Georgia Southern New No. 1, Bison Move to 8th in Sports Network/Fathead.com Top 25

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.-- All the hoopla surrounding Georgia Southern football's return to a lofty status in the Football Championship Subdivision has a new declaration:

The Eagles are No. 1!

Georgia Southern, off to a 2-0 start, was a runaway top choice in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 on Monday, claiming 102 of the 148 first-place votes and 3,622 points, for its first No. 1 ranking since the poll on Oct. 22, 2001.

Northern Iowa (1-1), which collected 16 first-place votes and 3,329 points, was ranked second, followed in the top five by Appalachian State (1-1), William & Mary (1-1) and Montana State (1-1). Each of those schools have suffered losses to Bowl Subdivision programs.

South Dakota, which on Saturday knocked off last week's No. 1 team - reigning FCS champion Eastern Washington - moved into the rankings at No. 24. The upstart Coyotes, from the Great West Conference, are in the rankings for the first time since last Sept. 20 following the third week of games in the 2010 season.

Last season also marked Georgia Southern's return to prominence in the FCS. The Eagles had a combined 21-23 record in the four seasons from 2006-09, but Jeff Monken, an assistant coach with two of the program's FCS-record six national championship squads between 1985-2000, returned to Statesboro as head coach last year.

He restored the vaunted triple option which helped rack up all the national titles and the Eagles reversed a 5-6 season in 2009 with a 10-5 campaign in which they won three playoff games and reached the national semifinals.

This season, Georgia Southern has defeated Southern Conference rival Samford and Division II Tusculum, rushing for 307 yards per game to rank fourth nationally. The Eagles are on a bye this week.

Monken downplayed the No. 1 ranking on Monday, saying, "It doesn't matter until the end of the season."

As Eastern Washington tumbled from the top ranking to No. 10, nine teams in the Top 10 received first-place votes.

The rest of the Top 10 consisted of No. 6 Richmond (2-0) No. 7 Delaware (1-1), No. 8 North Dakota State (2-0) and No. 9 Wofford (1-1) before Eastern Washington (0-2).

New Hampshire (1-1) moved up two spots to No. 11 after beating Lehigh, 48-41, in overtime. The Wildcats were followed by No. 12 Montana (1-1), which hosts Eastern Washington in an important Big Sky Conference game on Saturday.

James Madison (1-1) moved up six spots to No. 13, just ahead of No. 14 Chattanooga (1-1), which advanced a poll-high nine spots after its 38-17 win over Jacksonville State.

Next are No. 15 Southern Illinois (1-1), No. 16 Lehigh (1-1), No. 17 Jacksonville State (1-1), No. 18 Central Arkansas (1-1), No. 19 Stephen F. Austin (1-1) and No. 20 Sacramento State (1-1), whose 35-14 loss to Southern Utah sent it tumbling eight spots.

The rest of the Top 25 consisted of No. 21 Massachusetts (1-0), No. 22 Liberty (1-1), No. 23 McNeese State (0-1), No. 24 South Dakota (1-1) and No. 25 South Carolina State (1-1), which rejoined the rankings after beating Bethune-Cookman, 26-18, in an important MEAC game.

The first team outside the Top 25 was Southern Utah.

During the regular season the Top 25 will be released every Monday afternoon, except for the final weekend of games, when it will be released Sunday morning, Nov. 20, due to its use as an official tool by the NCAA Division I Football Committee in selecting the 20-team playoff field later that day.

The Sports Network and Fathead.com will release a final Top 25 following the FCS championship game, which will be held Jan. 7 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top-25 College Football Poll

Team (First-place votes)	Record	Points	Previous Rank
1. Georgia Southern Eagles (102)	2-0	3,622	2
2. Northern Iowa Panthers (16)	1-1	3,329	4
3. Appalachian State Mountaineers (10)	1-1	3,282	3
4. William & Mary Tribe (5)	1-1	3,048	5
5. Montana State Bobcats (2)	1-1	2,985	6
6. Richmond Spiders (9)	2-0	2,874	9
7. Delaware Blue Hens (1)	1-1	2,688	8
8. North Dakota State Bison (1)	2-0	2,553	11
9. Wofford Terriers	1-1	2,489	7
10. Eastern Washington Eagles (2)	0-2	2,218	1
11. New Hampshire Wildcats	1-1	2,202	13
12. Montana Grizzlies	1-1	1,913	15
13. James Madison Dukes	1-1	1,373	19
14. Chattanooga Mocs	1-1	1,349	23
15. Southern Illinois Salukis	1-1	1,289	17
16. Lehigh Mountain Hawks	1-1	1,222	14
17. Jacksonville State Gamecocks	1-1	1,147	10
18. Central Arkansas Bears	1-1	1,096	18
19. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks	1-1	971	16
20. Sacramento State Hornets	1-1	959	11
21. Massachusetts Minutemen	1-0	897	21
22. Liberty Flames	1-1	714	24
23. McNeese State Cowboys	0-1	614	22
24. South Dakota Coyotes	1-1	603	NR
25. South Carolina State Bulldogs	1-1	555	NR

