More Preseason Polls, More Top 5 Rankings for JMU

In case you missed it, The Sports Network published its FCS Top 25 poll for the 2012 preseason. And just like in the Athlon preseason poll, the JMU Dukes find themselves ranked fifth. Not be outdone, Phil Steele released his FCS Preseason Top 40 (yes 40!) and he has our beloved Dukes ranked second. Last season’s national championship runner-up, Sam Houston State is ranked at the top of each poll.

We’ve never put much stock in preseason polls, but seeing the respect the Dukes are garnering in the polls definitely has us looking forward to the season. And the Dukes are just one of three CAA teams in The Sports Network’s top 10, with Towson and ODU in seventh and eighth respectively. Plus Delaware, New Hampshire, and Maine also are ranked giving the CAA 6 teams in the top 25. Phil Steele only has 5 CAA teams in his top 25, but we like his rankings better since JMU is second and ODU barely cracks the top 20.

Personally, I think the only real takeaway from these polls is that the CAA race should be another dogfight. Respect for the Dukes in the preseason polls is great, but I’d trade all the preseason accolades in the world for a CAA Championship and one of the coveted top four playoff seeds come November. And based on the respect shown to the conference in these polls, whichever team emerges from the CAA regular season on top, could have a decent shot of getting one of those seeds (not to mention securing the home field advantage that automatically comes with it regardless of bidding “strategy”).