Football: Between Laval and Laurier, debate on slotting the 2-3-4-5 spots

An editor's note: the Top 10 committee wants contributors to not share their ballots over social media before the final one is released on Tuesdays. On general principle, I dislike that and the level of engagement on Twitter and with the blog would suggest there was some appreciation for letting people in on how a voter evaluates it in real time. There is a nettle to push back, but ultimately one has to play ball. So onward and upward with everyone pulling on the same rope and being a good teammate, one message, and all that.

 The way to work around that is to just have a Top 10 tracker that just lists each ranked team (and some also-in-consideration teams) by their ranking going in and adds some time-stamped commentary after each bloc of games (Friday night in Canada West and AUS, Saturday in Ontario and Quebec) is completed.


Without further ado, the Top 10 is out:

Reigning Vanier Cup champs remain unanimous U SPORTS football No. 1 pickhttps://t.co/rcVArlDZd8 pic.twitter.com/aLQY6RNQek

— U SPORTS (@USPORTSca) September 6, 2017

Other teams receiving votes: Concordia (5), St. Francis Xavier (5), Guelph (4), Saint Mary’s (4), Waterloo (4), Manitoba (1). 

 The CUSN is also producing power rankings:

.@reginarams makes the biggest jump while @rougeetor still top the Football Power Rankings 🏈 pic.twitter.com/0NPzL1cnfe

— CUSN (@CUSNetwork) September 5, 2017

Between No. 1 Laval and No. 6 Laurier, there's some robust debate over how to slot Calgary, Montréal, Regina and Western in the 2-3-4-5 spots. But it's like when Lou Piniella managed the Seattle Mariners in mid-1990s: the order in which Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner batted probably didn't matter all that much.

(And no, I'm not wishing the 1990s Mariners playoff luck on any team.)

Down-ballot shook out as expected: Ottawa gets in with its 2-0 record (and zero offensive touchdowns) and UBC (0-1) nabs the last spot. I will presume I was the only one to include both Saint Mary's and Waterloo.
If you're not a fan of the whole brevity thing, Marshall Ferguson is also ranking teams one through 27.

My week 2 @USPORTSca football nat'l ranks for all 27 teams#USPORTS #CFL #CFLDraft #OUA #AUS #RSEQ #CanWest #UAgreehttps://t.co/Sd4mSeub1g pic.twitter.com/Nj2CX4eZg8

— Marshall Ferguson (@TSN_Marsh) September 6, 2017

For a refresher, here's how I voted:

1. Laval
2. Montréal
3. Regina
4. Calgary
5. Western
6. Laurier
7. Saskatchewan
8. McMaster
9. Saint Mary's
10. Waterloo

The oversimplification there is that while we know not all conferences and schedules are equitable on par, one should still try to give a bit more reward to winning. I won't move Montréal down if it has a narrow defeat against Laval on Saturday, but always rewarding teams for close losses can lead to some feelings of stagnancy, hashtag #KeepHittingF5.