The conference as a whole seems to have to moved into a better place without New Mexico State and Idaho, coming in as the second ranked G5 Conference. I would look for this to continue, and for the eventual respect that comes along with it as the season goes along. It may be a few more years before the Sun Belt begins to garner the attention of C-USA or the MAC in preseason publications but most followers of more than P5 Conferences understand that the Sun Belt has surpassed both of those conferences, and likely has surpassed the MWC aside from Boise State, who is acting as the pedestal for the rest of that conference.

Power Rankings

1. App State - App did not play due to the heavy rain expected from Florence. If this were a conference game, it would've been played. App plays Gardner-Webb this week and it goes without saying that App will likely win going away.

2. Arkansas State - The final drive to run out the last 7 minutes of the game was a thing of beauty and shows that Arkansas State has reached a mesh point where everything seems to be coming together. That drive is a microcosm of team work from the coordinators down to execution on the field.

3. Troy - Troy looked like the better team throughout the game. It doesn't seem like lack of motivation for Nebraska could be the cause of this. Frost is probably a year or two off from getting his guys in the program but this is still a P5 win against a storied program.

4. Coastal Carolina - Gave up points to Campbell early, however this game was played on a Wednesday before a hurricane in which the eye of the storm passed over Coastal's campus. The win against UAB is still impressive and shows a level of maturity that wasn't present without the CEO.

5. ULM - Solid win against Southern Miss. They were able to hang tight with Texas A&M through one half. Jimbo Fisher is a coach FSU took for granted, as evidenced by FSU's sudden turn for the worst and I believe Texas A&M is likely underrated.

6. Georgia Southern - Solid defense, offense is still suspect but it should get rolling as the season goes along. Clemson isn't a great gauge for progress of the offense as any G5 team trying to run a shotgun option offense isn't going to have a ton of success against that front 4.

7. South Alabama - Seems to be finding it's way under a new head coach. Showed grit in coming back from a two score deficit early.

8. Louisiana - They have the players, they have the facilities, they have the name, but can the coaches bring it all together?

9. Georgia State - Got demolished by one of the top teams in the AAC, a peer conference. I would've expected Elliot to diversify the offense with what appears to be a QB who can be dangerous with both his legs and his arm, but the offense seems predictable, predicated upon basic spread principles that have been in use for around 13 years now.

10. Texas State - Youth can't be to blame anymore. App State has the second youngest roster in the FBS yet manages to compete in and out of conference. How short is Withers leash?

I'm going to wait until after this weekend to submit my week 4 power rankings if you don't mind.

(09-17-2018 01:00 PM)APPrising Wrote:  I'm going to wait until after this weekend to submit my week 4 power rankings if you don't mind.

How dare you...

(09-17-2018 01:00 PM)APPrising Wrote:  I'm going to wait until after this weekend to submit my week 4 power rankings if you don't mind.

Week 4 Power Rankings would be completed during Week 4, yeah? Or am I misrepresenting the week with which Sun Belt posters prefer to refer to as the rankings.

Week 3 Power Rankings could be written as Post Week 3 considering we are technically in week 4 beginning Monday.

(09-17-2018 01:50 PM)ericsaid Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 01:00 PM)APPrising Wrote:  I'm going to wait until after this weekend to submit my week 4 power rankings if you don't mind.

Week 4 Power Rankings would be completed during Week 4, yeah? Or am I misrepresenting the week with which Sun Belt posters prefer to refer to as the rankings.

Week 3 Power Rankings could be written as Post Week 3 considering we are technically in week 4 beginning Monday.

No Belt team has played more than three games. So at the end of week three of games is what most people are saying.

This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

It probably should be Week 4 Power Ratings, as these are how the teams stand going into week 4.

(09-17-2018 02:12 PM)JCGSU Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

Everyone calls tha pre-week Week Zero...officially.

(09-17-2018 02:54 PM)panama Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:12 PM)JCGSU Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

Everyone calls tha pre-week Week Zero...officially.

The Week 0 games were included with Week 1 games. Going into this week, it will be the 4th game that teams without a bye or a week 0 game will have played. For instance, App would be 2-1 this week without th Southern Miss cancellation, so Gardner-Webb is their fourth scheduled game.

It is Week 4. You would say Week 4 Lines. This is the Week 4 Power Ranking, or power ranking during the 4th week, not including Week 0 as a Week 1.

(09-17-2018 02:12 PM)JCGSU Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

Okay. During the week of games, it is called Week 4. Go to ESPN and you have to go to Week 4 to find this weeks games. Week 0 games were included in Week 1. Thus, this is the week 4 power rankings. You don't have a Week 3 Power Rankings AFTER Week 3 has already been played. You do a Week of power ranking list.

Your description would be like doing Power Ranking after Bowl Season and calling it Bowl Season rankings. In reality, prior to the games being played would be the Bowl Season Power Rankings. After Bowl Season is over would be season end Power Rankings.

This isn't a difficult concept.

(09-17-2018 03:09 PM)ericsaid Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:12 PM)JCGSU Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

Okay. During the week of games, it is called Week 4. Go to ESPN and you have to go to Week 4 to find this weeks games. Week 0 games were included in Week 1. Thus, this is the week 4 power rankings. You don't have a Week 3 Power Rankings AFTER Week 3 has already been played. You do a Week of power ranking list.

