- FCS FOOTBALL -

FCS coaches pick NC Central 19th, Gardner-Webb 24th in preseason poll

Elon, NC A&T, Davidson, Campbell also receive votes

Eric Lusk

Published

August 14, 2023

North Carolina should be a hotbed for NCAA FCS football this season.

The Old North State boasts two teams in the newly released AFCA FCS Coaches Poll – North Carolina Central at 19th and Gardner-Webb at 24th. Elon received enough votes to finish 30th. North Carolina A&T, Davidson and Campbell also received votes.

South Dakota State, the reigning FCS champion, headlines the AFCA coaches preseason top 25, followed by North Dakota State, Montana State, William & Mary and Holy Cross. Campbell’s season opener will be Thursday, Aug. 31 at home against William & Mary.

North Carolina has seven FCS teams. Only Western Carolina was not included in the coaches poll, but the Catamounts could be a team to be reckoned with in the solid Southern Conference, which includes No. 6 Furman, No. 9 Samford and No. 22 Mercer.

Western Carolina’s home opener will be Sept. 9 against Samford.

AFCS FCS Coaches Preseason Top 25

Rank	School (1st votes)	2022 Rec.	Pts.	2022 Rank	Season Opener	Head Coach
1	South Dakota St. (24)	14-1	…624	1	Aug. 31 vs. Western Oregon	Jimmy Rogers
2	North Dakota St. (1)	12-3	596	2	Sept. 2 vs. Eastern Washington	Matt Entz
3	Montana St.	12-2	567	5	Sept. 2 vs. Utah Tech	Brent Vigen
4	William & Mary	11-2	510	8	Aug. 31 at Campbell	Mike London
5	Holy Cross	12-1	459	6	Sept. 2 vs. Merrimack	Bob Chesney
6	Furman	10-3	438	10	Aug. 31 vs. Tennessee Tech	Clay Hendrix
7	UIW	12-2	424	3	Sept. 2 at UTEP	Clint Killough
8	Sacramento St.	12-1	421	4	Aug. 31 at Nicholls St.	Andy Thompson
9	Samford	11-2	414	7	Aug. 31 vs. Shorter	Chris Hatcher
10	Weber St.	10-3	325	9	Aug. 31 vs. Central Washington	Mickey Mental
11	Southeast Missouri St.	9-3	322	13	Sept. 2 at Kansas St.	Tom Matukewicz
12	New Hampshire	9-4	304	15	Sept. 2 at Stonehill	Rick Santos
13	Idaho	7-5	288	22	Aug. 31 at Lamar	Jason Eck
14	Montana	8-5	285	14	Sept. 2 vs. Butler	Bobby Hauck
15	Southeastern Louisiana	9-4	259	19	Sept. 2 at Mississippi St.	Frank Scelfo
16	Richmond	9-4	235	12	Sept. 2 vs. Morgan St.	Russ Huesman
17	UC Davis	6-5	226	NR	Aug. 31 at Texas A&M-Commerce	Dan Hawkins
18	North Dakota	7-5	188	NR	Sept. 2 vs. Drake	Bubba Schweigert
19	North Carolina Central	10-2	139	17	Sept. 2 vs. Winston-Salem St.	Trei Oliver
20	Northern Iowa	6-5	137	NR	Sept. 2 at Iowa St.	Mark Farley
21	Delaware	8-5	124	24t	Aug. 31 at Stony Brook	Ryan Carty
22	Mercer	7-4	123	21	Aug. 26 vs. North Alabama	Drew Cronic
23	Rhode Island	7-4	73	NR	Aug. 31 at Georgia St.	Jim Fleming
24	Gardner-Webb	7-6	72	NR	Sept. 2 at Appalachian St.	Tre Lamb
25	Florida A&M	9-2	70	23	Sept. 3 vs. Jackson St.	Willie Simmons

Others Receiving Votes: Yale, 64; Eastern Kentucky, 59; Fordham, 58; Jackson St., 37; Elon, 30; St. Thomas (Minn.), 30; Youngstown St., 28; Princeton, 26; Southern Illinois, 26; UT Martin, 23; Central Arkansas, 22; Chattanooga, 13; North Carolina A&T, 13; Illinois St., 12; Northern Arizona, 12; Southern, 9; Davidson, 7; St. Francis (Pa.), 7; Tennessee Tech, 6; Howard, 5; Pennsylvania, 5; Abilene Christian, 4; Austin Peay, 3; Campbell, 2; Villanova, 1.