The bull's-eye just got bigger.
The Montana Grizzlies moved up a notch to the top spot in this week's FCS football poll released Monday by The Sports Network.
Massachusetts, which lost to Appalachian State in last year's title game, moved up a notch to No. 2, garnering 18 first-place votes and 2,345 points. The Minutemen are followed by Northern Iowa, North Dakota State and Appalachian State.
In all, eight teams received first-place votes in a poll scrambled by Wofford's upset of Appalachian. Wofford received two first-place votes and moved from No. 13 to No. 8.
“We just have to be aware that it's going to make people gun for us even harder than they already do,” Montana quarterback Cole Bergquist said following the Grizzlies' 35-14 win over Albany last Saturday.
The last time the Griz were ranked No. 1 was the second week of the 2004 season. The following week the Griz dropped a 41-29 decision at Sam Houston State.
Montana State remained at No. 18 in the poll following its 21-5 win over Weber State, the Grizzlies' homecoming opponent this week. Eastern Washington moved up four spots to No. 21.
Barnes benched Š twice
When Jimmy Barnes transferred to Weber from Division I FBS Alabama in June, Wildcats supporters hoped he would be the answer in the wake of losing experienced QBs Ian Pizarro and Shawn Woods to graduation.
But the 6-foot-5, 240-pound sophomore was benched twice last week after giving up two critical interceptions against the Bobcats.
Weber went to freshman Cameron Higgins in the first quarter after Barnes put his fourth pass of the day into the numbers of MSU's Gazzerro, who returned it untouched 26 yards to put the Bobcats up 7-0.
Barnes got a second shot midway through the third quarter, but his next pass resulted in Beach's interception for a touchdown.
After that, it was back to riding the pine and the Wildcats elected to let junior college transfer Brendon Doyle - who hadn't taken a snap during practice all week - go the rest of the way.
Barnes finished 1-of-5 for 3 yards. The three QBs combined on 23 incomplete passes, three interceptions and just nine completions to receivers.
“I don't have the slightest idea what we're going to do as far as quarterbacks go,” Wildcats coach Ron McBride said to the Bozeman Chronicle. “I'm not interested going into the fourth game of the year throwing the quarterback position open, looking for somebody to take it. I want to know who will be the starter.”
McBride doesn't have a lot of time to get it figured out. Weber travels to Montana this week.
All systems go
Eastern Washington is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1997, when the Eagles began the year with four straight wins en route to a 12-2 finish.
The good fortune is due largely to the improved play of sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols, who finished 17-of-30 for 285 yards and one touchdown as Eastern beat up on Idaho Sate 34-7.
Nichols appears to have solved his accuracy issues after setting a school record with 17 interceptions as a freshman last year.
He also already has nine touchdown passes this season, eclipsing his total of eight during all of 2006.
“Matt threw the ball well,” said coach Paul Wulff in a release from the school after EWU mopped up the Bengals. “They were lined up to take the run away, so they gave us the pass. We took advantage of it.”
The Eagles welcome Portland State next week.
Jacked up
Jerome Souers said the toll of the Lumberjacks' tough nonconference schedule may have been the cause of Northern Arizona's slow start against Northern Colorado.
After road trips for consecutive losses at Arizona and Appalachian State, the Jacks spent the early stages of a 34-14 win over the Bears looking for their legs.
“Those two games took a lot out of us, more so than I thought,” Sourers told the Arizona Daily Sun. “You never know what's in your gas tank until you line up and go ... I don't feel bad about our approach going into (the game), but we struggled tonight.”
NAU punted the ball away on its first two possessions and let winless UNC tie the game 7-7 early in the second quarter.
But after a 6-yard touchdown from quarterback Lance Kriesien to close out the half and a 27-yard field goal by Robbie Dehaze in the third, the Lumberjacks never looked back.
Riding shotgun
Portland State may have dropped a lopsided game to FBS opponent San Diego State, but the Vikings' offense got a lift once quarterback Brian White started lining up in the shotgun.
After giving up 25 sacks through the season's first three games, PSU made the decision early in the week to let White take snaps from 3 yards behind center.
The result was just three sacks of White by the Aztecs' defense while the Vikings gained 458 yards of total offense against their Mountain West Conference foes.