Your description would be like doing Power Ranking after Bowl Season and calling it Bowl Season rankings. In reality, prior to the games being played would be the Bowl Season Power Rankings. After Bowl Season is over would be season end Power Rankings.

This isn't a difficult concept.

(09-17-2018 04:06 PM)Georgia_Power_Company Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 03:09 PM)ericsaid Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:12 PM)JCGSU Wrote:  

(09-17-2018 02:02 PM)panama Wrote:  This is college football week 3 right?Officially...

4th week of games though. Some call it zero week, semantics. UMASS and NMSU have played four games that I know of.

Okay. During the week of games, it is called Week 4. Go to ESPN and you have to go to Week 4 to find this weeks games. Week 0 games were included in Week 1. Thus, this is the week 4 power rankings. You don't have a Week 3 Power Rankings AFTER Week 3 has already been played. You do a Week of power ranking list.

Your description would be like doing Power Ranking after Bowl Season and calling it Bowl Season rankings. In reality, prior to the games being played would be the Bowl Season Power Rankings. After Bowl Season is over would be season end Power Rankings.

This isn't a difficult concept.

Or you can go back to the Week 3 rankings....which was last week.

You guys agree on one and let us know

I’m guessing it week 3.5 from what I’m gathering because if it was week 3.51 would put it rounding up to week 4 and week 3.49 would round down to week 3 or....

1. App - I don't think there's quite the gap between App and the rest of the league that some do, but they're certainly deserving of the spot. The Charlotte game was too much of a laugher to use for meaningful evaluation. And App played great at Penn State, but I don't think the praise would be near as much if any of the early fourth quarter success doesn't happen. As easily as that could have been a win once it got to overtime, the game was a play or two away from being a double-digit loss for most of the second half.

2. Arkansas St. - Same line of thinking that I always have on these guys. They appear to have plenty of potential weaknesses, but you have to respect the fact that they always show up for conference games. Actually bothering to win a decent non-conference game makes me think they could easily be the favorite to win the conference with a few more good showings.

3. Troy - Not sure how good Nebraska is, but it's always nice to celebrate a win over a P5 while cashing a seven-figure check at the same time. I don't think that the offense can put up the same numbers in conference play as last year, but they're a threat to win on any given Saturday.

4. UL Monroe - The Warhawks win the random hat drawing for fourth place. They seem to have a lot of potential upside and it's hard to get a read on a night game at Texas A&M, but all of the improvements made by the defense are tempered by the fact that the offense isn't quite what I was expecting.

5. Georgia Southern - If the Eagles could have put up even a few decent offensive drives against Clemson, I would have them in the No. 4 spot. That said, the offense took a huge stride forward from SCST to UMass and no one was expecting a big scoring day from a G5 option team against a DL that could play in the NFL right now. What really has GS up this high is the defense. The Eagles only had about 2/3 of their starting defense on the field against Clemson and had allowed just 24 points with six minutes to go in the game. If the offense can find its stride in conference play, teams will have a hard time playing catch-up against this defense.

6. Coastal Carolina - I think that any ranking of the Chanticleers for the next couple of weeks needs to be taken with a HUGE grain of salt. They looked great against UAB and terrible against Campbell for two quarters. And now they're stranded in Jacksonville due to flooding from the hurricane. Even if the game schedule stays mostly intact, there's no telling how the team will respond.

7. UL Lafayette - There's a lot of young talent on the Cajuns' roster, but they're getting a trial by fire and the veteran starters don't seem like they have enough in the tank to win games while the team deals with a steep learning curve. I would say that a convincing win this week would do a lot to move them up my list, but it's a home game against a vagabond CCU squad, so it will take a winning streak to sell me on the Cajuns.

8. Georgia State - Take away Kennesaw State's comedy of errors to allow 14 points in the final minute of the first half of the season opener and the Panthers are looking at a 120-39 deficit for the other 179 minutes of game action. Ellington looks like he could be a top QB in the Sun Belt, but the Panthers need to give him some help. Conference play starts with ULM, Troy and Arkansas State, meaning that a loss to Western Michigan this week could put GaSt's bowl eligibility on life support before we get to November.

9. South Alabama - Claims No. 9 spot by virtue of beating Texas State.

10. Texas State - Claims No. 10 spot by virtue of losing to South Alabama.

Can I go ahead and start Week 5's power ratings while we're here?

(09-18-2018 12:58 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Can I go ahead and start Week 5's power ratings while we're here?

Why stop there? Let's just do the end of the season power rankings and be done with it.

(09-18-2018 09:07 AM)APPrising Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 12:58 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Can I go ahead and start Week 5's power ratings while we're here?

Why stop there? Let's just do the end of the season power rankings and be done with it.

1. Troy

That's how it ends.

(09-18-2018 09:22 AM)TroyFootball05 Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 09:07 AM)APPrising Wrote:  

(09-18-2018 12:58 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Can I go ahead and start Week 5's power ratings while we're here?

Why stop there? Let's just do the end of the season power rankings and be done with it.

1. Troy

That's how it ends.

Interesting how the team you have as number 1 doesn't even make the conference championship game.