[krh44]

Never too early to start looking at polls......

1. North Dakota State (13-2, 7-1 Missouri Valley)
2. Sam Houston State (11-4, 7-2 Southland)
3. Northern Iowa (9-5, 5-3 Missouri Valley)
4. Richmond (10-4, 6-2 Colonial)
5. Jacksonville State (13-2, 8-0 Ohio Valley) Coach John Grass bulked up the schedule (LSU, Coastal Carolina and Liberty) after reaching the national championship game. All-America quarterback Eli Jenkins is returning from shoulder surgery, and his go-to target, Josh Barge, is the Gamecocks’ all-time receptions leader. Defensive end Darius Jackson and linebacker Joel McCandless lead a retooled defense.
6. Charleston Southern (10-3, 6-0 Big South) Coach Jamey Chadwell appears destined for a bigger job, but there’s an immediate task at hand. The Buccaneers’ record-setting defense returns defensive end Anthony Ellis and linebacker Solomon Brown, and a bruising run game features seniors Darius Hammond, Mike Holloway and Ben Robinson.
7. Chattanooga (9-4, 6-1 Southern)
8. South Dakota State (8-4, 5-3 Missouri Valley)
9. Coastal Carolina (9-3, 4-2 Big South; FCS Independent in 2016) The Chanticleers may struggle to get top-25 support from voters as the former Big South power transitions toward the FBS in 2017. Touchdown machine De’Angelo Henderson will carry the rushing load after the loss of veteran quarterback Alex Ross.
10. The Citadel (9-4, 6-1 Southern)
11. Illinois State (10-3, 7-1 Missouri Valley)
12. Eastern Washington (6-5, 5-3 Big Sky)
13. William & Mary (9-4, 6-2 Colonial)
14. JMU (9-3, 6-2 Colonial)
15. North Dakota (7-4, 5-3 Big Sky)
16. Montana (8-5, 6-2 Big Sky)
17. McNeese State (10-1, 9-0 Southland)
18. Towson (7-4, 5-3 Colonial)
19. Western Illinois (7-6, 5-3 Missouri Valley)
20. Villanova (6-5, 5-3 Colonial)
21. Portland State (9-3, 6-2 Big Sky)
22. Youngstown State (5-6, 3-5 Missouri Valley)
23. Colgate (9-5, 6-0 Patriot)
24. Northern Arizona (7-4, 5-3 Big Sky)
25. Eastern Kentucky (6-5, 5-2 Ohio Valley)

Click Here for Source

[Chippy]

Coastal and CSU in top 10. This means we will play 3 top 10 FCS teams and two FBS teams. Hmmm . . .

[Cider Jim]

Richmond is there, too. Wondering if ballcoach hates them, also.

[LUGrad2000]

Would be nice to get a little preseason love.

[LUnpretty11]

Would be nice to get a little preseason love.

Would be better to make a postseason impact.

[olldflame]

Would be nice to get a little preseason love.

Would be better to make a postseason impact.

There isn't going to be "pre-season love" this year, nor should it be expected coming off a 6-5 season with a 4 year starting QB gone. I personally think this team has a lot of promise, but that is based on things only people who follow the program closely would be looking at, not outsiders like the pollsters. The schedule is challenging to say the least. If we can win 2 of those 5 games against either FBS or ranked FCS opponents, I like our chances to be in the playoffs.

[rtb72]

I like having JState early and at home. The home crowd should be "off the hook" and an early win of that magnitude could really help with morale and motivation. I just hope we come into that game w/ at least one in the win column.

[A Sea of Red]

The preseason STATS FCS Poll was released yesterday
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/polls.asp?div=fcs

1 North Dakota State (0-0) 3941 (152) NR
2 Sam Houston State (0-0) 3636 (2) NR
3 Jacksonville State (0-0) 3569 (4) NR
4 Richmond (0-0) 3418 NR
5 UNI (0-0) 3413 NR
6 Chattanooga (0-0) 2758 NR
7 Charleston Southern (0-0) 2734 NR
8 South Dakota State (0-0) 2554 NR
9 William & Mary (0-0) 2517 NR
10 Illinois State (0-0) 2303 NR
11 McNeese State (0-0) 2151 NR
12 James Madison (0-0) 2037 NR
13 Montana (0-0) 1921 NR
14 Eastern Washington (0-0) 1879 NR
15 Citadel (0-0) 1535 NR
16 Coastal Carolina (0-0) 1397 NR
17 Portland State (0-0) 1262 NR
18 Northern Arizona (0-0) 1189 NR
19 North Dakota (0-0) 977 NR
20 Western Illinois (0-0) 876 NR
21 Colgate (0-0) 767 NR
22 New Hampshire (0-0) 657 NR
23 Villanova (0-0) 652 NR
24 Towson (0-0) 428 NR
25 North Carolina A&T (0-0) 395 NR

Liberty was 17th amongst "others" receiving votes.

[TH Spangler]

Very little respect. Hope it motivates.

[flamehunter]

Very little respect. Hope it motivates.

We didn't earn any last year.

[Jonathan Carone]

Very little respect. Hope it motivates.

The fact we're getting votes shows more respect than I thought we'd get.

[TH Spangler]

4 Richmond (0-0) 3418 NR
7 Charleston Southern (0-0) 2734
9 William & Mary (0-0) 2517 NR
12 James Madison (0-0) 2037 NR
16 Coastal Carolina (0-0) 1397 NR
25 North Carolina A&T (0-0) 395 NR

17 spots below A&T?

[Chris Lang]

A&T would probably have beaten Gardner-Webb and Monmouth last year.

[R i]

Ok, RAV Chris. I hope you double bogie every hole from now until 2017 because of that shot at our beloved team during the most hopeful time of the year.

[ballcoach15]

There's probably high school teams around that could have beat Gardner Webb last year. I know NC A&T could have beaten GW and Monmouth.

I think JMU and W&M are over ranked. (I have no love for any CAA team)

Only 2 ranked teams I care for are Jacksonville State and NC A&T. I used to live in Jacksonville, Alabama. Attended many games there, I played golf about 8 miles from Jax St. campus 9 days ago. I know an Assistant Coach at NC A&T.

As for Richmond, I wish Spiders would go 0-11. I despise them and JMU more than any FCS teams.

Charleston Southern is over ranked in my opinion.

[Chris Lang]

Ok, RAV Chris. I hope you double bogie every hole from now until 2017 because of that shot at our beloved team during the most hopeful time of the year.

Sadly, I haven't played since May, so double bogey golf would probably be about as well as I could play.

[Humble_Opinion]

ballcoach - who would be your top 25? You realize you can only put LU down one time right? I feel like every time you post about polls, you're always talking who shouldn't be somewhere. Would yours just have blanks for #1 - 10 and start at 11 maybe?

[ballcoach15]

It's hard to rank FCS teams, as compared to FBS teams. basically I am only familiar with BSC teams and Jacksonville State, NC A&T and Southern Conference.
Too often FCS teams are ranked based on reputation.

[Chris Lang]

No doubt. I found it incredibly difficult to parse between who was who when doing a preseason ballot, mostly because of a lack of information on teams outside my area of expertise. There's not enough time in the day to fully research the Big Sky or Southland. You do the best you can. Also, FCS polls suck because everyone plays up or down the first three or four weeks. Very hard to get a gauge when the best teams are getting smacked by P5s or routing DIIs.