a victory over a ranked team and two wins over teams with winning records. Their opponents have a combined (14) wins.

in the Sagarin Ratings:
App State #32
Coastal Carolina #50. (Louisiana is #49)
Liberty #76

Western Kentucky (Ranked at #105) is the highest ranked opponent they have faced this year.

[Black Saturday]

I’m surprised CCU climbed to 15th. That’s impressive for any SBC team.

With the fact that the Pac-12 still has not played yet, and with so many top 25 teams losing, the voters are going to push up any undefeated team. I don't see Liberty as top 25 caliber yet but they are ranked now. CCU has a win over a top 25 team and they are undefeated so voters will push them up there. If we had played original schedule and were undefeated I would imagine we would have been around 10-12 now. I hope they keep pushing CCU up. We just have to be more creative and unpredictable if we are going to beat CCU. I could see them putting 30+ points on us.

From watching Coastal play several games and ULL play several games and Georgia Southern play several games, APPs D will be the best each has faced in regards to team speed and cornerback play. Coastal makes a living in their passing game, don't think they'll have much success running and have to beat our defensive backers playing into our strength. We have a history of doing well in high profile games, this game likely for the right to play in the championship... at the moment I like our chances... Coastal's strength is they don't beat themselves with mistakes or dumbass drive killing penalties.

[Saint3333]

GS and CCU May have a better front seven than App don’t underestimate their ability to stop the run.

The game plan for GS should be short quick throws. Same for CCU.

[hapapp]

Gotta give Liberty, an independent, credit for putting that schedule together this year. Three ACC opponents. Wow.

I agree. They're having an excellent season and have a couple of decent wins. I will still be surprised if they don't lose at least two games before the end of the season though. VT, NC State and Coastal are all likely "L" for the Flames. Should be interesting though.

I would favor them over State and say Coastal is about a toss-up.

Please, for the love of Christ, stop touting Liberty as a quality football team, worthy of a top 25 ranking. Their opponents combined record is 4-28! It is an absolute joke that they’re even receiving votes. I know they’re undefeated. Caldwell Community College would be undefeated playing against the competition they’ve faced. The meat of their schedule is in front of them. Let’s see how it plays out. Then we can offer them congratulations, if they’re unscathed. Hell, Coastal’s combined opponents record is a paltry 12-19. They’ve only beaten 2 teams with a winning record (UL & Stink). Being the highest ever ranked Sunbelt team doesn’t make them the best ever! They’re overrated too. I’m saving my judgement on CCU until after we play them. But, I will say that they’re considerably better than Liberty. And their success is good for our conference. So I give them a pass and an “at-a-boy” for drawing media attention to the Sunbelt. We all rise together!

What’s the combined record of the teams App has beaten?

I will say, you’re probably right about both Liberty and Coastal not being quite as good as their rankings. I’ll give Coastal the edge in that one, though not a huge one.

State is just not good, though. Liberty can be well short of top 25 and still better than them.

Two of our four wins are against winless teams!

[andreracer]

We do have great corners, but we have been beat numerous times on deep balls and get lucky with drops or bad throws. I agree we have top talent corners, but getting burned on the deep ball could kill us against coastal.

[EastHallApp]

I agree. They're having an excellent season and have a couple of decent wins. I will still be surprised if they don't lose at least two games before the end of the season though. VT, NC State and Coastal are all likely "L" for the Flames. Should be interesting though.

I would favor them over State and say Coastal is about a toss-up.

Please, for the love of Christ, stop touting Liberty as a quality football team, worthy of a top 25 ranking. Their opponents combined record is 4-28! It is an absolute joke that they’re even receiving votes. I know they’re undefeated. Caldwell Community College would be undefeated playing against the competition they’ve faced. The meat of their schedule is in front of them. Let’s see how it plays out. Then we can offer them congratulations, if they’re unscathed. Hell, Coastal’s combined opponents record is a paltry 12-19. They’ve only beaten 2 teams with a winning record (UL & Stink). Being the highest ever ranked Sunbelt team doesn’t make them the best ever! They’re overrated too. I’m saving my judgement on CCU until after we play them. But, I will say that they’re considerably better than Liberty. And their success is good for our conference. So I give them a pass and an “at-a-boy” for drawing media attention to the Sunbelt. We all rise together!

