SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The votes are coming for the Illinois State football team, but once again the Redbirds fell just short of a preseason ranking Monday, when the first FCS Coaches Poll was announced showing ISU just 13 points away from cracking the Top 25.
The Redbirds received a total of 54 points, behind Penn (60) and Cal-Poly and Holy Cross, who were tied for 25th with 66 points.
This is the fourth national preseason recognition for the Redbirds, who head into the 2010 coming off a winning campaign for head coach Brock Spack. ISU was picked as the 13th-best team in the nation by college football guru Phil Steele in his annual preview magazine and The Sporting News ranked the Redbirds 16th in its preseason Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) poll. The Redbirds also received 488 points to place 26th overall in The Sports Network/Fathead.com preseason Top-25 poll.
Three MVFC teams are ranked among the Top 13 in the nation, according to the pre-season Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coaches poll. Southern Illinois is ranked No. 5 in the rankings, while South Dakota State (10) and UNI (13) also represent the league. Illinois State, Missouri State and Youngstown State were among schools receiving votes in the initial coaches poll.
Of the MVFC's 14 FCS non-conference opponents (the league also plays nine FBS schools), three are ranked: Stephen F. Austin (8), Eastern Illinois (16), Delaware (19); and five others are among those schools listed as receiving votes.
After coming off their first National Championship last season, the Villanova Wildcats have been selected preseason No. 1 in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll. The Wildcats received 24 of the 30 first place votes and 667 points overall. The national runners-up the past two seasons, Montana came in second place, receiving two first-place votes. The Grizzlies held the No. 1 ranking for the final three weeks last season before falling to Villanova, 23-21, in the title game.
The FCS 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) and is administered by the Southern Conference.
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