I am grateful to have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2024 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.
Notes at the bottom.
Delaware and Missouri State, FCS-to-FBS transitioning teams, are not eligible to be voted on in the poll.
FCS Top 25
1. Idaho
2. South Dakota State
3. Montana State
4. North Dakota State
5. Villanova
6. South Dakota
7. Central Arkansas
8. North Dakota
9. Sacramento State
10. Montana
11. Mercer
12. Southern Illinois
13. William & Mary
14. UC Davis
15. UIW
16. SEMO
17. Wofford
18. Tarleton State
19. Illinois State
20. ETSU
21. Lamar
22. Rhode Island
23. Western Carolina
24. Elon
25. Southern Utah
Leaving: Nicholls, Weber State, Youngstown State, Chattanooga
Entering: ETSU, Lamar, Rhode Island, Western Carolina
I think there is a good argument for any of my Top 3 teams to be No. 1.
I moved Idaho to No. 1 because it looks like the most complete team right now — offense, special teams, and especially defense. The Vandals have the resume to back it up too — Battling FBS No. 3 Oregon tough, beating FBS Wyoming, and having the most convincing ranked win among FCS teams by beating No. 17 UAlbany 41-13. Oh, and they’ve done it in the last two games with backup QB and redshirt freshman Jack Wagner, who has played well. Starting quarterback Jack Layne, who got plenty of preseason hype, could be back late this season. He suffered a broken collarbone in Week 1.
South Dakota State still has the highest ceiling, in my opinion, and perhaps the best odds to win another national title. But this is ranking things now, not projecting what I think will happen in November, December, and January. SDSU has the second-best win by an FCS team — I think its 21-point victory over UIW was more impressive than Montana State beating FBS New Mexico by three. But the Jacks just haven’t looked the complete part of the No. 1 team through three weeks.
Montana State‘s 3-0 record features an FBS win and annihilating two inferior FCS opponents, something SDSU and NDSU didn’t do this last week. So I can see why MSU has a good reason to be No. 2 or even No. 1. The Bobcats may have the best offense in the FCS, and their defense has looked stout the last two games.
North Dakota State slides back to No. 4 after very nearly losing at then-unranked ETSU. The Bison somehow scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes to turn a 35-23 deficit into a 38-35 win. We’ve seen the Bison get out to slower starts and then turn things up a notch in November and December. But right now, NDSU has a lot of issues to figure out on defense before climbing back into that Top 2 discussion.
Sac State moved back into my Top 10 with a convincing 34-7 win over No. 24 Nicholls. Mercer also jumped up several spots after beating No. 14 Chattanooga 10-3, improving to 3-0.
Leaving my ballot are Nicholls, Weber State, Youngstown State, and Chattanooga.
Nicholls is now 0-3 with two FBS losses and wasn’t competitive in its loss to Sac State. Weber State falls to 1-2 after losing to unranked Lamar. Youngstown State suffered a bad loss to Duquense, falling to 1-2. Chattanooga is 0-3 with two FBS losses and its close loss to Mercer, which is arguably a good enough resume to remain ranked. I just felt more teams were deserving to be on my ballot.
Entering my ballot are ETSU, Lamar, Rhode Island, and Western Carolina.
ETSU had everything lined up to beat No. 2 NDSU but allowed two touchdowns in the final two minutes to lose a heartbreaker. Lamar beat No. 20 Weber State by a point and is now 2-1 overall with its only loss a one-score defeat by Texas State, one of the best G5 teams in the country. Rhode Island is 2-1 overall and 2-0 vs. the FCS, just beating Campbell 21-9, who had just beaten ranked WCU. Western Carolina is back on my ballot after beating No. 22 Elon by a touchdown.
