Chicago - Four Valley Football teams are ranked in 2011 College Sporting News Football Championship Subdivision Preseason Top 25 poll, which includes two MVFC in the Top 10.  CSN is the oldest and largest news service organization devoted solely to the FCS.

UNI, the pre-season MVFC favorite, is picked No. 8 in the CSN poll, while North Dakota State clocks in at No. 10.  Southern Illinois (17) and Western Illinois (21) also represent the MVFC in this poll.

Appalachian State, the winner of three consecutive national championships from 2005-07 and coming off two quarterfinal appearances and one semifinal finish in the past three years, is ranked No. 1 in 2011 in a poll conducted by the staff of CSN.  Finishing a close second to the Mountaineers is the resurgent Georgia Southern program, which advanced to the semifinals last season after missing the playoffs in the previous four years. The Eagles have won a record six FCS crowns, but none since 2000.

The top 10 in the poll show the strength at the head of four powerhouse conferences in the FCS, the SoCon, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Big Sky Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference, with teams from those leagues capturing all 10 of the top slots.

College Sporting News 2011 Preseason Top 25

1. Appalachian State

2. Georgia Southern

3. Delaware

4. William & Mary

5. Eastern Washington

6. Montana State

7. New Hampshire

8. Northern Iowa

9. Wofford

10. North Dakota State

11. Villanova

12. Jacksonville State

13. McNeese State

14. James Madison

15. Penn

16. Lehigh

17. Southern Illinois

18. Stephen F. Austin

19. Montana

20. Liberty

21. Western Illinois

22. Florida A&M

23. Bethune-Cookman

24. Harvard

25. Central Arkansas

Others receiving votes: Chattanooga, Colgate, Sam Houston State, Murray State, Southern Utah, Central Connecticut State, South Carolina State, Grambling, Robert Morris.