Two’s company, three’s a crowd and four’s … well, first place in CAA Football heading into the final full week of the regular season.
Not surprisingly, the largest conference in FCS history has the biggest share of first place, and on Monday, it all reflected across the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, presented by FedEx Ground.
The 15-member Coastal Athletic Association featured No. 7 Delaware (8-2), No. 10 Villanova (8-2) and No. 12 UAlbany (8-3) in the national media poll, with Richmond (7-3) receiving the third-highest point total outside the Top 25. The quintet is each 6-1 in-conference, with UAlbany owning the only head-to-head win among the bunch – 31-10 over Villanova on Sept. 30. But Delaware is set to host Villanova on Saturday, while UAlbany hosts Monmouth and Richmond travels to rival William & Mary.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, which can be used as a selection tool by FCS playoff committee members who will put together the 24-team playoff field, to be announced on Sunday. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.
(Here are CAA tiebreakers for determining the conference’s automatic FCS playoff bid)
(For more on the college football weekend, here are our Week 11 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Nov. 13)
Presented by FedEx Ground
1. South Dakota State (10-0, 7-0 MVFC), 1,400 points (56 of 56 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 11: 34-0 win at then-No. 22 Youngstown State; Week 12: Missouri State
2. Furman (9-1, 7-0 SoCon), 1,309
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 11: 37-3 win over VMI; Week 12: at Wofford
3. Montana (9-1, 6-1 Big Sky), 1,301
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 11: 34-10 win at Portland State; Week 12: Montana State
4. Montana State (8-2, 6-1 Big Sky), 1,233
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 11: 57-14 win over Eastern Washington; Week 12: at Montana
5. South Dakota (8-2, 6-1 MVFC), 1,183
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 11: 14-10 win over then-No. 10 North Dakota; Week 12: at Western Illinois
6. Idaho (7-3, 5-2 Big Sky), 1,042
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 11: 31-29 loss at Weber State; Week 12: Idaho State
7. Delaware (8-2, 6-1 CAA), 1,029
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 11: 45-7 win at Campbell; Week 12: Villanova
8. Sacramento State (7-3, 4-3 Big Sky), 957
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 11: 41-30 win over Cal Poly; Week 12: at UC Davis
9. North Dakota State (7-3, 4-3 MVFC), 874
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 11: 34-10 win over then-No. 11 Southern Illinois; Week 12: at Northern Iowa
10. Villanova (8-2, 6-1 CAA), 792
Previous Ranking: 13(tie); Week 11: 33-10 win over Towson; Week 12: at Delaware
11. Florida A&M (9-1, 7-0 SWAC), 750
Previous Ranking: 13(tie); Week 11: 28-0 win over Lincoln (Calif.); Week 12: Bethune-Cookman
12. UAlbany (8-3, 6-1 CAA), 690
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 11: 38-20 win at Stony Brook; Week 12: Monmouth
13. North Dakota (6-4, 4-3 MVFC), 685
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 11: 14-10 loss at then-No. 6 South Dakota; Week 12: Illinois State
14. Western Carolina (7-3, 5-2 SoCon), 601
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 11: 58-7 win over ETSU; Week 12: at VMI
15. Austin Peay (8-2, 5-0 UAC), 556
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 11: 30-17 win over Utah Tech; Week 12: Central Arkansas
16. Southern Illinois (6-4, 3-4 MVFC), 507
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 11: 34-10 loss at then-No. 12 North Dakota State; Week 12: Indiana State
17. North Carolina Central (8-2, 3-1 MEAC), 489
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 11: 50-20 loss at Howard; Week 12: Delaware State
18. Chattanooga (7-3, 6-2 Southern), 481
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 11: No game; Week 12: at Alabama
19. UT Martin (8-2, 5-1 Big South-OVC), 475
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 11: 41-14 win over Southeast Missouri; Week 12: at Samford
20. UIW (7-2, 5-1 Southland), 464
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 11: Southland forfeit win vs. Northwestern State; Week 12: at Houston Christian
21. Mercer (8-3, 6-2 SoCon), 311
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 11: 28-21 win over Samford; Week 12: No game
22. Northern Iowa (6-4, 5-2 MVFC), 285
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 11: 35-16 loss at Missouri State; Week 12: North Dakota State
23. Harvard (8-1, 5-1 Ivy), 168
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 11: 25-23 3-OT win over Penn; Week 12: at Yale
24. Lafayette (8-2, 4-1 Patriot), 142
Previous Ranking: 25; Week 11: 24-16 win over Fordham; Week 12: at Lehigh
25. Youngstown State (6-4, 4-3 MVFC), 126
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 11: 34-0 loss to then-No. 1 South Dakota State; Week 12: at Murray State
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Central Arkansas (7-3, 4-1 UAC) 119; Tarleton (8-3, 4-2 UAC) 80; Richmond (7-3, 6-1 CAA) 77; Nicholls (5-4, 6-0 Southland, including forfeit win) 25; Holy Cross (6-4, 4-1 Patriot) 21; Gardner-Webb (6-4, 4-1 Big South-OVC) 8; UC Davis (6-4, 4-3 Big Sky) 5; Drake (7-3, 7-0 Pioneer) 2
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Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Voters – Stats Perform: Craig Haley, Gary Reasons. Big Sky Conference: Doug Kelly, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. Big South-OVC Football Association: Mike Bradd, Brian Cleary, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. CAA Football: Matt Harmon, Scott Klatzkin, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: Rick Bender, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis, Patricia Porter-Mayfield. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Dom Izzo, Mike Kern, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Randy Brochu. Patriot League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Jack Cronin. Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller, Ralan Wardlaw. Southland Conference: Matthew Bonnette, James Dixon, James Hill. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Ronnie Johnson, Joshua Padilla. United Athletic Conference: Steve East, Tony Jones, Brian Morgan, Jake Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson,Zack Carlton, Riley Corcoran, Joe DeLeone, Steven J. Gaither, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Brian McLaughlin, Jon Passman, Omar Rashon Borja, Ryan Roberts, Kent Schmidt, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.