NCAT national rankings question


Journalist

Journalist

Listen up maggots! And that's an order!
Hey @Kenn Rashad is North Carolina A&T the highest-ranked FCS/Division I-AA HBCU since the Bruce Eugene Grambling era or Southern going into the FAMU game in 1998?

NCAT is currently No. 4 in this weeks STATS FCS Poll. For those who don't know, STATS took over Sports Network a couple of years ago.
 



@Bewildered Hampton was No. 2 for two weeks in 1998 (Oct. 20 and Oct. 27). FAMU was No. 3 in the Nov. 24 poll and finished the season No. 5

Southern was No. 3 in 1999 (Nov. 2: Going into the Massacre in Tallahassee). Tennessee State was No. 2 in the Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 poll before moving up to No. 1in the Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 polls. FAMU finished ranked No. 4

in 2001: Grambling got up to No. 3 in the Oct. 30: Grambling finished the season No. 8.

Guess the question is since Tennessee State was no. 1 for two weeks in 1998, who were the highest ranked HBCUs leading up to NCAT's spot this week.
 
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Journalist said:
@Bewildered Hampton was No. 2 for two weeks in 1998 (Oct. 20 and Oct. 27). FAMU was No. 3 in the Nov. 24 poll and finished the season No. 5

Southern was No. 3 in 1998 (Nov. 2: Going into the Massacre in Tallahassee). Tennessee State was No. 2 in the Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 poll before moving up to No. 1in the Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 polls. FAMU finished ranked No. 4

in 2001: Grambling got up to No. 3 in the Oct. 30: Grambling finished the season No. 8.

Guess the question is since Tennessee State was no. 1 for two weeks in 1998, who were the highest ranked HBCUs leading up to NCAT's spot this week.
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It was 1999 when we were #3 before the FAMU game.
 
Bewildered said:
That was it. That's the game that FAMU went wild and the score was like 65-18 something like that correct?
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I was there, no need to remind us LOL.

But looking at these old polls, and you see a lot of programs that moved up to FBS and others that fell off to the wayside. I keep telling people the football boom/move-ups from the late 90s-early 2000s hurt our schools severely.
 
Journalist said:
Hey @Kenn Rashad is North Carolina A&T the highest-ranked FCS/Division I-AA HBCU since the Bruce Eugene Grambling era or Southern going into the FAMU game in 1998?

NCAT is currently No. 4 in this weeks STATS FCS Poll. For those who don't know, STATS took over Sports Network a couple of years ago.
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Off the top of my head, yes. That sounds right.
 
JROCK said:
TN State was ranked #1 at the end of 1999 and got upset in the first round of playoffs by A&T @Journalist
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Thanks. II also see Hampton was No. 2 in 2005 for three weeks (Nov. 8, Nov. 15 and Nov. 12) before falling to NO. 10 in the final poll. Grambling finished that season at No. 11.

I'm noticing beacoup teams began their moves up from FCS or began programs to move up to FBS during the late 90s early 2000s. Appalachian State, Texas State-San Marcos (SW Texas State), Troy, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Coastal Carolina (the most recent move-up), UMass, Western Kentucky and Liberty (making the FBS transition) ...
 



major095 said:
bama state finished #5 (?) in 1994, the first heritage bowl season down in florida.
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Teams have been ranked higher than that since then. Looks like the starting point of highest ranked FCS/1-AA HBCU teams since Tennessee State topped the Sports Network/STATS poll late in the 1999 season.
 
I been telling people ALL along that the rankings are based on our OOC opponents. People harp on the playoffs when typically, thats ONE game. You have 4 OOC games to make a statement.
 
2kool said:
If A&T goes 12-0, it will be one of the biggest "what ifs" in HBCU football
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They've already done 12-0 lol

At least this season they started in the top 15 and quickly got into the top 5. The biggest questions will be if NDSU, SDSU and JMU lose in the regular season will they put A&T at #1. NDSU did lose to SDSU last year (SDSU is ranked #3). Both teams lost in the MVC last year.

I do they will try their hardest to keep A&T from reaching #1 but if the Aggie get to the top of the polls and stay there through the Celebration Bowl, it's gonna be hard to justify bumping them to #2

The best thing that could help A&T if they do run the table again through the Celebration Bowl is for whatever SWAC team that makes it to ATL to be ranked (PV got a vote in this week's polls so that's a start)
 
In_The_662 said:
They've already done 12-0 lol

At least this season they started in the top 15 and quickly got into the top 5. The biggest questions will be if NDSU, SDSU and JMU lose in the regular season will they put A&T at #1. NDSU did lose to SDSU last year (SDSU is ranked #3). Both teams lost in the MVC last year.

I do they will try their hardest to keep A&T from reaching #1 but if the Aggie get to the top of the polls and stay there through the Celebration Bowl, it's gonna be hard to justify bumping them to #2

The best thing that could help A&T if they do run the table again through the Celebration Bowl is for whatever SWAC team that makes it to ATL to be ranked (PV got a vote in this week's polls so that's a start)
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If PV finishes as a one-loss team, or Southern finishes with two losses to FBS teams, they could be ranked pretty good for a SWAC champion.

The pollsters are going to hang that NW State loss Grambling suffered over their heads like the Sword of Damocles. If Grambling runs through the SWAC, I think the pollsters will sandbag Grambling because of that NW State loss. Pollsters are gonna sandbag Alcorn for that Louisiana College game too.
 
Its going to be hard to get that #1 spot. They have any more ranked opponents on their schedule? They dont even play Howard this year and the MEAC, ironically is looking weak outside of those two. Hopefully, one of them goes to the playoffs. A&T would be a lock for the playoffs if they lost one game and Howard ended up in the Celebration Bowl.
 
Tigerpride said:
Its going to be hard to get that #1 spot. They have any more ranked opponents on their schedule? They dont even play Howard this year and the MEAC, ironically is looking weak outside of those two. Hopefully, one of them goes to the playoffs. A&T would be a lock for the playoffs if they lost one game and Howard ended up in the Celebration Bowl.
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With the MEAC's internal points formula, if A&T and Howard were both to go 7-0 in conference play, A&T would go to the Celebration Bowl due to A&T's nonconference wins.
 
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