SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Montana Grizzlies held on to the No. 1 spot in the latest Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll, receiving 17 first-place votes and 685 points overall.
Saturday saw four top 10 teams face off, with then-No. 4 William & Mary taking on then-No. 7 New Hampshire and then-No. 6 Elon hosting then-No. 8 Appalachian State. The Tribe prevailed over the Wildcats 20-17, but dropped a spot to No. 5, while the Mountaineers defeated the Phoenix 27-10 and jumped two spots to No. 6.
No. 1 Montana (10-0) defeated Northern Colorado 38-10 behind Chase Reynolds's 151 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The Grizzlies won their 12th consecutive Big Sky championship and remain the only unbeaten team in the Top 25.
No. 2 Southern Illinois (9-1) received seven first-place votes coming off its 44-24 win against Missouri State. With the win the Salukis claimed their fifth-straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, which is a league record. Deji Karim led Southern Illinois with three rushing touchdowns and 117 rushing yards for his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season.
No. 3 Villanova (9-1) garnered the final four first-place votes after its 49-7 victory at Towson. Scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions, the Wildcats recorded 430 yards of total offense. Chris Whitney threw for two scores and caught a touchdown pass from Matt Szczur.
No. 4 Richmond (9-1) rebounded from last week's loss against Villanova to defeat Georgetown 49-10. Richmond quarterback Eric Ward threw for two scores and four different Spiders rushed for touchdowns in the game.
No. 5 William & Mary (9-1) led New Hampshire (8-2) 17-10 in the third quarter, the Wildcats tied it at 17 with 8:17 remaining in the game. The Tribe responded with a 52-yard drive that ended with Brian Pate kicking a game-winning 37-yard field goal. William & Mary is 9-1 for the first time since 1947. With the loss, New Hampshire dropped two spots to No. 9.
Rounding out the top 10 were Appalachian State (8-2) at No. 6, South Carolina State (9-1) at No. 7, McNeese State (8-2) at No. 8, New Hampshire at No. 9 and Elon (8-2) at No. 10.
The Bulldogs jumped two spots after their 37-13 win against Morgan State, while the Cowboys defeated then-No. 25 Texas State to move up two spots.
Two teams are new to the poll this week, including No. 23 Montana State (7-3) and No. 25 Pennsylvania (7-2). The Bobcats won 27-17 versus Sacramento State, while the Quakers earned a 17-7 victory at Harvard.
Dropping out of the poll were Delaware, which lost 35-18 at Navy, and Texas State, which fell 30-27 against No. 8 McNeese State.
No. 21 Colgate (9-2) made the biggest jump this week, moving up three spots after its 29-14 win at Bucknell.
With Montana State moving into the Top 25 and Delaware dropping out, the Big Sky Conference moved into a tie with the Colonial Athletic Association for the most ranked teams in the latest poll. Both leagues are represented by four ranked teams. The CAA's four teams are all in the Top 10. The Missouri Valley Conference and Patriot League are each represented by three teams. The Mid-Eastern Athletic, Ohio Valley, Southern and Southland Conferences each have two teams in the poll. Three conferences are each represented by one team including the Big South Conference, the Ivy League and the Southwest Athletic Conference.
The FCS Coaches Poll website can be viewed here and is updated each week after the release of the poll.
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.
2009 FCS Coaches Poll - Week 11 (November 16, 2009)
Team (No. 1 Votes) 2009 Record Points Previous Ranking
1. Montana (17) 10-0 685 1
2. Southern Illinois (7) 9-1 672 2
3. Villanova (4) 9-1 657 3
4. Richmond 9-1 606 T4
5. William & Mary 9-1 595 T4
6. Appalachian State 8-2 560 8
7. South Carolina State 9-1 503 9
8. McNeese State 8-2 477 10
9. New Hampshire 8-2 466 7
10. Elon 8-2 454 6
11. Northern Iowa 7-3 440 11
12. South Dakota State 7-3 345 12
T13. Eastern Illinois 8-2 341 13
T13. Holy Cross 9-1 341 14
15. Jacksonville State 7-3 291 15
16. Stephen F. Austin 8-2 280 17
17. Liberty 8-2 273 16
18. Eastern Washington 7-3 227 18
19. Prairie View A&M 7-1 210 19
20. Weber State 6-4 167 22
21. Colgate 9-2 125 24
22. Lafayette 8-2 109 20
23. Montana State 7-3 65 NR
24. Florida A&M 7-3 44 21
25. Pennsylvania 7-2 42 NR
Others receiving votes (points in parentheses): Delaware (35), Texas State (27), Central Connecticut State (16), Butler (8), Alabama A&M (5), Northern Arizona (5), UC Davis (5), Dayton (4), Cal Poly (3), Harvard (3), Maine (3), Massachusetts (3), Southeastern Louisiana (3), Chattanooga (2), Drake (1), James Madison (1), Southern (1).