Today we look at the FCS preseason polls, introduce a great website that follows FCS and other small schools, and much more in our blog! Written by Josh Buchanan.

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When comparing the amount of coverage the FCS gets in preview magazines it pales in comparison to the FBS. This year, Lindy’s has 4 pages in their national magazine devoted to the FCS. Athlon devoted none and The Sporting News who merged with Street and Smiths in ’08 had 18 pages devoted to 1AA or FCS teams last year.

Last year we devoted 136 pages of FCS coverage in our ACC/Big East regional. We went to a half-page on each FCS school and this year we have expanded our coverage again. I am pleased to announce that we now have devoted a full page each on all of the 124 teams in the FCS and expanded our coverage to 175 pages strictly on the FCS! Every team has a full page with the last 6 years results, 2009 statistical leaders that are bold and un-bold showing which players are coming back, the last 6 years statistics, this year’s schedule and a complete position-by-position breakdown which we expanded this year (roughly 1000 to 1500 words on each team)! Read more…

Make sure to check out the Saturday Results - updated all day Saturday!

I just got around to checking the polls mid-week and I did so after reading a rant by Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He noted that the coaches poll CLICK HERE FOR LATEST POLLS and the Harris poll BOTH had Penn State ranked ahead of Iowa! That is ridiculous as Iowa is unbeaten and beat Penn St AT Penn St and the Lions 3 wins were over creampuffs. Iowa deserves to be in the top 10 and Penn St maybe at the bottom of the top 20. Good call Doug.

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Welcome to my Friday Blog and football season has finally started! It is unusual that 7 games have been played already and most weeks just one game will have been played.

For the last couple of years I have picked the games involving the Top 25 teams and thrown in a couple of upset picks. This year I thought you might be interested in who I think will win EACH FBS game this weekend. Every Friday I will give you my personal forecast on every game that involves a FBS team.

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Today we look at the FCS preseason polls, introduce a great website that follows FCS and other small schools, and much more in our blog! Written by Josh Buchanan.

FCS Coaches Poll
Team (1st Place Votes)
1. Appalachian State (13)
2. Richmond (10)
3. Montana
4. Northern Iowa (1)
5. Villanova (1)
6. James Madison
7. Southern Illinois
8. New Hampshire
9. Weber State
10. Wofford
11. Elon
12. Central Arkansas
13. Cal Poly
14. William & Mary
15. McNeese State
16. South Carolina State
17. Eastern Washington
18. Massachusetts (1)
T19. Jacksonville State
T19. Maine
21. Texas State
22. Harvard
23. South Dakota State
24. Hofstra
25. Grambling State

The Sports Network FCS College Football Poll

We have been comparing our list with the coaches and media polls and came up with the most underrated and overrated teams.

UNDERRATED (by coaches and media)

HOFSTRA
While I did not vote Hofstra in my top 25 for the media poll we had them #7 in the Phil Steele Top 40 and they were #24 in the coaches poll. They return many starters back from injury and could be a sleeper team this year that nobody else is projecting.

HOLY CROSS
We had them #13 in ours but they were only #29 in the coaches poll. HC could be a sleeper team with the return of QB Dominic Randolph and will go as far as he takes them.

GARDNER-WEBB
We had them #27 but they were not even listed in the coaches poll. They return several key performers from last year that make us feel that they could knock on the door of the top 25 this year.

OVERRATED

CENTRAL ARKANSAS
We had them #35 but the coaches voted them #12. With the loss of QB Nathan Brown and TE Marquez Branson to the NFL coupled with the loss of top receiver Willie Landers we see a great defense but they lack the firepower to win many shootouts.

CAL POLY
CP could be rated #13 based on past performance because we only have them #29. CP lost WR Ramses Barden to the NFL and QB Jonathan Dally and have several key holes to fill.

TEXAS STATE
TSU is not even listed in our top 40 but came in at #21 in the coaches poll. They have several tough games and only have two stars offensively in QB Bradley George and RB Karrington Bush.

