In 2018, the first season the Aggies ever got into the FCS Playoffs, they were ranked as high as #4 during the regular season (started unranked and finished at #7). The last time in the playoffs was 2021 and they were ranked as high as #7 (started at #23, finished at #14).
Ranked a couple times with Biggs (no top tens); zero rankings during the Gould era.
I've been holding my breath for about a month waiting for the result of the EWU game. With that one under our belt, I feel better going into Montana and Sac State. Between Cal Poly and EWU, I feel like we've been able to hone "Shredville" a bit and work out the kinks. I'm optimistic for more of the same against Northern Colorado, potentially playing reserves in the 4th quarter. But now I've probably jinxed it, and the wild, wild west of FCS will keep stunning me, just like every year in the past.
Ags also ranked #5 in the AGS poll. So coaches, media, and fans are pretty consensus on us right now. I don't necessarily feel like we're the #5 team in the country, but as others have stated I do think a 10 win season is possible. MSU is probably a tall task.
SDSU and USD play this Saturday. That should make things interesting with the top 5. SDSU could be a 3-loss team. Not sure if the loser stays in the top 4, and Davis remains in a tier below. NDSU and MSU will likely roll opponents this Saturday and remain in the top 4.
Also, SEMO looks like they could easily win the rest of their games and finish 11-1
Weird feeling for a Hornet fan (I might be in minority) to be rooting for you to come into the Causeway 10-1 and top 3 in the Polls... Because if we are able to finish 4-1 (loss @MSU), we'll need the biggest W to be against you guys at home (to get to 7 wins).
I know what you'll say about getting to 7 on the last day of the season and not being picked, but last year , you had 0 ranked wins. I think 7 wins (5-3 BSC) including a win over a Top 10 team at least gets SAC on the road again for Round 1
UCD was 7-3 in the FCS and Sac was 7-4 overall. But the committee said it was comparing two 7-4 teams and, despite the H2H, said Sac deserved to be in because of its win over FBS Stanford. So if Sac does get to 7 wins I'm really hoping the committee takes the same approach as last year and leaves Sac out as as a 7-5 team.
But back to your original point -- yes, we all remember how conflicted we felt knowing that Sac had to enter Causeway highly ranked for that game to significantly help us. Time for you to visit the UCD bookstore and buy some Aggie gear between now and Causeway.
I think 7 wins (5-3 BSC) including a win over a Top 10 team at least gets SAC on the road again for Round 1 — Kadeezy
Also, you literally just described UCD last year (Sac was no. 6 entering Causeway and we ended the season with 7 wins, 5-3 BSC). And that was an 11 game season. Most playoff teams this year will likely have 8 wins or more.
I see that the highly ranked MVC teams are playing one another over the last weeks of the season. If the AGs can finish 9-3, would it be likely that they will move into the top 3 or 4?
South Dakota has to play South Dakota State, North Dakota and North Dakota State. By the way, why are all four Dakota schools so good, not to mention the Montanas?
Feel like we've already litigated it but just to ruminate further -- while not ranked in a poll, Davis' second-best FCS win was @Weber which finished the year #17 in Massey -- better than Sac's best FCS win / second best overall win #29 NAU.
Call me petty, but if Sac finishes this year 7-5 (with current Massey #5 being their best win and current #34 being their second best) I would fully expect and hope they get left out based Davis' experience.