FCS review: Now, probably never for the disappointing
By CRAIG HALEY
STATS FCS Senior Editor
(STATS) - As the middle of the FCS regular season arrives, a whopping seven teams that were nationally ranked in the preseason are floundering under losing records.
It's now, but probably never for most of them as far as gaining an FCS playoff bid.
The most promising situation belongs to Northern Iowa (2-3, 1-1 Missouri Valley), which was ranked fifth in the preseason. The problem for the talented Panthers is it that four of their remaining six conference opponents are ranked in the Top 15 (Youngstown State, North Dakota State, Western Illinois and South Dakota State).
But UNI played such a tough non-conference schedule and had a win over an FBS opponent (Iowa State) that even a 6-5 record may land it an at-large bid - like Western Illinois last year.
An at-large bid is unlikely for defending Patriot League champion and preseason No. 21 Colgate (1-4, 0-1), which is reeling with a three-game losing streak. It needs help to gain the league's automatic bid again, the best bet in a seven-team league likely being a tie for the league title. But it can't be a two-way share with Lehigh, which won the head-to-head matchup.
At this point, a winning record is probably the best scenario for William & Mary (2-4, 0-3 CAA), which was No. 9 in the preseason; Illinois State (2-4, 0-3 Missouri Valley), No. 10; Portland State (2-4, 1-2 Big Sky), No. 17; Northern Arizona (2-4, 1-2 Big Sky), No. 18; and Towson (1-4, 0-3 CAA), No. 24.
High expectations bring a lot of pressure to teams. Sometimes too much.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20161009141358432109104STATS FCS PollRankings as of 10/10/20161 North Dakota State (5-0) 4000 (160) 1
2 Sam Houston State (5-0) 3762 2
3 Jacksonville State (4-1) 3631 3
4 Eastern Washington (5-1) 3521 4
5 Chattanooga (6-0) 3416 5
6 Richmond (5-1) 3051 6
7 James Madison (5-1) 2969 7
8 Citadel (5-0) 2758 9
9 Charleston Southern (3-2) 2748 8
10 Montana (4-1) 2562 10
11 South Dakota State (3-2) 2257 12
12 Western Illinois (4-1) 2098 13
13 Villanova (5-1) 2050 14
14 Youngstown State (4-1) 1883 15
15 North Carolina A&T (4-1) 1487 1816 Coastal Carolina (3-2) 1350 17
17 Albany (4-1) 1223 16
18 Eastern Illinois (4-2) 1220 19
19 Cal Poly (3-2) 963 21
20 Harvard (4-0) 951 22
21 UNI (2-3) 926 11
22 North Dakota (4-2) 764 24
23 Central Arkansas (4-1) 630 25
24 Samford (4-1)
25
Grambling State (4-1) 326 NR
Others: New Hampshire (269) , Stony Brook (148) , McNeese (145) , Illinois State (114) ,
Tennessee State (105) , Sacred Heart (45) , Southern Utah (42) , South Dakota (38) , Lehigh (37) , William & Mary (25) , Indiana State (16) , Stephen F. Austin (16) , Fordham (15) , Missouri State (14) , Nicholls (13) , Northern Arizona (12) , Eastern Kentucky (12) , Wofford (11) , Penn (10) , Monmouth (10) , San Diego (6) , Kennesaw State (5) ,
North Carolina Central (4) , Weber State (3) , Cornell (2)
