Missouri Valley Conference Puts Quartet of Teams in Top Seven for First Time Ever

The dominance of the Missouri Valley Conference has reached new heights in this week's college football FCS polls.

For the first time in MVFC history, four league schools are ranked in the Top 7 in the nation. North Dakota State, Illinois State, UNI and South Dakota State represent the league in the Top 7 of both the FCS coaches rankings and the STATS top-25 poll. South Dakota and Western Illinois also received votes in the STATS poll. SDSU picked up one first place vote in the coaches poll.

Six teams are ranked in the Top 25, as Youngstown State and Indiana State join the other four to represent the MVFC. It marks the third-straight week this year, and 15th overall, that the league has had six or more teams ranked.

This is the final weekend before conference play and only two MVFC teams are in action: South Dakota State hosts Robert Morris while Southern Illinois hosts Liberty.

STATS FCS Top 25

Team (First-Place Votes)W-LPtsPrev1Jacksonville State (93)2-1383412Coastal Carolina (36)3-0367623North Dakota State (17)2-1355544lllinois State (2)2-1335355Villanova (4)2-1334666South Dakota State (6)2-0304977Northern Iowa2-1302998Chattanooga2-12585109James Madison3-025221210Liberty2-124601511Eastern Washington1-223581412Sam Houston State0-21905313Youngstown State2-118611614Montana1-21675815Montana State1-116121116Fordham2-116011817Portland State2-014461918Eastern Kentucky1-110132119Richmond2-19932220Cal Poly1-27581721New Hampshire1-27531322Indiana State2-17232323Southeastern Louisiana2-17022024Harvard1-05492525McNeese State2-0502NR

Others receiving votes: Stony Brook 335, William & Mary 263, Lamar 257, Northern Arizona 171, North Dakota 79, Samford 73, South Dakota 64, North Carolina A&T 42, Alcorn State 41, Western Illinois 36, Furman 35, Bryant 32, Idaho State 19, South Carolina State 8, Towson 8, Southern University 6, Dartmouth 4, Bethune-Cookman 4, Tennessee State 4, Southeast Missouri State 3, Princeton 2, Jacksonville 2, Charleston Southern 1, Sacred Heart 1.

FCS Coaches Poll
	Team (First-Place Votes)	W-L	Pts	Prev
1	Coastal Carolina (18)	3-0	631	1
2	North Dakota State (4)	2-1	617	2
3	Jacksonville State (3)	2-1	591	4
4	Villanova	2-1	579	3
5	Illinois State	2-1	531	6
6	Northern Iowa	2-1	483	11
7	South Dakota State (1)	2-0	481	8
8	James Madison	3-0	477	10
9	Chattanooga	2-1	438	12
10	Liberty	2-1	410	14
11	Eastern Washington	1-2	349	15
12	Youngstown State	2-1	328	16
13	Montana State	1-1	296	9
14	Sam Houston State	0-2	277	5
15	Montana	1-2	260	7
16	Fordham	2-1	239	19
17	McNeese State	2-0	231	21
18	Portland State	2-0	220	20
19	Southeastern Louisiana	2-1	164	17
20	Richmond	2-1	147	23
21	Eastern Kentucky	1-1	126	22
22	Cal Poly	1-2	114	18
23	Indiana State	2-1	112	25
24	New Hampshire	1-2	78	13
25	William & Mary	1-1	45	NR

Others receiving votes: Harvard 42, Northern Arizona 34, Samford 28, South Carolina State 23, Charleston Southern 21, Stony Brook 20, Towson 20, North Carolina A&T 14, Alcorn State 8, Furman 7, Lamar 5, Western Illinois 3, Jacksonville 1.