This is just a quick hello, and a welcome back for our third year here at TOG.
As I said back in February, things are going to be changing here; I won’t be doing a weekly recap for each division. This will be more of a “hey, pay attention to this” rather than “hey, pay attention to everything” format. However, one thing that will be happening over the next couple of weeks as we lead into the commencement of hostilities is that I’ll be making posts previewing each conference. Each day, expect one conference from each division (three D-III conferences per day, otherwise I wouldn’t get the previews done until mid-September).
Just to get you on the right path for today’s initial previews, the pre-season top 25 for each division:
FCS (The Sports Network): 1. Sam Houston State (79, last year's runner-up) 2. North Dakota State (59, last year's champion) 3. Georgia Southern (6) 4. Montana State (3) 5. James Madison (3) 6. Appalachian State (1) 7. Towson 8. Old Dominion 9. Northern Iowa 10. Wofford 11. Montana 12. Eastern Washington 13. Youngstown State (1) 14. New Hampshire 15. Delaware 16. Lehigh 17. Stony Brook 18. Eastern Kentucky 19. Illinois State 20. Stephen F. Austin 21. Maine 22. Jacksonville State 23. Indiana State 24. Central Arkansas 25. Harvard
Last year’s finalist ran away with the top two spots in the poll, and opinions seem fairly split about which team’s the better. Of course, as always in FCS, it’s entirely likely neither team will be in the top five when things settle in December. Chaos is the watchword. The big jumps from last season’s final poll belong to James Madison, up from 15th, and the Eastern Washington/Youngstown State pairing mid-poll (neither finished ranked last year). Three teams fell considerably: last year’s #3 Montana, who are obviously reeling in the wake of scandal, #5 Lehigh, and #8 Maine. #8 in this poll, Old Dominion, is going to have to hold onto their gravitas here, as they’ll need an at-large berth to get into the playoffs with the CAA declaring them ineligible for the league’s autobid since they’re hightailing it to FBS in 2014.
D-II (AFCA Coaches): 1. Pittsburg State (21, last year's champion) 2. Minnesota-Duluth (5) 3. Northwest Missouri State (1) 4. Midwestern State (1) 5. Wayne State (MI) (1, last year's runner-up) 6. Colorado State-Pueblo 7. Grand Valley State 8. Valdosta State 9. Winston-Salem State (1) 10. Abilene Christian 11. California (PA) 12. Kutztown 13. New Haven 14. Delta State 15. West Alabama 16. Saint Cloud State 17. Hillsdale 18. Missouri Western State 19. Shepherd 20. Washburn 21. Humboldt State 22. Albany State 23. North Greenville 24. West Texas A&M 25. Bloomsburg
Pittsburg State ran away with the #1 pre-season ranking as everyone pretty much expects them to continue to dominate this year — assuming, of course, they survive their annual tussle at Arrowhead Stadium on October 13 with third-ranked Northwest Missouri State. As things stand, that’s the biggest game on the D-II calendar this year. Grand Valley State and Valdosta State finished last year unranked, and begin this year right back in the top ten; last year’s #2-4, Wayne State, Delta State, and Winston-Salem State, all fall (though only the Fighting Okra did so precipitously). Washburn and North Greenville also took hits, while West Alabama jumped into the top 15 from #23. The biggest falls, however, belong to last year’s #10 and #14, as Nebraska-Kearney (moving into a much, much tougher conference) and North Alabama begin the year unranked.
D-III (D3Football.com): 1. Wisconsin-Whitewater (17, last year's champions) 2. Mount Union (8, last year's runners-up) 3. Wesley 4. Mary Hardin-Baylor 5. Linfield 6. North Central 7. Salisbury 8. Saint Thomas (MN) 9. Delaware Valley 10. Wabash 11. Saint John Fisher 12. Cal Lutheran 13. Franklin 14. Kean 15. Wheaton (IL) 16. Trinity (TX) 17. Bethel (MN) 18. Redlands 19. Baldwin-Wallace 20. Thomas More 21. Illinois Wesleyan 22. Hobart 23. Wisconsin-Platteville 24. Birmingham-Southern 25. Widener
No surprises here whatsoever; until someone interferes with the seven-year run of UWW and UMU meeting in the championship game there’s no reason whatsoever for anyone to vote any other team #1. However, it’s worth noting that while Mount Union did receive all 17 second-place votes from the voters who put Whitewater #1, one voter ranked Whitewater third, with Wesley second. The only big changes from the end of last season are a big drop for Saint Thomas (from #4 to #8) and a big jump for Wheaton (last year’s #22). Further, four teams from the 14-19 range aren’t ranked at all here, with the 20-25 group moving up to fill in the gaps; the bottom four teams in the pre-season poll were unranked at the end of last season.
NAIA (Coaches): 1. Saint Xavier (last year's champion) 2. Carroll (MT) (last year's runners-up) 3. Marian (IN) 4. Georgetown (KY) 5. MidAmerica Nazarene 6. Saint Francis (IN) 7. Saint Francis (IL) 8. Morningside 9. Missouri Valley 10. Northwestern (IA) 11. Ottawa 11. Bethel (TN) 13. Benedictine (KS) 14. William Penn 15. Grand View 16. Eastern Oregon 17. Valley City State 18. Baker 19. Cumberlands (KY) 20. Saint Ambrose 21. Doane 22. Cumberland (TN) 22. Langston 24. Bethany (KS) 25. Campbellsville
I didn’t include the first-place votes here because… well, because the NAIA only showed Saint Xavier with 11, and nobody else with any, but the math doesn’t work at all. Carroll is only 9 points behind Saint Xavier in the poll, and Saint Xavier doesn’t have enough points to cover 11 first-place votes if a first-place vote is worth 25 points, so I don’t know what the hell’s going on there. Anyway, the top four were the top four almost all year last year; Marian was undefeated until Saint Xavier got revenge against them for their only regular-season loss in the semifinals, and Georgetown was unbeaten until losing to Carroll in the semis. Further, the top nine are exactly the same as they were at the end of last season, so the NAIA coaches don’t expect much to change. Indeed, the top 25 teams are the same 25 teams as the end of last year (with some shuffling at the bottom) with one exception: Azusa Pacific isn’t here anymore, having moved to NCAA D-II.
Later today, we’ll knock out a couple of previews per division (three for D-III). Happy Football!