FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION

• Southern Illinois jumps to No. 1

  
  

  Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - A 35-15 victory for Southern Illinois at South Dakota State on Saturday not only won the Salukis the Missouri Valley Football Conference title and the league's automatic bid to the playoffs, it also vaulted SIU to the No. 1 spot in The Sports Network FCS Top-25 poll.

  Southern Illinois (8-1) is ranked on top for the first time since Oct. 10, 2005. The Salukis, who were No. 3 last week, were ranked No. 1 for two weeks in the 2005 season after spending 11 weeks at No. 1 during the 2004 campaign.

  Richmond (8-1) dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 with its 21-20 loss to Villanova on Saturday at home. The Spiders, who had their 17-game winning streak snapped by the Wildcats, had been ranked No. 1 for nine consecutive weeks.

  In some of the closest balloting seen in some time in the poll, Southern Illinois edged No. 2 Montana by just 24 points, 3,196 to 3,172, despite the fact that the Grizzlies (9-0) received more first-place votes.

  Montana and Butler (9-0) are the only remaining undefeated teams in the Football Championship Subdivision.

  Montana, which needed a final-play field goal to beat winless Idaho State 12-10, finished with 64 first-place votes. Southern Illinois had 37 first place votes and Villanova finished third in the poll with 32 first-place votes.

  The Wildcats (8-1) finished just 11 points behind Montana and 35 points behind Southern Illinois.

  After the shuffling at the top, the rest of the top 10 had only a couple of other changes.

  William & Mary (8-1) remained at No. 5 with a 31-0 victory at home against Towson, giving the Colonial Athletic Association three of the top five teams in the country. With New Hampshire at No. 8 and Delaware at No. 23, the CAA has four teams in the top 10 and five in the top 25, more than any other conference.

  New Hampshire received one of the 137 first-place votes after surviving a close call against Rhode Island, 55-42. Delaware beat Hofstra 28-24 at home.

  Elon (8-1) beat Western Carolina on the road 42-17, and Appalachian State (7-2) toppled Chattanooga 35-20 to keep the Phoenix and Mountaineers at numbers 6 and 7 respectively, also setting up a winner-take-all battle for the Southern Conference automatic bid Saturday at Elon.

  South Carolina State (8-1) moved up one place to No. 9 with a 43-13 MEAC road win over Howard. The Bulldogs, who picked up one first-place vote, have never been ranked higher in the history of the poll.

  Moving back into the top-10 at the 10th spot was McNeese State (7-2), which advanced two positions by crushing Sam Houston State 63-42 in Lake Charles.

  Northern Iowa (6-3) remained at No. 11 with a 28-7 win over Youngstown State.

  South Dakota State (7-2) fell three spots to No. 12 with its loss to Southern Illinois in the MVFC title game. The No. 9 ranking had been the highest ever for the Jackrabbits in the poll.

  Holy Cross (8-1) survived a scare at Lehigh to win 24-20 and remain 13th in the rankings. The Crusaders will meet No. 20 Lafayette (8-1) at home for the Patriot League title on Saturday.

  No. 14 Eastern Illinois, No. 15 Stephen F. Austin, No. 16 Liberty and No. 17 Jacksonville State also stayed in the same order. Eastern Illinois (7-2) was idle, SFA survived Nicholls State 31-27, Liberty routed VMI 54-14 and JSU stopped Southeast Missouri State 24-3.

  Eastern Washington (6-3) rose three spots to 18th in the poll, while Weber State (5-4) stayed at No. 19 during off weeks for both schools.

  Lafayette jumped five spots with its 56-49 home win against Colgate (8-2), The Raiders fell from 18th to 24th with their second loss in three games.

  The remaining teams in the poll include Prairie View at No. 21, Florida A&M at No. 22 and Texas State at No. 25.

  Prairie View (6-1) moved to within a win of the SWAC title game with a 33-27 victory over Alabama A&M, while Florida A&M held off an upset bid from North Carolina A&T for a 31-27 home win.

  Texas State re-enters the poll for the first time in six weeks, after being ranked for five weeks beginning with the preseason ranking. The Bobcats (6-3) defeated then-20th-ranked Central Arkansas 27-24 this past weekend.

  Central Arkansas (5-4) fell out of the poll for the first time in two years with its third close loss in recent weeks.

  11/09 14:52:49 ET