2019-09/28 AGS GOTW Week 5

[Preferred Walk-On]

There are two tiers of games this week:


Four games involve teams that are both ranked in the AGS Top 25.
Five games involve matchups where one team is ranked in the AGS Top 25 and the other is a team that has received votes at some point this season. These are games where the intrigue factor is there and where outcomes could be a real indicator of how the season might finish for each team.

Thought it might be interesting for voters to fill in the descriptions for each matchup, so let 'er rip. All games are conference matchups, unless specifically denoted.​

Tier 1:



#2 James Madison @ #22 Elon

#17 Montana @ #4 UC-Davis
#6 Northern Iowa (MVFC) @ #7 Weber State (Big Sky)
#14 Maine @ #18 Villanova



Tier 2:



#38 Northern Arizona @ #9 Montana State
North Dakota (Ind) @ #11 Eastern Washington (Big Sky)
East Tennessee State @ #12 Furman
#16 Jacksonville State @ #27 Austin Peay
Sam Houston State @ #36 McNeese State

[TheKingpin28]

Montana @ UCD is my choice.

We know what UCD is made of, but I would love to see how Montana matches up against them to get a better idea of where they stack up. It sucks that this game is on Root.

[Preferred Walk-On]

Montana @ UCD is my choice.

We know what UCD is made of, but I would love to see how Montana matches up against them to get a better idea of where they stack up. It sucks that this game is on Root.

My pick as well. I am excited to have a week where we might actually be able to parse out Montana and Montana State a bit.

[Preferred Walk-On]

If Maine beats Villanova, will be curious how Maine > Villanova > Towson > Maine will end up being ranked.

[dewey]

I voted for Northern Iowa vs Weber State. 2 top 10 teams battling it out.

Dewey

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

I went UNI vs Weber State. Weber desperately needs a win. They very easily could have scheduled themselves out of the playoffs this year with a really tough OOC slate. I'm still trying to figure out just how good UNI is. Their near miss against Iowa State is starting to fade in rearview mirror.

[Preferred Walk-On]

I voted for Northern Iowa vs Weber State. 2 top 10 teams battling it out.

Dewey

I know my Bison bias is showing, as I want to see how Montana compares indirectly to NDSU by their performance against UC Davis. As for the Northern Iowa @ Weber State game, my MVFC bias wants to see the Panthers as the unofficial leader in the Big Sky conference, if only for a week. This one would have been my second choice.

[dewey]

I know my Bison bias is showing, as I want to see how Montana compares indirectly to NDSU by their performance against UC Davis. As for the Northern Iowa @ Weber State game, my MVFC bias wants to see the Panthers as the unofficial leader in the Big Sky conference, if only for a week. This one would have been my second choice.

That completely makes sense to me as well. Good test for Montana after we all saw how good UC Davis was. Can UC Davis rise up for back to back big games? Are the Grizzlies back?

Dewey

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Montana vs Davis

Great early season conference game.

[ElCid]

Wow, you got ETSU vs Furman but not The Citadel Vs Samford? Got a fail on that pick.

[Preferred Walk-On]

Wow, you got ETSU vs Furman but not The Citadel Vs Samford? Got a fail on that pick.

Thanks for your input. Wish it was a bit more constructive though. Here is my constructive input:

1. There are only 10 options for the poll, that is why games are limited to 9 options plus an "other".
2. As mentioned in point 1, there is an "other" option with the ability to explain why you chose it. I would encourage you to use it.
3. I had The Citadel @ Samford on my preliminary list. The reason for picking the East Tennessee State @ Furman game was that both of these teams are defending SoCon champs, and The Citadel and Samford are not.
4. If you are holding the VMI loss against ETSU, I am fine with that. If you are comparing common opponents, then Furman has been better than The Citadel (see 0-4 Charleston Southern results). However, if you are looking at Samford, their losses don't appear to be quite so bad now (but one could argue they are not much better than ETSU at this point). Therefore, a "Wow" or a "fail on that pick" is probably a bit of an overstatement.

I disagree with your fail sentiment, but I respect your opinion, so I would enjoy reading from you why the one game is so significantly better/worse than the other. Or if you have another game that is better than both, I would be happy to read why for that game as well.

[Preferred Walk-On]

I am a bit surprised that the #2 team in the country against the team that knocked them off last year (revenge game) has yet to receive a vote. It's early though.

