Aug. 20, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coaches Poll made its debut Monday and Illinois State was one of four Gateway Football Conference teams listed in the top-25, with a No. 8 ranking.
Illinois State head coach Denver Johnson is one of the 28 coaches to comprise the voting panel. The Redbirds, which received 471 votes, are coming off a 9-4 campaign, which included a trip to the FCS playoffs, the third in school history.
Joining ISU in the top-10, were Gateway foes Youngstown State at No. 6 and Northern Iowa, ranked No. 9. Southern Illinois was also in the top-25, with a No. 11 ranking.
ISU non-conference opponents include future Gateway member North Dakota State, which is ranked No. 4, and in-state rival Eastern Illinois, which is No. 17. South Dakota State, another Gateway addition in 2008, cracked the top-25 with a No. 19 ranking.
With 699 votes, two-time defending national champion Appalachian State received the No. 1 ranking, followed by Montana (656), Massachusetts (612), North Dakota State (609) and New Hampshire (559).
In addition to Johnson, the FCS Coaches Poll voting panel includes: Stacy Adams (Valparaiso), Rob Ash (Montana State), David Bennett (Coastal Carolina), Bob Biggs (UC-Davis), Don Brown (Massachusetts), Kevin Callahan (Monmouth), Rich Ellerson (Cal Poly), Bob Ford (Albany), Henry Frazier (Prairie View A&M), Tom Gilmore (Holy Cross), J.C. Harper (Stephen F. Austin), Danny Hope (Eastern Kentucky), Anthony Jones (Alabama A&M), Kevin Kelly (Georgetown), Bobby Lamb (Furman), Pete Lembo (Elon), Mike Lucas (Southeastern Louisiana), Mickey Matthews (James Madison), Tripp Merritt (Davidson), Jay Mills (Charleston Southern), Tim Murphy (Harvard), Don Patterson (Western Illinois), Oliver Pough (South Carolina State), Tony Samuel (Southeast Missouri State), Jack Siedlecki (Yale), Jerome Souers (Northern Arizona) and Joe Taylor (Hampton).
The weekly FCS Top-25 Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).
