The Bobcat Nation

I guess it's good to get your losses out of the way early if you have to have them! Cats go over PSU finally and UC Davis dropped out entirely after losing to SDSU.

Team (First-place votes) Record Points Previous Rank
1. Appalachian State Mountaineers (96) 8-1 2,568 1
2. Montana Grizzlies (1) 7-1 2,438 2
3. Massachusetts Minutemen (3) 7-1 2,321 4
4. James Madison Dukes 7-1 2,257 5
5. North Dakota State Bison (3) 7-1 2,151 6
6. Cal Poly Mustangs 6-2 1,994 9
7. Youngstown State Penguins 7-2 1,985 10
8. Illinois State Redbirds 6-2 1,783 3
9. New Hampshire Wildcats 6-2 1,721 11
10. Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks 7-1 1,618 12
11. Furman Paladins 6-3 1,319 8
12. Southern Illinois Salukis 6-2 1,265 19
13. Hampton Pirates 8-1 1,263 17
14. Northern Iowa Panthers 5-3 1,191 7
15. Richmond Spiders 5-3 911 13
16. San Diego Toreros 8-0 902 20
17. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 6-2 673 22
18. Harvard Crimson 6-1 607 23
19. Montana State Bobcats 6-3 587 24
20. Eastern Illinois Panthers 5-4 497 14
21. Towson Tigers 6-2 495 NR
22. Maine Black Bears 5-3 465 15
23. Princeton Tigers 6-1 415 18
24. South Dakota State Jackrabbits 5-3 411 NR
25. Portland State Vikings 5-4 333 21
Others receiving votes: Western Kentucky 256, Charleston Southern 240, UC Davis 240, Delaware State 121, Alabama A&M 113, Yale 109, McNeese State 41, Wofford 41, Central Arkansas 40, Tennessee State 30, Gardner-Webb 18, Monmouth 11, Delaware 10, Holy Cross 8, South Carolina State 7.

Nice little jump. Anyone know which of those teams above us are not playoff eligible besides Harvard and NDSU?

That would be it. San Diego is eligible, but questionable considering the are a non-schollie mid major that has played a pretty week schedule.

If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

The Griz better put together some complete games or we'll be hearing the chant "Over-rated....Over-rated!!" and that'll really piss me off. I know they've got a nice little win streak going but they haven't looked great on both sides of the ball since the Sac State game. With Cal Poly coming up and the Cats two weeks after that, I hope I don't have to hear that ear-wrenching cheer. At least they're not number 1.

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

catatac wrote:Nice little jump. Anyone know which of those teams above us are not playoff eligible besides Harvard and NDSU?

Shouldnt matter... Cats win out, and there's a chance we could host a game as Conference Champs at 8-3. Lose to UNC or UM and we are out.

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

As i have said before I root for the Griz every game except for one.

STREETCAT wrote:

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

As i have said before I root for the Griz every game except for one.

I havent rooted for the Griz in a conference game. If they win, it hurts us. I dont want to "share" the title with them again this year. Beat CP UM, but take it in the shorts when you go to Greeley.

Cat Pride wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

As i have said before I root for the Griz every game except for one.

I havent rooted for the Griz in a conference game. If they win, it hurts us. I dont want to "share" the title with them again this year. Beat CP UM, but take it in the shorts when you go to Greeley.

How good does it look for us though when we go in and hand the griz their lone loss of the conference?

STREETCAT wrote:

Cat Pride wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

As i have said before I root for the Griz every game except for one.

I havent rooted for the Griz in a conference game. If they win, it hurts us. I dont want to "share" the title with them again this year. Beat CP UM, but take it in the shorts when you go to Greeley.

How good does it look for us though when we go in and hand the griz their lone loss of the conference?

I'd still rather have them with one loss going into Cat-Griz, and then beat them down and have the Cats as the outright conference Champs. Big Sky is stupid with their "everyone wins" tie-breaker, kiss your sister, dont make anyone mad scenario.

