Sept. 25, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
With Illinois State's 35-14 win at Murray State and Cal Poly's 17-7 loss at San Jose State, the Redbirds were able to leap ahead of the Mustangs in the College Sporting News Coaches Poll by moving up to the No. 5 spot, while ISU's position The Sports Network I-AA Top-25 Poll remained unchanged at No. 6.
ISU received 2,046 votes in The Sports Network Poll and 528 in the CSN Coaches Poll, while the top four positions in each poll remained unchanged with New Hampshire No. 1, Appalachian State at No. 2, Furman at No. 3 and Montana at No. 4.
The Redbirds continue to be the highest ranked Gateway Football Conference team in both polls. Western Illinois cracked the polls for the first time since 2004, giving the conference five teams in the Top-25 for the sixth time in league history. Youngstown State is ranked No. 8 in both polls, while Southern Illinois remained at the No. 10 position in The Sports Network poll with one first-place vote. Also in the TSN poll, Northern Iowa fell one spot to No. 13 and WIU entered at No. 21.
Dating back to last season, the Redbirds have now been ranked for six straight weeks. ISU is off this weekend and returns to action on Oct. 7, when the Redbirds open Gateway Conference play at Western Kentucky. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
