Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Polling: It's curiouser and curiouser

What do the coaches know that the media doesn’t? The Gamecocks haven’t cracked either of the two major Football Championship Subdivision polls yet, but there’s something curious if you look at them closely.

Eastern Illinois remains the only Ohio Valley Conference teams in both polls — No. 22 in The Sports Network’s poll of media and publicists and No. 20 in the coaches poll.

But here’s the curiosity: Undefeated Tennessee State is No. 25 in the TSN poll, while Jax State is the next OVC team receiving votes (49 points). In the coaches poll, however, the Gamecocks hold a nine-point edge over TSU (19-10) among “others receiving votes.”

Apparently, going 3-0 against the struggling SWAC doesn’t hold much weight with the coaches.

It doesn’t matter much anyway. The best team in the OVC will be decided on the field, right now it seems in JSU’s first and last conference games of the season.

The Gamecocks open their OVC schedule next week at Eastern Illinois – once again making their conference opener a veritable elimination game for the league title – and wrap it up at home Nov. 15 against TSU.

No comments: