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- As I’ve said before, I vote in The Sports Network’s Top 25, so I figure it’s only fair to share my ballot with readers. My vote this week:

1. Richmond
2. New Hampshire
3. Montana
4. Northern Iowa
5. Villanova
6. Elon
7. Southern Illinois
8. William & Mary
9. South Dakota St.
10. Appalachian St.
11. Central Arkansas
12. South Carolina St.
13. Jacksonville St.
14. Delaware
15. Stephen F. Austin
16. Colgate
17. McNeese St.
18. Weber St.
19. James Madison
20. Liberty
21. Furman
22. Massachusetts
23. Lafayette
24. Chattanooga
25. Northern Arizona

* This was honestly the toughest ballot I’ve had to put together in some time and I spent a good hour Sunday putting it together. The top eight teams are fairly clear cut right now, and for the most part, inarguable. But after that, it gets really wacky. There were a ton of “what the heck do I do with them?“ teams to deal with. Some thoughts on why I voted the way I did:

- I’ve heard a lot of talk that there’s no way Montana should be voted ahead of Northern Iowa. UNI’s only blemish thus far is a one-point loss to an undefeated Iowa team, but the Panthers are coming off a rough defensive performance against North Dakota State, and Montana is still unbeaten and just knocked off what most considered to be a Top 20 team in Cal Poly. I have no hesitation in putting Montana in as the clear No. 3 team, just ahead of UNI. The top five teams will continue to shift as the CAA powers battle each other. Villanova has already played two games against then-Top 5 teams, splitting with William & Mary and New Hampshire. The Wildcats still get Delaware, Richmond and James Madison later this year. Crazy tough schedule there.

- No. 9 was a tough spot. I’m not sold on Appalachian State as “the best team outside the aforementioned Big 8”, and South Dakota State impressed me by bouncing back from the Cal Poly loss with a nice league road win at Missouri State.

- McNeese State is one of those “what the heck” teams. The Cowboys won at App State but the loss to Stephen F. Austin was alarming. Not that SFA isn’t a good team. I had them just outside the Top 25 last week. But the win in Boone made me think McNeese was on the verge of being a very good team this season. Now the Cowboys look to just be a good team, if that makes sense.

- I clearly had Central Arkansas and Jacksonville State underrated, and I rectified that with my vote this week. JSU looks like the clear class of the OVC. Too bad the Gamecocks are ineligible for the playoffs. Either Eastern Kentucky or Eastern Illinois will likely win that automatic bid, but JSU is the class of that league.

- What to do with Colgate? The Raiders are 6-0 and have a pedigree, which is why I’m more inclined to vote them in a decent spot as opposed to say, Sacred Heart last season. I watched a bit of that Colgate-Princeton game Thursday night, and Colgate didn’t look very impressive. But am I going to rank them below two and three-loss teams? Tough decision. No. 16 might be a bit too high, as Colgate has accumulated its victories against a fairly soft schedule. Colgate will most likely truck Georgetown next week in Washington, D.C., to get to 7-0, then the tough part of the schedule begins with a trip to Holy Cross.

- Oh yeah, Holy Cross, that team I had at No. 11 last week? Ooops. The Crusaders lost to Brown, which will probably finish in the lower half of the Ivy League standings. So the Crusaders are out altogether in my mind. I made a choice between Holy Cross and Lafayette. Both have the same records, but Lafayette has a couple of nice (not great) wins against Yale and Penn, and Holy Cross really doesn’t even have a “nice” win. Lafayette’s loss (to Liberty) was better than Holy Cross’ loss (to Brown). So I plugged the Leopards in at No. 23.

- Chattanooga? Well, it’s fair to call the Mocs a fringe Top 25 team after they destroyed Wofford at home and snuck out a win on the road against a Samford team that some considered to be a SoCon darkhorse this year. I had no issue with putting them in the Top 25. Nice turnaround in Moc Country.

- I didn’t have Delaware ranked at all, but the Hens went out and smacked around Massachusetts, so the Hens go from unranked in my ballot to No. 14. Look, I’m not afraid to rip up a previous ballot and start from scratch if the circumstances warrant it. That’s pretty much what happened this week.

- Weber State is a weird team. Two very close losses to FBS teams. A home loss to Montana State, but a great win at Eastern Washington. There’s a lot of talent on that team, but the Wildcats will probably have to run the table to make it to the postseason.

- I hear and note the arguments for Central Connecticut State, and I gave the Blue Devils a hard look this week for No. 25. Northern Arizona’s win at Montana State was pretty impressive, more impressive than anything CCSU has on its schedule. So I chose to put NAU in that last slot. I also gave Prairie View A&M a good look. The Panthers’ only loss so far was a three-point loss against FBS New Mexico State.

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Some quick notes from today’s Big South media conference call, which was held a day earlier than usual so rubes like me can make it down to Charlotte for basketball media day tomorrow.

* Before the bye week, Liberty coach Danny Rocco said he expected a couple of injured offensive linemen to return in time for the CCU game. Starting right tackle Justin Vargas and backup center Aaron Lundy, who has been out all year with a broken foot, were expected to at least practice this week. Those were the only real injury concerns for the Flames, and considering the physical style Liberty employs offensively, you can’t have enough healthy hog mollies. So getting Vargas and Lundy back will be a plus for the Flames.

