(STATS) -- It will be interesting to see what the NCAA Division I FCS selection committee thinks of the potential playoff field later this week.What the rest of us think doesnt matter.On Thursday, the selection committee will release the first of three weekly Top 10 rankings -- much like what happens on the FBS level. Its a new feature of the committee leading into Selection Sunday on Nov. 20. The first rankings will be aired on ESPNUs CFB Daily, which begins at 4 p.m. ET.Sam Houston State is top-ranked in the STATS FCS Top 25 and in other leading FCS polls. But the Bearkats, playing in a relatively down Southland Conference, are lacking a high strength of schedule, so the committee may not have them atop its first rankings.The STATS postseason projection has had the Bearkats as the fourth seed in recent weeks, behind North Dakota State, Eastern Washington and Jacksonville State.In support of Sam Houston, its handled every challenge with relative ease and hasnt trailed in a game this season. Plus, two of its final three games would be considered excellent wins -- McNeese and Southland co-leader Central Arkansas.SECOND AND 10Ten more observations from the FCS weekend:1.) If it seems like there is not a lot of movement near the top of the STATS FCS Top 25, well, there hasnt been much recently. In an October which had five Saturdays of action, a Top 10 team lost only five times, and two of them had to because they were in a matchup against another Top 10 team. Another game was a No. 8-versus-No. 15 loss. The only Top 10 teams to lose to an unranked team occurred on the road -- Montana at Northern Arizona last weekend and South Dakota State falling 38-17 to Illinois State this weekend.2.) So the team of the week lost. But why shouldnt Samford be the team of the week after it rolled up 627 yards and made SEC member Mississippi State work for a 56-41 win? Sophomore Devlin Hodges completed 42 passes for a career-high 468 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Im just really proud of our football team, coach Chris Hatcher said. We came in and we fought extremely hard on a very hot afternoon. We ran out of gas a couple of times, but somehow the guys filled their tank back up. Up next for the Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1): Back into the Southern Conference at unbeaten The Citadel.3.) New Hampshire answered the call with a 43-14 rout of No. 22 Stony Brook. The perennial playoff qualifier out of CAA Football didnt have a win over a team that had a winning record last week, but it changed after the Wildcats defense resembled the typical Stony Brook performance, forcing five turnovers. The Cats have a bye next weekend before hosting Albany and going to rival Maine as they seek a 13th straight playoff appearance.4.) Eastern Washington senior wide receiver Cooper Kupps eight receptions in a 35-16 win over Montana raised him to 378 in his career, just 17 shy of Terrell Hudgins FCS all-time record of 395 from 2006-09. Kupp already owns the FCS career records for receiving yards (5,770) and touchdown receptions with 67.5.) Southerns Lenard Tillery became the SWACs all-time rushing leader, gaining 195 yards in a 41-33 win over Alcorn State to push his career total to 4,132. The West Division has so dominated the East Division in inter-divisional matchups -- winning 15 of the 20 games -- that the West winner might be unbeaten (co-leaders Grambling State and Southern are 5-0) and the East winner could have four losses (co-leaders Alcorn State and Jackson State are 3-3) when they meet in the conference championship game on Dec. 3 in Houston.6.) The versatility of Princetons Jon Lovett went to a new level in a 56-7 Ivy League win at Cornell. Playing his usual slash role, he set the school record with seven touchdowns -- four passing, two rushing and one receiving. He was 10 of 11 for 194 yards, rushed six times for 47 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards.7.) Lehighs offense has been relentless during a seven-game winning streak, including 632 yards and 58 points against Fordham on Saturday. With a win over Bucknell next weekend, the Mountain Hawks (7-2) will clinch their first Patriot League title since 2011 and an automatic bid to the playoffs. At-large bids appear unlikely for Fordham and Colgate, last years playoff qualifiers.8.) Just as Lehigh is in control of the Patriot League bid, Saint Francis can say the same in the Northeast Conference following a 38-17 triumph at Sacred Heart. Quarterback Zack Drayer and wide receiver Kamron Lewis connected for the final three touchdowns of the game and the Red Flash (6-3) moved to 4-0 in the NEC for the first time.9.) The Ohio Valley Conference surely has dropped to a one-bid conference with Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State losing in back-to-back weeks. Unless, that is, UT Martin (5-4, 4-1) can win out and steal the automatic bid from Jacksonville State, the two-time defending champ. The Gamecocks (7-1, 4-0) are playing one fewer conference game than UT Martin because theyre not meeting Tennessee State, which played an extra non-conference game this season. If the Skyhawks win out, they could go 7-1 and have at least an extra win over the Gamecocks.10.) Hello, again. If there was one team Western Illinois probably didnt want to lose against this season, it was South Dakota. Bob Nielson, the 2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference coach of the year, left the Leathernecks program after last season to take over at South Dakota. It looked bad for the visiting Leathernecks when they trailed by 17 points, but they rallied for a 35-34 win and left the Coyotes (4-4) in dire playoff position heading into November.A LOOK AHEADNext Saturdays big matchup will come from the CAA as the Top 10 as James Madison visits rival Richmond. Also, its pass-versus-run with Eastern Washington visiting Cal Poly in the Big Sky and defense-versus-defense with Youngstown State going to North Dakota State in the Missouri Valley.Other pivotal conference matchups: Big Sky, North Dakota at Northern Colorado; CAA, Villanova at Maine; Ivy, Penn at Princeton; MEAC, South Carolina State at North Carolina A&T; Northeast, Duquesne at Wagner; Patriot, Bucknell at Lehigh and Colgate at Fordham; Southern, Samford at The Citadel; Southland, McNeese at top-ranked Sam Houston State; and SWAC, Alcorn State at Prairie View A&M. Jerome Brown Womens Jersey .