2015 FCS conference rankings

[Original_RMC]

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/writers/infcshuddle/archive/haley_05_06_2015.htm

[NoDak 4 Ever]

The question remains. Will the SoCon ever recover from the departure of Georgia Southern and App State?

[IBleedYellow]

The question remains. Will the SoCon ever recover from the departure of Georgia Southern and App State?

When Chatty is the team that is leading your conference, you may have a problem.

[Smitty]

And it is even scarier when Western could be considered the next best team.

[walliver]

The question remains. Will the SoCon ever recover from the departure of Georgia Southern and App State?

The SoCon recovered from losing Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Ol' Miss.
The Socon recovered from losing Clemson, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
App State and GSU aren't fatal losses.
The main issues facing the SoCon are Wofford and Furman failing to do much last year. Mercer has the commitment and resources to make things happen. ETSU has potential, but may have issues until they build an on campus stadium.

[OL FU]

The SoCon recovered from losing Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Ol' Miss.
The Socon recovered from losing Clemson, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
App State and GSU aren't fatal losses.
The main issues facing the SoCon are Wofford and Furman failing to do much last year. Mercer has the commitment and resources to make things happen. ETSU has potential, but may have issues until they build an on campus stadium.

Yep things change better sometimes and worse others. It was only about 10 years ago that the Gateway Conference might have been listed in the middle of the pack.:)

[FargoBison]

The Southern Conference will rise again...Citdog should love that statement.

[centennial]

The MVFC should have another scary good year.

[PaladinFan]

The SoCon recovered from losing Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Ol' Miss.
The Socon recovered from losing Clemson, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
App State and GSU aren't fatal losses.
The main issues facing the SoCon are Wofford and Furman failing to do much last year. Mercer has the commitment and resources to make things happen. ETSU has potential, but may have issues until they build an on campus stadium.

Everyone knew the SoCon would take a step back last year. You take the two biggest programs out of any conference and there will be a vacuum of some sort.

The talent level is still there. Remember, Georgia Southern and App State finished in two of the top three spots in the FBS SunBelt in 2014. Both those teams were middle of the pack in the SoCon the year before (App State, in particular, got run off the field in several games).

The conference has been around a long while. It always readjusts.

[clenz]

The SoCon recovered from losing Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Ol' Miss.
The Socon recovered from losing Clemson, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
App State and GSU aren't fatal losses.
The main issues facing the SoCon are Wofford and Furman failing to do much last year. Mercer has the commitment and resources to make things happen. ETSU has potential, but may have issues until they build an on campus stadium.
You do realize that the time frame of those teams you listed is so ridiculous it isn't comparable.

[AmsterBison]

The Southland sure doesn't get much respect.

Playoff records in the last three seasons:




Conference
Record
Pct


Missouri Valley Football Conference
21-7
.750


Big South Conference
6-4
.600


Colonial Athletic Association
11-10
.524


Southland Conference
8-8
.500


Southern Conference
5-6
.455


Ohio Valley Conference
4-6
.400


Big Sky Conference
6-10
.375


Patriot League
2-4
.333


Northeast Conference
1-3
.250


Pioneer Football Conference
0-2
.000


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
0-4
.000

[Sader87]

The Northeast Conference, though improved, is not bettah top to bottom than either the Patriot or Ivy Leagues.

[AmsterBison]

Last three years, excluding games between two conference foes:


Query66
Conference
Record
Pct


Missouri Valley Football Conference
17-3
.850


Big South Conference
6-4
.600


Colonial Athletic Association
10-9
.526


Southland Conference
6-6
.500


Southern Conference
5-6
.455


Ohio Valley Conference
3-5
.375


Big Sky Conference
5-9
.357


Patriot League
2-4
.333


Northeast Conference
1-3
.250


Pioneer Football Conference
0-2
.000


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
0-4
.000

[Sammy94]

The Southland sure doesn't get much respect.

Take Sam Houston out and the SLC is right where it should be.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20704&stc=1

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

The Northeast Conference, though improved, is not bettah top to bottom than either the Patriot or Ivy Leagues.

Completely agree. The league has improved but their top teams are not as deep as the top PL or IL squads imo.