[Mocs123]

Thanks for your input. Wish it was a bit more constructive though. Here is my constructive input:

1. There are only 10 options for the poll, that is why games are limited to 9 options plus an "other".
2. As mentioned in point 1, there is an "other" option with the ability to explain why you chose it. I would encourage you to use it.
3. I had The Citadel @ Samford on my preliminary list. The reason for picking the East Tennessee State @ Furman game was that both of these teams are defending SoCon champs, and The Citadel and Samford are not.
4. If you are holding the VMI loss against ETSU, I am fine with that. If you are comparing common opponents, then Furman has been better than The Citadel (see 0-4 Charleston Southern results). However, if you are looking at Samford, their losses don't appear to be quite so bad now (but one could argue they are not much better than ETSU at this point). Therefore, a "Wow" or a "fail on that pick" is probably a bit of an overstatement.

I disagree with your fail sentiment, but I respect your opinion, so I would enjoy reading from you why the one game is so significantly better/worse than the other. Or if you have another game that is better than both, I would be happy to read why for that game as well.

I can see your reasoning, but as a SoCon fan (that isn't a fan of either institution), I'll agree with ElCid that The Citadel and Samford is the SoCon game of the week in my book. The Citadel has two close losses to ranked teams and a win over GT - are they a legitimate SoCon contender? Samford looked terrible early in the year but have since beaten Wofford and took Alabama A&M to the woodshead - has Hatcher righted the ship in Birmingham??

My reasoning over ETSU is 1.) I think Furman is clearly the favorite in the SoCon at this point - IMO they are a top ten team, and I've never quite been sold on ETSU. They were the luckiest team in the country last season - I know in our game, we outplayed them, but came up short on the scoreboard, and we weren't the only game they had like that. That isn't saying they don't have a decent team - they do - their defense is legitimately good, but they aren't top 3 in the SoCon IMO. They also lost Henrik, their starting QB - and the heart and soul of that team to graduation. Also, they lost to VMI, who lost to a NEC team. :)

[Mocs123]

BTW- I voted for JSU and APSU. We played JSU (which despite their failing open in their opener, I thought looked pretty good), and two SoCon teams played APSU, so I'm interested to see how they compare.

[Daytripper]

I voted for Northern Iowa vs Weber State. 2 top 10 teams battling it out.

Dewey

This was my pick, also.

[ElCid]

Thanks for your input. Wish it was a bit more constructive though. Here is my constructive input:

1. There are only 10 options for the poll, that is why games are limited to 9 options plus an "other".
2. As mentioned in point 1, there is an "other" option with the ability to explain why you chose it. I would encourage you to use it.
3. I had The Citadel @ Samford on my preliminary list. The reason for picking the East Tennessee State @ Furman game was that both of these teams are defending SoCon champs, and The Citadel and Samford are not.
4. If you are holding the VMI loss against ETSU, I am fine with that. If you are comparing common opponents, then Furman has been better than The Citadel (see 0-4 Charleston Southern results). However, if you are looking at Samford, their losses don't appear to be quite so bad now (but one could argue they are not much better than ETSU at this point). Therefore, a "Wow" or a "fail on that pick" is probably a bit of an overstatement.

I disagree with your fail sentiment, but I respect your opinion, so I would enjoy reading from you why the one game is so significantly better/worse than the other. Or if you have another game that is better than both, I would be happy to read why for that game as well.


Furman will destroy ETSU. It won't be close. As far as ETSU being a playoff team...that was last year. They have 1 "eh" win "this" year. For anticipated impact on the SOCON race and just as an entertaining game, the Samford and The Citadel game is miles ahead. Just saying. And as the POD would say #BOOKIT!

[Preferred Walk-On]

Furman will destroy ETSU. It won't be close. As far as ETSU being a playoff team...that was last year. They have 1 "eh" win "this" year. For anticipated impact on the SOCON race and just as an entertaining game, the Samford and The Citadel game is miles ahead. Just saying. And as the POD would say #BOOKIT!

Was the #BookIt for the Furman destroying ETSU? If so (and if you have POD's powers), then that game has just jumped The Citadel @ Samford. xlolx

[ElCid]

Was the #BookIt for the Furman destroying ETSU? If so (and if you have POD's powers), then that game has just jumped The Citadel @ Samford. xlolx


Ouch, yeah he had a monumental failure this past week.

[BEAR]

My two choices are: Maine and Villanova OR JSU and APSU. I'll be watching a bit of both. But which one to choose...

