Monday links, New FCS top 25

Let's start with the rankings. Pan away, folks:

I put together an initial ranking Sunday, slept on it and didn’t like it. One thing I didn’t want to do with this was to be beholden to reacting to what last week’s ranking looked like. In the first ranking I came up with, I still had Delaware ranked a good eight spots ahead of Furman. To keep it that way would have been disingenuous, considering the Paladins had just beaten the Blue Hens on the field. Maybe I was too concerned about dropping Delaware eight spots for losing on the road to a good SoCon team. Maybe I was concerned about putting an unranked team too high in the rankings. I don’t know.

But a ranking should be a snapshot season to date, right? Not a reaction to where teams were last week. So I kind of scrapped what I had before and tried to reflect where we are four weeks into the FCS season. Here’s what I came up with:

1. RICHMOND (3-1)
Last week: beat Maine, 44-17
The scoop: Spiders outscored Black Bears 34-7 in second half.
Next up: Sept. 27 at No. 18 Villanova (2-1).

2. JAMES MADISON (3-1)
Last week: beat No. 2 Appalachian State, 35-32
The scoop: Rodney Landers electric in the FCS game of the year so far. Dukes manage to rally from 21-0 halftime deficit and limit App’s powerful offense in the second half.
Next up: Sept. 27 at Maine (2-2).

3. MONTANA (3-0)
Last week: beat UC Davis, 29-24
The scoop: Touchdown with 3:36 left saves Griz from upset.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Central Washington (4-0).

4. APPALACHIAN STATE (1-2)
Last week: lost to No. 8 James Madison, 35-32
The scoop: If you didn’t see Armanti Edwards’ dive from the 4-yard line on a late two-point conversion, you missed a special play.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Presbyterian (1-3).

5. NORTHERN IOWA (2-1)
Last week: beat No. 14 South Dakota State, 34-20
The scoop: QB Pat Grace had 284 yards of total offense, 4 TDs against Jackrabbits.
Next up: Sept. 27 at No. 16 Southern Illinois (1-1).

6. CAL POLY (2-1)
Last week: beat Northwestern State, 52-18
The scoop: Mustangs will likely have to win every game but the Wisconsin game to make the playoffs.
Next up: Oct. 4 vs. South Dakota (2-2).

7. MCNEESE STATE (1-1)
Last week: idle
The scoop: Really, Southern Virginia? The tiny little NAIA school from Buena Vista?
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Southern Virginia (1-2).

8. NEW HAMPSHIRE (3-0)
Last week: beat Albany, 32-24
The scoop: Great Danes have now tested two of the CAA North’s better teams -- UNH and UMass.
Next up: Sept. 27 at Dartmouth (0-1).

9. ELON (3-1)
Last week: beat No. 25 Georgia Southern, 22-20
The scoop: Elon rolls up 508 yards of offense but manages just one offensive touchdown at Georgia Southern.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Samford (2-1).

10. EASTERN WASHINGTON (1-2)
Last week: beat Western Washington, 52-31
The scoop: Game with Division II Vikings was actually tied heading into the fourth quarter.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Idaho State (0-3).

11. WOFFORD (2-1)
Last week: lost to South Carolina, 23-13
The scoop: Gamecocks didn’t have game in hand until scoring a touchdown with 1:58 left.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Georgia Southern (2-2).

12. NORTH DAKOTA STATE (2-2)
Last week: lost to Youngstown State, 32-24
The scoop: Penguins racked up 340 rushing yards in upset win over NDSU. Bison get week off before playing three straight ranked foes (Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa).
Next up: Oct. 4 vs. No. 16 Southern Illinois (1-1).

13. FURMAN (3-1)
Last week: beat No. 6 Delaware, 23-21
The scoop: Great start for Paladins, but they must play at Elon, Wofford and App State later in the year.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Chattanooga (1-3).

