COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Now that the Football Championship
Subdivision has crowned its 2011 champion with North Dakota State's
victory in the title game, the final polls are being conducted. The
first one announced was Sunday by College Sports Madness.com, and
Tennessee Tech has finished 16th.
The Golden Eagles finished the year as the highest ranked team in
the Ohio Valley Conference in the poll, with Jacksonville State
finishing 18th. Central Arkansas, the team that defeated Tech in
the FCS playoffs, slipped one spot ahead of the Golden Eagles to
finish 15th.
North Dakota State, a 17-6 winner over Sam Houston State on
Saturday, claimed the top spot in the poll with a 14-1 final
record. Sam Houston suffered its first loss of the season to the
Bison and finished 14-1 and in second place.
Georgia Southern, Montana and Montana State rounded out the top
five.
Northern Iowa was sixth, followed by Lehigh, Maine, Towson and Old
Dominion in the top 10. The next five included Appalachian State,
Wofford, New Hampshire, Harvard and Central Arkansas.
The Golden Eagles claimed a share of the Ohio Valley Conference and
finished the season with a 7-4 overall mark.
College Sports Madness covered FCS football for the entire season,
beginning with a preview of the Top 44 teams prior to the start of
the season, players of the week for each conference, and an updated
FCS Top 25 poll each week. The website also announced an FCS All
American Teams and All-Conference Teams.
The other national poll are expected to announce their final charts
in the next couple of days.
Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
1 | North Dakota State | NDSU
survived the FCS Playoff gauntlet and shut down SHSU's explosive
offense in the final to win the title. |
5 | |
2 | Sam Houston State | Sam
Houston State was 14-0, but then they ran into NDSU in the FCS
Championship and found their first loss. |
1 | |
3 | Georgia Southern | Georgia
Southern had a nice run in the playoffs, knocking off ODU and Maine
before falling to NDSU. |
2 | |
4 |
|
Montana | Montana
finished the regular season by beating MSU and parlayed that big
win into a nice run to the semifinals. |
3 |
5 | Montana State | MSU
slipped past UNH in the second round of the playoffs, but they were
not playing well at the end of the year. |
4 | |
6 |
|
Northern Iowa | Northern
Iowa had a couple close losses in the regular season, but they were
dominated by Montana. |
6 |
7 |
|
Lehigh | Lehigh
snuck past Towson in the first round of the playoffs, but NDSU put
them back to reality with a 24-0 game. |
7 |
8 |
|
Maine | Maine
had a fine year and capped it off by knocking Appalachian State out
of the playoffs. GSU got them in the end. |
14 |
9 |
|
Towson | Towson
lost a shootout to Lehigh in the second round of the FCS Playoffs
to end their improbable season. |
9 |
10 |
|
Old Dominion | ODU
topped off their amazing season with a playoff win over
Norfolk State and gave GSU a pretty close game. |
10 |
11 |
|
Appalachian State | By
ASU standards finishing 8-4 overall and bowing out of the playoffs
in their first game is a bad year. |
8 |
12 |
|
Wofford | Wofford
joined Appalachian State in losing their first game in the FCS
Playoffs, but overall it was not a bad season. |
11 |
13 |
|
New Hampshire | New
Hampshire lost a heartbreaker to Montana State in the first round
of the FCS Playoffs. They'll be back. |
12 |
14 |
|
Harvard |
Harvard
lost their first game of the year before winning their final nine,
including a 45-7 blowout over Yale. |
13 |
15 |
|
Central Arkansas | Central
Arkansas' big winning streak did not end until they had to go to
Montana in the FCS Playoffs. |
18 |
16 | Tennessee Tech | The OVC did not have a good experience in the playoffs, but Tennessee Tech had a nice season just to get there. | 15 | |
17 |
|
Delaware | The
Blue Hens were another possible playoff team that had to stay home.
Inconsistent play will go away with age. |
16 |
18 |
|
Jacksonville State | Jacksonville
State finished the season watching the playoffs from home, but they
can build off their 2011 success. |
17 |
19 | James Madison | James
Madison snuck into the playoffs and beat EKU, but overall it was a
relatively disappointing campaign. |
22 | |
20 |
|
Stony Brook | Back
in the second round, Stony Brook nearly knocked off Sam Houston
State. They'll look to make a run again. |
25 |
21 |
|
Illinois State | Illinois
State was left out of the playoffs despite their 7-4 record in a
good conference, but they'll be ready for '12. |
19 |
22 |
|
Furman | Furman
was left out of the playoffs with a 6-5 mark, but they had a fine
season with some big wins. |
20 |
23 | Norfolk State | Norfolk
State could not turn their fine regular season into playoff
success, but getting to the playoffs was enough. |
21 | |
24 | Jackson State | JSU
had a superb 2011 campaign, finishing with an 8-2 record. They will
look to ride that momentum into 2012. |
24 | |
25 |
|
North Dakota | North
Dakota had a strong 2011 season and should be looking towards the
future with high hopes. |
23 |