FCS - Polls

[Caribbean Hen]

For those who pay more attention to the rest of the FCS, how do we look in comparison to Furman / Montana State? On paper Furman's wins don't look great and I keep hearing that Montana State would beat us but . . . would they? I don't think people realized quite how good this Delaware team can be.

Let's keep it in perspective guys. If Furman's wins don't look that impressive, ours look even worse.
The only team we've beat with a winning record is 5-3 Duquesne. This Towson team is 3-5 with losses to Norfolk State and Monmouth.
I don't think we have a win that compares to Furman's win over Mercer. Mercer is a borderline Top 25 team, IMO.
I know UNH was ranked at the time we beat them, but they have not looked that impressive since. UNH lost to this Towson team and now just lost to URI.

In my opinion, we might be competitive with Furman, but Montana State is a solid team. So is Idaho who just beat MSU by 2 points and the game was at Idaho. So those 2 are pretty close in strength. I would still rank Montana State #2, probably with Idaho right behind then at #3.

Teams that I personally feel are better than Delaware right now include:
Tier 1: South Dakota State (in a league of their own)

Tier 2: Montana State, Idaho, Southern Illinois

Delaware is in Tier 3 with North Dakota State (yes they are down this year, but down for them is still pretty damn good), Sacramento State, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Austin Peay, Youngstown State, Northern Iowa, Furman.

We'll probably ranked #3 tomorrow, and maybe we are the third best team in FCS, but I don't think our schedule is strong enough to justify it.

North Dakota State is not anything like they were, if you listen to their fans they will be lucky to make the playoffs. They have really slipped and Coach Entz, who showed his azz in 2019 against Delaware, is getting grilled for letting it fall apart

[Hensfansince03]

Delaware has improved but being ranked #3 in all of FCS with who we have played is a little misleading. Even with the Bison having a down year does anyone really think we could beat them right now? The biggest challenge against the MVC teams is overcoming the strength and athleticism OL and DL. We have gotten better on OL and have the size on paper to put up a fight there. On DL we are still small and run a three-man front which is susceptible to strong physical OLs. The Penn State game for what it's worth showed that, MVC teams though not as strong as the big 10 Penn State still have superior athleticism on the lines to the rest of FCS. It would be hard for the Hens to match up there.

Elon ran our D into the ground last year. This week's game will show us if we have the ability to slow down a power rushing attack with a good OL. If the Hens win out with authority the next 3 games being number 3 will be justified. If we lose at all we will drop into the late teens, which is probably where we actually belong.

Hopefully we continue to get better rather than go backwards in November this year. So FAR so GOOD. Lets see the next 3 games and hopefully 4 and 5 will be exciting for sure.

[HensRock]

North Dakota State is not anything like they were, if you listen to their fans they will be lucky to make the playoffs.

Their fans are sandbagging. Plus they are too used to seeing the Bison win almost automatically. They've lost 2 games (to #4 USD and to #15 UND) and all of a sudden the sky is falling. They'll probably lose to SDSU in the Dakota Marker game this week too. Still, I think they would beat over half the rest of the Top 25. They've already beat #18 Central Arkansas.

[Caribbean Hen]

North Dakota State is not anything like they were, if you listen to their fans they will be lucky to make the playoffs.

Their fans are sandbagging. Plus they are too used to seeing the Bison win almost automatically. They've lost 2 games (to #4 USD and to #15 UND) and all of a sudden the sky is falling. They'll probably lose to SDSU in the Dakota Marker game this week too. Still, I think they would beat over half the rest of the Top 25. They've already beat #18 Central Arkansas.

They will get beat up by S Dak St, S Illinois should beat them too

Last game at N Iowa, Shaping up as big game

[HensRock]

They might. Could finish 7-4, maybe even 6-5, but could still beat a lot of teams in the Top 25.
MVFC is tough.

BTW, Born now has UD tied with UNI at #9 in FCS. Has NDSU at #4.