14. DELAWARE (1-2)
Last week: lost to Furman, 23-21.
The scoop: QB Robby Schoenhoft threw four interceptions at Furman.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Albany (1-2).

15. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (2-2)
Last week: lost to No. 9 Northern Iowa, 34-20.
The scoop: Jackrabbits held to 15 yards rushing at UNI.
Next up: Sept. 27 at Stephen F. Austin (1-2).

16. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (1-1)
Last week: idle
The scoop: RB Larry Warner averaging 6.0 yards per carry.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. No. 5 Northern Iowa (1-1).

17. MASSACHUSETTS (2-2)
Last week: lost to Texas Tech, 56-14
The scoop: Offense is fine. Defense, however, is allowing 41.5 points per game.
Next up: Oct. 4 vs. No. 14 Delaware (1-2).

18. VILLANOVA (2-1)
Last week: beat Pennsylvania, 20-14 (OT)
The scoop: After having extra point blocked on OT touchdown, Villanova forces Penn fumble to escape with the win.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. No. 1 Richmond (3-1).

19. EASTERN ILLINOIS (2-2)
Last week: beat Illinois State, 25-21
The scoop: Down 21-7 midway through third quarter, Panthers score 18 unanswered points to eke out road win.
Next up: Sept. 27 vs. Jacksonville State (2-1).

20. WESTERN ILLINOIS (2-2)
Last week: beat Stephen F. Austin, 34-14
The scoop: Another ho-hum day for RB Herb Donaldson (37 carries, 229 yards, 3 TDs)
Next week: Oct. 4 vs. Missouri State (1-2).

21. CENTRAL ARKANSAS (4-0)
Last week: beat Quincy, 51-6
The scoop: Another nifty line for QB Nathan Brown (15-19, 304 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT).
Next up: Sept. 27 at Tulsa (3-0).

22. LIBERTY (3-0)
Last week: idle
The scoop: Penguins have Flames’ full attention after beating North Dakota State. Liberty has had this game circled since the schedule was released.
Next up: Sept. 27 at Youngstown State (2-2).

23. HARVARD (1-0)
Last week: beat Holy Cross, 25-24
The scoop: QB Chris Pizzotti throws for 370 yards to spur Crimson comeback. Crusaders rallied from down 24-12 in the fourth quarter to beat Holy Cross.
Next up: Sept. 27 at Brown (1-0).

24. TENNESSEE STATE (4-0)
Last week: beat Eastern Kentucky, 34-20
The scoop: Impressive win for Tigers against one of the league’s preseason favorites.
Next week: Sept. 27 vs. Florida A&M (2-1).

25. THE CITADEL (2-1)
Last week: beat Princeton, 37-24
The scoop: Outscored Tigers 30-7 in second half.
Next week: Sept. 27 vs. Western Carolina (2-2).

DROPPED OUT: No. 17 Holy Cross, No. 24 South Carolina State, No. 25 Georgia Southern

ON THE RADAR (in no particular order): Northern Arizona, Yale, Dayton, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston State, Hampton, South Carolina State, Youngstown State, Albany, Jacksonville State, Weber State, North Dakota, William & Mary, Tenn.-Martin, Lafayette.

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Now some links on what was a light week of Big South football action, as only four of the league's seven teams were in action Saturday:

Coastal Carolina put together another fine defensive showing and beat Towson 31-3 at home. Note, those black jerseys with the teal running down the side are awesome. The Sun News' Sean Horgan is exuding positivity when it comes to the Beach Chickens. Within this notebook, there's word that CCU's leading tackler, Dominique Davenport, will miss significant time with a dislocated elbow.

VMI set a Big South single-game rushing record against Chowan, the Roanoke Times' Katrina Waugh writes.

Brown showed defensive tenacity and dispatched Stony Brook, the Providence Journal reports.

Western Carolina found a way to win at Presbyterian, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports. Now Presbyterian has to face an angry Appalachian State team in Boone. Perhaps a mercy rule should be put in place for that one.