* I’ll give Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett some credit. The man knows how to play the media game. He will never, ever, ever give you anything resembling bulletin-board material, and he goes out of his way to be complimentary toward the opponent. Some examples from today:

“We’ve been watching film on Liberty, and golly, what a job they do with their student body. They pack ‘em in there. It’s just an unbelievable environment. ... Liberty, shoot, they’re the king of the conference. They’ve whipped us the last two years. I can’t say enough about what Jeff Barber and Danny Rocco and their staffs have done. They have taken a place that had a lot of potential and they’re reaching that potential. You take a look on film and see that million-dollar scoreboard. I just tell you, they’re setting the standard for our conference. We’re building a field house down here just trying to catch up to ‘em!“

“They’ve got a mighty good football team. ... It should be a great challenge for our young ball club.“

(Regarding a question about CCU’s defense, which leads the Big South)

“Well, we haven’t played Liberty yet. I don’t know if we can hold them down, especially that Mike Brown. I mean, good granny’s alive! He needs to go on to UVa or somewhere to play. He’s quite an athlete. I listened to the West Virginia game and the West Virginia crowd cheered when they kicked it out of bounds and didn’t kick it to Mike Brown. That says a lot right there. ... We play the cream of the crop this week. We play the best team in the league. They have been for the last two years.“

“You looked at the end of last season, and Liberty whipped Elon up there. They should have gone to the national playoffs. I’ll say it over and over again. Our conference got done wrong. Liberty should have been in the playoffs last year. It will be a great challenge to play in an environment as good as we’ve ever been, including James Madison and Georgia Southern. Liberty does it right. We’re blessed with a great opportunity to play in front of a great crowd on Saturday in Lynchburg.“

(My interjection: Never mind that Coastal Carolina played at Penn State last year.)

“Momentum? Liberty’s got all of the momentum. Eleven wins in a row (in Big South play). They’re the kings. We’re just the paupers. We’re trying to catch up to them.“

(On a question about Liberty’s Chris Summers)

“I don’t know if we’ve had one as good as him.“

(Well, if you don’t count the second-round NFL draft choice, Jerome Simpson, maybe that statement is accurate.)

All I’m saying is that Bennett goes out of his way to compliment the opponent each week. There’s no way you’ll ever hear a “disrespect” quote come out of the man’s mouth.

Now, the Coastal Carolina scouting report:

COASTAL CAROLINA
LOCATION: Conway, S.C.
ENROLLMENT: 8,100
FOUNDED: 1954
NICKNAME: Chanticleers
COLORS: Teal, Bronze and Black
CONFERENCE: Big South
STADIUM: Brooks Stadium (7,322)

HEAD COACH: David Bennett (Presbyterian, ‘84)
RECORD: 48-25 (Seventh year at CCU)/111-42 (14th year overall)

2008 RECORD: 6-6 (1-4 Big South/t5th)
POSTSEASON: None
2009 RECORD: 3-2 (1-0 Big South)
OFFENSIVE FORMATION: Spread
DEFENSIVE FORMATION: Multiple
LETTERMAN RETURNING/LOST: 55/17
STARTERS RETURNING/LOST: 19/8
OFFENSIVE/DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 7/8

2009 SCHEDULE (3-2)
September
3…....at Kent State….................L, 18-0
12…..MONMOUTH….................W, 24-17
19…..at Towson…......................L, 21-17
26…..NORTH CAROLINA A&T…..W, 28-7
October
10…..VMI…...............................W, 20-6
17…..at Liberty….......................3:30 p.m.
24…..at Stony Brook…...............6 p.m.
31…..at Clemson….....................TBA
November
7…....GARDNER-WEBB…..........12:30 p.m.
14…..PRESBYTERIAN….............12:30 p.m.
21…..at Charleston Southern…......1:30 p.m.

2008 RESULTS
August
30…..at Penn State…................L, 66-10
September
6…....COLGATE….....................L, 23-19
13…...at Monmouth…................W, 26-7
20…...TOWSON….....................W, 31-3
27…...at North Carolina A&T…....W, 20-7
October
4…....LIBERTY…........................L, 43-38
11…..at VMI…............................L, 47-20
18…..N. CAROLINA CENTRAL….W, 35-10
25…..STONY BROOK…..............L, 28-24
November
8…....at Gardner-Webb….............W, 23-18
15…..at Presbyterian…................W, 21-13
22…..CHARLESTON SOUTHERN.L, 24-0

PLAYERS TO WATCH

QB ZACH MACDOWALL
Photo credit: Coastal Carolina University

MacDowall had one of the better games in his career last year against Liberty, completing 24 of 44 passes for 382 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score. He’s a bit more mobile than he looks and makes smart decisions. He hasn’t been terribly accurate this season, but he completed 70 percent of his passes last week against VMI, so he’s trending in the right direction.

DE Phillip Oboh
Photo credit: Coastal Carolina University

Oboh has 29 tackles and a team-high four sacks this season. He gets off the edge quickly to close out running lanes, and he has the speed to get to the quarterback and force bad decisions.

DB Josh Norman
Photo credit: Coastal Carolina University

Norman learned on the job as a freshman last year and has quickly evolved into one of the Big South’s better cover corners. Already this season, he has three interceptions and has blocked two kicks.

COASTAL CAROLINA MEDIA COVERAGE

The Sun News.

Josh Hoke’s CCU blog, The Roost.