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 24^th 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 (1^st 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).