Top 10 Teams Static After Successful Saturday

 

SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Nine of the top 10 teams picked up wins Saturday, and this week’s FCS Coaches Poll reflected that as the top 10 teams held their positions. Richmond (4-0), coming off its 38-28 home win against VMI, maintained its grip on No. 1 by receiving all 28 first-place votes and 700 points overall. The Spiders have won 13 straight games, a school record and the longest current winning streak in the FCS. Richmond quarterback Eric Ward threw for a career-high 394 yards.

 

Villanova (4-0) held on to the No. 2 spot after its 56-7 victory against Northeastern. The Wildcats rushed for six touchdowns and had a total rushing attack of 410 yards.

 

Montana (4-0) remained at No. 3, after its 41-34 overtime win at Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks kicked a field goal with three seconds left to send the game into overtime. Montana scored first and then intercepted Northern Arizona to end the game.

 

Northern Iowa (3-1) maintained its hold at No. 4 after its 35-7 win at Missouri State. The Panthers held Missouri State to 15 first downs and only 185 yards of total offense. The Bears’ only score came with 7.2 seconds left in the game.

 

William & Mary (4-0), which defeated Delaware 30-20, comes in at No. 5. Tribe quarterback R.J. Archer threw for a career-high 313 yards and two touchdowns. William & Mary is off to its best start since 1994.

 

James Madison (2-1) remained at No. 6 after winning on the road at No. 24 Liberty, 24-10. The Dukes are followed by New Hampshire (3-0) at No. 7 and Southern Illinois (2-1) at No. 8.

 

McNeese State (3-1) held on to the No. 9 spot despite its 42-32 loss at Tulane while Appalachian State (1-2), which picked up its first win of the season Saturday, rounded out the top 10.

 

New to this week’s poll were Eastern Illinois (4-0) at No. 24 and Montana State (2-1) at No. 25. The Panthers picked up a 30-20 win at Austin Peay Saturday, while Montana State defeated Northern Colorado on the road, 25-7.

 

Falling out of the rankings was Wofford (1-3), which lost at Chattanooga, 38-9, and Liberty, which fell to No. 6 James Madison, 24-10.

 

The Colonial Athletic Association maintains six ranked teams, with three in the top five and five in the top 10. The Big Sky Conference is represented by four ranked teams. The Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley and Southland Conferences each have three ranked teams, while the Mid-Eastern Athletic and Southern Conferences each have two. The Great West Conference and Patriot League are each represented by one team.

 

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 4 (September 28, 2009)

 

      Team (No. 1 Votes)               2009 Record          Points     Previous Ranking
1. Richmond (28)                                 4-0                   700                     1

2. Villanova                                         4-0                   659                     2

3. Montana                                          4-0                   631                     3

4. Northern Iowa                                  3-1                   630                     4

5. William & Mary                                4-0                   581                     5

6. James Madison                               2-1                   550                     6

7. New Hampshire                               3-0                   536                     7

8. Southern Illinois                               2-1                   491                     8

9. McNeese State                                3-1                   444                     9

10. Appalachian State                          1-2                   403                    10

11. Weber State                                  2-2                   397                    11

12. Central Arkansas                           2-1                   375                    12

13. Elon                                              3-1                   373                    13

14. South Carolina State                      3-0                   309                    16

15. South Dakota State                        3-0                   293                    18

16. Massachusetts                              3-1                   282                    15

17. Cal Poly                                        1-2                   210                    14

18. Eastern Washington                       3-1                   194                    20

19. Texas State                                   2-1                   184                    19

20. Jacksonville State                          2-2                   158                    21

21. Eastern Kentucky                          2-1                   157                    22

22. Holy Cross                                    3-0                   134                    23

23. Florida A&M                                  4-0                   115                    25

24. Eastern Illinois                               4-0                    94                    NR

25. Montana State                               2-1                    30                    NR

 

Others receiving votes (points in parentheses): Colgate (24), Stephen F. Austin (24), Wofford (20), Furman (17), Grambling State (14), Liberty (14), Chattanooga (11), Prairie View A&M (11), Youngstown State (10), Maine (6), Northern Arizona (6), Gardner-Webb (5), Southern (3) Alabama A&M (2), Delaware (2), Butler (1).

