The HBCU Gameday Staff FCS Poll makes its in-season debut this week, headlined by Jackson State.
Jackson State, the preseason no. 1 in our poll, lived up to its billing through the first week. Here’s how the poll numbers flushed out among our voters this week.
1. Jackson State (1-0) – 60 points
Surprised? Only if you didn’t know the score that Jackson State beat Florida A&M by last week. If it had won by a point again, JSU would probably have still been at the top spot. The fact that it won 59-3 made this pretty easy.
2. Southern (1-0) – 49 points
Sure, SU was only playing Florida Memorial, but putting up 86 points is impressive. This week, the task is to not let LSU run up the score on it.
3. NCCU (1-0) – 47 points
NCCU head coach Trei Oliver told us the players felt some type of way about not being in our preseason top 10 list. Clearly, that has been rectified following the dismantling of A&T.
4. SC State (0-1) – 45 points
SC State started the season with a “cut-the-check game” and it never threatened UCF. Still, three of our staffers thought SC State should stay in the top 2 and only one voted to drop it from the top five.
5. FAMU (0-2) – 27 points
After putting up a good fight against UNC, FAMU laid a snake egg against Jackson State to drop to 2-0. One voter even dropped them down to no. 9.
5. Prairie View (1-0) – 27 points
The good news is the defending SWAC West champions handled business against Texas Southern. The bad news is – it was Texas Southern. Solid start for Bubba McDowell and Co. though.
6. Hampton (1-0) – 16 points
Hampton found a way to get it done against Howard. No one is sure how much that means at this point, though.
7. Tennessee State – 13 points
Tennessee State took a close loss to a very good Eastern Washington team – which was good enough for a fourth-place vote amongst some of our staffers and didn’t put it on the radar of others. This week it gets a chance to match up against no. 1 Jackson State.
7. Alabama State (2-0) – 13 points
Alabama State is the only HBCU with two wins at this point, but being that they came against Howard and Miles, it still has some proving to do.
8. Alcorn State (0-1) – 8 points
Alcorn State let Stephen F. Austin slip through its finger tips, but it looks the part of a SWAC West contender so far.
9. Norfolk State (0-1) – 4 points
Norfolk State has more points in this poll than it had in its season opener against Marshall last week.
9. AAMU (0-1) – 4 points
AAMU picked up a check and not much else against UAB.
10. Delaware State (1-0) – 2 points
Delaware State handled its business against Lincoln. A win over in-state rival Delaware would garner much more respect.
10. North Carolina A&T (0-1) – 2 points
Yes, that A&T.