Football: The return of Top 10 tribulations

A little transparency never hurt, eh? The new FRC-CIS Top 10 voters' poll is out, and several of the staffers from this site have agreed to hold up their ballots for ridicule, scrutiny and maybe some grudging nods in agreement. First, the official poll results:

FRC – CIS FOOTBALL TOP 10 (#2)
Pts (1st place) Last week

1. Laval (1-0) 439 (24) 2
2. Saskatchewan (1-0) 432 (16) 3
3. Ottawa (2-0) 300 5
4. Saint Mary’s (0-0) 271 * 4
5. Calgary (0-1) 271 1
6. McMaster (2-0) 209 10
7. Montreal (1-0) 201 7
8. Western (1-1) 168 9
9. Regina (1-0) 70 NR
10. Concordia (1-0) 33 NR

Next, Neate Sager's ballot and explanation:

  1. Saskatchewan Huskies (1-0 CW) — Same spot I had them in the preseason poll.

  2. Laval Rouge et Or (1-0 QUFL) — Same spot I had them in the preseason poll.

  3. Ottawa Gee-Gees (2-0 OUA) — It is only a two-spot jump from the consensus; the "Gees" get the OUA's first spot since they have won on the road. They'd be really dangerous if they could avoid the penalty issues.

  4. Calgary Dinos (0-1 CW) — Drop three spots for losing by three touchdowns at home.

  5. MontrĂ©al Carabins (1-0 QUFL) — Shaky in opener, but we'll go on conference strength.

  6. McMaster Marauders (2-0 OUA) — Honestly, a toss-up between Mac and the Carbs. Ottawa's winning margin has been only 10 points through two games and Mac's has only been seven.

  7. Western Mustangs (1-1 OUA) Might have displaced Laurier as the good OUA team without the good quarterback. No wonder they added ex-Golden Hawk Ian Noble.

  8. Queen's Golden Gaels (0-1 OUA) — Tough out come playoff time.

  9. Regina Rams (1-0 CW) — Bigger winning margin than Alberta. To be honest, once the top eight are locked in, you don't worry too much. By October, there is not much benefit to agonizing over which 3-3 team to put in the 9 or 10 spot.

  10. Sherbrooke Vert et Or (0-1 QUFL) — Could finish higher than Concordia; a loss by four to the Carbs might be more impressive than the Stingers beating Bishop's by three.

Followed by Jared Book's: (last rankings in brackets)

1. Saskatchewan (1)
2. Laval (2)
3. Calgary (3)
4. McMaster (4)
5. Ottawa (7)
6. Concordia (9)
7. Montreal (NR)
8. Western (NR)
9. St. Mary's (10)
10. Regina (NR)

Dropped out:
Bishop's (5)
Laurier (6)
Alberta (8)

Reasoning:
Bishop's offence wasn't as good as I thought it would be against Concordia, Laurier was 0-2 and Regina looked better than Alberta so I swapped them.

And Andrew Bucholtz's:

1. Laval (2)
2. Saskatchewan(4)
3. Ottawa (3)
4. Calgary (1)
5. Saint Mary's (5)
6. Western (10)
7. McMaster (8)
8. Montreal (9)
9. Queen's (7)
10. Concordia (NR)

Dropping out: Laurier (6), Montreal (9)

Reasoning: Laval got off to a slow start against McGill, but their second half was very impressive and they look set to dominate Quebec again. Despite Saskatchewan's win over Calgary on the road this weekend, I still think future games between the teams could go either way. The OUA looks to be very tough to predict this year, but Ottawa and Western look the strongest to me at the moment, with Mac not far behind. The biggest debate in these polls is usually what to do with the AUS, and that's no exception here; there are good cases to be made for either leaving the conference out entirely as Neate did or putting Saint Mary's near the bottom the way Jared did, but the Huskies look like a middle-of-the-Top 10 side to me at the moment. Unfortunately, it's tough to evaluate that exactly given the limited amounts of interconference play.
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