 

 

 

 

Richmond avoids upset, stays No. 1

 

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Richmond survived an upset bid to beat VMI, 38-28, and held on to most of its support as the No. 1 team in The Sports Network FCS Top-25 poll released on Monday.

 

The Spiders (4-0) received 117 of 139 first-place votes to out-distance second-place Villanova by 143 points. Villanova (4-0) picked up 13 first-place votes after smashing Northeastern, 56-7, at home in a Colonial Athletic Association game.

 

The only other teams to receive first-place votes were No. 3 Northern Iowa with six, No. 5 William & Mary with two and No. 6 New Hampshire with one. No. 4 Montana did not receive any first-place votes.

 

Northern Iowa dominated Missouri State, 35-7, on the road in Missouri Valley Football Conference play. Montana needed overtime to outlast Northern Arizona, 41-34, on the road in a Big Sky Conference game.

 

William & Mary defeated Delaware, 30-20, at home in CAA and New Hampshire took a non-conference win at home against Dartmouth, 44-14.

 

James Madison (2-1) stayed at No. 7 with a tough 24-10 non-conference win on the road at Liberty. Liberty (2-2) was ranked No. 25 last week, but fell from this week's poll.

 

The top-10 had just one change, with Southern Illinois and McNeese State swapping places at the eighth and ninth spots.

 

Southern Illinois (2-1) moved up a spot with a solid 24-14 victory over North Dakota State in a MVFC home game, while McNeese State (3-1) lost a 42-32 heartbreaker to FBS opponent Tulane at the Louisiana Superdome.

 

Appalachian State (1-2) picked up its first win of the season, 20-7 over Samford, at home in its Southern Conference opener and remained 10th.

 

There was a bit of shuffling in the next 10 positions, with Elon and Central Arkansas, and Massachusetts and South Carolina State exchanging spots.

 

Weber State (2-2) stayed at No. 11 with a 36-29 Big Sky win at Portland State, but Elon (3-1) moved ahead of Central Arkansas at No. 12 by handling Georgia Southern, 28-14, in a SoCon game at home.

 

Central Arkansas (2-1), coming off of a win over FBS foe Western Kentucky a week earlier, earned a 24-10 win against Division II Glenville State and fell to 13th in the poll.

 

UMass (3-1) had another impressive win, stopping Stony Brook 44-17 in a non- conference home game and vaulted to No. 14. South Carolina State slipped to No. 15 in a bye week.

 

South Dakota State (3-0) continued to climb in the poll to No. 16 with a 38-17 MVFC victory over Illinois State on the road.

 

Eastern Washington and Eastern Kentucky both moved up two spots to 17th and 18th, respectively.

Eastern Washington (3-1) crushed Sacramento State 56-30 in a Big Sky road contest, while Eastern Kentucky (2-1) held off Murray State 23-10 on the road in an Ohio Valley Conference.

 

Cal Poly (1-2) tumbled three places from 16th to 19th following a 19-9 loss at San Jose State after building a first-half lead against the FBS opponent.

 

Completing the top 20 is Jacksonville State (2-2), which mashed Nicholls State, 60-10, in a non-conference road game. The Gamecocks were 22nd last week.

 

Making up the remainder of the poll is Holy Cross, Texas State, Eastern Illinois, Florida A&M and Colgate.

Holy Cross (3-0) remained at No. 21 in an off week, while Texas State (2-1) advanced from 23rd to 22nd with a 52-18 non-conference home win over Texas Southern and Eastern Illinois inched up one place to No. 23 with a 30-20 OVC road victory against Austin Peay.

 

Florida A&M (4-0) beat Tennessee State, 31-12, in the Atlanta Classic to crack the poll for the first time since the 2001 season, when the Rattlers were ranked as high as ninth.

 

Colgate made its first appearance of the season at No. 25 after beating Fordham, 20-12, in a Patriot League home contest.

 

Wofford had the largest fall with a 38-9 loss at Tennessee-Chattanooga in Southern Conference play. The Terriers (1-3) dropped from 18th to out of the poll for the first time since the final ranking of the 2006 campaign.

 

Sports Network's FCS College Football Poll