RedditFCS with a "preseason power rankings".

I would certainly have the top three in the way they are shared in this ranking.

The bottom four are probably just about right too if you had to push me to making a decision.

And if you were to add Dixie and Tarleton....

1. Sam Houston
2. Central Arkansas
3. Jacksonville State
4. Tarleton
5. Stephen F. Austin
6. Abilene Christian
7. Eastern Kentucky
8. Dixie
9. Lamar

Tarleton plays everyone except Jacksonville.

Conference champion pick via HeroSports...

Sam Houston

The two new conferences in the FCS — the WAC and the ASUN — are doing a one-year partnership as both build to having postseason automatic qualifier status. The three teams joining the ASUN Conference (Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky, and Central Arkansas) along with the four teams joining the WAC (Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, Abilene Christian, and Lamar) will play a single round-robin schedule with each team having three home and three road contests. The team with the highest winning percentage will earn an AQ in the fall 2021 FCS playoffs.

It’s an intriguing and strong group of teams, boosted by having the spring national champions SHSU. UCA looks capable of making a deep playoff run while JSU is a postseason regular.

SHSU’s starting lineup looks like it is staying intact after winning its first FCS title in program history. The Bearkats are the favorite to win the AQ7 and should be considered the favorite to repeat as national champions.

HeroSports

Can't disagree with that. There will definitely be some consequential games played this year. I for one can't wait. I predict at large bids for the AQ7 in year one.

Sam Houston head coach KC Keeler video from AFCA

Athlon has Sam Houston at No. 3, Jacksonville State at No. 10 and Central Arkansas at No. 13

https://athlonsports.com/college-footbal...op-25-2021

Of course the losers jmu and ndst beat out the national champions?

Typical

(06-16-2021 08:56 AM)TexasTerror Wrote:  Athlon has Sam Houston at No. 3, Jacksonville State at No. 10 and Central Arkansas at No. 13

https://athlonsports.com/college-footbal...op-25-2021

It’s annoying but hardly surprising that James Madison and North Dakota State are ahead of Sam Houston. I guess Sam will just have to do what they did last year and beat them on the field during the playoffs.


Based on this poll we can expect 3 of the AQ7 to make the playoffs.

The order of finish for the next tier of the AQ7 is much harder to predict.

Athlon has Jacksonville State as the champion though this submission apparently came in early April

Is that all the space they devote to the FCS?

(06-21-2021 08:37 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  Is that all the space they devote to the FCS?

Its always that way. NAIA, juco, D2 etc barely get mentioned. FBS is all anyone knows about.

(06-21-2021 08:37 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  Is that all the space they devote to the FCS?

That's just one publication - Athlon.

I think there's more space devoted as one of our fans shared that Athlon picked Sam third in the AQ7 (presumably behind Jax St & UCA).

Both Dixie State & Sam Houston getting attention from Craig Haley as it pertains to their FCS schedules this year.

