Top 25 Watch (real thread)

[asucrutch23]

I keep a thread like this in the same context as the one I started- undefeated FBS teams. We all fully understand that App won’t be in the playoff no matter what. We all (or should) know that if we go 13-0 we do have a shot at the NY6 game. As with the ranking thing it’s fun to watch the list and just see our name still there (with the unbeaten). Certain goals are only attainable by going 1-0 every week. We should all give ourselves credit for not having a Gamecock thread at least.

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

[appgrad95&97]

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

We can play this game all day. But you've got Fresno St. winning the MWC; you're ignoring San Diego St. and Hawaii. See, it's not just the AAC. We need to go 13-0 AND have a 2-loss MWC that isn't Bosie St. and a 2-loss AAC champ. Of course, all that's possible, but it's so unlikely that we should focus on ending the season ranked.

[t4pizza]

Yeah, I think people aren't really understanding the access bowl invite. It is simply the highest ranked G5 conference champ. So if we win the SunBelt, our ONLY competition is the other 4 conference champs. There is no question we will be ranked ahead of MAC or CUSA so that leaves the AAC and MWC. Although both of those conference are tougher and have better teams than the belt, if either of those champs have more than 1 loss and we are undefeated than we will get the invite. No way an undefeated App State team is ranked lower than a two loss AAC or MWC team (this year), I don't care who they are. Anyone who thinks it is impossible or isn't going to happen really doesn't know what they are talking about. Heck, we may even be able to get in with one loss to South Carolina IF the other conference champs have more than 1 loss. App State is not an unknown, the only reason we aren't getting a ton of love yet is because people are waiting to see what we are now with the new coaching changes. Once we impress that our new brand of ball works, they will all get back on board. We just need to take care of business and win our games. As long as we do that, good things will come. It may not be this year, but if we win out (including our bowl), we will go into next year with a good preseason ranking and the teams on the schedule to get everyone's attention. Take down a Wake and Wisconsin early in the year after coming off an undefeated season with wins over both Carolinas, well that is the kind of things that get people noticed. We just need to take care of what we can take care of.

[t4pizza]

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

Easy, App State gets the bid. None of those teams would have the wins that we have over an ACC and a SEC school plus no loses.

[asucrutch23]

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

We can play this game all day. But you've got Fresno St. winning the MWC; you're ignoring San Diego St. and Hawaii. See, it's not just the AAC. We need to go 13-0 AND have a 2-loss MWC that isn't Bosie St. and a 2-loss AAC champ. Of course, all that's possible, but it's so unlikely that we should focus on ending the season ranked.

I used Fresno because they are the best team in the MWC West according to Sagarin. We are currently ahead of SDSU and Hawaii in the polls too. By the way, we're ahead of Utah State too and they host Boise State later in the year. Tons of scenarios where we could be ahead of the Mountain West champ.

[EastHallApp]

To me, the fact that Western Michigan got in nullifies any argument that the Sun Belt CAN’T get a team in. That leaves the question of what it would take to do so, and then you get into uncharted waters, so all we can do is speculate or say what we think SHOULD happen.

Hopefully App can put themselves in position to contend and make it as hard as possible for the CFP to tell us no.

[sfoal308]

There's no chance that we don't get it if we go undefeated and are the only unbeaten G5. The only team that could have jumped us would be a one loss UCF

[appgrad95&97]

There's no chance that we don't get it if we go undefeated and are the only unbeaten G5. The only team that could have jumped us would be a one loss UCF

Bosie St. Come on man!

[AppStFan1]

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

In that scenario I would ignore the MAC and CUSA champs. They won't get voted ahead of a 13-0 App team. If FSU or whoever the MWC champ is loses their 2 games or even 1 game after week 10 then I think App gets it for sure. It depends on when you take losses. Only way App does not get in would be if those teams had lost to a top 15 team very early in the season. I have no doubt App gets in.

[asucrutch23]

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

What? We've already seen two one-loss AAC teams ranked. Cincinnati went from zero votes (I think) to 25. What else do you need to see to understand how the AAC and the Sun Belt are perceived? To say nothing of Bosie St., which is a know big bowl quantity (with a better BCS/NY6 record than Notre Dame).

He said if UCF wins the AAC. Remember, only conference champions are considered.

If it's down to 11-2 UCF, 13-0 App State, 11-2 Fresno State, CUSA Champ, MAC Champ, who gets the bid?

That's the scenario 97APP is referring to.

In that scenario I would ignore the MAC and CUSA champs. They won't get voted ahead of a 13-0 App team. If FSU or whoever the MWC champ is loses their 2 games or even 1 game after week 10 then I think App gets it for sure. It depends on when you take losses.

Yeah, that's why I just put "CUSA Champ" and "MAC Champ" because it likely doesn't matter who wins those conferences. There is slim to no chance of them having better resumes than AAC/MWC/App.

[ah59396]

There's no chance that we don't get it if we go undefeated and are the only unbeaten G5. The only team that could have jumped us would be a one loss UCF

Bosie St. Come on man!

UCF dropped from 15 to 22 after getting beat by an ACC team. And they were carrying years of momentum behind them.

If Boise loses to Hawaii this weekend and we beat Louisiana, we will be ranked ahead of Boise come Sunday afternoon. They will be lucky to hold on to a top 25 spot with a G5 loss.

[t4pizza]

I agree, a ranked G5 will fall out if they lose to another G5.

[AppStFan1]

There's no chance that we don't get it if we go undefeated and are the only unbeaten G5. The only team that could have jumped us would be a one loss UCF

Bosie St. Come on man!

UCF dropped from 15 to 22 after getting beat by an ACC team. And they were carrying years of momentum behind them.