Others receiving votes: Southern Utah 289, Eastern Kentucky 224, Penn 199, Murray State 180, Sam Houston State 158, Villanova 128, Towson 116, Jackson State 106, Hampton 100, Youngstown State 98, Bethune-Cookman 62, Western Illinois 50, South Dakota State 45, Harvard 43, Old Dominion 34, Rhode Island 34, Grambling State 26, Maine 22, Morehead State 21, Stony Brook 19, Elon 16, Holy Cross 14, Brown 12, Yale 12, Coastal Carolina 11, Duquesne 10, Delaware State 10, Eastern Illinois 7, Indiana State 7, Georgetown 7, UC Davis 6, Portland State 6, The Citadel 6, Northern Arizona 5, Weber State 4, UT Martin 4, Central Connecticut State 4, Bucknell 3, Furman 3, Florida A&M 2, San Diego 2, Jacksonville 1, Dayton 1, Samford 1. The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 Voters: The Sports Network: Aaron Corrill; Craig Haley; Sean Shapiro; Phil Sokol; Kevin Spiegel. Big Sky: Brian Berger; Brad Bugger; Dave Cook; Matt Gerrish; Paul Grua; Dave Guffey; Mick Holien; Jon Kasper; Heather Kennedy; Bill Lamberty; Jeff Lasky; Mike Lund; Scott Marsh; Fritz Neighbor; Steve Schaack; Steve Shaff; Mitch Strohman. Big South: John Avery; Wade Branner; Mike Cawood; Adam Gutes; Matt Hogue; Chris Lang; Marc Rabb; Mark Simpson; Todd Wetmore; Simon Whitaker; Alan York. CAA Football: Ted Alexander; Mike Barber; Pete Clawson; Mike DeGeorge; Glenn Frazer; Dean Kenefick; Allen Lessels; Andrew Mahoney; John Martin; Scott Meyer; Mike Murphy; Dan O'Connell; Rich Radford; Scott Selheimer;Tom Symonds; Kevin Tresolini; Matt Vautour; Kimberly Zivkovich. Great West: Eric Burdick; Ryan Burns; Jacque Cottrell; Neil Gardner; Ed Grom; Jeremy Hoeck; Doug Kelly; Ryan Powell; Randy Scovil; Kit Strief. Independents: Dave Cohen; Brian Fremund; Rick Poulter; Kyle Stephens. Ivy League: Rick Bender; Darlene Camacho; Eric Dolan; Chris Humm; Craig Larson; Dan Loney; Craig Sachson; Kurt Svoboda; Ron Vaccaro. MEAC: Thomas Grant; Leonard Hayes IV; Bill Hamilton; Ed Hill Jr.; Chris Hooks; Ronnie Johnson; Dennis Jones; Matt Michalec; Eric Moore; Patricia Porter; Dan Ryan; Michael Stambaugh; Maurice Williams; Brent Woronoff. Missouri Valley Football Conference: John Bohnenkamp; Jason Hove; Todd Hefferman; Ace Hunt; Mike Kern; Rick Kindhart; Colin McDonough; Tyler Merriam; Patrick Osterman;Trevor Parks; Randy Reinhardt; Jeff Schwartz; Tom Weber; Mike Williams; Terry Vandrovec. Northeast Conference: Brian DePasquale; Jim Duzyk; Matt Harmon; John McCarthy; Bill Peterson; Andrew Santillo; Chris Shovlin; Jason Sullivan; Ralph Ventre; Greg Viscomi. Ohio Valley Conference: Neal Bradley; John Brush; Wallace Dooley; Michael Clark; Jeff Honza; Brad Kirtley; Joe Lofaro; Rich Moser: Brian Nielsen: Karl Park: Mike Parris: Rob Schabert: Kyle Schwartz: Greg Seitz: James Horne. Patriot League: Charles Bare; Bill Bowman; Joe DiBari; Matt Dougherty; Keith Groller; Jeremiah Hergott; Phil LaBella; Steve Lomangino; Eric Malanowski; Matt Markus; Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush; Jack Cronin; Mike Ferraro; Marc Gignac; Ted Gosen; Doug Hauschild; Paul Kirk; James Nasella; Terry Norvelle; Joe Prisco; Matt Schabert; Ryan Wronkowicz. Southern Conference: Jay Blackman; Tommy Bowman; Mike Flynn; Barrett Gilham; Don Heath; David Jackson; Joey Mullins; Tyler Norris Goode; Noelle Orr-Blaney; Chris Rash; Adam Smith; Brent Williamson. Southland Conference: Jason Barfield; Louis Bonnette; Jamie Bustos; Christopher Dabe; James Dixon; Steve East; Kevin Gore; Alex Hickey; Doug Ireland; Todd Lamb; Tyler Mayforth; Brent St. Germain; Matt Sullivan. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Santoria Black; Rodney Bush; Tom Galbraith; Chris Jones; Duane Lewis; Ryan McGinty; Leonard Moon; Roderick Mosley; Wesley Peterson; LaToya Shields; Brandon Willis. Other Representatives: Rolf Bertulies; Brian Brennan; Josh Buchanan; LeCounte Conaway; Jim Seman.

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