Welcome back, Eastern Washington Eagles.
The 2006 season was the last one in which the perennial Big Sky power went without an appearance in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, presented by FedEx Ground, so it’s been odd not to see EWU in the national media rankings this season.
Until Monday, that is, when the Eagles (2-2) soared back to No. 19 following their 27-24 win at then-No. 15 UC Davis in a Big Sky Conference opener. It was their second straight win over a nationally ranked opponent – Southeastern Louisiana was the first – and both games came on the heels of an impressive double-overtime loss at Fresno State.
“We’ve been in a lot of these (type of games) over the years, been in three of these the last three weeks,” coach Aaron Best said. “I’m not going to say we’re battle-tested, but we’ve been tested by three different ball clubs.”
With Eastern Washington’s first appearance this season, the Big Sky gained a seventh ranked team. Montana State, coming off a 40-0 Big Sky shutout of Weber State, led the way at No. 3 behind No. 1 and defending FCS champion South Dakota State and No. 2 North Dakota State, which both had open weeks.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll. 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.
(For more on the FCS college football weekend, here are our Week 4 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Sept. 25)
Presented by FedEx Ground
1. South Dakota State (3-0, 0-0 MVFC), 1,398 points (54 of 56 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 4: No game; Week 5: North Dakota
2. North Dakota State (3-0, 0-0 MVFC), 1,335 (2)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 4: No game; Week 5: South Dakota
3. Montana State (3-1, 1-0 Big Sky), 1,288
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 4: 40-0 win at then-No. 10 Weber State; Week 5: Portland State
4. Idaho (3-1, 1-0 Big Sky), 1,187
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 4: 36-27 win over then-No. 4 Sacramento State; Week 5: at Eastern Washington
5. William & Mary (4-0, 2-0 CAA), 1,154
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 4: 28-3 win over Maine; Week 5: at Elon
6. Holy Cross (3-1, 1-0 Patriot), 1,089
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 4: 47-7 win over Colgate; Week 5: Harvard
7. Furman (3-1, 1-0 SoCon), 1,044
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 4: 38-14 win over then-No. 21 Mercer; Week 5: No game
8. Sacramento State (3-1, 0-1 Big Sky), 1,011
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 4: 36-27 loss at then-No. 7 Idaho; Week 5: Northern Arizona
9. UIW (3-1, 0-0 Southland), 947
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 4: 63-3 win over North American; Week 5: No game
10. Southern Illinois (3-0, 0-0 MVFC), 913
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 4: No game; Week 5: Missouri State
11. Delaware (3-1, 2-0 CAA), 772
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 4: 29-25 win over then-No. 11 New Hampshire; Week 5: No game
12. North Dakota (2-1, 0-0 MVFC), 704
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 4: No game; Week 5: at South Dakota State
13. Weber State (2-2, 0-1 Big Sky), 601
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 4: 40-0 loss to then-No. 3 Montana State; Week 5: at Northern Colorado
14. New Hampshire (2-2, 0-1 CAA), 591
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 4: 29-25 loss at then-No. 19 Delaware; Week 5: Towson
15. North Carolina Central (3-1, 0-0 MEAC), 505
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 4: 45-3 win over Mississippi Valley State; Week 5: Campbell
16. Villanova (3-1, 1-0 CAA), 494
Previous Ranking: 25; Week 4: 35-9 win over then-No. 17 Rhode Island; Week 5: at UAlbany
17. Western Carolina (3-1, 1-0 SoCon), 479
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 4: 77-21 win over Charleston Southern; Week 5: at The Citadel
18. Montana (3-1, 0-1 Big Sky), 420
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 4: 28-14 loss at Northern Arizona; Week 5: Idaho State
19. Eastern Washington (2-2, 1-0 Big Sky), 358
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 4: 27-24 win at then-No. 15 UC Davis; Week 5: Idaho
20. Florida A&M (3-1, 2-0 SWAC), 346
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 4: 23-10 win over Alabama State; Week 5: at Mississippi Valley State
21. UC Davis (2-2, 0-1 Big Sky), 297
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 4: 27-24 loss to Eastern Washington; Week 5: at Cal Poly
22. UT Martin (3-1, 0-0 Big South-OVC), 241
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 4: 37-21 win at North Alabama; Week 5: Tennessee State
23. Youngstown State (2-1, 0-0 MVFC), 234
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 4: No game; Week 5: at Northern Iowa
24. Rhode Island (2-2, 2-1 CAA), 125
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 4: 35-9 loss at then-No. 25 Villanova; Week 5: Bryant
25. Central Arkansas (2-2, 1-0 UAC), 116
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 4: 52-17 win over Abilene Christian; Week 5: at Southern Utah
Dropped Out: Southeast Missouri (16), Samford (20), Mercer (21)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Southeast Missouri (1-3, 1-0 Big South-OVC) 103; Fordham (3-1, 0-0 Patriot) 82; Mercer (2-2, 0-1 SoCon) 62; Chattanooga (3-1, 2-0 SoCon) 55; Eastern Illinois (3-1, 0-0 Big South-OVC): 48; Austin Peay (2-2, 1-0 UAC) 33; Samford (1-3, 0-2 SoCon) 29; Tarleton (3-1, 1-0 UAC) 27; Northern Iowa (1-2, 0-0 MVFC) 23; UAlbany (2-2, 0-0 CAA) 22; Harvard (2-0, 1-0 Ivy): 12; Eastern Kentucky (1-3, 0-0 UAC) 7
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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.