FCS Coaches Poll

[smallcollegefbfan]

James Madison Remains No. 1 in Coaches Poll

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Top-ranked James Madison received 27 of the 28 first-place votes this week to remain on top of the FCS Coaches Poll. Nine teams remained in the top 10 from last week’s poll with one team moving into the top 10.

James Madison remained the No. 1 team after a 23-19 decision over Villanova, scoring a touchdown on the last play of the game to pick up the win. The Dukes received 27 first-place votes for the second-straight week.

Picking up the final first-place vote this week was No. 5 Wofford, which received 588 total points. The Terriers defeated No. 12 Elon, 55-20, on Saturday. Wofford’s only loss this season came at the hands of SEC member South Carolina on Sept. 20, 23-13.

Appalachian State used two fourth-quarter scores to sneak past Furman, 26-14, on Saturday, retaining the No. 2 ranking this week.

Cal Poly and Northern Iowa remain at the third and fourth spots respectively in the poll with Wofford and Montana at fifth and sixth, switching spots from last week. Richmond, New Hampshire and Villanova remain in the top 10 with Central Arkansas moving up to No. 9 in the poll.

Harvard enters this week’s poll tied for 24th after a 24-20 win over Princeton on Saturday. The Crimson have received votes in the poll since first appearing at No. 25 in Week 1. Hampton drops out of the top 25 after a 35-13 loss to No. 20 South Carolina State.

The Colonial Athletic Conference continues to lead the way with six teams ranked in the top 25, with four of those being top 10. The Southern Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference both have four teams in the top 25.

The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and is administered by the Southern Conference. Two head coaches from each of the 14 FCS conferences participate in the voting.

The FCS Coaches Poll website can be viewed here and is updated every week after the release of the poll.

Team (1st Votes) Record Points Previous Ranking
1. James Madison (27) 7-1 699 1
2. Appalachian State 6-2 665 2
3. Cal Poly 5-1 622 3
4. Northern Iowa 6-2 596 4
5. Wofford (1) 6-1 588 6
6. Montana 7-1 574 5
7. Richmond 6-3 531 8
8. New Hampshire 6-1 479 10
9. Central Arkansas 7-1 453 12
10. Villanova 5-2 412 9
11. Southern Illinois 5-2 405 13
12. Elon 7-2 389 7
13. Weber State 7-2 363 17
14. Western Illinois 5-2 342 14
15. Massachusetts 5-3 320 16
16. McNeese State 4-3 221 11
17. Liberty 7-1 204 21
18. Northern Arizona 6-2 197 15
19. William & Mary 5-2 178 23
20. South Carolina State 6-2 147 24
21. Furman 6-3 143 18
22. Lafayette 6-1 131 NR
23. Tennessee-Martin 7-2 77 NR
T24. North Dakota State 4-4 50 24
T24. Harvard 5-1 50 NR

Other receiving votes (pts. in parentheses): Tennessee State (40), Jacksonville State (33), Florida A&M (28), Georgia Southern (25), Eastern Washington (19), Prairie View (18), Hampton (17), Texas State (17), Colgate (17), Maine (15), Grambling State (14), Dayton (6), UC Davis (4), Brown (4), South Dakota State (3), Holy Cross (2), Delaware (1), San Diego (1).

[LehighFan11]

[B]
13. Weber State
18. Northern Arizona

How is the spread between Weber and Northern Arizona 5 spots? Did they miss the game?

[WrenFGun]

Boy, even the coaches seem to have Weber and 'Nova too low. Maybe we're just delusional on this website? WHY IS MCNEESE IN THE TOP 25!?

[JoshUCA]

Finally UCA cracks the Top 10!

[AZGrizFan]

WTF is UNI doing @ #4???? xconfusedx xconfusedx xconfusedx

[dennisdent]

Liberty higher than Lafayette???? Just shows how worthless these polls are.

[SuperJon]

Liberty higher than Lafayette???? Just shows how worthless these polls are.

And Lafayette higher than Harvard.

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

I saw Harvard play in person a couple weeks ago vs. Lehigh. Wasn't overly impressed with them. I have them in my top 25, but I doubt that they'll end up much higher than 20 by year's end. Maybe teens if they run the table in the Ivy.

They're a good team, but I think there are about 20 better teams out there. Harvard kind of lucky Lehigh didn't pull out the win in the end (Yeah, I know, this coming from a JMU fan this week! HA!).

[Anovafan]

Only 28 voters? How many FCS programs are there again?

