Submitted by Fox First at Ten on January 7th
Eastern Washington may have lost in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs, but they ended the season officially ranked No. 4 in the nation on Monday.
The FCS Coaches poll was released Monday with North Dakota State on top. The Bison won their second national title in two years, beating Sam Houston State 39-13 on Saturday. Sam Houston State finished No. 2 and Georgia Southern was No. 3. Montana State finished right behind EWU at No. 4.
North Dakota State became the first team to win back-to-back FCS championships since Appalachian State won three in a row from 2005-07.
Final FCS Coaches Poll (I-AA) Ranking
Rank Team Record Pts Last Week 1. North Dakota St. (26) 14-1 650 1 2. Sam Houston St. 11-4 618 5 3. Georgia Southern 10-4 579 7 4. Eastern Wash. 11-3 572 4 5. Montana St. 11-2 539 2 6. Old Dominion 11-2 527 3 7. Wofford 9-4 496 9 8. Appalachian St. 8-4 434 6 9. Illinois St. 9-4 408 15 10. Central Arkansas 9-3 401 8 11. Cal Poly 9-3 378 12 12. Stony Brook 10-3 366 11 13. New Hampshire 8-4 334 13 14. Lehigh 10-1 295 10 15. Towson 7-4 235 14 16. Villanova 8-4 227 18 17. South Dakota St. 9-4 222 21 18. Richmond 8-3 188 17 19. Eastern Kentucky 8-3 163 16 20. Northern Arizona 8-3 142 19 21. James Madison 7-4 111 20 22. Wagner 9-4 103 NR 23. Bethune-Cookman 9-3 89 22 24. Coastal Carolina 8-5 88 NR 25. Eastern Illinois 7-5 75 NR
