S139 The A-Rod Rockne Show

Dan Nessler "Welcome everyone to another season of Division 2 College Football. My name is Dan Nessler and sitting next to me in my colleague Rockin' A-Rod Rockne. We are in week ten and the regular season is winding down as we near the Conference Championships. From recruiting to battling teams across the country, poll voters seem to still be in a toss-up in who they feel IS the best team in college football."

Dan Nessler "A-Rod, let's take a look at tonight's top ten and get some insight for the viewers on who these teams are."

Rockin' A-Rod "That's right down, the voters are confused and THEY SHOULD be. But I'm going to break it down tonight and see just what these teams are made of."

Rockin' A-Rod "Omcs1981 has put together the results of this weeks polls and there was a lot of movement. Here are the results!"

#1. Cheyney #2. Humboldt St. #3. Bloomsburg #4. Texas A&M-Commerce #5. North Alabama #6. Northern Michigan #7. Long Island #8. Central Oklahoma #9. Virginia State #10. W. New Mexico

Dan Nessler "It's an impressive list of talent A-Rod, I can see why the voters go back and forth. Long Island was in the championship just last season and the are ranked #7. I'm not sure I follow Bloomsburg being rated as high as they are either. A-Rod, are the voters more focused on the team, who they played or the program in this case?"

Rockin' A-Rod "I think that's the point Dan, each voter is focusing on different areas and that could be why these guys keeping moving up and down. Humboldt State has been the most consistent team ranked #1 or 2 since the polls came out, followed by Cheyney. Central Oklahoma and Texas A&M-Commerce took drastic swings and I think we will get to see that one in the Conference Championship show down. Northern Michigan is surprising, I would of thought they may of been ranked higher due to the pure talent and an undefeated record."

Dan Nessler "Let's take a moment here to take a call and here what our viewers opinions are... Hello Pete, you are on the A-Rod Rockne Show!"

Guest_Pete "Hi Dan and A-Rod, thanks for having me on the show. Yah... I wanted to talk about Virginia State. The polls are really disrespectful to us out here in Virginia, VSU can hang with any of those teams and they got Central Oklahoma ranked way too low. In my eye's, Central Oklahoma is the #1 team and the WIS polls show that. We only lost 37-13, I think we should be in the top 5."

Dan Nessler "That's a very interesting perspective, they did lose that game but beat Pace 47-30 and Edinboro 48-27. They actually played 6 human opponents in a row, that has to stand for something A-Rod."

Rockin' A-Rod "Competition is a great thing and it allows us to measure the strength of victory versus common opponents. Infact, a lot of good coaches can look back at those games and get an idea of how they might match-up if their team is similar. In this case, we can look at Edinboro and see that VSU won by a larger margin than Cheyney's 30-23 win, but won by 7 points less than Bloomsburg's win. So in theory, I could see Bloomsburg, then Virginia State and then Cheyney in the rankings. But hey... this is football and different teams have different schemes and so those games are just going to be different."

Dan Nessler "So if we don't measure by common opponents, how do you view this team?"

Rockin' A-Rod "With common sense football Dan, just like your papa gave you when you use to throw balls in the backyard. If I'm faster, stronger and better than you, then you just have to accept that and train harder to get to my level. Is Virginia State on the same level as a Cheyney, Humboldt State or a Texas A&M-Commerce team? A lot of people forget about the reigning champions, but those that have watched some Texan football are missing out on a power house defensive unit this year."

Dan Nessler "Speaking of Texas, we have a caller from there on the line. Austin, welcome to the Rockin' A-Rod Show!"

Guest_Austin "Gentlemen, it's a real honor to be on your show."

Rockin' A-Rod "It's great to have you Austin, tell us what the nations missing if they ain't watching Texan football?"

Guest_Austin "Ok. Well, ya'll are getting me fired up this evening and this my Atrial is tasting real real sour. You guys are hyping up the eastern teams, but down in Texas, we're bringin' the heat! If you haven't seen us, ya'll better check us out. Talkin' the best secondary in the nation and the scoring margins are not even close."

Dan Nessler "Okay.. Austin, thanks for bringing TAMC up. A-Rod, why is that the defending champs have been so low on the polls this season? Shouldn't they be the ones with the bullseye on their back?"

Rockin' A-Rod "Like I said, voters are confused this year and they all look at different things. Two NC's in the past 4 seasons, 18 seniors and you are right, the best secondary in football. They have the top four best defensive backs and you could put the linebackers and defensive line up against any team really. I suppose they could be looking at a couple things, such as strength of schedule or Texas having what could be a called a down year for their offense."

Dan Nessler "Well if that's what you call a down year, A-Rod, it still looks better than many of the teams who will be in the playoffs this season. I don't see too many teams that have four 70+ core rated running backs on one roster and a power offensive line."

Rockin' A-Rod "This really touches on what makes the difference with these teams reaching the final show or going home. Do they have a scheme in mind that works with their team build? They either have a powerful offense or powerful defense and every now and then they have both. That's why I feel Cheyney could be the #1 team right now and would have to agree with the polls there."

Dan Nessler "Well, let's wind down this show here and tomorrow night we will go over each team and see how they shape up for the upcoming tournament. Until then my friends, I'm Dan Nessler."

Rockin' A-Rod "And I'm Rockin' A-Rod, thank you for watching the A-Rod Rockne Show!"