Stanley Talks SLU, Hobart 2nd In Initial NCAA East Region Rankings

Although the Hobart College Statesmen (8-0, 5-0) rank 7th in both the D3football.com and AFCA polls, the NCAA sent a clear message today that they disagree with that ranking. Reading between the lines this probably means only one home playoff game, if they can beat Saint Lawrence (7-1, 5-0) who came in at sixth, and finish 10-0.

Widener (8-0) beating Delaware Valley (8-0) in their season finale may help Hobart, but that remains to be seen. The Statesmen would get both a Strength of Schedule and Regional Ranked Opponent boost by beating SLU. Husson winning the ECFC could help too as their location in ME is a scheduling issue for the NCAA given the 500 mile rule. Best case for the Statesmen would be drawing a tough but beatable Round 1 opponent in say, NJAC champ Montclair, then hosting the winner of the Husson-MIT game. All that is pure projections and may not come to pass. Hobart really just needs to focus on SLU.

A link to the rankings can be found here. 

We discussed Hobart's low SOS as a potential issue on ITH last Sunday and it appears to have hurt them, at least in this first round. Another ranking will be released next week, then a final unpublished one used to seed the 32 team NCAA bracket.

You can hear that discussion plus an interview with JR LB Jacob Stanley here.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!