Brennan AngelThe Cal Poly football team was voted the “team most on the rise” throughout the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) and ranked 13th nationally in the Any Given Saturday preseason poll released Monday.
AGS takes into account votes from FCS fans frequenting the Web site’s message board of the same name.
As of Tuesday night, the message board had more than 5,300 members who’d posted nearly 950,000 times altogether.
In order to vote, members must have already posted at least 100 times before May 1, agree to vote objectively, vote for all top 25 places each week and not miss voting more than two weeks the entire regular season.
To safeguard against bias, the AGS Poll Committee employs a “homer rule,” which discounts ballots submitted by voters who ranked their “supported” teams No. 1 when no one else did.
Defending national champion Appalachian State received all but six of 82 first-place votes. Cal Poly, which in 2007 amassed 487.1 yards per game to finish second in the country in total offense (trailing only Appalachian State’s 488.3), received one first-place vote.
James Madison, Richmond, North Dakota State and Northern Iowa rounded out the top five.
Also ranked were three of the Mustangs’ 2008 foes – Montana (at No. 7), McNeese State (No. 8) and South Dakota State (No. 18).
The other, primary preseason polls – the coaches’ and The Sports Network’s – are yet to be released.
Cal Poly, which finished last season 7-4 and slotted No. 24 in both the AGS and Sports Network polls, returned 10 offensive starters and opens its season by visiting San Diego State at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30.