Where will MSU end up ranked?

[iaafan]

Of all the teams in the playoffs I think MSU was better than 12 of them. Duquesne, SeMO, Jax St, UNI, Nichols, Towson, Elon, Stony, Delaware, Lamar, ETSU. That’d put us 12th, but I’m sure it’ll not be that high. Probably around 17-18.

[LTown Cat]

I think 15ish.

8 teams lost out in the first round where MSU won. I'd think the absolute lowest would be 16.

[CelticCat]

I'd say anywhere from 15-25 wouldn't surprise me.

[asstastic]

I would like it if we weren’t ranked.

[Cledus]

I was thinking 12 to 15-ish.

[FTG247365]

Preseason 20 to 25. End of season 20 to 15. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't this the 1st year since 2014 that we cracked the top 25? Winning a 1st round playoff game helps, but there is a lot good teams ahead of us.

[AFCAT]

Preseason 20 to 25. End of season 20 to 15. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't this the 1st year since 2014 that we cracked the top 25? Winning a 1st round playoff game helps, but there is a lot good teams ahead of us.

They were ranked most of the season in 2015. I believe they were favored to take the Big Sky that year too, but I can’t remember for sure.

[thefrank1]

12 after the dust settles.

[Catgotmytung]

Yes, 20-25 sounds more like it. The fact is that our playoff matchup was pretty favorable. Getting blown out of the playoffs doesn't say a lot. That and we're graduating three very good D lineman and one very good linebacker won't help. I'd say we'd be lucky to get a d-line as strong as this year but if we're going to make any kind of deep playoff run, we need to be better than this year, obviously.

[AFCAT]

Yes, 20-25 sounds more like it. The fact is that our playoff matchup was pretty favorable. Getting blown out of the playoffs doesn't say a lot. That and we're graduating three very good D lineman and one very good linebacker won't help. I'd say we'd be lucky to get a d-line as strong as this year but if we're going to make any kind of deep playoff run, we need to be better than this year, obviously.

This thread is about the end of this season.

[tetoncat]

5 losses. 3 to teams in top 4. 1 to team in top 8. If voters look at that maybe top 12. Some don't care, but the higher we finish this year, higher we are next year. If we had started ranked this year we would have ended season higher and maybe not gotten NDSU so early.

[R4TB]

Kinda crazy that 3 of the teams losses this year are to teams still in the playoffs. Should have played Maine this year instead of Wagner.

[Montanabob]

Stop worrying about where we start next year, just worry about where we finish.
Kill this thread.

[iaafan]

I’m not worried about it. Just interested in where everyone thinks we’ll be ranked.

[Catsrgrood]

Stop worrying about where we start next year, just worry about where we finish.
Kill this thread.

It’s the off-season and this is the kind of stuff that’s going to be discussed.

And it was brought a few times this season, I think it absolutely matters where you start the season in the eye of the playoff committee. A team that is in the top 25 all year is probably going to get a little better draw in the playoffs than a team that wins their last couple games and squeaks into the playoffs like the Cats did this year.

This is pure speculation, but I think if the Cats had started this last season in the top 25 and had the exact same wins and losses, they probably would ended the season ranked in the mid to high teens and probably wouldn’t have ran into NDSU in round 2.

[Hawks86]

#16 on Athlon.

[iaafan]

The STATS Poll should come out today. Coaches Poll tomorrow.

[CatsNoMatterWhat]

#16 on Athlon.

Beat me to posting this! Love the ranking...I think it's correct and represents a great step forward for us.

[Cledus]

The conference is finally getting a little ruhspeck. I think this should help us.

[kmax]

#17 in the final STATS poll.

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i ... 7272672304

2018 Final STATS FCS Top 25

1. North Dakota State (15-0), 3,900 points (156 first-place votes)

Previous Ranking: 1; Final Game: 38-24 win over Eastern Washington; Other Key Wins: South Dakota State (21-17 and 44-21) and Colgate (35-0)

2. Eastern Washington (12-3), 3,741

Previous Ranking: 4; Final Game: 38-24 loss to North Dakota State; Key Wins: UC Davis (59-20 and 34-29) and Maine (50-19)

3. South Dakota State (10-3), 3,563

Previous Ranking: 5; Final Game: 44-21 loss to North Dakota State; Key Wins: Montana State (45-14), Indiana State (54-51 in OT) and Kennesaw State (27-17)

4. Maine (10-4), 3,299

Previous Ranking: 12; Final Game: 50-19 loss to Eastern Washington; Key Wins: Western Kentucky (31-28), Elon (27-26) and Weber State (23-18)

5. Kennesaw State (11-2), 3,224

Previous Ranking: 2; Final Game: 27-17 loss to South Dakota State; Key Wins: Monmouth (51-14), Jacksonville State (60-52 in 5 OTs) and Wofford (13-10)

