Massey Ratings and the MVFC

[OL FU]

Any one else miss the Gateway Football Conference:?



I'm beginning to think I do

[93henfan]

Any one else miss the Gateway Football Conference:?



I'm beginning to think I do

I miss the Southern Conference too.

[OL FU]

Any one else miss the Gateway Football Conference:?



I'm beginning to think I do

I miss the Southern Conference too.

But we are headed in different directions

[JohnStOnge]

I think you missed that caveat.

, referring to

The exception being NDSU, of course.

No, that "caveat" is the key to what I was saying. North Dakota State has obviously been very good. But the Bison have not just run roughshod over everybody in their conference. Had all they could handle from Western Illinois yesterday, for instance. It's a tough conference. Might not really have like 8 of the top 12 teams like the Massey Ratings I posted suggest. But to me it's very reasonable to say it's clearly been the strongest FCS conference over the past two or three years.

[93henfan]

How can anyone say it's not the strongest conference when it's won three straight championships?

But that's beside the point. Eight of the twelve best teams in FCS are obviously not from the MVFC. Computer ratings systems use algorithms and Massey is quite obviously overdependent on schedule and NDSU being the common denominator on MVFC schedules is pulling every team in the conference along.

[OL FU]

How can anyone say it's not the strongest conference when it's won three straight championships?

But that's beside the point. Eight of the twelve best teams in FCS are obviously not from the MVFC. Computer ratings systems use algorithms and Massey is quite obviously overdependent on schedule and NDSU being the common denominator on MVFC schedules is pulling every team in the conference along.

I certainly agree with to some extent. I used to think the same thing when the CAA would have 6-8 teams in the top 25. But from the results so far, it might be the case. might be

Have to admit I was utterly surprised, not that Illinois state won, but that they seem to have dismantled SDSU.

[skinny_uncle]

Going 23-1 against FCS teams in non-conference play could have something to do with their rating.

[Grizalltheway]

Going 23-1 against FCS teams in non-conference play could have something to do with their rating.

Impressive to be sure, but until someone other than the Bizon does something in the playoffs...

[JohnStOnge]

Going 23-1 against FCS teams in non-conference play could have something to do with their rating.

Impressive to be sure, but until someone other than the Bizon does something in the playoffs...

I think one thing that happens to the MVFC is the classic "beat each other up" thing where they cause each other not to make the playoffs. They have 10 teams in their league and they play 8 conference games so each only misses playing one conference opponent. They pretty much play each other.

So you have something like Northern Iowa last year. They went 4-0 in non conference play last year including a win over Iowa State and a blowout win over McNeese State. But once they got into MVFC play they went 3-5 with the losses being by 1, 7, 7, 3, and 10 points. the 1 point loss was to North Dakota State.

Last year the MVFC ended up with only 2 teams in the playoffs because, I think, they beat each other during the regular season. South Dakota State beat Northern Arizona and lost to Eastern Washington. North Dakota State went through the playoffs with its smallest margin of victory being 28 points. Six of their eight conference games were closer than any of their playoff games. And they almost certainly would have lost at home to Northern Iowa if a Northern Iowa defensive end hadn't been called for a hands to the face penalty on a key third down play late in the game to keep the Bison's game winning TD drive alive.

[skinny_uncle]

Going 23-1 against FCS teams in non-conference play could have something to do with their rating.

Impressive to be sure, but until someone other than the Bizon does something in the playoffs...

Hmmm.
SIU, UNI and Youngstown all have winning records in the playoffs. SIU and YSU have NC trophies in their trophy cases. All members of the league except USD have been to the playoffs. What qualifies as doing something?

[kalm]

Impressive to be sure, but until someone other than the Bizon does something in the playoffs...

Hmmm.
SIU, UNI and Youngstown all have winning records in the playoffs. SIU and YSU have NC trophies in their trophy cases. All members of the league except USD have been to the playoffs. What qualifies as doing something?

Make it out of the quarters this decade, for example.

[Grizalltheway]

Hmmm.
SIU, UNI and Youngstown all have winning records in the playoffs. SIU and YSU have NC trophies in their trophy cases. All members of the league except USD have been to the playoffs. What qualifies as doing something?

Make it out of the quarters this decade, for example.

This would be a good start. Not saying the Big Sky's track record has been great, but we've at least had two different teams in the semis in the last 4 years.

[skinny_uncle]

I didn't realize this decade was the only one that counted. Do you mean the last three years or the last ten years?
The original discussion was about Massey rating so many Valley teams so high this year. That is why I thought the 23-1 record against the rest of the FCS was relevant. Performance in an arbitrary number of past years probably shouldn't have much effect on this year's rankings.