PHILADELPHIA - Appalachian State and Elon were selected third and seventh, respectively, in the Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Preseason Top 25. Villanova, the 2009 FCS national champion, was tabbed the preseason favorite. The Wildcats gained 104 of the 126 first-place votes and 3,112 points.
Montana, which has lost in the last two FCS championship games, was the No. 2 team in the poll with 2,899 points, receiving nine first-place votes. The Grizzlies were followed in the top five by Appalachian State, William & Mary and Southern Illinois.
"In my particular feeling, the (2009) season was phenomenal," Villanova head coach Andy Talley said. "We had talent, we also had a certain amount of luck. We stayed pretty injury-free, and had the ability to maybe take that thing the whole way. And everything broke just right for us. Going into 2010, we have the same mixture of players. We have a good team that could be capable of defending. However, the question remains if we have the chemistry to do what we did last year and if this team will come together."
After Richmond at No. 6, the Top 10 followed with No. 7 Elon, No. 8 Stephen F. Austin, No. 9 South Dakota State and No. 10 New Hampshire.
The second 10 starts at No. 11 with defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion South Carolina State, followed by McNeese State, Eastern Washington, Northern Iowa, James Madison, Delaware, Jacksonville State, Eastern Illinois, Weber State and Prairie View A&M.
Big South favorite Liberty was No. 21, followed by Colgate, Penn, Montana State and Holy Cross.
Wofford, Furman, Samford, Georgia Southern and Chattanooga were among the teams that received votes in preseason balloting. The 2010 Southern Conference season begins September 4 with eight of the league's nine teams in action. Preseason favorite Appalchian State visits Chattanooga at 3:00 p.m. in the league's only conference matchup the first weekend. That game will be televised by SportSouth.
Sports Network Preseason Top 25 Poll
| 1. Villanova Wildcats (104) |
14-1 |
3,112 |
1 |
| 2. Montana Grizzlies (9) |
14-1 |
2,899 |
2 |
| 3. Appalachian State Mountaineers (8) |
11-3 |
2,857 |
3 |
| 4. William & Mary Tribe (3) |
11-3 |
2,631 |
4 |
| 5. Southern Illinois Salukis (1) |
11-2 |
2,569 |
6 |
| 6. Richmond Spiders (1) |
11-2 |
2,317 |
5 |
| 7. Elon Phoenix |
9-3 |
2,243 |
9 |
| 8. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks |
10-3 |
2,041 |
10 |
| 9. South Dakota State Jackrabbits |
8-4 |
1,863 |
11 |
| 10. New Hampshire Wildcats |
10-3 |
1,837 |
7 |
| 11. South Carolina State Bulldogs |
10-2 |
1,607 |
8 |
| 12. McNeese State Cowboys |
9-3 |
1,475 |
12 |
| 13. Eastern Washington Eagles |
8-4 |
1,422 |
3 |
| 14. Northern Iowa Panthers |
7-4 |
1,269 |
18 |
| 15. James Madison Dukes |
6-5 |
1,237 |
NR |
| 16. Delaware Blue Hens |
6-5 |
879 |
NR |
| 17. Jacksonville State Gamecocks |
8-3 |
833 |
16 |
| 18. Eastern Illinois Panthers |
8-4 |
762 |
19 |
| 19. Weber State Wildcats |
7-5 |
716 |
17 |
| 20. Prairie View A&M Panthers |
9-1 |
709 |
15 |
| 21. Liberty Flames |
8-3 |
633 |
22 |
| 22. Colgate Raiders |
9-2 |
608 |
21 |
| 23. Penn Quakers |
8-2 |
593 |
20 |
| 24. Montana State Bobcats |
7-4 |
584 |
NR |
| 25. Holy Cross Crusaders |
9-3 |
560 |
14 |
Others receiving votes: Illinois State 488, Wofford 311, Northern Arizona 286, Cal Poly 239, Furman 229, Texas State 206, Florida A&M 153, Lafayette 98, Maine 88, Harvard 85, Eastern Kentucky 81, UC Davis 61, Samford 61, Massachusetts 45, Southeastern Louisiana 45, Alabama A&M 45, Missuori State 40, Central Arkansas 39, Norfolk State 28, Lehigh 27, Old Dominion 25, Grambling State 24, Davidson 23, Georgia Southern 22, Princeton 21, Dayton 20, Portland State 18, Chattanooga 17, Youngstown State 15, Idaho State 15, Southern utah 14, Northwestern State 12, Indiana State 12, Stony Brook 12, Hampton 12, Gardner-Webb 11, Tennessee Tech 9, Robert Morris 9, North Dakota 8, Southern 8, Central Connecticut State 7, Morgan State 7, Jackson State 7, North Carolina A&T 6, VMI 5, North Dakota State 5, Austin Peay 4, Butler 4, Alcorn State 3, Jacksonville 2, Texas Southern 2, Brown 2, Howard 2, Cornell 1, Coastal Carolina 1.
Information from The Sports Network was used in this report