1. North Carolina 2. Maryland 3. Northwestern 4. Syracuse 5. Penn State 6. Duke 7. Florida 8. Virginia 9. Boston College 10. Princeton 11. Stony Brook 12. Penn 13. Stanford 14. Hopkins 15. Notre Dame 16. James Madison 17. Southern Cal 18. Ohio State 19. Towson 20. Loyola
Don't the national publications have SB at 4 or 5? Why no love for the Seawolves?
SBU has been given a lot of attention over the past two years. They had a good year last year but in the end they did not get it done. They did not have a very strong strength of schedule (not their fault). Notre Dame, Florida and Northwestern all had down years. SBU beat some good programs but they did not beat good teams. Florida had 6 losses, Northwestern had 7 losses and Notre Dame had 9 losses. Their schedule is not very difficult this year either. I think they are loaded with talent but if you want to be ranked in the top 10 you have to play and beat good teams. They have not done anything to suggest that they should be ranked in the top 5.
Their conference schedule hurts strength of schedule. Where SB has gone in the past four years is beyond admirable. Beating Florida, Northwestern and ND IS a great accomplishment for a mid major sized school with a very small portion of the resources their competition has. Looking at their roster it is a young team with its best days ahead! My daughter looked hard at SB and decided to go away. I can tell you it is a program respected by other top 10 schools an honest ranking for an emerging SB is between 6-10 give or take. Best time of the year!!
Based on performance I think 11 is about right this time of year. Once they knock off a couple of teams and some of the Top 10 teams lose a few games I think SBU will have a legitimate claim to be ranked higher. Until they prove it on the field (i believe they will) it is all just hype.
Not sure that I understand your point regarding school size. "Mid major sized school" ? what does school size have to do with anything? SBU falls about in the middle of the schools listed in terms of size. Duke, Princeton, Stanford, Penn, Hopkins, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Loyola all significantly smaller enrollment. Also, not sure what you mean by "very small portion of the resources". I believe SBU is fully funded in terms of scholarships. Their facilities are very good (stadium / weight room etc..) Where are they falling short in terms of resources?
