Raiders tumble to #23
AJ Cooper causes a special teams fumble against College of Idaho
SOU’s loss at College of Idaho this past Saturday seemed to end the Raiders’ post-season hopes. The coaches confirmed this in today’s poll by dropping the Raiders to #23 with just three weeks to go. Even if the Raiders win out (and upset #7 Montana Tech) they will likely finish no higher than #17 in the final poll. They would need no worse than a top 14 ranking to make the playoffs (as probably two or more teams not in the top 16 that are not in the Frontier Conference will make the playoffs).
Massey has the Raiders, with the hardest schedule in the country, @ #5 (and Montana Tech @ #2). The coaches don’t consider strength of schedule in their rankings. That’s why teams like Kansas Wesleyan, Tabor, Southeastern, Sterling, Arizona Christian, and Concordia (Nebraska) are ahead of the Raiders in the coaches rankings and will likely remain there as they don’t play any decent teams. Hence, they have little chance of dropping in the rankings. Never mind that Massey Ratings doesn’t have any of those teams in their top 40.