To be fair, the PL was truly horrific last year. Only 2/7 teams finished with a winning record....

[AmsterBison]

The Northeast Conference, though improved, is not bettah top to bottom than either the Patriot or Ivy Leagues.

Just using this as one benchmark among several.

The Big Sky has 5 non-conference playoff wins the last 3 years and 4 of them have come from Eastern Washington. The other W was against a non-scholarship team. Not impressive. And that's with 8 out of 10 playoff games at home.

The CAA hasn't had an impressive non-conference win in the regular season in a long time. They've also played a lot of OVC, PL, NEC, and Big South teams to get their 11 playoff wins.

The Southland has twice as many playoff W's as playoff home games. Not only that, Sam Houston has been better than Eastern Washington while their playoff schedule has been brutal compared to the CAA's. They have also notched good non-conference wins.

The Southland is the second-best conference in the FCS.

[aceinthehole]

Completely agree. The league has improved but their top teams are not as deep as the top PL or IL squads imo.

To be fair, the PL was truly horrific last year. Only 2/7 teams finished with a winning record....

Well that's one opinion.

In the 5 seasons since earning the AQ, the NEC has had 4 different teams reach the playoffs (conference depth/parity) and has 1-4 record in the first round of the playoffs.

I think by almost every measure in recent seasons (including head to-head record) the NEC and PL are exactly on par with each other. The PL has no edge over the NEC other than in the minds of PL fans.

The continued praise of the Ivy League is inflated by PL fans sense of history and nostalgia - everyone else on this board is well aware of the fact that Harvard and Princeton haven't beaten anyone of importance outside of the Ivy/PL in decades! Let's move on.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Well that's one opinion.

In the 5 seasons since earning the AQ, the NEC has had 4 different teams reach the playoffs (conference depth/parity) and has 1-4 record in the first round of the playoffs.

I think by almost every measure in recent seasons (including head to-head record) the NEC and PL are exactly on par with each other. The PL has no edge over the NEC other than in the minds of PL fans.

The continued praise of the Ivy League is inflated by PL fans sense of history and nostalgia - everyone else on this board is well aware of the fact that Harvard and Princeton haven't beaten anyone of importance outside of the Ivy/PL in decades! Let's move on.

The PL is 2-1 against the NEC in the playoffs with the home team winning all 3 contests. In those same 5 years the PL has also had 4 different teams representatives in the playoffs. The league has had one team finish ranked in the Top 5/6 and two others in the Top 10/15 over that same time. There's also been a Payton Finalist and Rice Award Winner. I'm not sure what the actual W/L breakdown is but Lehigh has two (Albany '06/ CCSU '09) not one, losses to the NEC.

Some of the Ivies schedule with some creativity while others do not. The fact that Harvard is a bunch of weenies when it comes to scheduling means absolutely nothing relative to the quality of coaching and athletes that exists in Cambridge. Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth were all legitimately good FCS teams last year. IMO, the Ivy League was better than the PL and NEC last year.

[BEAR]

Take Sam Houston out and the SLC is right where it should be.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20704&stc=1

Nice but UCA has only been playoff eligible since 2010....4 years. expect that number to go up dramatically with this new coach. The whole SLC will get 2-3 in the playoffs yearly.

- - - Updated - - -


Take Sam Houston out and the SLC is right where it should be.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20704&stc=1

Nice but UCA has only been playoff eligible since 2010....4 years. expect that number to go up dramatically with this new coach. The whole SLC will get 2-3 in the playoffs yearly.

[Model Citizen]

Only 3 of 11 conferences had winning playoff records over the past three years? That's a bit more lopsided than fbs during the last postseason, where 5 of 11 (if you include independents as a conference) had winning marks.

[PAllen]

Only 3 of 11 conferences had winning playoff records over the past three years? That's a bit more lopsided than fbs during the last postseason, where 5 of 11 (if you include independents as a conference) had winning marks.

That's the thing about single elimination tournaments though. Half of the teams leave with a losing record, another quarter are even at 1-1. That only leaves 25% of the field with a chance at a winning record. Unless you dominate the semifinal population, or send one team in that makes a deep run, your playoff record is going to be skewed to the negative. Remember, only one team comes out of a tournament without a loss.

