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UNH breaks into Top 25

 

Only one conference has three teams ranked in the first dozen spots of this week’s Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll.

The MVFC, right? Nope.

Surely then, the Big Sky? Guess again.

OK, the United Athletic Conference? Not right.

It’s CAA Football, once the most powerful conference in the FCS, and despite having a different mix of teams from that time period, is now positioning itself for a postseason splash. The 14-team conference actually has four teams in the national media rankings with No. 9 Villanova (8-2), No. 10 Rhode Island (9-2), No. 12 Monmouth (9-2) and No. 25 New Hampshire (7-4), which returns after a two-month absence on the strength of a four-game winning streak.

Rhode Island, which hosts Hampton in its final regular season game, has the inside track to the CAA title and the conference’s automatic playoff bid. The 24-team pairings will be announced on Sunday.

The Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll is released each Monday during the regular season and one day after the FCS championship game (to be played Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tenn.). A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Nov. 17)

  1. North Dakota State (11-0, 8-0 MVFC)

Points: 1,400 (56 of 56 first-place votes); Previous Ranking: 1; Week 12: 48-16 win over Northern Iowa; Week 13: St. Thomas

  1. Montana (11-0, 7-0 Big Sky)

Points: 1,327; Previous Ranking: 2; Week 12: 63-17 win at Portland State; Week 13: No. 3 Montana State

  1. Montana State (9-2, 7-0 Big Sky)

Points: 1,301; Previous Ranking: 3; Week 12: 38-17 win over then-No. 9 UC Davis; Week 13: at No. 2 Montana

  1. Lehigh (11-0, 6-0 Patriot)

Points: 1,194; Previous Ranking: 4; Week 12: 27-7 win at Colgate; Week 13: at Lafayette

  1. Tarleton State (10-1, 6-1 UAC)

Points: 1,166; Previous Ranking: 6; Week 12: 61-0 win over North Alabama; Week 13: Austin Peay

  1. Tennessee Tech (10-1, 7-0 OVC-Big South)

Points: 1,129; Previous Ranking: 5; Week 12: 42-10 loss at Kentucky; Week 13: UT Martin

  1. Mercer (9-1, 8-0 SoCon)

Points: 976; Previous Ranking: 8; Week 12: 63-17 win over Chattanooga; Week 13: at Auburn

  1. Harvard (9-0, 6-0 Ivy)

Points: 962; Previous Ranking: 7; Week 12: 45-43 win over Penn; Week 13: at Yale

  1. Villanova (8-2, 7-1 CAA)

Points: 841; Previous Ranking: 10; Week 12: 30-27 win over Stony Brook; Week 13: Sacred Heart

  1. Rhode Island (9-2, 7-0 CAA)

Points: 839; Previous Ranking: 11; Week 12: 45-13 win at Maine; Week 13: Hampton

  1. Illinois State (8-3, 5-2 MVFC)

Points: 749; Previous Ranking: 14; Week 12: 35-21 win at then-No. 16 South Dakota State; Week 13: No. 24 Southern Illinois

  1. Monmouth (9-2, 6-1 CAA)

Points: 745; Previous Ranking: 12; Week 12: 63-19 win at North Carolina A&T; Week 13: UAlbany

  1. North Dakota (7-4, 5-2 MVFC)

Points: 704; Previous Ranking: 13; Week 12: 35-17 win at Murray State; Week 13: No. 22 South Dakota State

  1. Stephen F. Austin (9-2, 7-0 Southland)

Points: 696; Previous Ranking: 15; Week 12: 26-15 win over then-No. 19 Lamar; Week 13: at Northwestern State

  1. UC Davis (7-3, 5-2 Big Sky)

Points: 679; Previous Ranking: 9; Week 12: 38-17 loss at then-No. 3 Montana State; Week 13: Sacramento State

  1. South Dakota (8-4, 6-2 MVFC)

Points: 633; Previous Ranking: 17; Week 12: 53-51 five-OT win at then-No. 21 Southern Illinois; Week 13: No game

  1. Abilene Christian (7-4, 6-1 UAC)

Points: 531; Previous Ranking: 18; Week 12: 17-10 win at Eastern Kentucky; Week 13: at Central Arkansas

  1. Youngstown State (7-4, 4-3 MVFC)

Points: 477; Previous Ranking: 20; Week 12: 48-29 win over Indiana State; Week 13: at Northern Iowa

  1. Lamar (8-3, 5-2 Southland)

Points: 299; Previous Ranking: 19; Week 12: 26-15 loss at then-No. 15 Stephen F. Austin; Week 13: McNeese

  1. Jackson State (8-2, 6-1 SWAC)

Points: 289; Previous Ranking: 22; Week 12: 28-13 win over Bethune-Cookman; Week 13: Alcorn State

  1. Southeastern Louisiana (8-3, 6-1 Southland)

Points: 271; Previous Ranking: 23; Week 12: 10-7 win at UIW; Week 13: Nicholls

  1. South Dakota State (7-4, 3-4 MVFC)

Points: 255; Previous Ranking: 16; Week 12: 35-21 loss to then-No. 14 Illinois State; Week 13: at No. 13 North Dakota

  1. Northern Arizona (7-4, 4-3 Big Sky)

Points: 136; Previous Ranking: 24; Week 12: 35-27 win over Cal Poly; Week 13: at Weber State

  1. Southern Illinois (6-5, 3-4 MVFC)

Points: 117; Previous Ranking: 21; Week 12: 53-51 five-OT loss to then-No. 17 South Dakota; Week 13: at No. 11 Illinois State

  1. New Hampshire (7-4, 5-2 CAA)

Points: 98; Previous Ranking: NR; Week 12: 42-14 win at Bryant; Week 13: Maine

Dropped Out of FCS Top 25: Western Carolina (25)

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Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Alabama State (8-2, 6-1 SWAC), 79; Lafayette (8-3, 6-0 Patriot), 72; West Georgia (8-3, 5-3 UAC), 61; Delaware State (8-3, 4-0 MEAC), 47; Austin Peay (7-4, 5-3 UAC), 36; South Carolina State (8-3, 4-0 MEAC), 22; Yale (7-2, 5-1 Ivy), 21; Sacramento State (7-4, 5-2 Big Sky), 19; Dartmouth (7-2, 4-2 Ivy), 15; Southern Utah (6-5, 5-2 UAC), 6

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll Voting Panel – Stats Perform: Craig Haley. Big Sky Conference: Riley Corcoran, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. CAA Football: Roger Brown, Matt Harmon, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: JJ Klein, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis, Patricia Porter-Mayfield. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Kyle Grooms, Dom Izzo, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Brian Cleary. OVC-Big South Football Association: Mike Bradd, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. Patriot League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Larry Hansgen. Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller, Ralan Wardlaw. Southland Conference: Matthew Bonnette, James Dixon, James Hill. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Curtis Ford, Ronnie Johnson. United Athletic Conference: Brian Morgan, Benjamin Ray, Jake Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson, Stan Becton, Zack Carlton, Gene Clemons, Joe DeLeone, Matt Dixon, Steven J. Gaither, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Doug Kelly, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Jon Passman, Omar Rashon Borja, Ryan Roberts, Timothy Rosario, Kent Schmidt, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.

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