Sam Houston No. 1 in Stats Perform FCS Top 25 as Bison move up

By Craig Haley Stats Perform

Sam Houston, which owns the longest winning streak in Division I college football, strengthened its hold on the No. 1 ranking in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 this week.

The defending national champion Bearkats (6-0) gained 44 of the 50 first-place votes in the national media poll, two days after routing Jacksonville State 42-7 for their 17th straight victory.

“Our guys understand we need to finish this thing off one game at a time for us to end up where we want to end up,” coach K.C. Keeler said, “and that’s the No. 1 team in the country.”

The other six first-place votes went to No. 2 North Dakota State. The Bison (7-0) moved up one spot with a 27-20 win over Missouri State and Eastern Washington’s tumble of five spots to No. 7 due to a 35-34 loss to Weber State.

Princeton (6-0), up to No. 19, joins Sam Houston and North Dakota State as the only remaining unbeaten FCS teams. There are four weeks of regular-season games remaining, except in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, whose schedule continues into Thanksgiving weekend.

A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a secondplace vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.

Stats Perform FCS

Top 25 (Oct. 25)

1. Sam Houston (6-0, 4-0 AQ7), 1,244 points (44 firstplace votes)

11; Week 8

Result: 34-14 win over Idaho

12. Kennesaw State (6-1, 3-0 Big South), 709

Previous Ranking: 12; Week 8

Result: 30-7 win at Campbell

13.(tie) ETSU (7-1, 4-1 Southern), 627

Previous Ranking: 14; Week 8

Result: 17-13 win at Furman

13.(tie) UT Martin (6-1, 3-0 Ohio Valley), 627

Previous Ranking: 13; Week 8

Result: 38-30 win over Southeast Missouri

15. Sacramento State (5-2, 4-0 Big Sky), 525

Previous Ranking: 19; Week 8

Result: 44-0 win over Northern Arizona

16. Northern Iowa (4-3, 2-2 Missouri Valley), 492

Previous Ranking: 20; Week 8

Result: 26-17 win at then-No. 6 South Dakota State

17. Missouri State (4-3, 3-2

Missouri Valley), 343

Previous Ranking: 17; Week 8

Result: 27-20 loss at then-No. 3

North Dakota State

18. VMI (5-2, 3-1 Southern), 332

Previous Ranking: 21; Week 8

Result: Open week

19. Princeton (6-0, 3-0 Ivy),

310

Previous Ranking: 22; Week

8 Result: 18-16, 5-OT win over Harvard

20. Jackson State (6-1, 4-0

SWAC), 285

Previous Ranking: 24; Week 8

Result: 42-12 win over Bethune-

Cookman

21. South Dakota (5-3, 3-2

Missouri Valley), 228

Previous Ranking: 15; Week 8

Result: 20-14 loss to Illinois State

22. UIW (5-2, 3-1

Southland), 223

Previous Ranking: 16; Week 8

Result: 28-20 loss at McNeese

23. Weber State (3-4, 2-2

Big Sky), 166

Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 8 Result: 35-34 win at then-No. 2 Eastern Washington 24. Rhode Island (5-2, 3-2

CAA), 125

Previous Ranking: 18; Week 8

Result: 44-0 loss at then-No. 5

Villanova

25. Eastern Kentucky (5-2, 2-0 AQ7), 105

Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 8 Result: Open week Dropped Out: Delaware (23), Dartmouth (25) Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): William & Mary 52, Prairie View A&M 46, Harvard 37, Chattanooga

31, Mercer 31, North Dakota

29, Delaware 24, Stephen F. Austin 10, Jacksonville State 9, Florida A&M 8, Duquesne 7, Dartmouth 6, Columbia 5 Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Voters - Stats Perform: Craig Haley, Gary Reasons. ASUN: Patrick McCoy, Mike Parris. Big Sky Conference: Doug Kelly, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. Big South Conference: Brian Cleary, Matt Harmon, Mark Simpson. CAA Football: Scott Klatzkin, Greg Madia, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: Rick Bender, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Bill Hamilton, Maurice Williams. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Dom Izzo, Mike Kern, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Tad Maury, Ralph Ventre. Ohio Valley Conference: Neal Bradley, Kyle Schwartz. Patriot League: Eric Malanowski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Jack Cronin. Southern Conference: David Fox, Jeff Hartsell, Phil Perry. Southland Conference: Zack Carlton, Josh Yonis. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Ronnie Johnson, Travis Jarome, Andrew Roberts. Western Athletic Conference: Josh Criswell, Chris Thompson. National Representatives: Josh Buchanan, Riley Corcoran, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Brett Huston, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Jon Passman, Lawrence Smith, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Jamie Williams.