[danefan]

Only 28 voters? How many FCS programs are there again?

its not all coaches with a vote. Its two per conference and they rotate each year. See the list here:

http://www.soconsports.com/fls/4000/socon/FCS/index_files/Page354.htm

[DetroitFlyer]

its not all coaches with a vote. Its two per conference and they rotate each year. See the list here:

http://www.soconsports.com/fls/4000/socon/FCS/index_files/Page354.htm

Fordie not voting for Albany...? Hopefully, he is one of the coaches voting for Dayton.:D

[danefan]

Fordie not voting for Albany...? Hopefully, he is one of the coaches voting for Dayton.:D

Can't vote for your own team.

And Albany isn't a top 25 team anyway.....Top 30ish probably, but not top 25. That second half against Delaware will haunt him for years.

[hawkeye]

UT Martin in!!!!!!!! Now we have to go to Auburn............

[tribe_pride]

Can't vote for your own team.

And Albany isn't a top 25 team anyway.....Top 30ish probably, but not top 25. That second half against Delaware will haunt him for years.

So MM is the one who voted Wofford 1 then? No chance of 100% if your coach is on the panel. Understand the rationale (and that it makes no difference since there is a playoff) but it seems a little unfair.

Edit: If you look at points, JMU got 699 so they got the 2nd place vote from whoever gave someone else 1. Maybe can't vote your own team 1 if you are right or maybe someone thought Wofford was 1 if you are wrong.

[Petrie Dish]

WTF is UNI doing @ #4???? xconfusedx xconfusedx xconfusedx

At least 5 spots too high. Probably closer to 7. :o

[Anovafan]

Why not open it to all of the coaches? Seems a little weird to me to only have 28 people voting in a poll.

[danefan]

Why not open it to all of the coaches? Seems a little weird to me to only have 28 people voting in a poll.

I think its forced on the coaches as it is. I doubt they want to spend the time to do it or delegate it to an SID either. I think the 2 per conference and rotational system is to only force people to do it every 4 years or so. But that's just a guess.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

Why not open it to all of the coaches? Seems a little weird to me to only have 28 people voting in a poll.

It is probably a lot easier to reconcile 28 coaches that don't give a crap about the poll ... than it would be to reconcile over 100 coaches that don't give a crap about the poll.

[Anovafan]

It is probably a lot easier to reconcile 28 coaches that don't give a crap about the poll ... than it would be to reconcile over 100 coaches that don't give a crap about the poll.

True, ok, you have convinced me. Let's do away with the coaches poll.

[danefan]

True, ok, you have convinced me. Let's do away with the coaches poll.

Apparently its the NCAA that pushes for the Coaches Poll. At least that's what I gathered when they were fighting for it as a criteria for the conditional auto-bid for the NEC this year.

[skinny_uncle]

At least 5 spots too high. Probably closer to 7. :o
Then they would only be four spots ahead of the Saluki team they lost to instead of seven.
xwhistlex

[Retro]

Boy, even the coaches seem to have Weber and 'Nova too low. Maybe we're just delusional on this website? WHY IS MCNEESE IN THE TOP 25!?

A 4-3 Mcneese team is still better than a 6 -2 south carolina state team along with a few others in the same area.. Another loss and Mcneese won't be in anyone's way, but we'll see how it plays out!xreadx

[ekufbfan]

Others receiving votes (minimum of 5 votes): North Dakota St. (33), Georgia Southern (31), Texas St. (27), Maine (26), Tennessee St. (20), Hampton (15), Jacksonville St. (11), Colgate (9), Prairie View A&M (6)

Also rans????...how does Jacksonville State still get votes, when they have lost to both EKU and UTM...could it be the LSU connection.....

[smallcollegefbfan]

Also rans????...how does Jacksonville State still get votes, when they have lost to both EKU and UTM...could it be the LSU connection.....

Wait a minute I thought JSU was in the top 10 by the way some talked about that team in the preseason. I think the polls have made a mistake? xsmiley_wix

I am just messing with JSU people. This just goes to show what many others, including myself, said in the preseason about the fact that when you bring in so many transfers it usually takes a year to gel and become use to each other. I fully expect RP and JSU to have a very good team next year and be a top 20 team.

[T-Dog]

Five bucks says Lembo was the one who voted for Wofford. xnodx

[wideright82]

Five bucks says Lembo was the one who voted for Wofford. xnodx

i will take that bet

[Seat16Demon]

Boy, even the coaches seem to have Weber and 'Nova too low. Maybe we're just delusional on this website? WHY IS MCNEESE IN THE TOP 25!?

Good call! There is little reason why the boys from Lake Chuck should be in the poll. If another SLC team deserves to be there, you could make a decent case for (SW) Texas State. Hopefully the Demons won't commode in their upcoming visit to San Marcos. Then you could say Texas State doesn't belong. The Southland sure is topsy turvy right now!