If Boise loses to Hawaii this weekend and we beat Louisiana, we will be ranked ahead of Boise come Sunday afternoon. They will be lucky to hold on to a top 25 spot with a G5 loss.

I actually think it would depend on scores. If they lose a close game to Hawaii I bet they fall to 20-23 because Hawaii has some respect.

Remember this is not a G5 or P5 thing. If any team loses to a team who is not even receiving votes they will drop heavily in the polls. If Boise State loses a close game and we win a close game then I think we end up ranked in the top 25 behind both Boise State and Hawaii. If Boise State gets destroyed by say 24 and we beat ULL by 17-20 then I think we have a shot to pass them. I'm still not sure we do though because Hawaii is seen as a tougher opponent than ULL now. Hawaii is actually receiving votes and ULL is not.

[AppStFan1]

I agree, a ranked G5 will fall out if they lose to another G5.

Not always. Look at the final polls last year.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/r ... asontype/3

3 MWC teams ranked and they all had G5 losses. Boise State had 3 losses and still ranked. They lost to a ranked Fresno State, ranked P5, and then receiving votes San Diego State team.

We can lose a game and be ranked as long as the one loss is to a ranked P5 or G5. We don't have any of those so if we do lose we will completely drop out.

What we need is to beat ULL by a solid margin and then hope ULL wins out. If ULL, UNC, and say one more team on our schedule are receiving votes late in the year and we have wins over all of them then we could lose one game and remain ranked.

What matters to voters is if your loss is considered against a legit team. Can't have a loss to ULM or Texas State but can have one to Hawaii, Boise State, Memphis, UCF, SMU, etc. type teams. If we finish 13-1 with a bowl loss to say Boise State we would still be ranked.

[Seattleapp]

This is a great discussion with our record being 4-0.

[hotrod2001]

I keep a thread like this in the same context as the one I started- undefeated FBS teams. We all fully understand that App won’t be in the playoff no matter what. We all (or should) know that if we go 13-0 we do have a shot at the NY6 game. As with the ranking thing it’s fun to watch the list and just see our name still there (with the unbeaten). Certain goals are only attainable by going 1-0 every week. We should all give ourselves credit for not having a Gamecock thread at least.

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

If we go undefeated and UCF (now with 2 losses wins the AAC championship game) and Boise loses the MWC championship game we're in the Access bowl.

I think they'd go with SMU over us if it came down to it and they also ran the table. (which by looking at their remaining schedule is plausible) After 30+ years of being irrelevant due to the death penalty, they're suddenly the media darlings.

[EastHallApp]

This is a great discussion with our record being 4-0.

I'm enjoying it - glad you are too! Here's to making it 5-0 in 50 hours or so.

[sfoal308]

This is a great discussion with our record being 4-0.

I'm enjoying it - glad you are too! Here's to making it 5-0 in 50 hours or so.

Don't you know that us discussing something other than ULL is going to cause the team to lose? Alabama and Clemson have been so good for the past decade because the fans on their message boards only ever post about the upcoming opponent

[hotrod2001]

I keep a thread like this in the same context as the one I started- undefeated FBS teams. We all fully understand that App won’t be in the playoff no matter what. We all (or should) know that if we go 13-0 we do have a shot at the NY6 game. As with the ranking thing it’s fun to watch the list and just see our name still there (with the unbeaten). Certain goals are only attainable by going 1-0 every week. We should all give ourselves credit for not having a Gamecock thread at least.

There is no way any team from the Sun Belt is going to be in the NY6 conversation. Not unless Boise State and the upper echelons of the AAC have massive, catastrophic collapses from here on out. Regardless of how good we are, teams in the American are going to get looked at first (which is one reason I really hope we find our way there one of these days). Even then, we'd probably have to run the table for at least two straight seasons to be even given a look.

Right now I'm happy to be in the conversation of being ranked. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything above the top 20, but that little number next to your logo on the tv denotes you as one of the top college teams out there, and gives us validity.

I think this is such a smart post. I actually wonder how many of the CFP committee members could name all the Sun Belt members. I think a conversation about being ranked in the AP or Coach's poll is worth having, but when it turns into a NY6 discussion, I don't get it.

The conference is still considered the doormat of the FCS despite our performance (and at least our bowl records) being better than the other G5 conferences the last couple of years. You can just tell, it's never really mentioned in broadcasts unless a team has an upset or there's a major story like at stAte with the coache's wife. I listen to ESPNU radio all the time and I can say with confidence that UTEP and gets talked about more than our top three teams. Thankfully Mark Packer broadcasts his show out of Charlotte so he gives us, Coastal and Georgia Southern some love, but outside of the "Pack Man" we're just a blip.

It's frustrating because the conference has really been trying to better its image over the last five years. It got itself a new, sleek logo. Brought in App, Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina...all of which had successful transitions to the FBS, ditched Idaho and NMSU, added a championship game and continue to add bowl tie-ins every year. Yet it still doesn't seem to get any sort of exposure like the other G5 conferences get.

It's one of the reasons I really hope we get an invite to another conference, unfair or not, the SBC just
does not garner the exposure or time spent that the other G5's do. Maybe one of these seasons, App, stAte, Louisiana, Georgia Southern and Coastal will be firing on all cylinders and rack up a large series of P5 upsets and OoC wins that that can change the dialogue, but for right now, the entire league just doesn't get the respect it deserves.

[Rick83]

Right now, SMU and Memphis have a leg up but only one of them can advance from the AAC West to the championship. Soooo, if Cincy drops another conference game then it's most likely a 2 loss UCF in the AAC championship game so that would help us in NY6 consideration...very possible scenario. Don't have a feel for the MWC and as has been mentioned, we have to run the table. Damn this is fun...I love just being part of the national conversation!!