Final Poll of 2020. Anyone Disagree?
| Rank | Team Name (1st Place votes) | Points | Last Month’s Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old Paths (6) | 60 | 1 |
| 2 | Falls WI | 48 | 2 |
| 3 | Ridgeview | 47 | 7 |
| 4 | Heritage NY | 42 | 2 |
| 5 | New Testament | 34 | 4 |
| 6 | Florida Plaid | 25 | 8 |
| 6 | Mukwonago | 25 | 5 |
| 8 | Faith Easley | 22 | 6 |
| 9 | Faith SC | 12 | 10 |
| 10 | Pleasant View KY | 7 | 9 |
| Also receiving votes: Church of Greenville 5, FBCLB 2, Woodside CO 1 |
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Comments 6
Just wandering why Falls and Old Paths are ahead of Ridgeview but not New Testament and Mukwonago who both placed better than them In Colorado.
I can’t speak for all voters, but Ridgeview won Blue Ridge and (if it means anything) VToC. Colorado was clearly their low point, and this year was so weird, the variance on ballots was crazy. I’d love to talk to you about this on the podcast, if you contact me through email.
Elon Musk! here and I completely disagree with all of these ranking outside of 8, 9 and 10 Heritage NY is clearly the best team out there they showed up to 1 major and won (New Years Classic) while as Old Paths (1st ranked team) came to all but SMIT, the Falls Baptist Invitational and the new BQ.net VTOC and only won first place at CI they were beaten by Falls Baptist, Ridgeview, Heritage Mission and Florida Plaid. next Falls WI (2nd ranked team) won 2 tournaments one against Old Paths and Mukwonago back in November and the Falls Baptist tournament with Mukwonago (yes others came but not top 10 teams). Falls WI also came 2nd at CI and got 3rd at BQ.net VTOC. Both Old Paths and Falls WI I believe are ranked purely on the CI performance which if that were so for all the ranking then ridgeview would be 7th and they are 3rd here. next Ridgeview (3rd ranked team) they have been beaten by just about every team (placing 7th at CI and 5th NYC) but between Blue Ridge and the BQ.net VTOC they have also beaten everyone (besides NT FL which was at SMIT) so for them to be ranked 3rd I don’t know they really steped up at the end of the year or maybe the others stared on John way to early. -Elon
Elon, let’s analyze your claims and then discuss why the voters differed so much so as to get this final poll. First, your claims:
1. “Heritage NY is clearly the best team out there.”
Considerations:
-Did not appear at CI or VToC
-Appeared at Blue Ridge and did not win
-The Athens win did not include a field with Falls or Mukwonago
2. “Both Old Paths and Falls WI I believe are ranked purely on the CI performance”
-Old Paths did win the tournament with the best field of teams which was CI.
-Falls WI has two teams that placed 2nd and 3rd at CI (the tournament with the best field of teams). I believe the case for the Falls ranking is the ministry over team mentality. This ranking as a whole is valuing the team, if it were valuing the ministry, I would argue that Falls would have 100% of the first place votes. Falls was arguably the best performing team at VToC and lost due to error overload. Falls may be the most formidable team/ministry in the country. The #1 team did get the #1 seed at CI which is a very legitimate accomplishment.
Take those arguments for what they are worth.
3. “Ridgeview. . .for them to be ranked 3rd I don’t know they really step[p]ed up at the end of the year of maybe the others star[t]ed on John way to[o] early.”
I have to partially agree with you on Ridgeview but I think you are discounting them. Consider the following accomplishments this year balanced with their less than stellar performances:
-They did win SMIT for what it’s worth
-At Athens, they were the top seed but finished 5th
-At CI (again, they did attend) they were the #2 seed behind Falls 1 but did have the most points and then finished 7th
-At Blue Ridge they beat out Old Paths, the FL/SC ensemble, and Heritage Mission in what would be (unknown at the time) the last physically present tournament of the year. If there is one nail in the coffin for Heritage Mission not being the #1 team, it is this. They did not win Blue Ridge. Had they won Blue Ridge, this would be much different.
-At VToC (in which they participated while Old Paths and Heritage Mission did not) they beat out Falls. That finish might prompt one to even argue for Ridgeview as a #2 over Falls.
You must consider that Ridgeview is the new kid on the block. In their 2nd year of Bible quizzing they are competing with the top teams in the country. With experience at this level under their belt, I wouldn’t bet against them next year.
Why the voters differed:
First, this was a very strange finish to the season that nobody saw coming. There’s an old saying that you “hunt with cats till you have coon dogs.” The voters have to do the best with what they have. Historically, the rankings are based on the four majors (NYC, CI, SCQANIT, AACS). From those four majors, data can be obtained to rank teams based upon their team’s performance. Lack of attendance to a major and lack of AACS membership usually have to be factored into one’s ballot. This year, two of those majors were just wiped out and replaced with the Bible Quiz version of Jeopardy minus Alex Trebek. That’s a huge shift of available information. Blue Ridge and VToC are not satisfactory substitutes for SCQANIT and AACS but that’s what happened.
Of the two majors, CI was clearly more valuable and should be as it hosted a better field of teams. There was a very weird dynamic where one of the best quizzers in the country (Carson Ziemer) quizzed with two different teams that finished in the top 10. How often does that happen? Because of that, there is much confusion in how to rank Florida Plaid and New Testament. If you want to add the pre-major tournaments such as KIQ, Great Lakes, and SMIT, that just adds another layer of complexity that the voters consider.
All that being said, I felt like under the circumstances, the final rankings turned out as they should. One voter exists to cancel out another’s bias. Fortunately, there was complete agreement on the #1 team. As for the rest of the field, if you want to take #1 from Old Paths, get a head start on the Gospel according to John in this quarantine opportunity and maybe next April, you will be there!
Whoever this non-electric vehicle driver is he is spot on. I believe Old Paths proved themselves to be the best team at CI. If the non-electric vehicle driver( by the way awesome name)had not responded I would’ve been glad to have responded as well. From the perspective of a quizzer, the top three teams were definitely Old Paths, Falls, and Ridgeview. Of course, I never personally quizzed against Heritage Mission, but I watched most of their quizzes at Athens. They did not seem to have the same balance as the year before. That being said, Not only did old Paths dominate at Colorado, but Falls did as well. Ridgeview was the most dominant team at the end of the year, and If SCQANIT was held I feel very confident that they would have won with their incredible depth. By the way, in response to Elon Musk ????, Old Paths I believe split up their team at Blue Ridge which would explain why they did not win. As for Florida Plaid/ New Testament, I think that those performances show who the best quizzer in the country was this year. This bible quiz year was a year in which many teams showcased their depth and their ability to win a tournament.
I meant to say that Heritage seemed to have the same balance as last year ( as evidenced by their Athens win) feautering two amazing quizzers in Joe and Humility, but towards the end of this year teams like Ridgeview just seemed to be overpowering. Who knows, if Heritage had come to Colorado, they might have won. Their presence are Colorado would have made the rankings a lot easier. One point that takes away from the case of Heritage is the fact that Athens is an earlier major. At Athens, Heritage was far and away the best team. However Blue Ridge and Athens fielded the same top ten teams ( except for the absence of Easley and maybe Faith SC), but one is later in the year which gives a more accurate measurement. Blue Ridge then can become a major stick by which you measure teams and their appropriate rankings. This year as tournaments besides Colorado, Blue Ridge should get the most weight.