UNH climbs to No. 6
Philadelphia, PA -- Richmond needed a blocked field goal by Kevin Grayson with
38 seconds to beat Delaware on the road Saturday, but
things were not nearly as tight for the Spiders on Monday when they retained the No. 1 spot in the latest Sports Network FCS Top-25 poll.
Richmond, the defending national champion, received 122 of 146 first-place
votes and finished with 3,042 points to edge out Villanova by 238 points for
the top spot. The Spiders (2-0) had to hang on for a 16-15 win over Delaware to
start Colonial Athletic Association play.
Villanova (2-0), a 38-17 winner over Lehigh, received 13 first-place ballots.
Other teams receiving first-place votes were No. 3 Northern Iowa with six and
No. 5 William & Mary with two, while No. 6 New Hampshire, No. 8 McNeese State
and No. 15 South Carolina State were given one each.
The Colonial Athletic Association holds down five of the top seven spots in the
poll and seven of the top 20, with James Madison at No. 7,
Massachusetts at No. 17 and Maine at No. 20.
Northern Iowa (1-1) recovered from its one-point loss at Iowa
with 66-7 victory over South Dakota to jump one spot in the poll, while Montana
advanced one position by coming back for a 17-10 road victory over UC Davis.
William & Mary (2-0), which was ranked 14th in the preseason, continued its
rise, moving up two spots from seventh to fifth after beating Central Connecticut State 33-14.
The Tribe stunned Virginia 26-14 the previous week.
New Hampshire (2-0) won its fifth game over an FBS opponent in six years with a
23-16 triumph against Ball State and jumped from ninth to sixth.
James Madison (0-1) dropped a 38-35 decision to another FBS opponent, Maryland,
in overtime and fell one spot in the poll.
The biggest leap of the week came from McNeese State (2-0), which
bounced from 16th to eighth with its 40-35 victory at Appalachian State.
ASU, the No. 1 ranked team in the preseason for the fourth consecutive year,
lost its second straight game in the final seconds and plummeted from No. 2 to
No. 10.
Southern Illinois (0-1), which had a week to regroup after a 31-28 loss
to Marshall, slipped one spot to No. 9.
Elon fell out of the top 10, despite a 41-7 road victory against Presbyterian.
The 11th-ranked Phoenix, which have outscored Presbyterian and Davidson 97-7 in
two games, slid one spot.
Following Elon is Cal Poly at No. 12 and Weber State at No. 13. Cal Poly won
its opener 38-19 over Sacramento State to retain its spot.
Weber State stumbled from 11th to 13th when it fumbled a snap in the final minute
at Colorado State and lost 24-23. It was the second narrow FBS loss in a row for the Wildcats, who fell 29-22 at Wyoming.
The rest of the top 20 is made up of Wofford, South Carolina State, Central
Arkansas, Massachusetts, South Dakota State, Texas State and Maine.
South Dakota State leaped from 21st to 18th following a 44-6 blasting of
Georgia Southern at home.
Finishing out the poll is Eastern Washington at No. 21, followed by Eastern
Kentucky, Holy Cross, Jacksonville State and Harvard.