[lionsrking2]

The Southland sure doesn't get much respect.

Playoff records in the last three seasons:




Conference
Record
Pct


Missouri Valley Football Conference
21-7
.750


Big South Conference
6-4
.600


Colonial Athletic Association
11-10
.524


Southland Conference
8-8
.500


Southern Conference
5-6
.455


Ohio Valley Conference
4-6
.400


Big Sky Conference
6-10
.375


Patriot League
2-4
.333


Northeast Conference
1-3
.250


Pioneer Football Conference
0-2
.000


Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
0-4
.000




The Southland will be better overall as a league in 2015 than in 2014. The top half will be very competitive.

[Catatonic]

The Southland will be better overall as a league in 2015 than in 2014. The top half will be very competitive.

I agree. The bottom will be stronger. UIW and HBU both have young teams. Nicholls has a new coach and a new attitude. The middle will be very competitive. Sam Houston looks gets back a ton of talent and has added some key players.

Here is how I see it: Sam Houston is the prohibitive favorite , but will probably lose at least once to another Southland team. UIW, Nicholls and HBU should be at the other end of the standings, but could sneak up on teams picked above them.

I have a more difficult time picking the order of finish for the rest, unlike last year when SELA was above the rest of the pack. Southeastern La., McNeese and SFA will probably top the next tier, at the start of the season, but this group should be competitive and will beat up on each other. Abilene Christian hopes to improve on its 6-6 season but we could be better and still wind up with a losing season due to the competitive nature of the league.

[blackbeard]

The Northeast Conference, though improved, is not bettah top to bottom than either the Patriot or Ivy Leagues.

Tough pill to swallow for the whine and cheese crowd in the PL and Ivy.

[aceinthehole]

IMO, the Ivy League was better than the PL and NEC last year.

Sorry, there is no objective data to support that opinion last year or anytime in the last decade or so.

We can debate and compare the PL vs. NEC or PL vs. Ivy for any given year if you want because they generally play enough head-to-head games. But only the PL and NEC have enough non-conf games against scholly leagues to have a national comparison.

The Ivy gets a huge ? when you compare them to anyone outside of the PL. They just don't have a body if work in FCS to suggest they are better than the NEC or anyone else in the last decade.

[Gangtackle11]

Just using this as one benchmark among several.

The Big Sky has 5 non-conference playoff wins the last 3 years and 4 of them have come from Eastern Washington. The other W was against a non-scholarship team. Not impressive. And that's with 8 out of 10 playoff games at home.

The CAA hasn't had an impressive non-conference win in the regular season in a long time. They've also played a lot of OVC, PL, NEC, and Big South teams to get their 11 playoff wins.

The Southland has twice as many playoff W's as playoff home games. Not only that, Sam Houston has been better than Eastern Washington while their playoff schedule has been brutal compared to the CAA's. They have also notched good non-conference wins.

The Southland is the second-best conference in the FCS.

Playing FCS conferences west of the Mississippi in the regular season is not because they can't compete, but for costs. That's why it's a little off base to question the CAA regular season record because I don't think there is much to base it on. The past 3 years the CAA 3 wins over the the so called power FCS conferences. No doubt NDSU has set a very high standard, but to degenerate the CAA appears to be off base.

CAA playoff wins not including CAA opponents.

2014 CAA playoff wins
UNH: Fordham, Chattanooga
Richmond: Morgan State
Villanova: Liberty

2013 CAA playoff wins
UNH: Lafayette, Maine, SELA (NC runner up)
Towson: Eastern Illinois, Eastern Washington

2012 CAA playoff wins
ODU: Coastal Carolina

2011 CAA playoff wins
Maine: APS

2010 CAA playoff wins
Delaware: Lehigh, Georgia Southern (NC runner up)

2009:
Richmond: Elon
Villanova: Holy Cross, Montana ( National Champs)

2008:
JMU: Wofford
Villanova: Colgate
Richmond: EKU, APS, UNI, Montana ( National Champs)

[Sitting Bull]

The SoCon recovered from losing Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Ol' Miss.
The Socon recovered from losing Clemson, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
App State and GSU aren't fatal losses.
The main issues facing the SoCon are Wofford and Furman failing to do much last year. Mercer has the commitment and resources to make things happen. ETSU has potential, but may have issues until they build an on campus stadium.

