It only took 17 games.
    Polls don't mean much this early in a football season, but the fact of the matter is that Jeff Monken has been a head coach for 17 games, and that was all it took for his Georgia Southern Eagles to become the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
    It took them one season to get back into the playoffs.
    It took eight games to kick off the longest winning streak (six) in six years.
    And here we are, 17 games into Monken's GSU head coaching career, he's 3-1 in the playoffs and he's got the top team in the polls.
    Is Georgia Southern the best team in the Football Championship Subdivision?
    If the Eagles played a game against everybody else in the Top 25, would they beat all of them?
    Nobody really knows. But that's not the point, is it?
    Georgia Southern started the last decade with back-to-back national championships and was in the playoff hunt until 2006.
    No need to rehash the four years that followed, except to mention that, in that time period, the Eagles went 21-23 and sniffed the playoffs only once, and even that near-playoff season required the best player in the country getting the ball in his hands on every single offensive snap.
    But here we are.   
    Monken inherited a 5-6 team, and 17 games later, as we look forward to a new decade, is coaching the No. 1 team in the nation.
    The Week 3 poll doesn't really mean anything to Monken.
    The players will at least tell you  it doesn't mean much to them.
    But to a fan base that is used to being the bully on the block, to being the best if not competing with the best, it means something.
    The Eagle Nation, for at least the next two weeks, can say it's got the best FCS team in the country.
    Two weeks is a long time for a football team to let that sink in.
    Let's just hope that when it comes time to suit up against Western Carolina on Sept. 24, the Eagles play like there's still plenty of work to do.

    Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408

Sports Network FCS Top 25
Team                                 Record    Points    Prev.
1. Georgia Southern (102)    2-0           3,622    2
2. Northern Iowa (16)          1-1           3,329    4
3. Appalachian State (10)     1-1           3,282    3
4. William & Mary (5)          1-1           3,048    5
5. Montana State (2)             1-1           2,985    6
6. Richmond (9)                    2-0           2,874    9
7. Delaware (1)                    1-1            2,688    8
8. North Dakota State (1)      2-0            2,553    11
9. Wofford                            1-1            2,489    7
10. Eastern Washington (2)    0-2            2,218    1
11. New Hampshire               1-1            2,202    13
12. Montana                           1-1           1,913    15
13. James Madison                 1-1           1,373    19
14. Chattanooga                     1-1           1,349    23
15. Southern Illinois                1-1           1,289    17
16. Lehigh                              1-1          1,222    14
17. Jacksonville State              1-1          1,147    10
18. Central Arkansas              1-1          1,096    18
19. Stephen F. Austin              1-1            971    16
20. Sacramento State              1-1            959    11
21. Massachusetts                  1-0            897    21
22. Liberty                              1-1           714    24
23. McNeese State                  0-1           614    22
24. South Dakota                     1-1           603    NR
25. South Carolina State            1-1           555    NR

Others receiving votes: Southern Utah 289, Eastern Kentucky 224, Penn 199, Murray State 180, Sam Houston State 158, Villanova 128, Towson 116, Jackson State 106, Hampon 100, Youngstown State 98, Bethune-Cookman 62, Western Illinois 50, South Dakota State 45, Harvard 43, Old Dominion 34, Rhode Island 34, Grambling State 26, Maine 22, Morehead State 21, Stony Brook 19, Elon 16, Holy Cross 14, Brown 12, Yale 12, Coastal Carolina 11, Duquesne 10, Delaware State 10.

Coaches FCS Top 25
Team        Record    Points    Prev.
1. Georgia Southern (23)    2-0    695    2
2. Northern Iowa (4)          1-1    631    t3
3. Appalachian State          1-1    621    t3
4. Montana State               1-1    588    6
5. William & Mary             1-1    582    5
6. North Dakota State        2-0    532    8
7. Delaware                      1-1    510    7
8. Wofford                        1-1    486    9
9. Richmond                      2-0    482    11
10. Eastern Washington (1) 0-1    457    1
11. Montana                       1-1    398    13
12. New Hampshire            1-1    353    16
13. Stephen F. Austin          1-1    272    12
14. James Madison             1-1    269    17
15. Southern Illinois            1-1    268    15
16. Jacksonville State         1-1    243    10
17. Chattanooga                1-1    221    25
18. Central Arkansas         1-1    207    20
19. Lehigh                         1-1    200    14
20. Liberty                         1-1    181    21
21. South Carolina State     1-1    160    23
22. McNeese State             0-1    120    22
23. South Dakota                1-1    96    NR
24. Sacramento State           1-1    92    18
25. Massachusetts                1-0    68    NR

Others receiving votes: Pennsylvania (41), Murray State (29), Youngstown State (29), Villanova (22), Southern Utah (22), Eastern Kentucky (28), Bethune-Cookman (18), Eastern Illinois (18), Indiana State (18), Jackson State (14), Sam Houston State (14), Harvard (9), Coastal Carolina (9), Western Illinois (9), Illinois State (7), UC Davis (6), Butler (6), Towson (6), South Dakota State (5), Dayton (5), Cal Poly (4), Hampton (2), Jacksonville (2), Weber State (2), Furman (1), Central Connecticut State (1).