Pirate Galaxy » t for advancing to the next round.The year has

(STATS) -- It will be interesting to see what the NCAA Division I FCS selection committee thinks of the potential playoff field later this week.What the rest of us think doesnt matter.On Thursday, the selection committee will release the first of three weekly Top 10 rankings -- much like what happens on the FBS level. Its a new feature of the committee leading into Selection Sunday on Nov. 20. The first rankings will be aired on ESPNs College Football Live, which begins at 3 p.m. ET.Sam Houston State is top-ranked in the STATS FCS Top 25 and in other leading FCS polls. But the Bearkats, playing in a relatively down Southland Conference, are lacking a high strength of schedule, so the committee may not have them atop its first rankings.The STATS postseason projection has had the Bearkats as the fourth seed in recent weeks, behind North Dakota State, Eastern Washington and Jacksonville State.In support of Sam Houston, its handled every challenge with relative ease and hasnt trailed in a game this season. Plus, two of its final three games would be considered excellent wins -- McNeese and Southland co-leader Central Arkansas.SECOND AND 10Ten more observations from the FCS weekend:1.) If it seems like there is not a lot of movement near the top of the STATS FCS Top 25, well, there hasnt been much recently. In an October which had five Saturdays of action, a Top 10 team lost only five times, and two of them had to because they were in a matchup against another Top 10 team. Another game was a No. 8-versus-No. 15 loss. The only Top 10 teams to lose to an unranked team occurred on the road -- Montana at Northern Arizona last weekend and South Dakota State falling 38-17 to Illinois State this weekend.2.) So the team of the week lost. But why shouldnt Samford be the team of the week after it rolled up 627 yards and made SEC member Mississippi State work for a 56-41 win? Sophomore Devlin Hodges completed 42 passes for a career-high 468 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Im just really proud of our football team, coach Chris Hatcher said. We came in and we fought extremely hard on a very hot afternoon. We ran out of gas a couple of times, but somehow the guys filled their tank back up. Up next for the Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1): Back into the Southern Conference at unbeaten The Citadel.3.) New Hampshire answered the call with a 43-14 rout of No. 22 Stony Brook. The perennial playoff qualifier out of CAA Football didnt have a win over a team that had a winning record last week, but it changed after the Wildcats defense resembled the typical Stony Brook performance, forcing five turnovers. The Cats have a bye next weekend before hosting Albany and going to rival Maine as they seek a 13th straight playoff appearance.4.) Eastern Washington senior wide receiver Cooper Kupps eight receptions in a 35-16 win over Montana raised him to 378 in his career, just 17 shy of Terrell Hudgins FCS all-time record of 395 from 2006-09. Kupp already owns the FCS career records for receiving yards (5,770) and touchdown receptions with 67.5.) Southerns Lenard Tillery became the SWACs all-time rushing leader, gaining 195 yards in a 41-33 win over Alcorn State to push his career total to 4,132. The West Division has so dominated the East Division in inter-divisional matchups -- winning 15 of the 20 games -- that the West winner might be unbeaten (co-leaders Grambling State and Southern are 5-0) and the East winner could have four losses (co-leaders Alcorn State and Jackson State are 3-3) when they meet in the conference championship game on Dec. 3 in Houston.6.) The versatility of Princetons Jon Lovett went to a new level in a 56-7 Ivy League win at Cornell. Playing his usual slash role, he set the school record with seven touchdowns -- four passing, two rushing and one receiving. He was 10 of 11 for 194 yards, rushed six times for 47 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards.7.) Lehighs offense has been relentless during a seven-game winning streak, including 632 yards and 58 points against Fordham on Saturday. With a win over Bucknell next weekend, the Mountain Hawks (7-2) will clinch their first Patriot League title since 2011 and an automatic bid to the playoffs. At-large bids appear unlikely for Fordham and Colgate, last years playoff qualifiers.8.) Just as Lehigh is in control of the Patriot League bid, Saint Francis can say the same in the Northeast Conference following a 38-17 triumph at Sacred Heart. Quarterback Zack Drayer and wide receiver Kamron Lewis connected for the final three touchdowns of the game and the Red Flash (6-3) moved to 4-0 in the NEC for the first time.9.) The Ohio Valley Conference surely has dropped to a one-bid conference with Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State losing in back-to-back weeks. Unless, that is, UT Martin (5-4, 4-1) can win out and steal the automatic bid from Jacksonville State, the two-time defending champ. The Gamecocks (7-1, 4-0) are playing one fewer conference game than UT Martin because theyre not meeting Tennessee State, which played an extra non-conference game this season. If the Skyhawks win out, they could go 7-1 and have at least an extra win over the Gamecocks.10.) Hello, again. If there was one team Western Illinois probably didnt want to lose against this season, it was South Dakota. Bob Nielson, the 2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference coach of the year, left the Leathernecks program after last season to take over at South