2008 FCS Coaches Poll

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 22, 2008

 

Spiders Sit Atop the FCS World

 

 

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After winning its first FCS National Championship by defeating Montana, 24-7, Dec. 19 in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Richmond Spiders have been named a unanimous No. 1 in the final FCS Coaches Poll of the season.

 

The Spiders (13-3) defeated Eastern Kentucky in the first round at home, 38-10, before traveling on the road to knock off three-time defending national champion and No. 2 seed Appalachian State in the quarterfinals, 31-13. In the semifinals, Richmond traveled to Northern Iowa, where a last-second touchdown and extra point gave the Spiders a 21-20 victory over the No. 3 seed. The Spiders completed their run by topping the Grizzlies in the title game. The final ranking of No. 1 is the first time the Spiders have been ranked No. 1 all season in the FCS Coaches Poll.

 

National runner-up Montana (14-2) finished the season No. 2 after losing to the Spiders. The Grizzlies defeated Texas State at home in the first round, 31-13, before avenging their only regular season loss of the season to Weber State in the quarterfinals, 24-13. In the semifinals Montana traveled to No. 1 seed James Madison and knocked off the Dukes, 35-27.

 

Semifinalist James Madison finished the season at No. 3, while the fourth semifinalist Northern Iowa finished at No. 4. Following the four semifinalists were playoff participants Appalachian State, Villanova, New Hampshire, Cal Poly, Weber State and Southern Illinois.

 

Moving into the poll this week was Texas State, which won the Southland Conference regular season title and advanced to the playoffs, where it lost to Montana 31-13 in the first round. Moving out of the poll this week was UT Martin, which lost to Eastern Kentucky, 33-31, to end the regular season.

 

All 16 playoff participants were ranked in the top 25 this week.

 

The Colonial Athletic Association had six teams ranked in the final poll, with four being in the top 10. The Southern Conference and the Southland each had three ranked in the top 25.

 

The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and is administered by the Southern Conference. Two head coaches from each of the 14 FCS conferences participate in the voting.

 

The FCS Coaches Poll website can be viewed here and is updated every week after the release of the poll.  

 

 

Team (1st Votes)                     Record              Points                    Prev. Ranking

1. Richmond (24)                      13-3                   600                             6

2. Montana                              14-2                   559                             5

3. James Madison                    12-2                   540                             1

4. Northern Iowa                       12-3                   538                             4

5. Appalachian State                11-3                   507                             2

6. Villanova                              10-3                   465                             7

7. New Hampshire                    10-3                   434                           10

8. Cal Poly                                 8-3                   419                             3

9. Weber State                         10-4                   398                         T12

10. Southern Illinois                    9-3                   389                             8

11. Wofford                                9-3                   386                             9

12. Central Arkansas                10-2                   313                           11

13. South Carolina State           10-3                   298                         T12

14. Harvard                                9-1                   237                           14

15. Liberty                               10-2                   231                           15

16. Maine                                  8-5                   181                           21

17. Colgate                                9-3                   176                           16

18. Eastern Kentucky                 8-4                   160                           22

19. Elon                                     8-4                   154                           19

20. William and Mary                  7-4                   147                           18

21. McNeese State                     7-4                   138                           17

22. Jacksonville State                 8-3                   112                           20

23. Texas State                          8-5                   107                         NR

24. Grambling State                  11-2                     92                           25

25. Prairie View A&M                  9-1                     69                           23

 

Other receiving votes (pts. in parentheses): UT Martin (40), Florida A&M (33), Massachusetts (24), Furman (17), South Dakota State (15), Albany (10), Tennessee State (8), Holy Cross (2), Northwestern State (1).