Athlon Sports' 2021 Preseason FCS All-America Team

Offense
QB Cole Kelley (6-7, 260, Sr.) Southeastern Louisiana

RB Julius Chestnut (6-1, 215, Sr.) Sacred Heart

RB Jah-Maine Martin (5-10, 214, Sr.) North Carolina A&T

RB Otis Weah (5-9, 195, Jr.) North Dakota

WR Avante Cox (5-10, 170, Sr.) Southern Illinois

WR Jakob Herres (6-4, 211, Sr.) VMI

WR Tyler Hudson (6-2, 195, Jr.) Central Arkansas

TE Ryan Miller (6-2, 221, Sr.) Furman

OL P.J. Burkhalter (6-3, 330, Sr.) Nicholls

OL Garret Greenfield (6-6, 295, Jr.) South Dakota State

OL David Kroll (6-7, 315, Sr.) Delaware

OL Cordell Volson (6-7, 310, Sr.) North Dakota State

OL Ty Whitworth (6-4, 300, Sr.) Weber State



Defense
DL Jared Brinkman (6-2, 290, Sr.) Northern Iowa

DL Mike Greene (6-3, 285, Sr.) James Madison

DL Jahari Kay (6-2, 255, Sr.) Sam Houston

DL Jordan Lewis (6-3, 195, Sr.) Southern

LB Logan Backhaus (6-4, 205, Sr.) South Dakota State

LB Conner Mortensen (6-0, 215, Sr.) Weber State

LB Stone Snyder (6-3, 225, Jr.) VMI

LB Tre Walker (6-1, 235, Sr.) Idaho

DB Markquese Bell (6-3, 205, Jr.) Florida A&M

DB Chris Edmonds (6-2, 205, Jr.) Samford

DB Nicario Harper (6-1, 205, Jr.) Jacksonville State

DB Kordell Jackson (5-9, 188, Sr.) Austin Peay

DB Kedrick Whitehead (5-11, 195, Sr.) Delaware



Special Teams
PK Ethan Ratke (5-10, 185, Sr.) James Madison

P Daniel Whelan (6-6, 215, Sr.) UC Davis

LS Kyle Davis (5-11, 210, Sr.) James Madison

KR Christian Watson (6-4, 200, Sr.) North Dakota State

PR Jequez Ezzard (5-9, 190, Sr.) Sam Houston

AP Javon Williams Jr. (6-2, 245, Jr.) Southern Illinois

Athlon Preseason Team

SHSU coordinator Ryan Carty named FootballScoop FCS Coordinator of the Year!

Quote:FootballScoop is proud to announce that Ryan Carty is the 2020 FootballScoop FCS Coordinator of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.

They say football is a game of inches. It's also a game of plays. A game, a season, an entire career can often be defined by the result of a single snap. Such was the case for Sam Houston in 2020-21.

Facing a 3rd-and-goal from the 10-yard line with 16 seconds to play, Sam Houston needed a play and it got one -- a strike from Eric Schmid to Ife Adeyi gave the Bearkats the touchdown, the game, and their first FCS national championship.

https://footballscoop.com/news/ryan-cart...f-the-year

Preseason poll, team release date.

Hero Sports with some over/under on win totals amongst the top teams in the country; they have Sam Houston in group at "second" with 9.5 wins. James Madison is top dog with 10.5 wins. To be clear, this is regular season wins so essentially they have SHSU as a decision between 10-0 or 9-1 in the regular season and same for James Madison at 11-0 or 10-1.

O/U
9.5 Sam Houston State
8.5 Central Arkansas
7.5 Jacksonville State

https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2021...-bzbz/amp/

Quote:DENVER – The Western Athletic Conference will host its annual football preview day on July 28 at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott in The Woodlands, Texas. Head coaches from all six teams will be in attendance and will be joined by select student-athletes.

The day will be broken up into both a morning and afternoon session. Abilene Christian, Dixie State and Tarleton will be part of the morning session, which will begin at 9 a.m. CT. Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin will make up the afternoon session, which will begin at 1 p.m. CT.

In addition to a live press conference, which will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network, coaches and student-athletes will participate in one-on-one interviews. There will also be a virtual press conference with each of the head coaches.

https://wacsports.com/sports/fball/2021-...0706g25af3

(07-06-2021 01:52 PM)TexasTerror Wrote:  

Quote:DENVER – The Western Athletic Conference will host its annual football preview day on July 28 at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott in The Woodlands, Texas. Head coaches from all six teams will be in attendance and will be joined by select student-athletes.

The day will be broken up into both a morning and afternoon session. Abilene Christian, Dixie State and Tarleton will be part of the morning session, which will begin at 9 a.m. CT. Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin will make up the afternoon session, which will begin at 1 p.m. CT.

In addition to a live press conference, which will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network, coaches and student-athletes will participate in one-on-one interviews. There will also be a virtual press conference with each of the head coaches.

Interesting location, but makes sense. Only about 20 miles south of Huntsville.
https://wacsports.com/sports/fball/2021-...0706g25af3

One of the Stats voters posted his preseason ranking for all 128 FCS teams over of Facebook.

Here is how he sees the AQ 7, with the overall ranking in ().

1. Sam Houston (1)
2. UCA (8)
3. Jacksonville State (21)
4. Eastern Kentucky (48)
5. Stephen F Austin (63)
6. ACU (78)
7. Lamar (85)

Other WAC teams
8. Southern Utah (88)
9. Tarleton (106)
10. Dixie State (107)