This is just a quick hello, and a welcome back for our third year here at TOG.<\/p>\n
As I said back in February, things are going to be changing here; I won’t be doing a weekly recap for each division.\u00a0 This will be more of a “hey, pay attention to this” rather than “hey, pay attention to everything” format.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n
Just to get you on the right path for today’s initial previews, the pre-season top 25 for each division:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FCS (The Sports Network):\r\n 1. Sam Houston State (79, last year's runner-up)\r\n 2. North Dakota State (59, last year's champion)\r\n 3. Georgia Southern (6)\r\n 4. Montana State (3)\r\n 5. James Madison (3)\r\n 6. Appalachian State (1)\r\n 7. Towson\r\n 8. Old Dominion\r\n 9. Northern Iowa\r\n10. Wofford\r\n11. Montana\r\n12. Eastern Washington\r\n13. Youngstown State (1)\r\n14. New Hampshire\r\n15. Delaware\r\n16. Lehigh\r\n17. Stony Brook\r\n18. Eastern Kentucky\r\n19. Illinois State\r\n20. Stephen F. Austin\r\n21. Maine\r\n22. Jacksonville State\r\n23. Indiana State\r\n24. Central Arkansas\r\n25. Harvard<\/pre>\nLast year’s finalist ran away with the top two spots in the poll, and opinions seem fairly split about which team’s the better.\u00a0 Of course, as always in FCS, it’s entirely likely neither team will be in the top five when things settle in December.\u00a0 Chaos is the watchword.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Three teams fell considerably: last year’s #3 Montana, who are obviously reeling in the wake of scandal, #5 Lehigh, and #8 Maine.\u00a0 #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.<\/p>\n
D-II (AFCA Coaches):\r\n 1. Pittsburg State (21, last year's champion)\r\n 2. Minnesota-Duluth (5)\r\n 3. Northwest Missouri State (1)\r\n 4. Midwestern State (1)\r\n 5. Wayne State (MI) (1, last year's runner-up)\r\n 6. Colorado State-Pueblo\r\n 7. Grand Valley State\r\n 8. Valdosta State\r\n 9. Winston-Salem State (1)\r\n10. Abilene Christian\r\n11. California (PA)\r\n12. Kutztown\r\n13. New Haven\r\n14. Delta State\r\n15. West Alabama\r\n16. Saint Cloud State\r\n17. Hillsdale\r\n18. Missouri Western State\r\n19. Shepherd\r\n20. Washburn\r\n21. Humboldt State\r\n22. Albany State\r\n23. North Greenville\r\n24. West Texas A&M\r\n25. Bloomsburg<\/pre>\nPittsburg 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.\u00a0 As things stand, that’s the biggest game on the D-II calendar this year.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 Washburn and North Greenville also took hits, while West Alabama jumped into the top 15 from #23.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
D-III (D3Football.com):\r\n 1. Wisconsin-Whitewater (17, last year's champions)\r\n 2. Mount Union (8, last year's runners-up)\r\n 3. Wesley\r\n 4. Mary Hardin-Baylor\r\n 5. Linfield\r\n 6. North Central\r\n 7. Salisbury\r\n 8. Saint Thomas (MN)\r\n 9. Delaware Valley\r\n10. Wabash\r\n11. Saint John Fisher\r\n12. Cal Lutheran\r\n13. Franklin\r\n14. Kean\r\n15. Wheaton (IL)\r\n16. Trinity (TX)\r\n17. Bethel (MN)\r\n18. Redlands\r\n19. Baldwin-Wallace\r\n20. Thomas More\r\n21. Illinois Wesleyan\r\n22. Hobart\r\n23. Wisconsin-Platteville\r\n24. Birmingham-Southern\r\n25. Widener<\/pre>\nNo 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.\u00a0 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<\/em>, with Wesley second.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
NAIA (Coaches):\r\n 1. Saint Xavier (last year's champion)\r\n 2. Carroll (MT) (last year's runners-up)\r\n 3. Marian (IN)\r\n 4. Georgetown (KY)\r\n 5. MidAmerica Nazarene\r\n 6. Saint Francis (IN)\r\n 7. Saint Francis (IL)\r\n 8. Morningside\r\n 9. Missouri Valley\r\n10. Northwestern (IA)\r\n11. Ottawa\r\n11. Bethel (TN)\r\n13. Benedictine (KS)\r\n14. William Penn\r\n15. Grand View\r\n16. Eastern Oregon\r\n17. Valley City State\r\n18. Baker\r\n19. Cumberlands (KY)\r\n20. Saint Ambrose\r\n21. Doane\r\n22. Cumberland (TN)\r\n22. Langston\r\n24. Bethany (KS)\r\n25. Campbellsville<\/pre>\nI 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Later today, we’ll knock out a couple of previews per division (three for D-III).\u00a0 Happy Football!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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