BOONE, N.C. - The Associated Press announced Thursday that, beginning next week, all Division I teams will be eligible to receive votes in the AP top 25 college football poll. Prior to the enactment of the "Appalachian State Rule," only NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS - formerly Division I-A) members were able to be considered for inclusion in the 71-year-old poll. However, following Appalachian's stunning 34-32 triumph over No. 5 Michigan last Saturday, many voters expressed an interest in including the Mountaineers, a member of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS - formerly Division I-AA) on their ballots. The AP decided to make the change because teams that show they can compete with big-time squads on the field should have a chance to be recognized with them in the top 25, sports editor Terry Taylor said. "Why not? The poll was always intended to measure teams that compete against each other, regardless of division, based solely on on-field performance," she said. "It was that way long before Division I was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978." "It's great they opened the door," ASU head coach Jerry Moore told the AP. "Certainly we're not going to be the No. 1 team in the country. We know that. We're not even going to be in the top 10. But if you have a win over a nice football team, I like that it's not out of the realm of possibility for a school like us to be one of the top 20 or 25 teams in the country." "It shows what a team can do when it believes," senior cornerback Jerome Touchstone said. "We believed in ourselves at Michigan and, as a team, we've changed the way that a lot of people think about us and about the football that we play at our level." Appalachian is the unanimous No. 1 team in both major FCS polls - by The Sports Network (media) and the FCS coaches' poll. ASU returns to action on Saturday when it opens the home portion of its 2007 schedule versus longtime rival Lenoir-Rhyne at sold-out Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.