Were Back!!!!

[ohio herd]

In 1997 we moved up from FCS to FBS ranks. Since that time we have:

6 Conference championships

3 Heisman finalist (should have been 4)

7 ten win or better seasons

a 9-2 bowl record

AND 4 Top 25 finishes in the final poll in one or both major polls.(98 season at 12-1 left out, we were robbed should be 5)

We are loaded and ready for more. Looking forward to 2015 season Go Herd!

 

[Always The Herd]

Nice post

 

[BleedsGreen33]

 

[blevins]

Are you sure we were ranked 3 times before this year? I know the AP and ESPN both had us at #10 in 1999 and the AP had us at #24 (ESPN had us #19) in 2002. What other year were we ranked before our #23 AP ranking this year?

 

[ohio herd]

Here you go- great site for data.

http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/conferenceusa/marshall/in_the_polls.php

 

[sportsphantom1]

Originally posted by blevins:

Are you sure we were ranked 3 times before this year? I know the AP and ESPN both had us at #10 in 1999 and the AP had us at #24 (ESPN had us #19) in 2002. What other year were we ranked before our #23 AP ranking this year?

1999 #10 Coaches and #10 AP

2001 #21 Coaches

2002 #19 Coaches and #24 AP

2014 #22 Coaches and #23 AP

 

[blevins]

Thanks!!! Didn't realize we were ranked by the Coaches Poll in 2001.
A site I like to look at is the Massey Football Poll. Massey only rated us 30th this year (yeah after our bowl win). But he does a composite poll of all (more than 100) computer and human CFB polls. After the bowl games only 66 of those polls are updated. Of those 66 our composite ranking is 21st and we are top 10 in 11 of those polls. Our lowest ranking is 34th in 2 polls (Rothman and Self). The only G5 team with a composite rank higher than us is Boise State at #18.
I mentioned we were top 10 in 11 of the 66 polls, our highest rank is in the Nolan NPI poll at #3!

 

[sportsphantom1]

Originally posted by blevins:
Thanks!!! Didn't realize we were ranked by the Coaches Poll in 2001.
A site I like to look at is the Massey Football Poll. Massey only rated us 30th this year (yeah after our bowl win). But he does a composite poll of all (more than 100) computer and human CFB polls. After the bowl games only 66 of those polls are updated. Of those 66 our composite ranking is 21st and we are top 10 in 11 of those polls. Our lowest ranking is 34th in 2 polls (Rothman and Self). The only G5 team with a composite rank higher than us is Boise State at #18.
I mentioned we were top 10 in 11 of the 66 polls, our highest rank is in the Nolan NPI poll at #3!

I dont know about #3 but I do think anywhere from #8 to #15 would be in the proper range. We would beat a lot of those other top 25 teams including Boise who is ranked several spots higher in the AP and Coaches polls at #16.

 

[maclid]

Re: Were Back!!!!
blevins posted on 1/13/2015...
Thanks!!! Didn't realize we were ranked by the Coaches Poll in 2001.



... Apparently neither did whoever wrote the Marshall press release....

 

[WV Cooler]

2 Heisman finalist Pennington and Moss, no one else to New York on big stage

 

[blevins]

WV Cooler - Technically you are correct. The term "finalist" has come to mean only those who are invited to New York. Marshall has had 3 serious (top 10 in Heisman votes) candidates but only 2 of those went to New York. They seem to invite 3 to 6 candidates to NY every year based on how close those candidates are in votes to the winner. In 2002 Leftwich was 6th but only 5 were invited to the presentation. The Heisman website usually lists the votes received by the top 10 candidates and some call those individuals finalists. I was reading a recent CBSsports.com internet article about the 1999 Heisman group that called the 7th place finisher, Shawn Alexander of Alabama, a Heisman "finalist of note" in that class - but he wasn't one of the 5 invited to NY.
This practice of choosing from 3 to 6 finalists each year seems unfair in that you may finish 4th one year, as WVU's Steve Slayton did in 2006 when only 3 were chosen, and not be a finalist or you may finish 5th, as Chad Pennington did in 1999 when 5 were chosen, and be a finalist. To my knowledge, WVU has had only one Heisman finalist (Major Harris) but Slayton, Pat White, and Tavon Austin have had top 10 finishes in the voting.