Eastern Washington ranked fourth in FCS preseason coaches’ poll
Eastern Washington is getting even more love from coaches than from national media.
The Eagles are ranked fourth in the first FCS coaches poll of the season, which was released Tuesday. That’s one spot better than the No. 5 ranking bestowed a day earlier by the media.
Defending national champion James Madison received 20 of 26 first-place votes to easily outdistance North Dakota State. The Dukes return 14 starters from last year’s squad which defeated Youngstown State in the title game.
Sam Houston State was third, followed by EWU and Jacksonville State.
The rest of the Top 10 included South Dakota State, Richmond, Youngstown State, Villanova and North Dakota.
The Eagles host NDSU on Sept. 9 and are at North Dakota in a Big Sky Conference game Nov. 11.
Cal Poly, at 23rd, is the only other ranked team from the Big Sky. However, Weber State, Northern Arizona and Montana received votes.
STATS FCS preseason poll
The top 25 teams in the preseason STATS Football Championship Subdivision poll with first-place votes in parentheses:
Record | Pts | Pvs | |
1. James Madison (134) | 0-0 | 4034 | NR |
2. North Dakota State (19) | 0-0 | 3874 | NR |
3. Sam Houston State (7) | 0-0 | 3610 | NR |
4. South Dakota State (2) | 0-0 | 3385 | NR |
5. Eastern Washington | 0-0 | 3270 | NR |
6. Jacksonville State (1) | 0-0 | 3081 | NR |
7. Richmond | 0-0 | 3041 | NR |
8. North Dakota | 0-0 | 2871 | NR |
9. Youngstown State | 0-0 | 2658 | NR |
10. Villanova | 0-0 | 2628 | NR |
11. Wofford | 0-0 | 2543 | NR |
12. Chattanooga | 0-0 | 1995 | NR |
13. New Hampshire | 0-0 | 1741 | NR |
14. Charleston Southern | 0-0 | 1710 | NR |
15. Central Arkansas | 0-0 | 1685 | NR |
16. Citadel | 0-0 | 1545 | NR |
17. Lehigh | 0-0 | 1369 | NR |
18. UNI | 0-0 | 924 | NR |
19. Samford | 0-0 | 893 | NR |
20. Illinois State | 0-0 | 876 | NR |
21. Grambling State | 0-0 | 692 | NR |
22. Fordham | 0-0 | 604 | NR |
23. Cal Poly | 0-0 | 427 | NR |
24. Albany | 0-0 | 418 | NR |
25. Western Illinois | 0-0 | 367 | NR |
Others: North Carolina Central 326, Weber State 322, Northern Arizona 307, McNeese 261, San Diego 250, Montana 215, North Carolina A&T 198, Kennesaw State 154, Liberty 134, Tennessee State 102, UT Martin 90, South Dakota 87, Harvard 36, Saint Francis U 31, Delaware 27, Princeton 23, South Carolina State 22, Nicholls 21, Southeastern Louisiana 20, Southern Utah 17, Penn 14, Duquesne 14, Stony Brook 13, Maine 11, Montana State 6, Mercer 6, Southern Illinois 5, Alcorn State 4, William & Mary 4, Eastern Illinois 3, ETSU 3, Wagner 3, Eastern Kentucky 2, Indiana State 1, Bethune-Cookman 1, Dayton 1.