6. Weber State (10-3), 3,096

Previous Ranking: 3; Final Game: 23-18 loss to Maine; Key Wins: Eastern Washington (14-6), Montana State (34-24) and Southeast Missouri (48-23)

7. UC Davis (10-3), 2,939

Previous Ranking: 7; Final Game: 34-29 loss to Eastern Washington; Key Wins: San Jose State (44-38), Montana (49-21) and UNI (23-16)

8. Colgate (10-2), 2,836

Previous Ranking: 9; Final Game: 35-0 loss to North Dakota State; Key Wins: New Hampshire (10-3), Georgetown (38-0) and James Madison (23-20)

9. James Madison (9-4), 2,532

Previous Ranking: 6; Final Game: 23-20 loss to Colgate; Key Wins: Stony Brook (13-10), Towson (38-17) and Delaware (20-6)

10. Jacksonville State (9-4), 2,360

Previous Ranking: 8; Final Game: 55-27 loss to Maine; Key Wins: Eastern Kentucky (56-7), Murray State (42-15) and ETSU (34-27)

11. Princeton (10-0), 2,189

Previous Ranking: 10; Final Game: 42-14 win over Penn; Other Key Wins: Monmouth (51-9), Harvard (29-21) and Dartmouth (14-9)

12. North Carolina A&T (10-2), 2,136

Previous Ranking: 11; Final Game: 24-22 win over Alcorn State; Other Key Wins: Jacksonville State (20-17), East Carolina (28-23) and North Carolina Central (45-0)

13. Wofford (9-4), 2,135

Previous Ranking: 13; Final Game: 13-10 loss to Wofford; Key Wins: Chattanooga (21-10), ETSU (30-17) and Elon (19-7)

14. Nicholls (9-4), 1,951

Previous Ranking: 14; Final Game: 42-14 loss to Eastern Washington; Key Wins: Kansas (26-23), Incarnate Word (48-21) and San Diego (49-30)

15. Southeast Missouri State (9-4), 1,587

Previous Ranking: 20; Final Game: 48-23 loss to Weber State; Key Wins: Austin Peay (31-27), Jacksonville State (37-14) and Stony Brook (28-14)

16. Stony Brook (7-5), 1,163

Previous Ranking: 15; Final Game: 28-14 loss to Southeast Missouri; Key Wins: New Hampshire (35-7), Rhode Island (52-14) and Delaware (17-3)

17. Montana State (8-5), 1,157

Previous Ranking: 23; Final Game: 52-10 loss to North Dakota State; Key Wins: Western Illinois (26-23), Montana (29-25) and Incarnate Word (35-14)

18. Dartmouth (9-1), 981

Previous Ranking: 18; Final Game: 49-7 win over Brown; Other Key Wins: Georgetown (41-0), Yale (41-18) and Harvard (24-17)

19. Elon (6-5), 909

Previous Ranking: 17; Final Game: 19-7 loss to Wofford; Key Wins: Furman (45-7), James Madison (27-24) and Rhode Island (24-21)

20. Towson (7-5), 803

Previous Ranking: 16; Final Game: 31-10 loss to Duquesne; Key Wins: Villanova (45-35), Stony Brook (52-28) and Elon (41-10)

21. Duquesne (9-4), 699

Previous Ranking: NR; Final Game: 51-6 loss to Duquesne; Key Wins: Sacred Heart (28-24), Central Connecticut State (38-31) and Towson (31-10)

22. ETSU (8-4), 686

Previous Ranking: 22; Final Game: 34-27 loss to Jacksonville State; Key Wins: Furman (29-27), Chattanooga (17-14) and The Citadel (26-23)

23. Northern Iowa (7-6), 676

Previous Ranking: NR; Final Game: 23-16 loss to UC Davis; Key Wins: Indiana State (33-0), South Dakota State (24-9) and Lamar (16-13)

24. Delaware (7-5), 670

Previous Ranking: 21; Final Game: 20-6 loss to James Madison; Key Wins: Elon (28-16), New Hampshire (38-14) and Towson (40-36)

25. San Diego (9-3), 635

Previous Ranking: 19; Final Game: 49-30 loss to Nicholls; Key Wins: Stetson (49-10), Dayton (36-34) and Drake (27-10)

Dropped Out: Incarnate Word, Indiana State

Others Receiving Votes: Indiana State 239, Incarnate Word 187, Alcorn State 147, Lamar 133, Furman 43, Monmouth 25, Idaho State 15, Illinois State 14, McNeese 14, Eastern Kentucky 5, Samford 4, Montana 2, Rhode Island 2, Stetson 2, Southern 1