The FCS Wedge

It was another topsy-turvy week in the AGS Top 25 with 9 losses amongst teams in last week’s top 25. Despite that things stayed calm at the top as the top 5 remained unchanged. Sam Houston stayed at #1, North Dakota State edged out Eastern Washington for the #2 spot, and Southern Illinois and South Dakota State rounded out the top 5 in that order.

Teams rising in this week’s poll were led by South Dakota who moved up 5 spots to #10 following their big road win at UNI. Fellow MVFC-mate Missouri State took advantage of some losses in front of them to also move up 5 spots to #14. There was a bevy of teams entering the top 25 this week as VMI re-entered the top 25 coming in at #19. Each of the #22 through #25 teams made their first appearance in the top 25 this season with Sac State, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Duquesne taking those spots in that order.

The teams falling were headlined by Montana who dropped 6 spots to #12 after being upset at home by Sac State. East Tennessee State also took a 5 spot tumble down to #15 after being downed by Chattanooga. Rhode Island and Northern Iowa each fell 8 spots to #19 and #20 following their own losses. Weber State, North Dakota, Delaware, Mercer, and Central Arkansas all fell out of the top 25 this week. For Weber State they snapped a streak of 62 consecutive polls in the top 25 which began in late 2016.

In terms of conference representation the MVFC led the way again putting 6 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the Big Sky with 5, the CAA and Ivy League with 3 each, and the SOCON and Southland with 2 teams each in the top 25. Once again 10 teams were represented by at least 1 team in the top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	Sam Houston Bearkats	1326	40
2	–	North Dakota State Bison	1271	4
3	–	Eastern Washington Eagles	1270	10
4	–	Southern Illinois Salukis	1191
5	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1126
6	1	Villanova Wildcats	1052
7	1	Montana State Bobcats	1019
8	1	James Madison Dukes	994
9	2	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	913
10	5	South Dakota Coyotes	775
11	2	UC Davis Aggies	769
12	-6	Montana Grizzlies	675
13	3	Incarnate Word Cardinals	660
14	5	Missouri State Bears	590
15	-5	East Tennessee State Buccaneers	569
16	4	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	489
17	4	Kennesaw State Owls	471
18	4	Princeton Tigers	329
19	8	Virginia Military Institute Keydets	310
20	-8	Rhode Island Rams	308
21	-8	Northern Iowa Panthers	258
22	NR	Sac State Hornets	229
23	3	Harvard Crimson	220
24	5	Dartmouth Big Green	214
25	3	Duquesne Dukes	90
ORV:
26	7	Jackson State Tigers	83
27	12	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	78
28	-10	Weber State Wildcats	57
29	NR	Chattanooga Mocs	51
30	-7	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	37
31	-14	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	31
32	-7	Mercer Bears	20
33T	3	Northern Arizona Lumberjacks	18
33T	4	Monmouth Hawks	18
35	NR	Furman Paladins	15
36	-6	William & Mary Tribe	6
37	-13	Central Arkansas Bears	5

Most significant win: Sac State Hornets
Most significant loss: Montana Grizzlies

Dropped out of the poll:
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
New Hampshire Wildcats
Nicholls Colonels
North Carolina A&T Aggies
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks

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The AGS Top 25 was due for a shake-up and in week 6 we got one with 7 of the top 13 teams in last week’s poll taking losses. The changes started at the top as Sam Houston reclaimed the #1 spot. Moving in behind them were North Dakota State and Eastern Washington at #2 and #3, respectively. Southern Illinois rode their upset of previously top ranked SDSU up to #4, their highest ranking in the AGS Poll since 2010. South Dakota State slid down to #5 following their aforementioned loss to SIU.

Outside of the top 5 there was plenty of risers as well starting with Villanova and Rhode Island each moved up 7 spots to #7 and #12, respectively, after taking out CAA stalwarts JMU and Delaware. South Dakota made an 8 spot leap to #15 after downing MVFC rival UND. Mercer made only their 2nd appearance ever in the AGS Top 25 (this first came this past spring) rounding it out at #25.

Previously mentioned James Madison headlined the teams falling this week as they moved down 6 spots to #9 following their loss to Villanova. UC Davis took a 7 spot tumble into a tie at #13 after their stunning upset at the hands of Idaho State. Delaware and Missouri State each dropped 6 spots to #17 and #19 after being upset last Saturday. North Dakota fell 11 spots down to #23 following their second straight loss. Nicholls dropped out of the top 25 after a brief appearance last week.

