Big Sky Conference

No Big Sky teams in top 10 of either FCS poll this week

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For the first time in 2015, no Big Sky Conference teams are in the top 10 of the weekly Football Championship Subdivision polls.

Eastern Washington defeated Montana State 55-50 in a non-conference game to drop the Bobcats out of the top 10. MSU (1-1) is No. 13 in this week’s FCS Coaches’ poll and No. 15 in this week’s STATS FCS media poll. The Eagles (1-2) moved up from No. 14 to No. 11 in both polls following their first win of the season. EWU plays at Sacramento State (1-2) on Saturday.

The Montana Grizzlies also dropped out of the top 10 after a 31-21 loss at Liberty. Montana (1-2) fell from No. 8 to No. 14 in the STATS poll and from No. 7 to No. 15 in the coaches’ poll. The Griz open up Big Sky Conference play by hosting Northern Arizona (2-1) on Saturday.

Portland State (2-0) saw a slight bump after its bye week. The Vikings moved from No. 19 to No. 17 in the STATS poll and from No. 20 to No. 18 in the coaches’ poll. The Vikings host Division II Western Oregon on Saturday.

Cal Poly lost for a second straight week to fall in both polls. Two weeks ago, the Mustangs fell 35-21 at Arizona State but didn’t see much movement. After a 34-20 home loss against No. 7 Northern Iowa (2-1), the Mustangs (1-2) fell from No. 17 to No. 20 in the STATS poll and from No. 18 to No. 22 in the coaches’ poll. Cal Poly plays at Montana State on Saturday.

In the STATS poll, Jacksonville State (2-1) solidified the No. 1 ranking Monday, two days after posting a thorough win over Tennessee State on the heels of an overtime loss at Auburn. Coastal Carolina (3-0) remained No. 2 and four-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State (2-1) moved up one spot to No. 3 after Sam Houston State (0-2) was upset by Lamar to fall to No. 12. Illinois State (2-1) and Villanova (2-1) round out the STATS top five.

Coastal Carolina stayed put atop the coaches’ poll. North Dakota State is No. 2, Jacksonville State No. 3, Villanova No. 4 and Illinois State is No. 5 according to the coaches.

The only other first-place votes in the STATS poll went to No. 6 South Dakota State (2-0), with six. The Jackrabbits came in at No. 7 in the coaches’ poll, one spot behind UNI. SDSU was followed in the Top 10 of the STATS poll by Northern Iowa (2-1), Chattanooga (2-1), James Madison and Liberty (2-1). In the coaches’ poll, James Madison, Chattanooga and Liberty rounded out the top 10.

The Missouri Valley Conference has the most top Top 25 teams with six, including North Dakota State, Illinois State, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa in the top seven. But South Dakota State is the only one of the six (Youngstown State and Indiana State are the other two ranked teams) that has a game this week.

 

 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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