What’s the combined record of the teams App has beaten?

I will say, you’re probably right about both Liberty and Coastal not being quite as good as their rankings. I’ll give Coastal the edge in that one, though not a huge one.

State is just not good, though. Liberty can be well short of top 25 and still better than them.

Two of our four wins are against winless teams!

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

[AppStFan1]

I’m surprised CCU climbed to 15th. That’s impressive for any SBC team.

With the fact that the Pac-12 still has not played yet, and with so many top 25 teams losing, the voters are going to push up any undefeated team. I don't see Liberty as top 25 caliber yet but they are ranked now. CCU has a win over a top 25 team and they are undefeated so voters will push them up there. If we had played original schedule and were undefeated I would imagine we would have been around 10-12 now. I hope they keep pushing CCU up. We just have to be more creative and unpredictable if we are going to beat CCU. I could see them putting 30+ points on us.

From watching Coastal play several games and ULL play several games and Georgia Southern play several games, APPs D will be the best each has faced in regards to team speed and cornerback play. Coastal makes a living in their passing game, don't think they'll have much success running and have to beat our defensive backers playing into our strength. We have a history of doing well in high profile games, this game likely for the right to play in the championship... at the moment I like our chances... Coastal's strength is they don't beat themselves with mistakes or dumbass drive killing penalties.

Talent is there but we still have not played to our potential this year. CCU is beatable but so are we. They are a good team and it will take our best game to date to beat them. One thing for sure is that Chadwell knows a big win over us will make a statement and he won't pull his foot off the gas. Chadwell is going to be a top P5 HC candidate if he can go undefeated this month.

[t4pizza]

GS and CCU May have a better front seven than App don’t underestimate their ability to stop the run.

The game plan for GS should be short quick throws. Same for CCU.

I agree with this assessment, we just haven't seen much of that out of our offense this year. The screen, bubble and wheel routes are essentially non existent in our offense this year. We have shown a good proficiency at throws in the flats where our receivers stop and come back a step or two for the catch. Of course they get predictable and a good jump from the d can lead to an untimely interception (see Marshall right before half). I would love to see a consistent passing attack of short easy throws to our running backs but we haven't really seen that this year yet. Hopefully we start to mix it up with more passing against the teams with tougher front 7 on defense that stack the box and dare us to beat them with our passing game.

[ah59396]

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

I think the fact that we are getting votes in the Top 25 is a testament to our prior success.

Let’s face it, we’ve beaten:

A winless FCS team (0-4)
A winless FBS team (0-7)
A bad CUSA team that just got curbstomped by a bad ACC team (2-3)
A decent Sun Belt team (3-4)

The only good team we’ve faced kicked our ass in the trenches.

I’m still not convinced we are any good but we will find out over these next 4 weeks!

[EastHallApp]

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

I think the fact that we are getting votes in the Top 25 is a testament to our prior success.

Let’s face it, we’ve beaten:

A winless FCS team (0-4)
A winless FBS team (0-7)
A bad CUSA team that just got curbstomped by a bad ACC team (2-3)
A decent Sun Belt team (3-4)

The only good team we’ve faced kicked our ass in the trenches.

I’m still not convinced we are any good but we will find out over these next 4 weeks!

I think that's fair to some extent. OTOH, I think our laser focus on App tends to make us more or less critical of ourselves than other teams. The truth is, every team in the nation with a record of 3-1 or better is getting more votes than us.

Army was 5-8 last year and has beaten three teams with a combined 6-16 record and three FCS teams (one of them by five points), plus a loss to Cincy - and they're actually ranked in the coaches poll.

I'm not saying we absolutely should be ranked. But I think our good-not-great play so far this year warrants a decent level of respect given our track record.

[AppStFan1]

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

I think the fact that we are getting votes in the Top 25 is a testament to our prior success.

Let’s face it, we’ve beaten:

A winless FCS team (0-4)
A winless FBS team (0-7)
A bad CUSA team that just got curbstomped by a bad ACC team (2-3)
A decent Sun Belt team (3-4)

The only good team we’ve faced kicked our ass in the trenches.

