SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Appalachian State is ranked No. 3 in the first Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll, released September 6. The Mountaineers pulled out a 42-41 win at Chattanooga to start the season. The Elon Phoenix, ranked No. 7 in the preseason poll, came in at No. 8 on Monday. The Phoenix fell 41-27 at Duke last weekend.
Montana took over as the No. 1 team in the nation after a 73-2 victory over Western State. The Grizzlies received 16 first-place votes and 662 points overall. Montana spent three weeks last season atop the poll.
Southern Illinois jumped three spots to claim second in the poll after a 70-7 victory over Quincy last week. The Salukis received 598 total points to finish ahead of Appalachian State with 585 points and a first-place vote.
The preseason No. 1 Villanova Wildcats fell to fourth in the polls after losing 31-24 to cross-town rival Temple. The Wildcats received eight first-place votes and 579 points overall. New Hampshire finished fifth in the voting to round out the top-five.
The biggest jump in the rankings was made by Jacksonville State, as they received two first-place votes and moved 11 spots to No. 6. The Gamecocks pulled off the biggest upset in the first week of football with a 49-48 double-overtime thriller against Ole Miss. Jacksonville State outscored the Rebels 21-3 in the fourth quarter to force the overtime, and the Gamecocks opted for the two-point conversion in the second overtime to capture the win. It was the first time the Gamecocks have defeated a Football Bowl Subdivision since they beat Arkansas State in 2001. The 21-point comeback was also the largest come-from-behind victory for Jacksonville State in school history.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Richmond, Elon, South Dakota State and McNeese State.
New to the poll this week are Massachusetts (No. 20) and North Dakota State (No. 21). Prairie View A&M, Cal-Poly and Holy Cross all fell out of the rankings.
Nine conferences are represented in the poll. The Colonial Athletic Association leads the way with seven teams, followed by the Big Sky with five ranked teams. The Missouri Valley has four teams in the Top 25, and the Southern, Southland and Ohio Valley Conferences each have two representatives. The Mid-Eastern Atlantic and Big South Conferences, along with the Patriot League, have one team in this week's poll.
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.
2010 FCS Coaches Week 1 Poll (September 6, 2010)
Team (No. 1 Votes) Record Points Last Week
1. Montana (16) 1-0 662 2|
2. Southern Illinois 1-0 598 5
3. Appalachian State (1) 1-0 585 3
4. Villanova (8) 0-1 579 1
5. New Hampshire 1-0 518 9
6. Jacksonville State (2) 1-0 516 17
7. Richmond 0-1 478 6
8. Elon 0-1 443 7
9. South Dakota State 0-0 426 10
10. McNeese State 1-0 378 11
11. James Madison 1-0 357 15
12. Stephen F. Austin 0-1 353 8
13. Northern Iowa 0-0 336 13
14. William & Mary 0-1 285 4
15. Eastern Washington 0-1 273 14
16. South Carolina State 0-1 264 12
17. Delaware 1-0 234 19
18. Liberty 1-0 216 20
19. Weber State 0-1 184 18
20. Massachusetts 1-0 163 NR
21. North Dakota State 1-0 138 NR
22. Eastern Illinois 0-1 134 16
23. Montana State 1-0 115 24
24. Northern Arizona 1-0 107 23
25. Colgate 1-0 81 22
Others receiving votes: Prairie View A&M (79), Holy Cross (67), Cal-Poly (47), Illinois State (28), Penn (23), Missouri State (17), Georgia Southern (12), Harvard (11), Albany (9), Furman (9), Texas State (8), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6), Bethune-Cookman (5), Southern Utah (5), Tennessee State (5), Southeastern Louisiana (4), Alabama State (3), Florida A&M (3), Gardner-Webb (3), Austin Peay (2), Dayton (2), Bucknell (1), Butler (1), UC Davis (1), Youngstown State (1)