Southeast Missouri State football team falls short of top 25

The Southeast Missouri State football team unofficially will begin the year ranked among the top 30 in both major Football Championship Subdivision preseason polls.

Southeast did not make the top 25 in the FCS coaches poll released Monday.

But the defending OVC champion Redhawks did garner the third-most votes among teams outside the top 25 to unofficially rank 28th. That's the same spot they occupy in the Sports Network/Fathead.com media poll released last week.

Jacksonville State is the only OVC squad ranked in either poll. The Gamecocks are ninth in both.

Two other OVC teams received votes in the coaches poll: Murray State (unofficially ranked 31st) and Eastern Kentucky (33rd).

Defending national champion Eastern Washington is the top-ranked preseason team in both polls. The Eagles beat Southeast in the second round of last year's playoffs on their way to the title.

Southern Illinois, Southeast's season-opening opponent Sept. 3 at Houck Stadium, is ranked 17th by the coaches. The Salukis are 19th in the media poll.