"Back to Normal" seems to be the theme of this week's Top 25, with my top 9 unchanged from last week.
The biggest team to fall in my poll was definitely Montana, whose 45-34 defeat to Northern Arizona was even more resounding than the final score might indicate. The Lumberjacks in this one held a 45-20 advantage before letting up two touchdowns at the end of the game.
The Griz have frankly underwhelmed all year to me, allowing a team like St. Francis (PA) to hang around for no good reason, running up the score against hapless competition like Mississippi Valley State and Sacramento State. With their second loss to a Big Sky opponent and nothing all that impressive in their schedule, it was an easy call to drop them more than 10 points in my poll.
1. Eastern Washington
2. Sam Houston State
3. Jacksonville State
4. The Citadel
5. James Madison
6. Richmond
7. North Dakota State
8. Chattanooga
9. Charleston Southern
10. South Dakota State
11. Villanova
12. Samford
13. Central Arkanasas
14. North Carolina A&T
15. Cal Poly
16. Western Illinois
17. Lehigh
18. Stony Brook
19. North Dakota
20. Tennessee State
21. Montana
22. Youngstown State
23. Sacred Heart
24. Fordham
25. Weber State
Notes on this weeks' Top 25:
* After No. 22, I had a blasted time trying to figure out the last three teams. I looked at Grambling State, but can't get past a feather-light schedule and a game that should never have been scheduled against NAIA school Virginia Lynchburg. I looked at Harvard, but unfortunately for them I saw Holy Cross. Eastern Illinois, after a bad loss to Murray State, deserved to be out.
* That put 6-1 Sacred Heart, who has a good win against Stony Brook, in the mix to revisit my Top 10, despite the bad loss to Wagner. The big questions with the Pioneers are, can they still capture the NEC from the Seahawks, and if they don't, will they be in at-large consideration?
* Like Lehigh, Fordham has a "bad loss" to Monmouth and an as-expected loss to I-A Navy. At 5-2, they are almost a mirror of Lehigh in terms of wins and losses. Last weekend, they struggled, though, with QB Kevin Anderson sitting out with a one game suspension and Rams getting into an unexpected rock fight with Georgetown, ultimately prevailing 17-14. It's not a game that will be be fondly remembered by Ram fans, but it achieved the most important thing - a victory.
* Another 5-2 team that is red-hot and definitely deserves more Top 25 consideration is Weber State, who lost their first two games of the year to I-A Utah State and South Dakota of the Missouri Valley but since have won five straight - not always pretty, but they're coming up with wins. Last weekend they did something almost unconceivable: erasing a 22 point deficit against Southern Utah and winning, 37-36.
* Finally, has any FCS football team this week had a better weekend than South Dakota State? Fresh of knocking off the Bison in the FargoDome, they come home, utterly dominate Youngstown State 24-10, and then see their former RB Zach Zenner score his first touchdown for the Detroit Lions and see another alumnus, PK Adam Vinateri, break an NFL record for consecutive FG made.Wildcats singing on the field after that wild win over Southern Utah. #WeAreWeber #BigSkyFB pic.twitter.com/8izrgMGH02— Weber State Football (@weberstatefb) October 23, 2016
Check out highlights from @GoJacksFB's win over Youngstown State to earn the top spot in @ValleyFootball. https://t.co/lE8EKlT8q1— #GoJacks (@GoJacksSDSU) October 23, 2016
Comments