Chris' FCS page #8

Wow, glad I'm not the AP chart. Their #s 1, 2, AND 3 all got beat, all by teams they had no real business losing to. The bad news is that they were also my #s 1, 5, and 10. Not good, but better than the experts. Plus their #8 also lost, albeit to their #5 ( which would be my 7 beating my 17).

I'm going to a top 25 this week, so that I can squeeze in some of theirs that I wouldn't ordinarily rank. One of those is the Richmond Spiders, who I give my inaugural 25th spot after they bested former top dog (to borrow a Time Machine term) James Madison 13-10 in OT. JMU got the ball first in OT but ended up with nothing after having to go for it on a 4th-and 30 from the 45. Richmond goes to 5-4 in the ultra-tough CAA while JMU loses their 5th in 6 games to drop to 4-5. Another one that the AP ranks week after week, and I finally let into the top 20 last week, is New Hampshire (that aforementioned AP #8) who lost to my boys from William AND Mary 13-3. UNH drops to 5-4 and falls from 17 to 24th; the Tribe raises its record to 7-2 and move up from 8th to 6th.

Another of those I might never have found a home for otherwise (mainly because of the crappy league they play in) is Grambling, who gets the first #23 spot after their latest cheap win over Div. II Concordia, AL, 35-0. The Tigers move to 8-1 with the win. Central Arkansas is one of those teams I've been waiting for to get that elusive quality win and they did that with a 49-17 romp on hot-and-cold Texas State. The Bears get #22 with their 6-3 record. The last of the add-ons is yet another team I struggle with because their league, the Ivy League, is clearly the MAC of the FCS. But Penn finally earns some love after pasting a piss-poor Princeton squad (nice alliteration, eh?) 52-10 and gets #21.

I finally get around to ranking an Eastern Washington team(7-2) that clearly the AP (#6) loves more than I, putting them at 20th despite their off week. Part of that is because of UNH's fall; the other I'll explain in two more spots. UMass holds on to its #19 spot with a 39-24 win over Maine, which raises them to 6-3. And in one of those "who's better AP or Chris" matchups, I took it on the chin along with Indiana State, who dropped a 30-20 game to Northern Iowa (6-3), who come in at 18 and allow E. Washington the spot ISU used to have. South Carolina State (7-2) move up one notch to 17th with a 54-14 win over Howard, while North Dakota State (6-3) hold at 16th on a 20-6 win over Southern Illinois.

Stephen F. Austin (7-2), fresh off their meltdown to the previously mentioned Texas St., blow out Nichols St. 48-13 to hold at 15th; SE Missouri State (9-1) also hold their 14th slot after whupping Div. II Southwest Baptist 40-14. Villanova is back out of the top ten and down to 13th after they (that #3 team) lose to Rhode Island 17-14 and fall to 6-3. Dayton (8-1) struggled mightily against a far inferior Drake team (OK, not that inferior) who had erased a 24-14 deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 25-24 lead with under a minute-and-a-half to go; but the Flyers score on a 37-yd pass with 1 second left to pull out a 31-25 win, and keep last week's #12 spot. Robert Morris (8-1), who gets minimal love from the AP to this point, beat a tough Central Connecticut State team 42-24 to move up 2 to 11th.

Montana State (8-2) ease up one into the top ten with a 24-10 win over feisty Weber State. Western Illinois (6-3) takes a week off and stays at 9th. AP's #2 team, previously unbeaten Jacksonville State, drops to 8-1 and from 5th to 8th after a 49-37 trouncing by Eastern Kentucky. Jacksonville (9-1) ceased its streak of obliterating opponents, but still holds at 7 with a 24-16 victory over Butler (of all people). And as I mentioned, William AND Mary move up to #6.

Bethune-Cookman (8-0) is the last remaining undefeated team after a 23-18 win over strong Hampton. Liberty (7-2) holds at 4th with their 40-14 win over Gardiner-Webb; but the bells rang out across the land when Georgia Southern (a former top 20) rose up and downed mighty Appalachian State 21-14 in OT. The Mountaineers drop to 8-1 and down 2 to #3. Wofford (8-1)stays at #2 after a harder-than-it-should-have-been 10-3 win over Samford. Which means that Delaware (8-1) moves back into #1 after a 48-0 rout of hapless Towson.

Later in the week I'll try to do a post on the new AP rankings and how bad they are compared to mine.