https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?267149-STATS-Poll-March-15-21

Just for reference Athlon Sports has the Aggies all the way up to 12 in their poll while College Sports Madness have us at 21. Massey currently giving the Aggies a 76% chance of winning.

Athlon Sports moved us up from #20 to #12 and Weber State remains #1. They also have EWU at #20 and Idaho at #24.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/fcs-spring-rankings-top-25-power-poll-following-week-5-2021

College Sports Madness kept us at #21 from the previous week and has EWU at #12.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/19274

For what it’s worth Sagarin, which correctly predicted our Weber game to be a five point loss, has us as the second best team in the Big,Sky if you limit the list to those playing this spring, just slightly better than Eastern. They think we’re favored over Poly by between 15 and 18 points.

Mew Hampshire is 0-1 and had 186 (yes Virginia ...186 yards) of total offense while the Ags lose a close one on the road to the number 2 ranked team. These polls are not worth the paper they are written on.

While UNI has a very solid defense, there offense is very questionable and they have 2 losses and still are in the top 10. There is a very considerable MVC bias, and name recognition bias vs. on-field performance.

Agree, the bias in these polls at times is ridiculous.

If we win out then we should be in the playoffs. Now I'm not getting ahead of myself because we still have a lot of football to play. Eastern is always a tough game, Idaho State played the Eagles much tougher than expected, and while Cal Poly looks like they might have a down year it's tough to beat a rival once let alone twice. But like I said, if we can have a 1 loss season and that loss was a 1 score game to one of if not the best team in the country then we should be in no problem.

I agree that the voters have a fairly significant bias for the MVC, but I think having NDSU around gives all those teams a bump on reputation alone. Unfortunate reality.

The SLO board is very quiet unless I’m on the wrong site (tapatalk).

It’s going to be a rats nest trying to untangle the most worthy teams with such varied schedules, some playing in the fall or both spring and fall, and different numbers of games.

I like how Idaho dropped out despite being 1-1 against now-ranked opponents, with a win over #15.

Hero Sports Poll: #1 Weber State, #12 Aggies, #14 Idaho and #15 EWU.

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-top-25-sam-herder-5-bzbz/

The forum members over at anygivensaturday.com have the Aggies ranked #21 after week 5 with Weber State #2, EWU #14 and Idaho #25



https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?267270-AGS-Poll-Results-WEEK-5-POLL-2021-SPRING-SEASON

The FCS coaches poll has the Ags at #25 with Weber State at #3, EWU tied for #12.

https://www.afca.com/fcs-poll-james-madison-no-1-in-first-2021-spring-afca-coaches-top-25-poll/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=WeAreAFCA&utm_content=

EWU at 12 and Davis at 25 is a pretty rough look. The AGS poll is all over the place too for the Aggies. Some people posting their polls don't even have us in the top 25 but have EWU pushing top 10. Doesn't make sense to me, but what can you do.

EWU always scares me. They are tough, historically not the “cleanest” players, and i totally despise Best. With that said, I would love to be in the stands cheering for the Ags. But wait, we have poly first.

A lot of voting early in the year is based on what teams did last year. Even computer based algorithms don’t have enough of a matrix of comparative scores yet, so their ranking often still are influenced by preseason ranking.
At the end of the season algorithmic rankings are fairer that polls, which is why Sagarin’s ranking has us just ahead of Eastern.
The playoff team selection committee is composed of automatic bid conference representatives so that is going to be political. It will be harder for the Big Sky to get two teams in because we have four teams sitting this spring.

There are so many different FCS polls. Does anyone know which one has the most credibility, i.e. perhaps for seeding in the playoffs?

Poly threw for about 270 but only ran for 50. Very efficient in 3rd down which is surprising for a first game after a long layoff. Good we’ll have done tape on them to prepare. Should be an interesting matchup SUU ran well against them so expect a heavy dose of Gilliam.

I don’t know but I suspect none of them carry much weight. The coaches poll probably resembles the conference representatives opinion. Both likely share the same bias toward their conference and region, as that’s what they’ve seen. This year there is less inter-conference play, so their decisions will be less informed.

Their quarterback is a dangerous scrambler, but he got sacked six times, mostly due to his scrambling. Poly had two offensive tackles leave the game, the second looked like a knee injury.
SUU picked up a big first down late, I think it was a fourth and short, with a fly sweep.
Poly got burned for a touchdown on the third play of the game on short crossing pattern and then the receiver just outran the defense down the sideline.
I think our receivers will be a challenge for them.

We need a big dose of Nick Eaton on that QB. Remember that play last year when he grabbed the pitch for a TD?

Caden McCloughan was Poly’s starting strong safety. He is a junior transfer. He is also Kent McCloughan‘s grandson. Kent played and starred for the Oakland Raiders in the sixties, as a two time all pro cornerback. He held the Nebraska state record in the 220 until 2012. Good genes.

thanks for the rundown

I worry about a letdown this week. We have had a habit of being sluggish in the first home game, especially after a big away game. Last week was similar to NDSU, a winnable very physical gam. Now we’re coming home to an empty stadium. Hopefully, we’re focused and ready to peak on offense

I hope that the number of guys who are in competition for playing time makes complacency unlikely. This being the first home game, hopefully we’ll see some of the guys who weren’t on the travel squad.
I’m curious, do you think Cal Poly and Eastern offenses are substantially the same given the history of the head coach, the offensive line coach and the offensive coordinator at Eastern? I doubt Eastern’s offensive coordinator who was new last year changed the playbook much given their prior success. Seems that this game will be good preparation, including the scrambling QB.

Let's Go Ags! Beat Poly!

First look at the non-option Poly offense, anybody watch the CP game last week? Let me check highlights.

Alright, a fella in the stands managed to tape a ton of the game:

Wow, he captured the football flying out of bounds on the twelve yard punt in the first frame. Oh, I guess that’s just an emoji.

Knock the rust off and I think SLO will be a very good team going forward. Going to be a very good game IMUO.

Things have been kinda quiet for it being the Friday before a rivalry game. I know covid has been a downer, but I'm still excited to watch the Aggies (hopefully) trounce the Mustangs. Cal Poly used to have a pretty active forum community, but it's been pretty barren there for a while now.