SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Three teams in the top eight of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coaches Poll fell in upsets on Saturday, all on the road to unranked opponents. In all, six ranked teams were upset by unranked opponents last week, while the lower ranked team won both matchups of top 25 teams.
North Dakota State once again garnered all 26 first-place votes for a total of 650 points. The Bison continued their FCS-record winning streak, extending it to 32 games with a 47-7 victory at South Dakota. NDSU racked up 524 yards of total offense in the win with running back John Crockett rushing for 123 yards. Quarterback Carson Wentz also threw for 231 yards and three touchdowns and kicker Adam Keller booted four field goals in the one-sided affair.The top 25 features a new No. 2 for the first time this season. Coastal Carolina comes in second after improving to 8-0 on the year with a 43-22 victory against in-state rival Charleston Southern on Saturday. Quarterback Alex Ross threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Chanticleers to their 12th consecutive home win.
Villanova moved up one spot to third with 594 points. The Wildcats improved to 7-1 on the season, defeating Morgan State 48-28 on Saturday. New Hampshire also moved up one spot to fourth, while Jacksonville State rounded out the top five after jumping two spots. New Hampshire topped Stony Brook 28-20 and Jacksonville State trounced Tennessee Tech 49-3 to better their respective records to 6-1.
Illinois State moved up three spots to No. 6 after a 21-7 win against Missouri State. The Red Birds improved to 7-0 with the win. Eastern Washington fell to seventh after falling 28-27 at Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks scored nine fourth-quarter points to overtake the Eagles in the back-and-forth matchup.
McNeese State moved up two spots to eighth after a 41-21 win against Incarnate Word. Montana State came in ninth after a bye week and Fordham found itself in 10th place this week.
The lone new team to enter the top 25 this week was Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks enter the top 25 at No. 23 after knocking off then No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana 27-17 on Saturday. It was the second consecutive season that SFA knocked off a top-10 team, having recorded a 52-38 victory against No. 2 Montana State last season.
Eleven different conferences are represented among the 25 teams, the highest total this season. The Missouri Valley Football Conference once again led all conferences with seven teams in the top 25. The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) added four teams to the top 25 to rank second. The Big Sky and Southland each placed three teams in poll.
