re: Weekly FCS Poll and discussion...Theres been some movement....

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I think the top 4 will be NDSU, JMU, Coastal, Jax St. in that order.

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You need to quit doubting Illinois State. Back to back top 10 wins with one on the road. Roberson is finally starting to recover from his thumb injury and look like himself. Didn't play well until the end of last game.

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If you can't tell SFA is not a really good football team, not sure what to tell you.

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Dat basketball team, doe.

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I think ILS will be 5 and get with Jax St Qtr and NDSU semi to attempt to not have all MVC final.

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Yep. Need to rig the playoffs so the best teams from the best conference can't meet in the finals again. What is going to happen when 4-5 MVFC teams fight their way through the playoffs and reach the semis, or 3 out of 4 semifinalists are from the MVFC? The tournament committee is such a joke. The best teams should be in the playoffs and seeded appropriately, not manipulated to get pairings they want just so there is "representation".

NDSU, ISUr, YSU, SDSU, and UNI are all good enough to beat any team in the country. Heck, any team in the Valley outside of MSU is good enough, even USD, who doesn't seem to have problems winning OOC games but gets beat up in the conference. WIU is 2-0 in the conference now and UNI is 0-2 but I fully expect UNI to finish 5-3 in the conference and WIU might not win another conference game. That's what a meatgrinder the MVFC is.

The bottom half of the Valley does not suck. Only one team in the Valley sucks and that's SMS unfortunately. SIU, USD, and Western would beat a bunch of teams.


Now you could have said the Big South, Colonial, to make your point and I would have agreed.

I'm not comparing the Southland to other conferences. I'm saying that 2, maybe 3 teams have a chance at the conference title.

SFA's sole win was against a Nicholls team that hasn't won a game in a couple of years.

Incarnate Word has beaten an NAIA and two teams that haven't won a game.

Houston Baptist has beaten two teams that are Division III.

Abilene has beaten two teams that haven't won a game.


I just don't understand how you can say that this conference is anything but bad.

Bad or not, the damn conference could still produce a national champion. Did they not have a team go 2 years in a row? Three teams have made the playoffs from the SLC each of the last 2 seasons, and could do it again this year. But yet the conference is bad?

How many other leagues have at least 3 teams make the playoffs each of the last 2 years? That would be 4 (Big Sky and Colonial both years, and OVC in 2013 and and MVC in 2014).

The bottom half may be bad, I've agreed with you on that. But to say the whole conference is bad because of that....can't agree with that. Maybe if one team makes it this year and flops. But when they have had 3 teams in the playoffs the last 2 years, and the conference champion played for 2 straight national titles the 2 years prior.....

And, as usual, 2 of the three teams that make are one and done, yet again. Hope it's not the Cowboys this season.

Not sure Southeastern gets in though.

What is "Top Heavy" anyway? Is the Big Sky "balanced", or "top heavy"? Is the Conference as a whole considered strong because its "balanced" or "top heavy"? I would consider the Big Sky top heavy. And they are a perennial power conference. The MVC would probably be more balanced.

This is the way I look at it. If the bottom teams are finishing at .500, then the Top teams are as well. The only way the bottom is a good judge of the quality of the conference is if they are playing very well OOC. Since the SLC only plays 2 OOC games a year, it would be hard for me to say that the conference is bad.

Even if Nicholls played 2 FCS teams and won those games, then went 2-7 in Conference, would anyone think they are good at 4-7? What if Nicholls some how beat a team from the Big Sky and the OVC, and went 2-7 against the SLC? Are they a bad team that played 2 really good games OOC? Are they a good team in an even better conference?

The SLC is 0-13 against Division 1 schools outside the conference. Only 3 of those schools are FCS. I can't make an honest assessment of the League when the Sample Size consists of 3 FCS opponents, 10 FBS Opponents, a half dozen DII schools, and the majority in Conference. Same could be said for any of the larger conferences in the FCS.

If the conference as a whole played more FCS teams, I could see making that judgement. But when the overwhelming majority of the schedule is against your conference opponents, all you can really say is who appears strongest among the teams. And there is real gap in the SLC.

Is the Top really good? Or is the bottom really bad? Or is it somewhere in the middle?

You have 1 or 2 very good teams that beat everyone they play. You have 5-6 teams that beat each other in conference play but lose to everyone else they play. You have 1-2 teams that can not beat anyone.

That is a top heavy conference, in my opinion.

The Gateway until 2010 was very top heavy. The SLC was not.

I get your rationale, but it to me is somewhat flawed. But I understand it and you are making your point.

By the way, welcome to the weekly FCS thread.

It is, and would have been bigger if they did not screw around last minute and half and blow the shutout.