SFA, McNeese State Ranked in FCS Preseason Coaches Poll
FRISCO, Texas - Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State are ranked No. 8 and No. 11, respectively, in the FCS Preseason Coaches Poll, which was announced today. Villanova was chosen as the preseason No. 1, as the Wildcats received 24 of the 30 first place votes and 667 points overall.
SFA, which was also picked eighth by the Sports Network, finished with a 10-3 overall record last season and was ranked ninth in the final coaches poll after reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA playoffs. The Lumberjacks return 40 letterwinners and 16 starters from last year's conference championship team. Two of the more notable returnees are preseason All-Americans Jeremy Moses and Jabara Williams. Moses is a leading candidate for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the best player in the Football Championship Subdivision, while Williams is a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is awarded to the subdivision's top defensive player.
McNeese State is ranked 11, which is one spot higher than where it finished in the final poll of 2009. The Cowboys, which shared the 2009 conference championship with SFA, return 50 letterwinners and 15 starters from last year's 9-3 team. It was the team's 13th Southland Conference championship. Malcolm Bronson was the 2009 Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year after he led the Cowboys with 89 tackles and two interceptions. McNeese was picked 12th in the Sports Network poll.
Villanova returns 15 starters from last year's team that went 14-1. Seven of those starters return to a defense that ranked third in rushing defense (66.73 yards per game) and sixth in scoring defense (14.07 points per game) last season. Senior wide receiver Matt Szczur, last year's championship game most outstanding player, also returns for the Wildcats. The national runnersup the past two seasons, Montana was picked second, receiving two first-place votes.
The Grizzlies held the No. 1 ranking for the final three weeks last season before falling to Villanova 23-21 in the title game. Appalachian State, William & Mary and Southern Illinois round out the top five. Richmond came in sixth after spending nine weeks at the top of the poll last season. Rounding out the top 10 are Elon, SFA, New Hampshire and South Dakota State.
Five other Southland Conference teams - Texas State, Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas, Nicholls and Sam Houston State - also received votes in the first coaches poll of the season.
Eleven conferences are represented in the poll. The Colonial Athletic Association leads the way with six teams, followed by the Big Sky with five ranked teams. The Missouri Valley has three teams in the Top 25, and the Southern, Southland, Ohio Valley Conferences, along with the Patriot League, each have two representatives. The remaining four conferences are the Mid-Eastern Atlantic, Big South, Southwestern and Great West.
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 Preseason Poll
|
Rk.
|
Team (No. 1 Votes)
|
'09 Record
|
Points
|
Prev.
|
|
1.
|
Villanova (22)'
|
14-1
|
667
|
1
|
|
2.
|
Montana (2)
|
14-1
|
632
|
2
|
|
3.
|
Appalachian State (4)
|
11-3
|
622
|
T3
|
|
4.
|
William & Mary
|
11-3
|
587
|
T3
|
|
5.
|
Southern Illinois
|
11-2
|
551
|
6
|
|
6.
|
Richmond
|
11-2
|
484
|
5
|
|
7.
|
Elon
|
9-3
|
474
|
10
|
|
8.
|
Stephen F. Austin
|
10-3
|
413
|
9
|
|
9.
|
New Hampshire
|
10-3
|
409
|
7
|
|
10.
|
South Dakota State
|
8-4
|
403
|
11
|
|
11.
|
McNeese State
|
9-3
|
376
|
12
|
|
12.
|
South Carolina State
|
10-2
|
341
|
8
|
|
13.
|
Northern Iowa
|
7-4
|
333
|
18
|
|
14.
|
Eastern Washington
|
8-4
|
327
|
13
|
|
15.
|
James Madison
|
6-5
|
290
|
NR
|
|
16.
|
Eastern Illinois
|
8-4
|
236
|
15
|
|
17.
|
Jacksonville State
|
8-3
|
208
|
16
|
|
18.
|
Weber State
|
7-5
|
186
|
17
|
|
19.
|
Delaware
|
6-5
|
185
|
NR
|
|
20.
|
Liberty
|
8-3
|
171
|
21
|
|
21.
|
Prairie View A&M
|
9-1
|
135
|
19
|
|
22.
|
Colgate
|
9-2
|
98
|
20
|
|
23.
|
Northern Arizona
|
5-6
|
87
|
NR
|
|
24.
|
Montana State
|
7-4
|
85
|
NR
|
|
T25.
|
Cal Poly
|
4-7
|
66
|
NR
|
|
T25.
|
Holy Cross
|
9-3
|
66
|
14
|
Other receiving votes: Penn (60), Illinois State (54), Texas State (53), Florida A&M (44), Furman (36), Eastern Kentucky (35), Wofford (35), UC Davis (32), Massachusetts (24), Georgia Southern (23), Alabama A&M (22), Jackson State (19), Maine (19), Alcorn State (17), Southeastern Louisiana (16), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (16), Southern (15), Central Arkansas (14), Morgan State (14), Hampton (12), Bethune-Cookman (11), Harvard (10), Missouri State (10), Nicholls (10), Sam Houston State (9), Grambling (8), Alabama State (6), Lehigh (8), Youngstown State (6), Texas Southern (5), Albany (4), Lafayette (4), Butler (3), Mississippi Valley State (3), Southern Utah (3), Central Connecticut State (2), Stony Brook (2), Chattanooga (1), Gardner-Webb (1).