• AFCA FCS Coaches Preseason Top 25
A pair of OVC football teams will begin the season ranked in the 2019 FCS Coaches Top 25 poll with Jacksonville State coming in at No. 6 and Southeast Missouri beginning the year at No. 18.
This year the FCS Coaches poll will once again be administered by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), with also administers coaches’ polls in Division II and Division III.
Jacksonville State, who was also ranked No. 6 in the Preseason STATS poll, picked up 500 total points while Southeast Missouri, ranked No. 17 in the STATS Poll, received 178 points. Eastern Kentucky was among the other teams receiving votes, unofficially coming in at No. 36.
Defending national champion North Dakota State picked up 23 of the 26 first-place votes and 644 points to be ranked first. James Madison (1) and Eastern Washington (2) picked up the other three first-place votes, whilee South Dakota State and UC Davis rounded out the top five.
It marks the second-straight year Jacksonville State has been ranked No. 6 in the preseason coaches poll. The Gamecocks were ranked as high as No. 4 in the AFCA poll (Oct. 15) a season ago and finished the year No. 13. The team has been ranked in the Top 10 of 71 of the past 74 weeks and in the Top 25 for 75 consecutive polls. JSU, who was won five-straight OVC championships, was tabbed the OVC preseason favorite in a vote of both media and coaches/SID's.
Southeast Missouri is ranked in the preseason for only the second-time ever (2003 in the USA Today/ESPN poll). The Redhawks climbed into the Top 25 poll on October 29 of last season, two weeks after beating No. 4 Jacksonville State by a 37-14 margin. The program was ranked in the final five polls of the season, finishing No. 16 overall after topping Stony Brook in the first round of the playoffs (its first-ever playoff victory). That marked only the second-time the program finished the year ranked (2010 being the other). The Redhawks were picked No. 2 in this year's OVC preseason poll.
Eastern Kentucky is looking to break into the poll for the first time since the 2015 season. EKU has improved each year under now fourth-year head coach Mark Elder (going 7-4 last year) and return eight starters on each side of the ball.
2019 Preseason AFCA FCS Top 25 Poll
1. North Dakota State
2. James Madison
3. Eastern Washington
4. South Dakota State
5. UC Davis
6. Jacksonville State
7. Maine
8. Wofford
9. Weber State
10. Kennesaw State
11. Nicholls
12. Towson
13. Illinois State
14. Colgate
15. Montana State
16. Indiana State
17. Furman
18. Southeast Missouri
19. North Carolina A&T
20. Northern Iowa
21. Elon
22. Sam Houston State
23. Delaware
24. Princeton
25. Central Arkansas
Others Receiving Votes: Montana, 52; Yale, 41; Incarnate Word, 31; East Tennessee St., 23; Chattanooga, 23; Northern Arizona, 20; Idaho, 18; North Dakota, 17; Alcorn St., 16; Monmouth (N.J.), 13;
Eastern Kentucky, 12; Dartmouth, 11; South Dakota, 9; Duquesne, 7; Stony Brook, 7; McNeese, 4; San Diego, 3; New Hampshire, 2; Southern, 2; The Citadel, 2; Lamar, 1.