#1: SIOUX FALLS COUGARS (9-0, 46.222 avg. margin of victory, #1 last week) - The #1 ranked team in NAIA football crushed Northwestern University of Iowa on the road last week, 49 to 14. Northwestern is no slouch, coming into the game 7-1. One more week of this nonsense, then they have their showdown with Morningside, then the NAIA playoffs.
#2: MORNINGSIDE MUSTANGS (8-0, 43.375 avg. margin of victory, #2 last week) - The Mustangs crushed Doane last weekend, 78 to 14, its largest points total since 1933. They are currently ranked #4 in the NAIA poll and haven't been below #5 all year.
#3: MONMOUTH FIGHTING SCOTS (9-0, 37.889 avg. margin of victory, #4 last week) - After dispatching of Illinois College, 44 to 17, Monmouth rose to #8 in the NCAA Division III poll, with only one more regular season game left.
#4: LINDENWOOD LIONS (8-0, 36.250 avg. margin of victory, #3 last week) - Lindenwood had their closest game of the year last weekend, edging Benedictine College, 41 to 31, at home, and holding their #3 ranking in the NAIA football rankings.
#5: ST. XAVIER COUGARS (10-0, 34.400 avg. margin of victory, #5 last week) - St. Xavier beat Walsh, 34 to 17, last week, to remain undefeated, and clutch a #6 NAIA ranking. This weekend, they host in-state conference rival St. Francis, who is 7-1 themselves, in a potential first-loss game for the Cougars.
#6: WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER WARHAWKS (8-0, 34.000 avg. margin of victory, #6 last week) - The Warhawks continued their romp through regular season Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, stomping on Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 41 to 12, with only Oshkosh and La Crosse left. They are #2 in the NCAA Division III rankings.
#7: MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS (8-0, 33.125 avg. margin of victory, #10 last week) - A 56 to 7 stomping of John Carroll at Carroll's home field Halloween day helped the mighty Mount Union Division III juggernaut (and #1 ranked team) move up this Bully List this week. The last two weeks, they've outscored their opponents 112 to 7. Only two home games left, against Otterbein (ranked 15th in Division III) and Marietta, before they make another run at another national championship in the Division III playoffs.
#8: WITTENBERG TIGERS (8-0, 32.125 avg. margin of victory, #7 last week) - Won at Denison, 41 to 7, on Halloween night, and have only allowed 37 points all season long. Two games left before making a run at their third ever Division III national championship (won previously in 1973 and 1975).
#9: CASE WESTERN RESERVE SPARTANS (8-0, 29.375 avg. margin of victory, #8 last week) - Won at Chicago College last week, 38 to 24, in their second closest game of the year.
#10: WESLEY WOLVERINES (8-0, 29.375 avg. margin of victory, #9 last week) - The #3 ranked team in NCAA Division III football beat Salisbury easily last week, 30 to 12, and clinched an Atlantic Central Football Conference title as well.
#11: NORTH ALABAMA LIONS (10-0, 28.300 avg. margin of victory, #11 last week) - The #1 team in NCAA Division II football beat Arkansas-Monticello, 27 to 13 in Arkansas last weekend, and only has a home game against West Alabama left before playoffs start. West Alabama is a team that gave one of the teams on the never-won list their first win two weeks back.
#12: TEXAS LONGHORNS (8-0, 28.125 avg. margin of victory, #12 last week) - Texas crushed Oklahoma State in Stillwater this past weekend, 41 to 14. I know Oklahoma State is not what it was last year, but still, Texas is dialed in right now, stomping on Big 12 competition, and looking like the team to beat this year for that stupid crystal football trophy they give to the Division I champions.
#13: OTTAWA BRAVES (8-0, 28.000 avg. margin of victory, #13 last week) - A 42 to 10 win over Kansas Wesleyan helps Ottawa stay at their spot, and keep the changes very fucking minimal in this list this week. Why did I decide to do this weekly this year?
#14: BOISE STATE BRONCOS (8-0, 27.375 avg. margin of victory, unranked last week) - Boise State is commonly overlooked as a national title contender, thus showing why there needs to be a playoff system or something. I guess this is as a perfect a time as any, because my method is perfect, like everybody else's, even though no one will read this one. Basically, you do the same bullshit BCS computer rankings like they do now, putting all that stuff together for a list, and no conference is automatic at all, but at the end of the year, you take the top six Division I conference winners on the list, so that if a Boise State wins their conference and is ranked a better team than say the ACC champion, Boise State gets in. Then you give two at-large bids to the top two ranked teams not a conference champion, except each conference already in is limited to only one at-large team, so that you don't get three teams from the same conference. A 3rd team doesn't deserve to get in from any conference. One thing they mistakenly do with March Madness is have teams assume they should be in the field because they are one of the best 65 teams in the country. The tournament is not designed to find the best 65 teams in the country, but the best team, so a conference champion from shitbag confernence has a more legitimate claim to a shot at that than the sixth best Big East team. Same thing here. This year, you'd probably be looking at Florida, Texas, Iowa, Oregon, Cincinnati, and Boise State or TCU as automatic winners, with Georgia Tech being left out. Then Alabama and most likely whichever of Boise State or TCU wasn't in already in as an at-large. Who the fuck can complain then?
Gone From This List From Last Week: Cincinnati Bearcats (beat Syracuse, 28 to 7, which was not enough to hold the last spot on the list, but did make Syracuse's star player quit the team this week).
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