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Football
UNI Ranked #4 in Preseason FCS Sports Network Poll
Aug. 27, 2009
PHILADELPHIA (Sports Network) - The University of Northern Iowa football team is ranked No. 4 in the preseason FCS Sports Network Top 25 poll. The Panthers 3,408 points in the poll and garnered a pair of first-place votes. UNI is coming off a 12-3 mark in 2008, a season which saw the Panthers capture a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference crown and advance to the FCS semifinals. UNI will open the 2009 season Sept. 5 at Iowa. The Panthers home opener is slated for Sept. 12 against South Dakota. For a record fourth consecutive year, Appalachian State has been voted as the No. 1 team in the nation. The Mountaineers (11-3 last season) received 79 first-place votes out of a record 160 ballots cast to top No. 2 Richmond, the team that ended Appalachian State's unprecedented three-year reign as NCAA Division I national champion last fall. Appalachian State, which finished fifth in last year's season-ending poll, tallied 3,853 points to beat out the Spiders (3,792) by 61 points. Richmond (13-3) received 72 first-place votes. Montana, Northern Iowa and Villanova all received two first-place votes apiece, while James Madison, Weber State and South Carolina State each earned one first-place vote. Montana, coming off an appearance in the 2008 national championship game, finished third in the balloting, followed by Northern Iowa and Villanova. The fifth-place result is Villanova's highest finish ever in the preseason poll. Completing the rest of the top 10 were James Madison, Southern Illinois, New Hampshire, Weber State and Wofford. The Colonial Athletic Association placed four teams - Richmond, Villanova, James Madison and New Hampshire - in the top 10 and seven of its 12 teams in the top 25. William & Mary placed 14th, with Massachusetts at No. 17 and Maine at 19th. Three other CAA teams, Hofstra, Delaware and Towson, received votes.
Elon missed the top 10 by just seven points to place 11th, giving the Southern Conference three teams among the initial 11. Georgia Southern finished just out of the top-25, and was second among the teams that also received votes.
The Big Sky ended up with two teams in the top 10, Montana and Weber State, and three in the top 25, with Eastern Washington checking in at No. 18. The Missouri Valley Football Conference matched the Big Sky with two teams in the top 10, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, and three in the top 25 with South Dakota State at No. 22. The Southland Conference was the only other conference with three or more teams ranked, with Central Arkansas at No. 13, McNeese State at No. 15 and Texas State rated 20th. Conference favorites in several other leagues made up most of the rest of the poll. Cal Poly of the Great West was 12th, South Carolina State of the Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference placed 16th, Harvard of the Ivy League was 23rd, and Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley Conference finished 24th. Grambling of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Holy Cross of the Patriot League tied for 25th. Jacksonville State, which is ineligible for the OVC title because of NCAA sanctions, came in at 21.
Sports Network's FCS College Football Poll |
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