So ranking upgrade week 2-3

[Williesfan]

This post is a compliment The EIU ranking thread.

Does The Duke victory really warrant a jump from 23-24 to 17? Is Duke that good of a squad? Or does it reflect a new found parody in FBS football?

 

[SmellyCat]

I know you meant "parity" - not "parody" - but I couldn't help but laugh.

Jumping up in the polls in my opinion is a combination of things. It's not JUST beating Duke, it's other teams losing, voters on the fence now being bigger believers in the Cats, beating Duke, and probably mostly Stanford beating USC.

 

[Williesfan]

Is a victory over Duke worthy of a jump in the rankings 6-7 positions?

I meant complement too but was jobbed by auto correct in both cases.

 

[shakes3858]

This post is a compliment The EIU ranking thread.

Does The Duke victory really warrant a jump from 23-24 to 17? Is Duke that good of a squad? Or does it reflect a new found parody in FBS football?

After we beat Stanford, many people felt it was a fluke. When we turned around and shut out EIU, more people became believers. Combine that with people in front of us losing and we moved up. Then we beat Duke with a dominating defensive performance . That's 3 games with the only touchdown given up by our defensive coming after an interception handed Duke the ball at the 26.

Basically, the sense was Hogan and Stanford played bad. Then it was, maybe these guys are pretty good. Now it's holy crap this defense is outstanding. You can't put games in a week by week box especially this early in the season.

 

[Turk]

I know you meant "parity" - not "parody" - but I couldn't help but laugh.

Jumping up in the polls in my opinion is a combination of things. It's not JUST beating Duke, it's other teams losing, voters on the fence now being bigger believers in the Cats, beating Duke, and probably mostly Stanford beating USC.

Also ill disagree with many on this board, and ill say that our remaining competition really isnt that good. We will be dogs at a couple places but nothing that a good game cant overcome.
If duke upsets GT this week and stanford wins then that will b awesome.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Who does EIU have this weekend?

 

[shakes3858]

Who does EIU have this weekend?

EIU has a bye. Then they play the Governors of Austin Peay. Austin Peay looks terrible and lost to Vanderbilt by 40 points. I'm guessing that EIU will win this game giving further "evidence" that EIU is the best team to ever set foot into Ryan Field.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Thanks shakes...hopefully mybrotha will have the line for us. I'm thinking APSU plus the points. Let's go Peay!

 

[hdhntr1]

EIU has a bye. Then they play the Governors of Austin Peay. Austin Peay looks terrible and lost to Vanderbilt by 40 points. I'm guessing that EIU will win this game giving further "evidence" that EIU is the best team to ever set foot into Ryan Field.

For them, it is a victory

 

[DaCat]

Duke is a pretty good team. Their QB (Sirk de Soleil is a great nickname, by the way) has some issues, but they are solid all around, especially their defense. NU is for real.

 

[NJCat83588]

EIU has a bye.

Bye is favored by 6.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Jumping up in the polls in my opinion is a combination of things. It's not JUST beating Duke, it's other teams losing, voters on the fence now being bigger believers in the Cats, beating Duke, and probably mostly Stanford beating USC.

FWIW, in the coaches poll, NU jumped 4 teams after beating Duke.
Two of them lost to higher ranked teams: #10 ND beat GT by 8, while #14 LSU beat Auburn handily by 3 TD's. The losers remained ranked but fell below NU.

However, both Wis and Mizzou won their games (against Troy and UCONN respectively), and NU still jumped them. Probably the primary reason was the strength of the opponent, since NU did beat a P5 team (and one that has done relatively well recently).

The voters seem to have handled these results correctly. Auburn almost dropped from the rank, falling to #25.

 

[SmellyCat]

I also think the voters almost counted the Mizzou/UConn game as a loss for Mizzou, considering it was 9-6 and came when UConn tried a fake field goal. Regardless, they felt NU's 3-0 was better than Mizzou's.

As for Wisconsin, part of that could just be a function of W-L. NU is 3-0. Bucky is 2-1. Yeah, they lost to Alabama, but it's still a one-game difference.

So early in the year though, voters are still figuring it out too. Maybe next week NU beats Ball State 20-17 and Wisconsin wins their game 70-20 and they jump NU again.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

As for Wisconsin, part of that could just be a function of W-L. NU is 3-0. Bucky is 2-1. Yeah, they lost to Alabama, but it's still a one-game difference.

NO. I am talking about teams that WERE AHEAD of NU before the Duke game. So, even then NU was 2-0 and Wis was 1-1, but Wis was ahead nonetheless. After the Duke win, it changed. The strength of the opponent is the most likely reason. Troy cannot possibly compare with Duke (not this Duke). That was also the most likely reason while NU jumped Mizzou. Other things being equal, beating a decent/good ACC team should count a bit more than beating a decent/good AAC (ex-Big East) team.
Of course, to be sure, one would have to go around asking the voters to know why they voted the way they did.

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

Alabama also lost - so wisconsins loss isn't as strong as what people thought. You can't look at these in a vacuum - there's too many moving parts.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

We will be14th this week!