2015 STATS FCS Preseason top 25

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CONWAY - For the third consecutive season, the Coastal Carolina football program will start the season as a consensus top 25 selection in the preseason polls. Last week, the FCS coaches tabbed the Chanticleers fifth and today the national media followed suit as CCU is ranked fifth in the STATS FCS top 25 preseason poll.

The No. 5 ranking is the highest Coastal has started a season with CCU's previous best being ranked seventh and sixth in last season's media and coaches polls, respectively.

Coastal, which held the nation's top spot last season for the final two weeks of the regular season, ended 2014 ranked fifth in both the media and coaches polls. The Chanticleers are coming off back-to-back 12-win seasons, have reached the NCAA Division I Championship quarterfinal in each of the last two seasons and have won three straight Big South titles. Coastal's 24 wins spanning the 2013 and 2014 seasons are the second-best total over the period, trailing only four-time defending FCS national champion North Dakota State's 30.

The Bison received 144 of a possible 147 first-place votes to hold down the top spot in the STATS FCS top 25 preseason poll with 3,671 points, followed by last season's national runner-up Illinois State, which received the other three first-place nods and a total of 3,423 points. The top five is rounded out by Sam Houston State (3,264 points), Villanova (3,249 points) and Coastal Carolina (2,900 points).

Big South foe Liberty is ranked 15th (1,623 points) while the following CCU opponents also received votes: South Carolina State (30th with 126 points), Charleston Southern (36th with 40 points), Western Illinois (39th with 23 points), Bryant (44th with 11 points) and Furman (59th with 1 point).

2015 STATS FCS Preseason Top 25
1. North Dakota State (0-0) (144) 3671
2. Illinois State (0-0) (3) 3423
3. Sam Houston State (0-0) 3264
4. Villanova (0-0) 3249
5. COASTAL CAROLINA (0-0) 2900
6. Eastern Washington (0-0) 2830
7. Jacksonville State (0-0) 2705
8. Chattanooga (0-0) 2590
9. New Hampshire (0-0) 2570
10. Northern Iowa (0-0) 2212
11. Montana State (0-0) 2038
12. James Madison (0-0) 1766
13. Montana (0-0) 1710
14. Youngstown State (0-0) 1662
15. Liberty (0-0) 1623
16. South Dakota State (0-0) 1390
17. Eastern Kentucky (0-0) 1073
18. Richmond (0-0) 1016
19. Southeastern Louisiana (0-0) 791
20. Fordham (0-0) 663
21. Indiana State (0-0) 635
22. Idaho State (0-0) 627
23. Harvard (0-0) 620
24. Stephen F. Austin (0-0) 554
25. McNeese State (0-0) 440

Others Receiving Votes: Eastern Illinois (431), William & Mary (225), Cal Poly (189), Alcorn State (144), South Carolina State (126), North Carolina A&T (108), Northern Arizona (74), Western Carolina (65), Bethune-Cookman (56), Sacred Heart (46), Charleston Southern (40), Samford (38 , Southern Illinois (26), Western Illinois (23), Jackson State (19), Jacksonville (16), Lehigh (15), Delaware (14), Bryant (11), San Diego (10), Bucknell (9), Northwestern State (9), Lamar (9), Towson (8), Dartmouth (6), Grambling State (6), Central Arkansas (6), Yale (5), Southern University (4), Wagner (3), Duquesne (2), Maine (2), Mercer (2), Missouri State (1), Tennessee State (1), Furman (1), Abilene Christian (1), South Dakota (1), North Carolina Central (1).