We are now 19th. Each week teams above us have been losing. There are now 3 teams either ineligible or unlikely as stated above. There are 3 other teams that also have 3 losses. With another win at UNC and gome losses by the other 3 loss teams we could jump into the top 15 by Griz week. If we can get up there obviously with a win, we are in. We want the Griz to beat Cal Poly and stay highly rated. Then, there is a slight possibility that a close loss would keep us rated high enough to get a playoff bid. I am basing this on the number of current 3 loss teams. Others may also lose one more in the next three weeks and some of the other 1 and 2 loss teams are ineligible or from horrible conferences. It is not likely but i think there is still a chance to make the playoffs with 4 losses.

Cat-theotherwhitemeat wrote:

STREETCAT wrote:If calpoly loses this week to the Griz and Next week to NDSU they wont make it either

So, does this mean you'll be rooting for the Griz??

I actually am rooting for the griz this week. In fact, I hope they beat em' by 50! This game means nothing as far as helping us out in the conference. I want the griz to go into UNC with big heads and drop a conference game so we can win it outright.

May be I'm too old and set in my ways or maybe I'm just a shallow person, but I can never root for the griz. On occasion, when it is advantageous to the 'Cats, I have hoped the griz opponent loses however.

I see no advantage to the 'Cats in the griz/Poly game so I predict a Poly win because I feel they're the better team. If the 'Cats dump NC this weekend I'm with Cat Pride in hoping the griz fall at NC the following weekend so that Cat/griz is for the outright BSC Championship along with the auto-bid.

But if Caly Poly loses to Griz and NDSU both the next two weeks they will fall pretty far in the polls. They do not like losses at end of season. That would give them 4 and maybe out of the playoffs.

tetoncat wrote:But if Caly Poly loses to Griz and NDSU both the next two weeks they will fall pretty far in the polls. They do not like losses at end of season. That would give them 4 and maybe out of the playoffs.

It is doubt full that they will make it into the playoffs with 3 losses let alone 4. However them Winning this weekend does nothing but weekend the powerpolls for us if the griz drop. We need them to win the next two in the case that we lose a close one to them we could possible still make a case to get into the playoffs. Slim I know, but we put a man on the moon right?

the clear (and only way i see the Cats in) is with 2 more wins - period. the Cats made their bed with losses earlier in the year....

as far as the griz/poly game goes - the only advantage i see is if the griz win, they will remain ranked very high which bodes well for the Cats should they win at Cat/griz. being 8-3 with a win over the #2 team might help the Cats in the overall seatings for playoffs vs. being 8-3 with a win over the #6-8 team (if griz lose to poly).

lots of football and speculation left - but the fog is slowly clearing.

I agree in general but looking at the polls it is not unlikely that there will be teams in the top 16 with 4 losses. This has not always been the case, but we also do not have any undeafeted teams on top this year. Maybe there is more parity, but I think if things keep going like they have the last couple of weeks, there is a chance that a 4 loss team gets in. If we have a 6 games win streak then lose close to the #2 ranked team, I think they will consider us over other 4 loss teams and 2-3 loss teams from weak mid major conferences.

so in either case then, a griz win over poly would benefit the Cats (is that what you are saying?). i would agree.

so go griz (this weekend)

tetoncat wrote:I agree in general but looking at the polls it is not unlikely that there will be teams in the top 16 with 4 losses. This has not always been the case, but we also do not have any undeafeted teams on top this year. Maybe there is more parity, but I think if things keep going like they have the last couple of weeks, there is a chance that a 4 loss team gets in. If we have a 6 games win streak then lose close to the #2 ranked team, I think they will consider us over other 4 loss teams and 2-3 loss teams from weak mid major conferences.

While this is true, I think it's a little short-sighted. For example, an argument could easily be made that if both MSU and PSU end up at 7-4, that PSU would get the nod over the cats. I know the cats beat them, but two of PSU losses were to DI-As, and they don't have a DII loss to worry about. I would think the selection committee would give them very serious consideration over the cats. And rankings mean very little to the committee anyway, particular since they've gone to the "regional" format.