The Appalachian State University football team, which took a serious step towards its record-breaking seventh Southern Conference championship by knocking off Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon, is currently ranked third nationally in The Sports Network/Fathead.com Top 25 Poll, and third the FCS Coaches Top 25 Poll.
The Mountaineers jumped up two spots in this week's

 polls. The Mountaineers also received five first-place votes in TSN Poll. Georgia Southern, which held the top spot since early September, fell to No.5 in the TSN Poll and to fourth in the Coaches Poll. But despite the fall, the Eagles (7-1) did receive four first-place votes in the Coaches Top 25.
North Dakota State, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, earned its first No.1 national ranking after the Bison defeated No.2 Northern Iowa on Saturday. The Bison received 133 first-place votes in TSN Poll; they received 22 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll.
Montana State is No.2 (19 first-place votes in TSN Poll and two first-place votes in the Coaches Poll), Sam Houston State is fourth in this week's poll. The Bearcats did receive one first-place vote in TSN Poll.
Northern Iowa, Main, Lehigh, New Hampshire and Montana round-out the top ten in TSN Top 25. Wofford College is 11th. North Dakota State, Montana State, ASU, Georgia Southern  and Sam Houston State round-out the top five in the Coaches Poll; Northern Iowa, Montana, Lehigh, Wofford, which is ninth, and Maine round-out the top ten.
The Mountaineers travel to Furman Saturday. The Paladins have posted back-to-back victories against Wofford and Chattanooga. The Mountaineers have dominated this series with the Paladins in recent years. They've won six in a row in the series, which includes a 52-27 win in Greenville in 2009. But Furman leads the all-time series, 21-17-1.
Our coverage of that game begins at 11:30 a.m. on AM 1450, WATA.

The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top-25 College Football Poll

          Team                 (First-place votes) Record Points Previous Rank

1. North Dakota State Bison             (133)       8-0    3,918       3
2. Montana State Bobcats                 (19)       8-1    3,671       4
3. Appalachian State Mountaineers         (5)       6-2    3,567       5
4. Sam Houston State Bearkats             (1)       8-0    3,416       6
5. Georgia Southern Eagles                          7-1    3,193       1
6. Northern Iowa Panthers                           6-2    3,065       2
7. Maine Black Bears                                7-1    2,987       8
8. Lehigh Mountain Hawks                            7-1    2,983       7 
9. New Hampshire Wildcats                           6-2    2,601       10
10. Montana Grizzlies                               7-2    2,532       11
11. Wofford Terriers                                6-2    2,443       12
12. Old Dominion Monarchs                           7-2    2,163       15
13. James Madison Dukes                             5-3    1,747       9
14. Towson Tigers                                   6-2    1,364       13
15. Jackson State Tigers                            7-1    1,235       19
16. Delaware Blue Hens                              5-4    1,076       21
17. Illinois State Redbirds                         6-3      977       22
18. Jacksonville State Gamecocks                    5-3      955       14
19. William & Mary Tribe                            4-4      928       18
20. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles                    5-2      926       25
21. Indiana State Sycamores                         5-3      853       20
22. Liberty Flames                                  6-3      710       23
23. Harvard Crimson                                 6-1      653       24
24. South Dakota Coyotes                            5-4      456       17
25. Central Arkansas Bears                          6-3      414       NR

Others receiving votes: Cal Poly 346, Furman 346, Alabama State 341, Massachusetts 307, Norfolk State 187, Brown 154, Alabama A&M 135, Albany 109, North Dakota 105, Portland State 71, Southern Utah 50, Jacksonville 49, Samford 49, Chattanooga 45, Georgetown 41, Youngstown State 34, Eastern Kentucky 33, Stony Brook 30, Northwestern State 22, Duquesne 15, UT Martin 12, San Diego 12, Richmond 8, Tennessee State 7, Florida A&M 4, South Carolina State 2, Bethune-Cookman 1, Penn 1, The Citadel 1. 

FCS Coaches Poll

No. School                  Record Points Prev
1 North Dakota State  (22)    8-0   693    3
2 Montana State (2)           8-1   654    4
3 Appalachian State           6-2   634    5
4 Georgia Southern (4)        7-1   602    1
5 Sam Houston State           8-0   571    7
6 Northern Iowa               6-2   570    2
7 Lehigh                      7-1   541    6
8 Montana                     7-2   493    8
9 Wofford                     6-2   478    9
10 Maine                      7-1   445    12
11 New Hampshire              6-2   442    11
12 Old Dominion               7-2   367    16 
13 James Madison              5-3   308    10
14 Jackson State              7-1   263    17
15 Tennessee Tech             5-2   248    19
16 Indiana State              5-3   240    18
17 Towson                     6-2   216    14
18 Jacksonville State         5-3   215    13
19 Delaware                   5-4   201    20
20 Harvard                    6-1   138    23
21 William & Mary             4-4   124    21
22 Liberty                    6-3   111    24
23 South Dakota               5-4   101    15
24 Illinois State             6-3    85    26
25 North Dakota               5-3    62    25

Others Receiving Votes: Cal Poly(5-3) 52; Jacksonville (Fl)(6-2) 35; Norfolk State(7-2) 34; Alabama State(6-2) 24; Furman(5-3) 20; Brown(6-1) 19; Central Arkansas(6-3) 19; Massachusetts(5-3) 13; Youngstown State(5-3) 11; Southern Utah(5-4) 10; Northwestern State(5-3) 9; Albany(6-2) 6; Eastern Kentucky(5-3) 5; Drake(7-2) 4; Portland State(5-3) 4; San Diego(6-2) 3; Florida A&M(5-3) 2; Pennsylvania(4-3) 1.

Photo Courtesy: Ronald Blair, ASU Athletics