I know there is a lot of football left, and who knows how this season will end, but it is very satisfying that, after years of having championship football dismissed as "Double A," "Division II" or "Jayvee," we are now FBS and are currently ranked AHEAD of the following teams by CBS Sports:

NC State
Louisville
University of Miami
Duke
Wake Forest
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech
Virginia
Syracuse
Auburn
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Kentucky
Missouri
Texas A & M
Texas
Texas Tech
West Virginia
Arkansas
Penn State
Boise State
Arizona
Arizona State
University of Washington
Cincinnati
Colorado
Marshall
ECU

It's good to be FBS and it's GREAT to be a Mountaineer!!!!

I get about half of those.....the other half I don't see us beating.

I think we could beat any one of them.

... on any given Saturday ... or Thursday!

Go App!

If we finish 10-2 and don't crack top 25 I'd be disappointed, but we may well have to win our bowl game a finish 11-2.

sixtoes9134 wrote:If we finish 10-2 and don't crack top 25 I'd be disappointed, but we may well have to win our bowl game a finish 11-2.

We lost our few votes we had in the AP Poll. Still have 2 in the coaches poll (Dabo?)

I think that it will take 11-2, but I think we do have a shot to sneak in at season's end. It also wouldn't hurt if the bowl win was over for instance a 10-1 or 11-1 Toledo.

I think our shot at the top 25 evaporated with the loss to A-State. I do think we might get a decent number of votes if we finish 11-2 though.

It'll be a nice reward after the first game next season if we can pull out 11-2 and a big time win at Neyland.

I can't see top 25 this year with the loss to Arkansas State. 11-2 might get us some votes though.

Agree, the Arky State loss did a lot of damage to our chances at a Top 25 finish.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been tracking the CBS Sports 128, and we were 34 behind Georgia 33 2 weeks ago. Last week we flip-flopped to 33 and Georgia to 34. I cannot find the logic in Georgia moving back to 33 and App to 34 after their OT squeak to Georgia Southern. It would seem to me that GaSo taking the Dawgs to OT between the hedges being the same team we curb stomped at The Rock would play a role in the rankings. I guess not.

As to who beneath us would we beat in a head-to-head? Watching that UGa game on Saturday, I would like our chances against the Dawgs this year. Just picking some others off the list, I also think we'd fair well against Duke, VaTech, Wake, Virginia and GaTech out of the ACC. I'm not sure about Moo-U, though with their running back corps decimated due to stupidity we might be close to knocking them off.

First of all, the CBS 128 might be the worst rankings out there once you get past the top 25 or so.

There are a lot of teams on that list I think we are legitimately better than (a few by a significant margin). There are also a lot that I think are a little better than us, but that we could beat with a little luck. There are no more than a handful that I'd feel like overmatch us if we played them.

Agree, that ranking is a head scratcher. Any ranking is pretty much a crap shoot once you get past the top 15 or so.

I think that the style of play would also make a big difference. Wyoming was the only pro-style, power running team we played this year and they faired pretty well. Those P5 power running teams in that list would give us a huge challenge, I believe. Also, teams that have good speedy LB's and DE's usually play well against our O scheme. However, we could beat just about anyone on the "right" day. Rankings I see as more of a reward for what you have accomplished than saying "you should beat this one or that one".

Rekdiver wrote:I get about half of those.....the other half I don't see us beating.

I agree with Rekdiver. I can see us beating about half of these teams, but not the other half. A school from one of the football rich power conferences, like the SEC, etc with a current 5-6 record would be tough for us to beat IMHO...

ELCubano1 wrote:

Rekdiver wrote:I get about half of those.....the other half I don't see us beating.

I agree with Rekdiver. I can see us beating about half of these teams, but not the other half. A school from one of the football rich power conferences, like the SEC, etc with a current 5-6 record would be tough for us to beat IMHO...

There are currently 2 SEC teams at 5-6, Kentucky and Missouri. Each team barely beat Sun Belt members earlier this year with Kentucky holding on to beat ULL, and Missouri coming back to beat Arkansas State after Fredi Knighten got hurt. GS had every chance in the world to beat 8-3 UGA, and of course Citadel knocked off 3-8 SC.

I'd like our chance against any of those teams.

Can't disagree with anything posted, but the intent of the original post wasn't to say, "Look at us, we're better than ______." It was more to say how its nice (and good PR) it is to be listed in the same conversation and polls with the top college programs, instead of having to qualify our success. It gives us apples to apples comparisons instead of all the "yeah, but…" explanations of the past.

Beat ULL!

JTApps1 wrote:

ELCubano1 wrote:

Rekdiver wrote:I get about half of those.....the other half I don't see us beating.

I agree with Rekdiver. I can see us beating about half of these teams, but not the other half. A school from one of the football rich power conferences, like the SEC, etc with a current 5-6 record would be tough for us to beat IMHO...

There are currently 2 SEC teams at 5-6, Kentucky and Missouri. Each team barely beat Sun Belt members earlier this year with Kentucky holding on to beat ULL, and Missouri coming back to beat Arkansas State after Fredi Knighten got hurt. GS had every chance in the world to beat 8-3 UGA, and of course Citadel knocked off 3-8 SC.

I'd like our chance against any of those teams.

Again, you just confirmed my point. Those 5-6 teams did WIN. Tough to beat means beating them in the first place. The last time I checked South Carolina was a 3-8 team, not 5-6 and I also believe we could beat them this year...And Missouri beating Arkansas State is an accomplishment since Arkansas State killed us at home. It's funny how you mentioned the teams that I actually think we can beat this year. There are plenty of teams on that list we would have a lot of trouble with...I don't pay too much attention to CBS Sports ranking of the top 128. For example, take a look at where they have West Virginia ranked and they are the very same team that beat Georgia Southern 49-0...Tomato vs Tomahto.

S.Lewis15 wrote:I can't see top 25 this year with the loss to Arkansas State. 11-2 might get us some votes though.

This is why I have come around to wanting the GoDaddy Bowl. Toledo has made its way into the top 25. If they hold on and win the MAC championship game, I'd love to line it up against them. I think a win against them, or any other top 25 would potentially propel us into the top 25 ourselves. No other SBC bowl tie-in will offer us this opportunity. Also, a game against Toledo gives us a chance to beat a team that took stAte to the cleaners.