FCS this weekend

With a little more info and a little more knowledge, I can now make a top 20 for the FCS football, and this expansion means that teams I missed last time will be added this time. So without further ado...

James Madison remains numero uno with a 10-3 victory over LW#6 Liberty. Second is North Dakota State after a 38-16 rout of LW #3 South Dakota. Liberty will drop 2 to #8, while South Dakota slips all the way to #12.

Delaware beats up on former powerhouse Richmond 34-13 to go 4-0 and climb to #3. Montana St. routed LW#14 Eastern Washington 30-7 to move up to #4. I moved previously unnoticed Georgia Southern into the #5 slot after they rolled over LW#12 Elon 38-21, which means Jacksonville St. slips all the way to 6 after a lackluster 28-23 win over Eastern Illinois.

Another team I slighted last week, Western Illinois, I put into the #7 slot notwithstanding their 40-7 rout of perennial noodle Indiana St. The next 3 teams after Liberty, UMass (3-1), Villanova (3-1), and Appalachian St. (4-0), all get squeezed down a notch. #9 UMass had a snoozy 26-21 win over Stony Brook; #10 'Nova (the official #1 coming in) waited until the last 5 minutes to put together a 22-10 win over crosstown rival Penn; and App St. beat up on lowly Samford 35-17.

That brings us to #13 Stephen F. Austin, who blasted local doormat Lamar 17-0 (in the first quarter), 21-3 (in the second quarter), 33-0 (in the third quarter, 21 of that in the last 6:40), and 71-3 overall. Another team that got slighted was Youngstown St., which I put in at #14 after a 31-28 win over Southern Illinois (who was in the official top 5 last week despite being 1-2 coming in). South Carolina St. (2-1) took the week off, and slip to 15th for the privilege. Furman (2-1) comes in at 16th, having been on last weeks' official chart, and posting a 31-14 over The Citadel (who always sounds much more impressive than they really are). Also coming in new this week is Jacksonville U (3-1), with a 42-15 rout of Davidson.

William and Mary (3-1) show up at 18 despite a hard fought 24-21 win over Maine, in which they came back from 14-3 at the half and 21-17 with under 5 minutes left. Rounding out the list is #19 Robert Morris (3-1), who rolled over Wagner 30-9; and #20 Montana (2-2), who reached .500 with a less than impressive 28-25 win over Sacramento St.