PHIL STEELE HAS INFLUENCE?
It looks like we do as the coaches voted Hofstra #24 in their poll after going just 4-8 last season after we listed them #7. The media poll did not have them ranked but they were among those receiving votes. They were just picked 4th in the CAA North Division Preseason Poll (4th place in their own division!!).

JB SCOUTING ANNOUNCES PRESEASON WATCH LISTS
http://www.jbscouting.com/index.php/blog/186-ol-watch-list
http://www.jbscouting.com/index.php/blog/183-jbs-poy-watch-lists

PLEA TO FCS FANS!
To partially quote a line from one of Eminem’s bigger hits, would the FCS fans please stand up… please stand up? We have a grand total of 302 ACC Big East previews that have been sold through our office. Just 302??? We want to produce a national FCS magazine but can only do it if we see the interest from FCS fans. If you are an FCS fan out there please order a copy (PS STORE) or let us know that you bought yours at a newsstand or store because of FCS content by filling out the “We Value Your Opinion” survey on page 300!!

PHIL STEELE INTERVIEW
JB Scouting interviewed Phil Steele earlier this summer and can be read by clicking the link below!
http://www.jbscouting.com/index.php/interviews/3-interviews/161-phil-steele-interview

INJURIES AND TRANSFERS
CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF INJURIES AND TRANSFERS FOR FCS TEAMS TO CIRCLE IN YOUR MAG

FCS AND OTHER SMALL SCHOOL SCOUTING COVERAGE
Looking for a website that covers FCS and other small school players in the NFL Draft? Look no further than www.jbscouting.com where I provide news, in depth reports, player rankings, and interviews. For premium content you can also visit www.buyscouting.com.

FCS, FCS, FCS. I have to keep repeating that to myself. For as long as I can remember I have called it 1AA football and it is tough to teach an old dog new tricks. 1AA is now called FCS.

This week we ran a fan poll which listed the 68 FCS (1AA) teams that play FBS (1A) opponents. Just the fact that 68 teams from the FCS play major opponents this year should have you rushing to get all the FCS material you can get your hands on. The bottom line is that there is very little FCS material on the newsstands right now. My ACC/Big East Regional is over 300 pages with 136 pages on the FCS with a complete half page for each of the 135 FCS teams!

Click here to order.

Here are the 5 teams that you voted for on the fan vote and you get their complete half page on each team for free. The most requested team in the fan vote which wrapped up the Poll last night was The Citadel. The Citadel open their season vs North Carolina. The number 2 team in amount of votes was Massachuttes. The Minutemen play Kansas St in the opener and I have them #19 in the country. The #3 most requested team was Jackson St. They play Miss St this year. The SWAC actually got 2 of the top 5 in terms of votes with Alcorn St #4. Alcorn plays Southern Miss this year. Tied for the 5th most requested team were Northern Iowa (who plays Iowa) and Tennessee Martin (who plays Memphis). There are 93 games this year between FCS and FBS team. For a complete list of all 93 games click here!

Now here are the top 6 teams you voted for. There are 135 FCS teams and I have a complete half pages on each one. I will show you the Citadel page (see below) and to see the other 5 top vote getters, just click on their link.

The season is getting closer and I am very proud of the ACC/Big East Regional magazine which has more information on the FCS (1AA) than any other magazine out there in the country! The ACC/Big East Regional has ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX PAGES ON THE FCS! It has a complete HALF page on every FCS team. Here is an actual page from this years magazine. Read more…

Finally it is done! You can order Phil Steele Publications right here on PhilSteele.com. Today’s blog is about the PhilSteele.com store. Give it a try today and let us know how we can improve it to make it better for you. Read more…

I just finished spending the last two weeks on 1AA football which is also known as the FCS. I must admit that when the NCAA changed the name from 1AA to FCS I fought the change. I have known it as 1AA for a long time and that was imbedded in my head. After 2 weeks I am getting a little more comfortable calling it FCS but at time I still mix that up with BCS or FBS or whatever other initials are going around right now. Read more…