TSN Top 25 Ballot

[Col Hogan]

The college sports writer for the (Northampton MA) Daily Hampshire Gazette posted his TSN Top 25 ballot input today, with a link to TSN for when all the ballots are compiled...

Let further discussion begin...

http://www.gazettenet.com/node/198476

[AZGrizFan]

Wow. Too much love for Montana (by about 6 slots), not nearly enough for Cal Poly. And FOUR Big Sky teams in the top 25 (with 2 of the top SEVEN???)....I mean, I love the Sky and all, but that's just a bit ludicrous.

[skinny_uncle]

The actual poll for comparison:

1. Appalachian State Mountaineers (97) 13-2 2,546 1
2. North Dakota State Bison (1) 10-1 2,275 9
3. Northern Iowa Panthers 12-1 2,204 4
4. Richmond Spiders 11-3 2,162 5
5. Massachusetts Minutemen 10-3 2,148 7
6. James Madison Dukes (3) 8-4 2,078 12
7. Eastern Washington Eagles 9-4 1,951 8
8. Montana Grizzlies 11-1 1,848 10
9. Delaware Blue Hens 11-4 1,747 2
10. McNeese State Cowboys 11-1 1,687 11
11. Southern Illinois Salukis 12-2 1,286 3
12. Youngstown State Penguins 7-4 1,228 16
13. Wofford Terriers 9-4 1,158 6
14. Cal Poly Mustangs 7-4 1,081 24
15. Elon Phoenix 7-4 1,028 23
16. New Hampshire Wildcats 7-5 760 14
17. Georgia Southern Eagles 7-4 656 17
18. Eastern Illinois Panthers 8-4 622 18
19. South Dakota State Jackrabbits 7-4 547 19
20. Eastern Kentucky Colonels 9-3 487 13
21. Villanova Wildcats 7-4 396 NR
22. Central Arkansas Bears 6-5 374 NR
23. The Citadel Bulldogs 7-4 317 NR
24. Harvard Crimson 8-2 316 21
25. Western Illinois Leathernecks 6-5 299 NR
Others receiving votes: Northern Arizona 249, Fordham 212, Delaware State 198, Jacksonville State 195, Yale 170, Sam Houston State 166, Montana State 146, Furman 120, Liberty 115, Jackson State 79, South Carolina State 76, Holy Cross 74, Colgate 56, Grambling 55, Norfolk State 48, Coastal Carolina 44, Hampton 41, Southern 32, Northwestern State 30, Tennessee-Martin 30, UC Davis 22, Weber State 17, Lafayette 16, Alabama A&M 10, Texas Southern 9, Brown 9, Nicholls State 9, Dayton 6, Tennessee State 5, San Diego 4, Albany 4, Maine 1, Prairie View 1.


As of August 19, 2008, at 12:17 PM ET

[ChetSteadman]

I'm surprised JMU #6. I expect that they will give Duke a good game (they may not win). One place where I could see a slip up is the UMass game. There is a lot of attention on the ASU-JMU game taking place the week after that one, they might get caught looking ahead.

[Ibanez]

I was bout to say it's wrong but then I saw El Cid up there, though I think they will be higher than 23 before the season is over.

[Beef]

Montana may be a little high, but I think it's reasonable. The thing that I don't understand is the lack of respect for Cal Poly on a lot of these polls. They should be top 5 in my mind...

[ChetSteadman]

I was bout to say it's wrong but then I saw El Cid up there, though I think they will be higher than 23 before the season is over.

Blanchard is going to have to perform at QB for El Cid to have a good season. If he plays the way the cadets believe he is capable of, they could end up in the top 15 or 20. Of course, their defense kinda looked holy last year against App!

[dbackjon]

NAU should be higher (26th).

Too much CAA love...

[Mvemjsunpx]

NAU should be higher (26th).

Why, exactly? I'm not sure NAU should be getting any votes at all given their lack of experienced receivers and D-linemen.


And I agree with AZ that Cal Poly is too low (particularly in the official Sports Network poll). I voted them #1 in my AGS preseason ballot & I believe they're good enough to contend for the title if they can get past their suicidal schedule.

[AZGrizFan]

Montana may be a little high, but I think it's reasonable. The thing that I don't understand is the lack of respect for Cal Poly on a lot of these polls. They should be top 5 in my mind...

With the # of returning starters the Griz had last year, I could justify their top 5 ranking. This year, with the number of NEW starters we've got, I think they need to "earn" that high ranking. If they go out and start the season 4-0, then I'd say ok. But if they lose to Cal Poly, all bets are off...

[grizzaholic]

Like others have stated. Cal Poly just is getting no love at all. UM is a little higher than I think they should be but, oh well. No team has played a game yet so these will all be different after the first weekend. I usually don't get to concerned with preseason polls. After the first couple of weeks then one really gets a good idea where teams should and should not be ranked.