BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University football is the nation's top-rated I-AA team in the latest Jeff Sagarin NCAA football ratings, as Appalachian comes in at No. 73 in Sagarin's rankings of all 239 Division I teams. In addition to being the top-rated team in I-AA, Appalachian is ranked higher than several high-profile I-A programs, including Ole Miss (No. 75), Arkansas (77), Mississippi State (78), Utah (80), Marshall (82), East Carolina (87), Illinois (92), Kentucky (102), Hawaii (104), Washington (107), Syracuse (112), Arizona (122) and Duke (138). Sagarin has been providing power ratings and player ratings to USA Today since 1985. A mathematics graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with an MBA from Indiana University in 1983, Sagarin has applied his unique ranking system to college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball, pro football, pro basketball, pro hockey, volleyball, NASCAR, soccer and several other sports. Sagarin's college basketball rankings have proven their value to the NCAA tournament selection committee, as he has supplied the committee -- at its request -- with his latest rankings at the beginning of the tournament selection process and with regular updates until the selections have been finalized since 1984. In addition, beginning in the fall of 1998, Jeff's college football ratings became an official part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) team selection process. Appalachian (4-2, 2-1 SoCon), which is ranked No. 16 in this week's national I-AA poll by The Sports Network, travels to Spartanburg, S.C. this Saturday for a Southern Conference first-place showdown with Wofford (4-2, 2-1 SoCon). Kickoff is set for noon and can be seen live across the region on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).