College Sports Journal Preseason Top-25 Poll

[Mr. C]

Here is the top-25 preseason poll released today by College Sports Journal:

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — North Dakota State and Sam Houston State battled for the NCAA Division I Football Championship title, with NDSU winning its first Football Championship Subdivision title last season.

And in 2012, the Bison edged out the Bearkats for the top spot in the first College Sports Journal preseason Top-25 poll.

Advancing to the championship game for the first time last season, North Dakota State and Sam Houston State were picked as favorites to repeat as title-contest participants by a poll that included FCS experts from around the country.

Both teams return a bulk of their rosters from last season, when the two squads lost only two games combined and won the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Southland Conference titles respectively.

Here is the link to read more:

http://www.college-sports-journal.com/index.php/ncaa-division-i-sports/fcs-football/259-north-dakota-state-tops-csj-preseason-fcs-top-25-poll

[Mr. C]

2012 College Sports Journal Preaseason FCS Top-25 Poll*

1. North Dakota State
2. Sam Houston State
3. Appalachian State
4. Montana State
5. Georgia Southern
6. Towson
7. James Madison
8. Wofford
9. Northern Iowa
10. Lehigh
11. Stony Brook
12. Eastern Washington
13. Old Dominion
14. Delaware
15. Youngstown State
16. Montana
17. Maine
18. Indiana State
19. New Hampshire
20. Norfolk State
21. Illinois State
22. Stephen F. Austin
23. Southern Utah
24. Villanova
25. Eastern Kentucky

Others receiving votes (in order of points):

Liberty, Central Arkansas, Alabama State, Harvard, Furman, Jacksonville State, Cal Poly, Murray State, Albany, Penn, Tennessee Tech, Bethune-Cookman, South Carolina State, William & Mary, Chattanooga, San Diego, Elon, McNeese State, Georgetown, Jackson State, Brown, Cornell, North Carolina A&T, Grambling.

[Professor Chaos]

Not too shabby. ODU is a little low and App St is a little high in my opinion but nothing too egregious.

[RichH2]

I know I am biased but love Lehigh at 10. We surely dont deserve it yet but great goal for team to aim for.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Yeah, looks good Dave.how many are on the panel and how does it work as far as rotation or anything like that? Just curious if you have a set number that you go to and so forth?

If the product is good (this is) then it doesn't matter if it's 2 or 200 but I was just curious on it.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Dave and I just pull the names out of a hat. Seriously, there's a "blue ribbon", balanced panel of voters that make up the poll.

[Mr. C]

We are still putting together our panel. There were about a dozen votes in this poll. The goal is get people who are experts at FCS. We have our staff voting, plus we are working on getting the top beat writers in FCS, nationally-based broadcasters, retired SIDs and beat writers who have a long history of following FCS (and still do), FCS officials of various backgrounds. We even have a prominent, retired FCS zebra on our panel. We also will have an AGS panel member and may even add some ex-players and coaches. We want a small, select group from different backgrounds who will make our poll as good as it can possibly be, with as little bias as possible. A small expert panel can be better than a big group of voters who only see one game a week.

[Mr. C]

Not too shabby. ODU is a little low and App St is a little high in my opinion but nothing too egregious.

To be honest, some people in FCS circles are struggling with Old Dominion, since the Monarchs are moving out of FCS next season. It is a philosophical issue, kind of like voting for teams that are on probation.

[Dane96]

I am not a huge fan of pre-season polls....but this one is REALLY good.

Good job guys!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I know I am biased but love Lehigh at 10. We surely dont deserve it yet but great goal for team to aim for.


Lehigh should be around 10-15 imo. They have the potential to be a Top 10 team assuming some of the holes are filled. In reality, most of the teams around the Hawks have just as many, if not more questions heading into next week.

[Mr. C]

I know I am biased but love Lehigh at 10. We surely dont deserve it yet but great goal for team to aim for.

Two things on Lehigh:

Those Engineering Mountain Hawks (kudos to Otto Fad for that name) have a lot of top-flight talent back and they have a schedule that is very favorable to making a big run this season. I don't see how Lehigh finishes any less than 9-2, or 10-1 and the Hawks could go 11-0, if everything breaks their way. I hear good things about the QB situation. Chris Lum was great, but Lehigh has had time to develop their backups. This is going to be a very tough team in 2012.

[Mr. C]

I am not a huge fan of pre-season polls....but this one is REALLY good.

Good job guys!

There is also something to be said about waiting to the last week or two before the season starts (or at the very least, wait until camps open) to do a preseason poll. When this writer administered the TSN poll, I waited until August to get it out. No need to be in a hurry.

P.S. I am also a big fan of the AGS poll and always have been.

[Mr. C]

There are also a number of conference previews and other season-primers on the CSJ site, with more previews and great stuff to come in the days ahead as we count down to next Thursday's season-opening games. Check back often in the week ahead for everything to get you ready for the season.

www.college-sports-journal.com

[ursus arctos horribilis]

We are still putting together our panel. There were about a dozen votes in this poll. The goal is get people who are experts at FCS. We have our staff voting, plus we are working on getting the top beat writers in FCS, nationally-based broadcasters, retired SIDs and beat writers who have a long history of following FCS (and still do), FCS officials of various backgrounds. We even have a prominent, retired FCS zebra on our panel. We also will have an AGS panel member and may even add some ex-players and coaches. We want a small, select group from different backgrounds who will make our poll as good as it can possibly be, with as little bias as possible. A small expert panel can be better than a big group of voters who only see one game a week.

