Bison seeded fourth in first rankings released by playoff committee

By Jeff Kolpack

November 03, 2016 09:22 PM

FARGO-North Dakota State was ranked fourth in the initial poll of the Football Championship Subdivision playoff committee, which was released Thursday on ESPNU.

It was the first in-season release by the committee, which is following a footprint established by the FBS College Football Playoff, which also released its first rankings this week. The Bison are behind No. 3 Eastern Washington, No. 2 Sam Houston State and top seed Jacksonville State (Ala.).

James Madison is behind NDSU at No. 5 followed by The Citadel, Richmond, Chattanooga, Charleston Southern and Central Arkansas.

The committee will release another top 10 next Thursday on the "CFB Daily" show on ESPNU.

North Dakota was on the outside looking in when it came to the rankings. UND, which has won seven-straight games, is ranked No. 11 in the FCS coaches poll and No. 16 in the STATS FCS media poll.

By Jeff Kolpack

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough" and "Covid Kids." He is the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.

Bison seeded fourth in first rankings released by playoff committee

FARGO--North Dakota State was ranked fourth in the initial poll of the Football Championship Subdivision playoff committee, which was released Thursday on ESPNU.