FCS Coaches Poll Central
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? For the third straight year, Appalachian State has been chosen as the preseason No. 1 in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll. Despite losing to the eventual champion Richmond in the quarterfinals last season, the Mountaineers edged the Spiders for first place by five points.
The Mountaineers, who received 13 first-place votes, return Walter Payton award-winning quarterback Armanti Edwards and linebacker Jacque Roman.
Appalachian State won three straight titles from 2005 to 2007 and finished with a record of 11-3 in 2008.
The defending National Champion Spiders took second place, receiving 10 first-place votes. Richmond finished 2009 with a 13-3 record.
Last year’s championship runner-up, Montana, took third, with Northern Iowa and Villanova rounding out the top five. The Panthers and the Wildcats each received a first-place vote.
James Madison, which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 last year, took sixth place and received two first-place votes. Finishing out the top 10 are Southern Illinois, New Hampshire, Weber State and Wofford.
The final first-place vote went to Massachusetts, who is ranked at No. 18.
Ten conferences are represented in the poll. The Colonial Athletic Association leads with eight ranked teams. The Southern, Big Sky, Missouri Valley and Southland Conferences each have three teams in the top 25. The other five conferences represented include the Great West, Mid-Eastern Atlantic, Ohio Valley, Ivy and Southwestern.
The CAA is represented by Richmond at No. 2, Villanova at No. 5, James Madison at No. 6, New Hampshire at No. 8, William & Mary at No. 14, Massachusetts at No. 18, Maine at No. 19 and Hofstra at No. 24.
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 Preseason Poll (August 24, 2009)
Team (1st votes) 2008 Record Points 2008 Final Ranking
1. Appalachian State (13) 11-3 665 5
2. Richmond (10) 13-3 660 1
3. Montana 14-2 623 2
4. Northern Iowa (1) 12-3 584 4
5. Villanova (1) 10-3 569 6
6. James Madison (2) 12-2 528 3
7. Southern Illinois 9-3 468 10
8. New Hampshire 10-3 419 7
9. Weber State 10-4 405 9
10. Wofford 9-3 370 11
11. Elon 8-4 364 19
12. Central Arkansas 10-2 312 12
13. Cal Poly 8-3 282 13
14. William & Mary 7-4 239 20
15. McNeese State 7-4 237 21
16. South Carolina State 10-3 225 13
17. Eastern Washington 6-5 204 NR
18. Massachusetts (1) 7-5 196 NR
T19. Jacksonville State 8-3 145 22
T19. Maine 8-5 145 16
21. Texas State 8-5 137 23
22. Harvard 9-1 121 14
23. South Dakota State 7-5 101 NR
24. Hofstra 4-8 78 NR
25. Grambling State 11-2 77 24
Others receiving votes (points in parentheses): Liberty (76), Eastern Kentucky (72), Georgia Southern (66), Holy Cross (64), Delaware (63), Florida A&M (62), Youngstown State (56), North Dakota State (56), Furman (55), UT Martin (43), Colgate (40), Northern Arizona (34), Montana State (33), Tennessee State (25), Prairie View A&M (24), Eastern Illinois (22), UC Davis (19), Jackson State (17), Hampton (17), Southern University (13) San Diego (13), Western Illinois (12), Bethune-Cookman (12), Jacksonville (11), Princeton (10), Albany (9), Northwestern State (8), Norfolk State (4), Morgan State (3), North Carolina A&T (2), South Dakota (1), Lehigh (1), Alabama A&M (1)