I’m still not convinced we are any good but we will find out over these next 4 weeks!

I think that's fair to some extent. OTOH, I think our laser focus on App tends to make us more or less critical of ourselves than other teams. The truth is, every team in the nation with a record of 3-1 or better is getting more votes than us.

Army was 5-8 last year and has beaten three teams with a combined 6-16 record and three FCS teams (one of them by five points), plus a loss to Cincy - and they're actually ranked in the coaches poll.

I'm not saying we absolutely should be ranked. But I think our good-not-great play so far this year warrants a decent level of respect given our track record.

To be honest, there are a dozen teams getting votes who should not be, and a couple ranked teams who should only be getting votes. We are definitely getting a little respect because of our prior results but we aren't anywhere near a top 25 team yet.

[NewApp]

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

I think the fact that we are getting votes in the Top 25 is a testament to our prior success.

Let’s face it, we’ve beaten:

A winless FCS team (0-4)
A winless FBS team (0-7)
A bad CUSA team that just got curbstomped by a bad ACC team (2-3)
A decent Sun Belt team (3-4)

The only good team we’ve faced kicked our ass in the trenches.

I’m still not convinced we are any good but we will find out over these next 4 weeks!

I think that's fair to some extent. OTOH, I think our laser focus on App tends to make us more or less critical of ourselves than other teams. The truth is, every team in the nation with a record of 3-1 or better is getting more votes than us.

Army was 5-8 last year and has beaten three teams with a combined 6-16 record and three FCS teams (one of them by five points), plus a loss to Cincy - and they're actually ranked in the coaches poll.

I'm not saying we absolutely should be ranked. But I think our good-not-great play so far this year warrants a decent level of respect given our track record.

To be honest, there are a dozen teams getting votes who should not be, and a couple ranked teams who should only be getting votes. We are definitely getting a little respect because of our prior results but we aren't anywhere near a top 25 team yet.

No offense, but I'm crossing my fingers hoping that we prove you are wrong.

[AppinVA]

If we do what we’re supposed to do, we will be in the Top 25 by the end of the year, and quite possibly with our highest ranking ever. The schedule is back loaded, so unlike prior years, I’m not concerned with where we are at the moment.

[AppStFan1]

Right. Best wins are Charlotte and A-State, neither of whom are all that good.

I do think one should consider past performance in evaluating a team as well - we should get some benefit of the doubt for going 24-3 the last two years, while it's fair to remain a little skeptical of Coastal given that they've come out of nowhere.

But people probably shouldn't cast too many stones at them based on this year's schedule.

I think the fact that we are getting votes in the Top 25 is a testament to our prior success.

Let’s face it, we’ve beaten:

A winless FCS team (0-4)
A winless FBS team (0-7)
A bad CUSA team that just got curbstomped by a bad ACC team (2-3)
A decent Sun Belt team (3-4)

The only good team we’ve faced kicked our ass in the trenches.

I’m still not convinced we are any good but we will find out over these next 4 weeks!

I think that's fair to some extent. OTOH, I think our laser focus on App tends to make us more or less critical of ourselves than other teams. The truth is, every team in the nation with a record of 3-1 or better is getting more votes than us.

Army was 5-8 last year and has beaten three teams with a combined 6-16 record and three FCS teams (one of them by five points), plus a loss to Cincy - and they're actually ranked in the coaches poll.

I'm not saying we absolutely should be ranked. But I think our good-not-great play so far this year warrants a decent level of respect given our track record.

To be honest, there are a dozen teams getting votes who should not be, and a couple ranked teams who should only be getting votes. We are definitely getting a little respect because of our prior results but we aren't anywhere near a top 25 team yet.

No offense, but I'm crossing my fingers hoping that we prove you are wrong.

I highlighted the most important part of what I said. YET. So far we do not belong in the top 25 or even talking about it. The good news is that we have the talent to be top 25 and the quality of games in Nov/Dec to earn a spot and belong there.

I looked at the odds on Texas State and we are favored by just 17.5. If we want respect from voters then we need a strong win. A final of say 28-14 won't open any eyes. If we want national respect and to strike fear in the hearts of the SBC then we need a 20+, preferable 30+, win.