1. South Dakota State
2. Montana State
3. Southern Illinois
4. North Dakota State
5. Idaho
6. Youngstown State
7. Austin Peay
8. Sacramento State
T9. Delaware
T9. Northern Iowa

[udsb97]

For those who pay more attention to the rest of the FCS, how do we look in comparison to Furman / Montana State? On paper Furman's wins don't look great and I keep hearing that Montana State would beat us but . . . would they? I don't think people realized quite how good this Delaware team can be.

Let's keep it in perspective guys. If Furman's wins don't look that impressive, ours look even worse.
The only team we've beat with a winning record is 5-3 Duquesne. This Towson team is 3-5 with losses to Norfolk State and Monmouth.
I don't think we have a win that compares to Furman's win over Mercer. Mercer is a borderline Top 25 team, IMO.
I know UNH was ranked at the time we beat them, but they have not looked that impressive since. UNH lost to this Towson team and now just lost to URI.

In my opinion, we might be competitive with Furman, but Montana State is a solid team. So is Idaho who just beat MSU by 2 points and the game was at Idaho. So those 2 are pretty close in strength. I would still rank Montana State #2, probably with Idaho right behind then at #3.

Teams that I personally feel are better than Delaware right now include:
Tier 1: South Dakota State (in a league of their own)

Tier 2: Montana State, Idaho, Southern Illinois

Delaware is in Tier 3 with North Dakota State (yes they are down this year, but down for them is still pretty damn good), Sacramento State, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Austin Peay, Youngstown State, Northern Iowa, Furman.

We'll probably ranked #3 tomorrow, and maybe we are the third best team in FCS, but I don't think our schedule is strong enough to justify it.

Great Advice. The Hens demolished a poor team Saturday. Elon & Campbell are not having winning seasons either so keep the champagne on ice until November 18th at 4:00 when hopefully Villanova goes down .

[dovetail]

If Nova keeps winning the last game of the year will be reminiscent of 2011, the last time both teams played for a post season

[Double G]

If Nova keeps winning the last game of the year will be reminiscent of 2011, the last time both teams played for a post season

Egads, don't compare this team to the 2011 squad. They were 7-4 and NOT invited to the playoffs even though they managed to knock off the wildcats.
This schedule has been perfect for a developing team and coaching staff and they seem to have matured & improved weekly. But Nova is way different then any of the other FCS teams we have defeated. Let's worry about the 2 bumps in the road before we even discuss in depth.

[dovetail]

My bad; I was thinking of the last championship run we had with Devlin as QB.

[bluehens2005]

Holding at 6

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/ ... aches-poll

[Hensfansince03]

Holding at 6

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/ ... aches-poll

Not as high as many of us thought we would be but still pretty generous based on our strength of schedule. IMO the Hens should realistically be somewhere between 10 and 15. Does anyone on here really think we are better than Sac State (7), Montana State (8), or North Dakota State (10), right now? A win over any of these programs in the playoffs would be a monster step forward for our program.

[bluehens2005]

Holding at 6

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/ ... aches-poll

Not as high as many of us thought we would be but still pretty generous based on our strength of schedule. IMO the Hens should realistically be somewhere between 10 and 15. Does anyone on here really think we are better than Sac State (7), Montana State (8), or North Dakota State (10), right now? A win over any of these programs in the playoffs would be a monster step forward for our program.

Nope just keep winning….get
Some respect back…stay in top 8 and get a bye week would be ideal. Trying to avoid playing SDSU as long as possible or as we know they probably will win it all again . Speaking of respect only 2 CAA teams ranked….we better keep winning….Albany imho should be ranked

[Bluewyn Gold]

6 sounds about right. Won't make a bit of difference if the team doesn't take care of business on Saturday.

[Udforever1]

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/ ... fcs-top-25

Hens stay at 5 in the media/stats. Idaho and Montana jump them.

https://twitter.com/SamHerderFCS/status ... 9032961250

Some huge top 25 matchups this weekend.

[93BlueHen]

I love the slight. I hope it motivates the team.

We pin 51 on Towson and don't move in the poll. Furman barely beats a bad ETSU team and moves to #2.