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Chuck Bednarik Eagles Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. https://www.eaglessportsgoods.com/Womens-Tommy-Mcdonald-Inverted-Jersey/ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Shareef Miller Youth Jersey . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Reggie White Youth Jersey . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . DENVER -- For decades, a train chugged into the Rocky Mountains west from Denver, snaking through 29 tunnels and crossing the Continental Divide before delivering eager skiers to the base of Winter Park Resort at an elevation of 9,000 feet. Insurance woes doomed the service in 2009, but now -- with some help from Amtrak -- the ski train is back.The return of the Winter Park Express marks one of the more exciting developments for Colorado skiers in years, and resort officials say its already attracting attention worldwide.Steve Hurlbert, a spokesman for the Denver-owned ski resort, said people from as far away as the United Kingdom and Australia have shown interest in the train, which is set to resume seasonal weekend passenger service Jan. 7.You dont have to worry about traffic. You dont have to worry about weather. You can just sit back and enjoy the view, he said. Its just a really relaxing way to get to the mountains.Powered by two 4,250-horsepower diesel-electric engines, the train is pulled from Denvers historic and newly renovated Union Station about 60 miles and 3,700 vertical feet into Colorados snow-swept mountains. It drops passengers off about 100 yards from the lifts after passing through the 6.2-mile Moffat Tunnel, which was finished in 1928 and is credited with opening Denver up to western commerce.Also featured are Amtraks Superliner double-decker cars, which are designed for longer distances and are roomier than normal passenger train cars. The train can carry more than 500 passengers and can be resized depending on demand.But downsizing might not be an issue.Hurlbert said tickets for two test runs of the service in March 2015 sold out in about 14 hours.We knew all along that there was a huge demand to bring this train back, and that really illustrated to Amtrak that the demand is substantial, he said.So far, Amtrak has sold more tickets than expected for the train, fueled in part by frustrated skiers and snowboarders who dread making the painfully slow trip to the slopes on traffic-choked Interstate 70.The train, which shares tracks with Amtraks California Zephyr that runs between Chicago and San Francisco, has been a draw since it started running in 1940, the same year the ski resort openedd.dddddddddddd After the service was discontinued for a few years during World War II, it ran almost every ski season from 1947 until 2009, when billionaire investor and then owner Philip Anschutz shut it down.It just became cost prohibitive to run because some insurance rates went up, Hurlbert said. Our sense was that it would never come back.Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak, said Denver-based employees proposed resurrecting the ski train a couple of years ago, and a conversation began with Winter Park Resort and Union Pacific, which owns the tracks.It turns out, the employee-borne idea had some legs to it, Magliari said. We have the available equipment. We have a willing host in Union Pacific and we have a great partner in Winter Park.A major piece of the puzzle was put in place when funding came through for a $3.5 million heated platform that is designed to accommodate athletes at the National Sports Center for the Disabled, which is based at the resort. Contributors included the resort, the city of Denver, the town of Winter Park, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Rail Passengers Association.But perhaps a more serendipitous development for the ski train was the recent completion of a passenger rail line between Denver International Airport and Union Station.This is the only service of its kind in the United States, Hurlbert said. This is the only place you can go from the airport to the mountain by rail. Its a very European model. ... Thats what really makes this exciting. Its so much bigger in scope. It really kind of opens of the state to a lot of international travelers.---If You Go...WINTER PARK EXPRESS: Amtrak train from Denver to Winter Park, Colorado. Round-trips will run Saturdays and Sundays between Jan. 7 and March 26, with an additional trip on Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day. Adult tickets cost as low as $39 each way and already are on sale. The trains will leave Denvers Union Station at 7 a.m. Mountain time and will arrive at the resort at about 9 a.m. They will leave the resort at 4:30 p.m. and arrive in Denver at 6:40 p.m.. ' ' '