That is quite impressive. Great work.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

There is also something to be said about waiting to the last week or two before the season starts (or at the very least, wait until camps open) to do a preseason poll. When this writer administered the TSN poll, I waited until August to get it out. No need to be in a hurry.

P.S. I am also a big fan of the AGS poll and always have been.

I've wanted to do the AGS Poll in that fashion and wait until later but had a couple of conversations with experienced people that thought it was important to keep it early...I'd like to have it in August so I think that is something I should pose to the Poll Committee and see what they think on the matter. I am in your camp on that one.

[Apphole]

I love seeing App ranked high, but jeez! Even a homer like me is having trouble justifying us in the top 5. Maybe the pencil pushers are super keen on our D and Satterfield being back? I think 7 or 8 would be an appropriate spot. Keep in mind, the last time I saw my Apps play football, they got 3 yards against the ****ing Maine Black Bears. Hope you guys are right, Mr. C xthumbsupx

[dungeonjoe]

Wofford #8? I love the love going to the terriers, but I am wondering what people are seeing there.

[dungeonjoe]

BTW, its good to catch up with your work again, Mr. C. I have bookmarked the site.

[WrenFGun]

I think this poll has done the best job yet exercising caution over teams with new QB's, with the exception of Lehigh, who does not seem to have been penalized for it.

I still think Stony Brook is too high. They're not a top 20 team unless they beat someone, anyone. And trust me, I'd like to see them do well coming into the CAA, but they are riding awfully high on ALMOST beating a team that North Dakota State handled relatively easily in the National Championship. I'm not saying their end of season isn't encouraging, nor am I saying that the addition of Coker isn't significant, but meh, show it to me. And yeah, they may not have much of a chance next year in the Big South, but they're really a team that I see being passed by a lot of teams this season if they're that high because they don't have much in the way of resume builders. They could also unfairly rise if the top teams lose early.

[Mr. C]

I love seeing App ranked high, but jeez! Even a homer like me is having trouble justifying us in the top 5. Maybe the pencil pushers are super keen on our D and Satterfield being back? I think 7 or 8 would be an appropriate spot. Keep in mind, the last time I saw my Apps play football, they got 3 yards against the ****ing Maine Black Bears. Hope you guys are right, Mr. C xthumbsupx
You've got to consider that a lot of other teams have questions this time of year as well. The biggest question mark for App State is offensive line play, while the Mountaineers are very solid on defense and have a lot of other pieces back on offense. You also should consider that the Mountaineers have a history of playing better with talented, young players than veterans sometimes.

[Mr. C]

BTW, its good to catch up with your work again, Mr. C. I have bookmarked the site.

Hope to see you and catch up with stuff, Dungeonjoe, in a couple of weeks.

[dungeonjoe]

Hope to see you and catch up with stuff, Dungeonjoe, in a couple of weeks.
we move youngterrier up there Wednesday. PM me when you are coming this way.

[Sader87]

I like being "under the radar" for a whole host of reasons.....

[Paladin1aa]

Go Guins

[Apphole]

You've got to consider that a lot of other teams have questions this time of year as well. The biggest question mark for App State is offensive line play, while the Mountaineers are very solid on defense and have a lot of other pieces back on offense. You also should consider that the Mountaineers have a history of playing better with talented, young players than veterans sometimes.

Good point. You don't have to twist my arm to help me rationalize high expectations for my Mountaineers.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I think this poll has done the best job yet exercising caution over teams with new QB's, with the exception of Lehigh, who does not seem to have been penalized for it.

I still think Stony Brook is too high. They're not a top 20 team unless they beat someone, anyone. And trust me, I'd like to see them do well coming into the CAA, but they are riding awfully high on ALMOST beating a team that North Dakota State handled relatively easily in the National Championship. I'm not saying their end of season isn't encouraging, nor am I saying that the addition of Coker isn't significant, but meh, show it to me. And yeah, they may not have much of a chance next year in the Big South, but they're really a team that I see being passed by a lot of teams this season if they're that high because they don't have much in the way of resume builders. They could also unfairly rise if the top teams lose early.

I think Lehigh has been penalized for the loss of Lum. They finished #5 and #6 last year and have showed up in the 10-20 range in most preseason polls. If Lum was still there they would easily be a Top 5 team heading into the year given the amount of talent that is returning.

[Mr. C]

I think Lehigh has been penalized for the loss of Lum. They finished #5 and #6 last year and have showed up in the 10-20 range in most preseason polls. If Lum was still there they would easily be a Top 5 team heading into the year given the amount of talent that is returning.

And when you add in the easier schedule this year, it's hard to not see the Engineering Mountain Hawks finishing with a great record and a high finish in the regular-season poll. This is a team that could EASILY earn a seed in the playoffs this season.

[Ivytalk]

Good poll! Encouraging to see four Ivies in the ORV column, anyway.