The So Con is one of the great, traditional conferences. You left a big gap though in some of the key transition periods:

The 60s: Virginia Tech, George Washington and West Virginia pull out. East Carolina joins.
The 70s: William & Mary, Richmond and East Carolina pull out. App State and ETSU join.
The 80s: Marshall, Chattanooga and Western Carolina join
The 90s: Georgia Southern and Wofford join, Marshall moves to MAC.
The 00s: VMI pulls out, Samford and Elon join
The 10s: Elon, App State and GSU pull out, Mercer and VMI join

I may have missed a few here and some of the timing slightly off.

In the end though, the Southern keeps a solid cluster of schools within the Southeast and remains one of the key conferences in FCS.

[Sitting Bull]

Playing FCS conferences west of the Mississippi in the regular season is not because they can't compete, but for costs. That's why it's a little off base to question the CAA regular season record because I don't think there is much to base it on. The past 3 years the CAA 3 wins over the the so called power FCS conferences. No doubt NDSU has set a very high standard, but to degenerate the CAA appears to be off base.

CAA playoff wins not including CAA opponents.

2014 CAA playoff wins
UNH: Fordham, Chattanooga
Richmond: Morgan State
Villanova: Liberty

2013 CAA playoff wins
UNH: Lafayette, Maine, SELA (NC runner up)
Towson: Eastern Illinois, Eastern Washington

2012 CAA playoff wins
ODU: Coastal Carolina

2011 CAA playoff wins
Maine: APS

2010 CAA playoff wins
Delaware: Lehigh, Georgia Southern (NC runner up)

2009:
Richmond: Elon
Villanova: Holy Cross, Montana ( National Champs)

2008:
JMU: Wofford
Villanova: Colgate
Richmond: EKU, APS, UNI, Montana ( National Champs)

you missed 2009
William & Mary: Weber State and #2 ranked Southern Illinois

[OL FU]

The So Con is one of the great, traditional conferences. You left a big gap though in some of the key transition periods:

The 60s: Virginia Tech, George Washington and West Virginia pull out. East Carolina joins.
The 70s: William & Mary, Richmond and East Carolina pull out. App State and ETSU join.
The 80s: Marshall, Chattanooga and Western Carolina join
The 90s: Georgia Southern and Wofford join, Marshall moves to MAC.
The 00s: VMI pulls out, Samford and Elon join
The 10s: Elon, App State and GSU pull out, Mercer and VMI join

I may have missed a few here and some of the timing slightly off.

In the end though, the Southern keeps a solid cluster of schools within the Southeast and remains one of the key conferences in FCS.

I think Walliver hit the biggies. SEC and ACC. On the other hand, the ones you mentioned are more comparable to ASU and GSU leaving.

[catamount man]

The So Con is one of the great, traditional conferences. You left a big gap though in some of the key transition periods:

The 60s: Virginia Tech, George Washington and West Virginia pull out. East Carolina joins.
The 70s: William & Mary, Richmond and East Carolina pull out. App State and ETSU join.
The 80s: Marshall, Chattanooga and Western Carolina join
The 90s: Georgia Southern and Wofford join, Marshall moves to MAC.
The 00s: VMI pulls out, Samford and Elon join
The 10s: Elon, App State and GSU pull out, Mercer and VMI join

I may have missed a few here and some of the timing slightly off.

In the end though, the Southern keeps a solid cluster of schools within the Southeast and remains one of the key conferences in FCS.

uh, both WCU and UTC joined in the 1970s. GO CATS!

[Sitting Bull]

uh, both WCU and UTC joined in the 1970s. GO CATS!

Must have been very late 70s then. W&M left in '77, I think? I remember App and ETSU coming in as we were leaving, nothing about WCU.

[The Cats]

Must have been very late 70s then. W&M left in '77, I think? I remember App and ETSU coming in as we were leaving, nothing about WCU.

Western, Chattanooga, & Marshall all joined in 1976. ASU joined in '71 and ETSU joined in '78.