(STATS) -- They met in a terrific intersectional game that could have been overlooked on a busy early September evening, but Central Arkansas and Samford are commanding attention as the regular season nears its final month.They can be found in their conference title races and moving up the STATS FCS Top 25. On Monday, Central Arkansas reached No. 19 and Samford rose to No. 20.The first nine spots went unchanged in the national media poll, with Sam Houston State continuing on as No. 1, gaining 120 of the 163 first-place votes. Jacksonville State, Eastern Washington, North Dakota State and The Citadel also received first-place votes.Samford beat Central Arkansas 35-29 back on Sept. 10 and both teams have been impressive since then.UCA (6-1) has won five straight games, including one over FBS opponent Arkansas State, as well as 22-12 over Lamar this past Saturday, which pushed the Bears to 5-0 in the Southland Conference and a half-game behind Sam Houston in the standings.Samfords only loss is to Chattanooga, so the Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) are one game behind The Citadel and in third place in the Southern Conference, but after playing at Mississippi State this week, they have an Oct. 29 game at the conference leader.Linked by their early-season game, UCAs team mantra may as well be Samfords because both surging teams hope to win their conference title and qualify for the FCS playoffs.We started off our year with our motto being Finishing, UCA coach Steve Campbell said. Last year, we played well at times and did some good things. But our whole deal is about finishing and making sure that were getting better each week.Sam Houston (7-0) is getting better, winning each of its games by double digits, including 38-21 at Nicholls this past Saturday (the Bearkats built a 24-0 halftime lead). Coach K.C. Keelers team will step out of the conference schedule on Saturday by hosting Texas Southern and then wraps up the regular season with three more Southland games. They will host Central Arkansas on Nov. 19, the final day of the regular season.The other teams in the Top 5 also received first-place votes: Jacksonville State (6-1), which beat Eastern Kentucky 24-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference, had 16; Eastern Washington (6-1), which topped Montana State 41-17 in the Big Sky Conference, had 18; North Dakota State (6-1), which held off Western Illinois 21-13 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, had six; and The Citadel (7-0), which beat Wofford 24-21 in overtime in the Southern Conference, had three.CAA Football leader Richmond (7-1) was sixth, meaning the top six teams were from a different FCS conference. South Dakota State (5-2) was seventh, followed by James Madison (6-1), Charleston Southern (4-2) and Chattanooga (7-1), whose one-spot rise was the only change in the Top 10.Villanova (6-2) and North Carolina A&T (6-1) climbed to a season-high No. 11 and 12, respectively. Then it was Western Illinois (5-2), Cal Poly (5-2), Youngstown State (5-2), Montana (5-2), North Dakota (6-2), Coastal Carolina (5-2), Central Arkansas and Samford.Rounding out the Top 25 were No. 21 Grambling State (5-1), Stony Brook (5-2), Eastern Illinois (5-3), Harvard (5-1) and Tennessee State (5-2). Harvard moved back into the ranking, while Albany fell out.Ten conferences had at least one representative in the rankings, led by the Big Sky, CAA Football and Missouri Valley with four each.A national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries select the STATS FCS Top 25. In the voting, a first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.The Top 25 is released every Monday afternoon during the regular season, except for Sunday morning, Nov. 20, prior to the selection of the 24-team FCS playoff field. A final Top 25 will follow the FCS championship game, which will be held Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas. .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. DENVER -- Broncos coach Gary Kubiak experienced flu-like symptoms and was taken from the stadium to a hospital by ambulance following Denvers 23-16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.Team spokesman Patrick Smyth said Kubiak was transported as a precaution about 45 minutes after the game.Players had already left the stadium, but some tweeted their well wishes to their coach upon learning of his illness.Prayers out for Coach Kub! safety T.J. Ward wrote from his account.Kubiak had a health scare in 2013 when he was coach of the Houston Texans, suffering a mini-stroke in a frightening scene in which he collapsed at halftime during a game against the Colts. He returned to the sideline 10 days later but was soon fired.After spending a year as Baltimores offensive coordinator in 2014, BBroncos general manager John Elway gave Kubiak his second chance at being a head coach.ddddddddddddAnd when he took the job, Kubiak said hed learned his lesson to spread out the workload and the pressure among his coaching staff.He had no health problems last season when he guided the Broncos to a win in the Super Bowl.The Broncos (4-1) have a short turnaround with a game Thursday night at San Diego. They have two nighttime practices this week before flying out Wednesday.---AP NFL website:
www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed:
www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' 'red 100-plus points in consecutive games, and have won all five of its games this season by double digits. ' ' '
