Posted at 11:38 AM on October 17, 2006 by Colin

After their very dicey 24-21 victory over NAU, the Griz moved up one spot to #2 in the I-AA Sports Network Division I-AA football poll. This comes after previously 13th ranked James Madison upset former #1 New Hampshire 42-23.

The Griz received two first place votes, fewer than #11 Hampton who received three. In all, eight different schools got at least one first place vote with #3 receiving the most (11) without actually being ranked #1. That title goes to Appalachian State.

Big Sky notables: Portland State moved up two spots to #23 and Montana State is still unranked but they received the second most votes of those not in the rankings. It's looking more and more like this year's Cat/Griz game could have major BSC implications(more on this in Cat-Griz's week 6 rundown). Complete rankings after the jump.

Here are the recaps from Saturday's games:

• Cat-Griz Insider:
  
  • A great escape
  • Week 6 rundown
• ESPN (AP)
• CSTV.com : #3 Montana holds on for win.
• The Missoulian: That's a sack, Jack: Montana defense holds NAU at bay
• Montana Kaimin: Griz defense tackles Lumberjacks with help of home fans.

Here's a great quote from that Kaimin article:

The 23,626 fans in attendance was the sixth-largest crowd in Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s history. NAU senior quarterback Jason Murrietta said playing in Missoula is never easy and it was particularly hard on that last drive.

“I think it was really difficult especially in that drive to get things going at a faster pace,” Murrietta said. “The crowd is a huge factor.”

When I was walking out of Wash-Griz after the game I heard not only that extremely loud bell, but a lot of people griping about Hauck going for it on the NAU 11 with 1:13 left to play instead of kicking a field goal that would've put the Griz up 6.

I totally agree with Hauck on this call, you go for the win right there and then. If you kick a field goal, there isn't that much of a difference between 3 and 6 points; a touchdown wins it and with that little time left a big TD play was all that was going to save them anyway. You take the three point lead and the crowd. After the turnover on downs the student section didn't let NAU get past the 30. Even if the Griz D had allowed a field goal, there is no way they would have beat us in OT, not at home.

Team (first-place votes)	Record	Points	LW
1. Appalachian State (88)	6-1	2,693	2
2. Montana (2)	5-1	2,498	3
3. Illinois State (11)	5-1	2,401	5
4. Cal Poly (1)	5-1	2,371	4
5. Youngstown State (1)	6-1	2,172	6
6. Massachusetts	5-1	2,034	8
7. New Hampshire (1)	5-1	2,023	1
8. James Madison	5-1	1,991	13
9. North Dakota State (2)	6-0	1,981	9
10. Richmond	5-1	1,720	10
11. Hampton (3)	7-0	1,645	12
12. Furman	5-2	1,558	11
13. Southern Illinois	5-1	1,466	7
14. Northern Iowa	4-2	1,349	14
15. Harvard	5-0	1,060	15
16. Tennessee-Martin	5-1	925	17
17. Eastern Illinois	4-3	889	16
18. UC Davis	3-3	719	18
19. Maine	4-2	626	23
20. Alabama A&M	5-1	612	20
21. San Diego	6-0	587	21
22. Princeton	5-0	507	24
23. Portland State	4-3	373	25
24. Coastal Carolina	5-2	228	NR
25. Sam Houston State	4-2	182	NR

Also receiving votes: Jackson State 179, Montana State 109, Towson 104, Central Connecticut State 74, Penn 52, Charleston Southern 51, Georgia Southern 50, Delaware 47, Jacksonville State 27, Delaware State 25, Holy Cross 17, Yale 15, McNeese State 13, Wofford 13, South Dakota State 9, Western Kentucky 8, Nicholls State 7.