In terms of conference representation the MVFC led the way once again placing 7 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the Big Sky with 5, the CAA with 4, and the AQ7, SOCON, and Southland with 2 teams each in the top 25. In all 10 conferences (counting the ASUN and WAC separately) placed a team into the top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	1	Sam Houston Bearkats	1304	40
2	2	North Dakota State Bison	1255	6
3	2	Eastern Washington Eagles	1248	7
4	3	Southern Illinois Salukis	1161
5	-4	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1075
6	2	Montana Grizzlies	1023
7	7	Villanova Wildcats	994
8	1	Montana State Bobcats	968
9	-6	James Madison Dukes	939
10	5	East Tennessee State Buccaneers	809
11	5	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	744
12	7	Rhode Island Rams	646
13T	-3	Northern Iowa Panthers	599
13T	-7	UC Davis Aggies	599
15	8	South Dakota Coyotes	482
16	2	Incarnate Word Cardinals	432
17	-6	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	400
18	-1	Weber State Wildcats	349
19	-6	Missouri State Bears	324
20	4	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	304
21	–	Kennesaw State Owls	290
22	–	Princeton Tigers	234
23	-11	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	216
24	-4	Central Arkansas Bears	146
25	4	Mercer Bears	129
ORV:
26	–	Harvard Crimson	98
27	4	Virginia Military Institute Keydets	86
28	–	Duquesne Dukes	75
29	4	Dartmouth Big Green	55
30	8	William & Mary Tribe	52
31	1	New Hampshire Wildcats	38
32	-7	Nicholls Colonels	37
33	NR	Jackson State Tigers	35
34	NR	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	28
35	–	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	17
36	1	Northern Arizona Lumberjacks	12
37	-7	Monmouth Hawks	10
38	1	North Carolina A&T Aggies	9
39	NR	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	2
40	-13	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	1

Most significant win: Southern Illinois Salukis
Most significant loss: UC Davis Aggies

Dropped out of the poll:
Austin Peay Governors
Chattanooga Mocs
Murray State Racers

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With only 5 losses amongst last week’s top 25 teams in the AGS Poll it was a pretty calm week for the most part. South Dakota State maintained its #1 ranking widening the lead over Sam Houston. James Madison stayed at #3 where they’ve spent the entire season to this point. North Dakota State moved up to #4 and Eastern Washington cracked the top 5 for the first time this season after their monster win over Big Sky rival Montana.

Other teams on the rise in this week’s poll included Central Arkansas who rose 4 spots to #20. Kennesaw State made their first appearance in the top 25 this season coming in at #21. South Dakota got back into the top 25 after a week in the ORV section at #23. After hanging just outside the top 25 since the preseason poll Nicholls got back into the top 25 rounding it out at #25.

Teams falling this week were headlined by Montana who dropped 4 spots to #8 following their aforementioned loss to EWU. North Dakota dropped 3 spots to #12 following their home loss to in-state rival NDSU. VMI, Richmond, and Holy Cross all dropped out of the top 25 after being upset by unranked opponents last Saturday.

In terms of conference representation the MVFC led the way again placing 7 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the Big Sky with 5, the CAA with 4, the Southland with 3, and the AWC with 2 teams in the top 25. 10 conferences (counting the ASUN and WAC separately) put at least one team into the top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1305	35
2	–	Sam Houston Bearkats	1260	15
3	–	James Madison Dukes	1219	3
4	1	North Dakota State Bison	1147
5	3	Eastern Washington Eagles	1132
6	1	UC Davis Aggies	1007
7	-1	Southern Illinois Salukis	969
8	-4	Montana Grizzlies	963
9	1	Montana State Bobcats	857
10	2	Northern Iowa Panthers	787
11	–	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	750
12	-3	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	691
13	1	Missouri State Bears	685
14	-1	Villanova Wildcats	675
15	1	East Tennessee State Buccaneers	622
16	-1	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	601
17	–	Weber State Wildcats	407
18	1	Incarnate Word Cardinals	372
19	2	Rhode Island Rams	306
20	4	Central Arkansas Bears	169
21	15	Kennesaw State Owls	157
22	–	Princeton Tigers	152
23	4	South Dakota Coyotes	144
24	1	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	140
25	1	Nicholls Colonels	113
ORV:
26	12	Harvard Crimson	88
27	7	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	75
28	3	Duquesne Dukes	74
29	6	Mercer Bears	63
30	2	Monmouth Hawks	55
31	-13	Virginia Military Institute Keydets	52
32	-3	New Hampshire Wildcats	43
33T	–	Chattanooga Mocs	32
33T	5	Dartmouth Big Green	32
35	-7	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	13
36T	4	Murray State Racers	12
36T	NR	Northern Arizona Lumberjacks	12
38	NR	William & Mary Tribe	11
39T	-9	Austin Peay Governors	7
39T	NR	North Carolina A&T Aggies	7

Most significant win: Eastern Washington Eagles
Most significant loss: Richmond Spiders

Dropped out of the poll:
Holy Cross Crusaders
Merrimack Warriors
Richmond Spiders

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