[MSUBobcat]

Went with BBQ vs. UNI. Top 10 matchup, another game between 2 upper teams in the BSC-MVFC Challenge series. It was mentioned in the "How They Fared" thread by Kingpin that if the game had been played in Davis rather than Fargo, UCD wins that game. IDK if that is true, but UM isn't at NDSU's level I don't think, so that implies a Griz loss. And Davis beat them in Wa-Griz by 28 last year. Could very well be off target, but I think the 6 vs 7 at 7's house will be much more competitive.

[uni88]

Thanks for your input. Wish it was a bit more constructive though. Here is my constructive input:

1. There are only 10 options for the poll, that is why games are limited to 9 options plus an "other".
2. As mentioned in point 1, there is an "other" option with the ability to explain why you chose it. I would encourage you to use it.
3. I had The Citadel @ Samford on my preliminary list. The reason for picking the East Tennessee State @ Furman game was that both of these teams are defending SoCon champs, and The Citadel and Samford are not.
4. If you are holding the VMI loss against ETSU, I am fine with that. If you are comparing common opponents, then Furman has been better than The Citadel (see 0-4 Charleston Southern results). However, if you are looking at Samford, their losses don't appear to be quite so bad now (but one could argue they are not much better than ETSU at this point). Therefore, a "Wow" or a "fail on that pick" is probably a bit of an overstatement.

I disagree with your fail sentiment, but I respect your opinion, so I would enjoy reading from you why the one game is so significantly better/worse than the other. Or if you have another game that is better than both, I would be happy to read why for that game as well.

We reasoned response but you forgot #5 ...

5. If you don't like my poll make your own.

I respect that someone takes the time to put a poll together so I try not to be overly critical of their poll choices.

:D

[Preferred Walk-On]

We reasoned response but you forgot #5 ...

5. If you don't like my poll make your own.

I respect that someone takes the time to put a poll together so I try not to be overly critical of their poll choices.

:D

Appreciate the support.

No worries about the criticism either, as everyone has different perspectives, and I can appreciate that I might not always see the list the same that some others might. Also, once you get beyond about 4-5 choices, there is always some internal debate that goes into inclusion/exclusion.

Originally had 11 games on my list - dropped 3 and added 1 to reach 9 total. My plan is always to try and include some interesting matchups and to include an "other" so people can vote this option. Perhaps I should go "Brewster's Millions" and name this option "None of the Above". xdrunkyx

[Preferred Walk-On]

I am a bit surprised that the #2 team in the country against the team that knocked them off last year (revenge game) has yet to receive a vote. It's early though.

Thank you Scrappy!

[BEAR]

#16 Jacksonville State @ #27 Austin Peay

I had to vote for this one. JSU loses to SLU but beats EWU. APSU loses to UCA. I gotta know what to expect from SLU by watching both these teams! xlolx I'll take a view of the APSU defense on JSU and combine it with the APSU offense on the JSU defense. I know comparing games is not the way to do it..but man its hard to NOT do it when a conference mate has played one of them and we've played the other. xlolx

[JALMOND]

Until this week, I would have chosen Montana/Davis. But after seeing Northern Iowa struggle at home against Idaho State, and Weber usually having one of the top defenses in the Big Sky, I went with UNI/Weber. I think that game will be better, with the fact that the game is in Ogden notwithstanding.

[Preferred Walk-On]

https://media.giphy.com/media/o6cJXv8MbLMTS/giphy.gif

[ming01]

Some good games this week.

[TheValleyRaider]

Went UNI-Weber. Gotta give love to bigtime OOC matchups while you still can.

Lots of good options, could be some very revealing results. Or probably just make things more confusing.

[SUPharmacist]

Went UNI-Weber. Gotta give love to bigtime OOC matchups while you still can.

Lots of good options, could be some very revealing results. Or probably just make things more confusing.
I also went with UNI-Weber.

My expectation of the game results as a whole is they will look revealing, but then next week will completely upend what we think we learn.

[FUGameBreaker]

So if Weber St. falls to 1-3 how far do they fall in the polls?

[MR. CHICKEN]

....INTERESTIN'......COUPLE UH SOGONER'S.......UNHAPPY.....SAMFORD/CITADEL........AREN'T UH CHOICE...........BUT....."OTHER".......HAS YET TA GET UH VOTE......xwhistlex.....BAWK!

[MR. CHICKEN]

.....MAYBEAH.....DROP DUH "OTHER" OPTION....AS IT'LL NEVER WIN......ADD 'NOTHERAH GAME.........POLLSTERS....CAN STILL MAKE UH CASE...FO' OTHER GAMES....FROM WHIFF-IN....THREAD.......JES' SAYIN'....DOODLE-DOO!