“Believe it or not, offensively that's probably the most growth we've ever made,” coach Jerry Glanville told the Oregonian. “That side of the ball looked like a whole different football team. I hope we're heading in the right direction.”
White finished 36-of-53 for a career-high 408 yards in the 52-17 loss. It was the first time a Portland State quarterback has thrown for more than 400 yards in a game since Juston Wood had 486 yards passing against NAU in 2001.
FCS poll
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The top 25 teams in The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 23 and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Montana (46) 3-0 2,396 2
2. Massachusetts (18) 4-0 2,345 3
3. Northern Iowa (12) 4-0 2,272 4
4. North Dakota State (14) 3-0 2,269 5
5. Appalachian State (8) 3-1 2,108 1
6. McNeese State (2) 3-0 1,951 6
7. Southern Illinois (1) 4-0 1,833 7
8. Wofford (2) 3-1 1,821 13
9. James Madison 3-1 1,651 8
10. Youngstown State 3-1 1,616 9
11. New Hampshire 2-1 1,522 10
12. Delaware 4-0 1,486 11
13. Hampton 3-0 1,170 12
14. Hofstra 3-0 1,086 15
15. Sam Houston State 2-1 872 17
16. Illinois State 2-2 815 14
17. Western Illinois 3-1 782 19
18. Montana State 2-1 772 18
19. Eastern Illinois 2-2 567 20
20. Furman 1-2 538 16
21. Eastern Washington 3-0 415 25
22. Yale 2-0 369 21
23. Nicholls State 3-1 336 -
24. Elon 2-1 263 -
25. Richmond 2-1 171 -
Others receiving votes: Cal Poly 166, Delaware State 119, The Citadel 111, Villanova 107, South Carolina State 55, Southern 42, Northern Arizona 41, Grambling 39, Lafayette 37, Alabama A&M 36, Lehigh 31, Holy Cross 30, Missouri State 27, San Diego 22, Alabama State 19, Eastern Kentucky 17, Georgia Southern 14, Gardner-Webb 9, UC Davis 9, Drake 8, Tennessee State 6, South Dakota State 5, Stony Brook 4, Chattanooga 3, Harvard 2, Dayton 1, Jackson State 1, Norfolk State 1, Northwestern State 1, Towson 1.
Players of the week
Offense: QB Cole Bergquist, a 6-foot-2, 207-pound junior from San Clemente, Calif., rolled up 372 yards of total offense and accounted for three touchdowns in Montana's 35-14 victory over Albany. Bergquist had 89 yards rushing and 283 yards padssing. Defense: Montana defensive end Kroy Biermann and Montana State cornerback Michael Beach. Biermann, a 6-3, 238-pound senior from Hardin, tallied seven total tackles and a forced fumble in the Grizzlies' victory over Albany. Beach, a 6-foot, 194-pound senior from San Pedro, Calif., recorded six tackles and returned an intercept ion for a touchdown in MSU's 21-5 victory over Weber State. Special teams: Eastern Washington punter Fritz Brayton and Montana State punter Eric Fisher.
Game to watch
Portland State at Eastern Washington: We'll find out a lot about both teams as the Vikings trek to Cheney, Wash. The Eagles are 3-0, but haven't played top-notch competition. The Vikings are 1-3, but seemed to get on track a bit this week in a loss to San Diego State. Coach Paul Wulff looks to solidify EWU among the Big Sky's elite, while Jerry Glanville plots an upset special.
Power poll
1 Montana (3-0): Soft nonconference schedule leaves Griz still looking for a test.
2 N. Arizona (2-2): NAU, EWU and MSU could all be No. 2, but Jacks have faced toughest competition so far.
3 E. Washington (3-0): Eagles, QB Nichols still soaring after drubbing of ISU.
4 Montana St. (2-1): Cats building momentum after whacking Weber.
5 Portland St. (1-3): Run-and-shoot starting to click for Vikings.
6 Idaho St. (1-2): Bengals will have to bring A-game on road trip to Bozeman.
7 Sac State (0-3): Winless Hornets still in better shape than Weber, UNC ... we think.
8 Weber St. (0-3): Chaos at QB and a road trip to Missoula spell disaster for Wildcats.
9 N. Colorado (0-3): How do Bears spell relief? Not with a game at Cal Poly.
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