The first preseason FCS football poll has been released by the AnyGivenSaturday.com website, and the Mountaineers are ranked 2nd overall. AGS has posted the first preseason poll of teams each year since its inception in 2004.Reigning National Champion Richmond landed the top spot, garnering 59 first place votes in the sixth annual preseason AnyGivenSaturday.com (AGS) Poll. Following the Spiders in the top ten were (in order): Appalachian State, Montana, Villanova, Northern Iowa, James Madison, Southern Illinois, New Hampshire, Weber State, and Elon. The full results are listed below.
Five other teams received first place votes including Appalachian State (20), Villanova (11), Montana (5), Northern Iowa (2), and James Madison (1).
A total of 18 squads received more than the five votes required to receive mention outside of the top 25.
The Colonial Athletic Association, FCS's largest league lead the way with eight teams in the Top 25; the Southern Conference had five, the Big Sky Conference had four, the Missouri Valley Football and Southland Conferences had three each, and the Great West Football and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conferences were each represented with one squad.
The pollsters also named Delaware as the biggest rising team from 2008 and Cal Poly as the biggest falling team.
In comparison to other polls, the AGS Poll had as many or more of its preseason top 25 on its final regular season poll than either of the other two polls (coaches and media) had on theirs since the poll's inception five years ago. The AGS Poll also had as many or more of its preseason top 25 on its final regular season poll make the playoffs than either of the other two polls the past five years.
AGS is the world's largest online community devoted to all of the FCS. The AGS Poll was created in 2004 to give distinguished members of the AGS community a place to voice their opinion, vote for the top 25 FCS programs in the nation, and provide the media and coaches of FCS a valuable resource to gauge general sentiment. In order to ensure that the poll is accurate and fair, a committee of AGS veteran members has established guidelines for voter eligibility and accountability.
The AGS Poll will be announced weekly throughout the season on Mondays and a final poll will be announced shortly after the National Championship game.
2009 Any Given Saturday Poll Preseason Top 25
(First place votes in parenthesis), Points
1. Richmond (59), 2338
2. Appalachian State (20), 2292
3. Montana (5), 2154
4. Villanova (11), 2152
5. Northern Iowa (2), 2011
6. James Madison (1), 1746
7. Southern Illinois, 1703
8. New Hampshire, 1695
9. Weber State, 1692
10. Elon, 1398
11. Wofford, 1326
12. Cal Poly, 1159
13. William & Mary, 1105
14. Central Arkansas, 1034
15. Maine, 841
16. McNeese State, 687
17. South Carolina State, 617
18. Massachusetts, 602
19. Eastern Washington, 538
20. Delaware, 409
21. South Dakota State, 397
22. Furman, 386
23. Texas State, 323
24. Georgia Southern, 311
25. Montana State, 306
Others receiving votes (minimum of 5 votes): Jacksonville State (54), Liberty (48), Colgate (46), Harvard (43), Albany (36), Eastern Kentucky (36), Holy Cross (30), Samford (26), North Dakota State (24), Northern Arizona (24), Grambling State (14), Youngstown State (11), Florida A&M (10), Tennessee-Martin (8), Prairie View A&M (7), Western Illinois (7), Pennsylvania (5), UC Davis (5).