Dakota. It looked bad for the visiting Leathernecks when they trailed by 17 points, but they rallied for a 35-34 win and left the Coyotes (4-4) in dire playoff position heading into November.A LOOK AHEADNext Saturdays big matchup will come from the CAA as the Top 10 as James Madison visits rival Richmond. Also, its pass-versus-run with Eastern Washington visiting Cal Poly in the Big Sky and defense-versus-defense with Youngstown State going to North Dakota State in the Missouri Valley.Other pivotal conference matchups: Big Sky, North Dakota at Northern Colorado; CAA, Villanova at Maine; Ivy, Penn at Princeton; MEAC, South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T; Northeast, Duquesne at Wagner; Patriot, Bucknell at Lehigh and Colgate at Fordham; Southern, Samford at The Citadel; Southland, McNeese at top-ranked Sam Houston State; and SWAC, Alcorn State at Prairie View A&M. Steve Grogan Youth Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. John Hannah Jersey . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. http://www.shoptheofficialpatriots.com/Elite-Andre-Tippett-Patriots-Jersey/ .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Drew Bledsoe Jersey . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. Irving Fryar Patriots Jersey . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Carl Edwards generally loves the two races a year at Kansas Speedway.He was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri, and spent his formative years racing late models across the Midwest. So to this day, Edwards considers the mile-and-a-half speedway just down Interstate 70 and on the other side of the state line his home track.He gets to see family and friends. The crowd adores him. There really are no drawbacks.Except that he cant seem to win there. And that presents a problem heading into Sundays Sprint Cup race. Its the second stop in the three-race round of 12 in the championship Chase, and a win would take the stress out of Talladega by assuring him a spot in the next round.Its pretty obvious the pressure is pretty high in general with this format, said Edwards, who will start third on Sunday . But there is more pressure coming here. And its good pressure.In fairness, Edwards actually has been to victory lane at Kansas, though it was in the Truck Series more than a decade ago. He dueled with Bobby Hamilton that day, and still remembers thinking he had some engine trouble after taking the checkered flag. When he shut it off, he realized the rumbling that hed heard in the drivers seat was the crowd roaring its approval.It was the first time Edwards could ever remember hearing the crowd over the sound of the engine.Kansas hasnt been so kind to him in the intervening years. Hes won 38 times in the Xfinity Series, but never in seven tries at Kansas, and none of his 27 wins in the Sprint Cup Series has come there.Perhaps most disappointing is how often his car has been capable of winning.Whether driving for Jack Roush or Joe Gibbs, Edwards has typically found his way to the front at some point in the race. Eleven different times hes led a lap, hes finished in the top 10 a dozen times, six times hes been in the top five, with a career-best finish of second in 2008.Edwards qualified second in the Chase race a year ago before finishing eighth.This place, its going to be special when we go to victory lane. Its going to be really cool, he said, making clear that its a matter of when and not if he wins a race.Just the idea of winning hhere in front of all these people who supported me so much, Edwards said, that would be huge.dddddddddddd. But the icing on the cake would be no pressure at Talladega.Jimmie Johnson already has the pressure off after his win last weekend at Charlotte, and one of the 11 remaining Chase contenders could be in the same situation on Sunday.Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch qualified on the front row, while Edwards gave the Gibbs stable a sweep of the top three spots. Throw in Martin Truex Jr., whose Furniture Row team has an alliance with them, in fourth, and Denny Hamlin qualifying seventh, and it could be a banner day for their teams Chase hopes.Its just a testament to Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota to be able to do what weve done, Busch said, and to have three of them in the front three spots and then Truex there in fourth. Thats really good.Even if they dont win Sunday, the Gibbs team could still take some drama out of Talladega.Kenseth, Busch, Edwards and Truex escaped engine trouble and wrecks at Charlotte, giving them a bit of a points cushion over five Chase drivers who finished 30th or worse. Among them was Hamlin, who finds himself this week in the tenuous eighth -- and final -- spot for advancing to the next round.The year has been pretty solid for the organization. We all had a pretty good day (in qualifying), Kenseth said. Its great having teammates that good, but its also hard to beat them.You can count Edwards among them.The only blip hes had this weekend was a poor first run in qualifying, which he wiped out with a better effort later in the opening session. He wound up making the final round of qualifying to take third on the grid, and was hovering solidly around the top 10 in the final practice session Saturday.It was enough to raise his hopes for that long-awaited home win.I definitely envy Jimmie Johnson right now. Those guys did a really good job last week, he said. I know hes going to be on his bike a bunch and relaxing and having a good time the next two weeks. We want to be able to do that going to Talladega. ' ' '