I am grateful to have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll. I will publish my Top 25 every week for everyone to see and discuss.
Some notes at the bottom.
Top 25
25. Eastern Kentucky
24. Princeton
23. Northern Iowa
22. Jackson State
21. Chattanooga
20. Rhode Island
19. UT Martin
18. ETSU
17. VMI
16. UIW
15. Montana
14. Sacramento State
13. Kennesaw State
12. South Dakota
11. Missouri State
10. UC Davis
9. Southeastern Louisiana University
8. Montana State
7. James Madison
6. South Dakota State
5. Villanova
4. Southern Illinois
3. Eastern Washington
2. North Dakota State
1. Sam Houston
Notes
The Top 3 can be ordered however and they all would have fair arguments. I have SHSU No. 1 because I think it’s the most balanced team in the FCS and has everything in place to win another national title, regardless of strength of schedule. SHSU has a better offense than NDSU’s and a better defense than EWU’s.
I have NDSU over EWU because I’d take the Bison over the Eagles on a neutral field. It’d be a fantastic matchup, but NDSU has the physicality and speed on defense and the running game on offense to beat EWU.
Teams 4-7 stayed the same, although Nova and SIU played with fire as they had close wins against UAlbany and UND. I’m not sure SIU will get through the MVFC unscathed with how many close games it is in, so SDSU has a shot to move up the polls if it beats NDSU in November. JMU should run the table and could rise back up as well.
Montana State entered the Top 8 after beating Weber State. I can’t make a definitive argument to have the Bobcats higher than No. 8 right now, though. No. 7 JMU, for example, went to Weber State and dominated the Wildcats in September, while MSU had a close game there.
SLU’s offense is going to be a problem for teams in the playoffs, and it can make a claim for a seed if it keeps on winning. UC Davis is back in the Top 10. The loss to Idaho State was a head-scratcher, but the Aggies responded well with a convincing 32-3 win against Northern Colorado. They are 6-1 overall with an FBS win.
Mo State and USD rose high in the polls. USD looked really good in a dominant win at UNI. The Coyotes are 5-1 against the FCS with back-to-back ranked wins against UND and UNI. The loss is to Mo State, which is why the Bears are ahead of USD. The Bears are 4-1 against the FCS with a weird loss to YSU. Mo State also has a 23-16 loss to Oklahoma State, who is now 6-0 and is ranked No. 8 in the AP Top 25.
Kennesaw just keeps on winning and is 4-0 against the FCS. The Owls have good wins against Jacksonville State and NC A&T, but we’ll see by season’s end if Monmouth still has the upper hand in that matchup.
Moving Sac State from unranked to No. 14 may seem extreme, but remember that I reevaluate every week and shuffle things around a lot. Sac State has had a strong season besides a bad home loss to UNI (34-16). The Hornets are 4-1 against the FCS, just beat Montana in Missoula, and are getting better offensively every week.
Montana, once in the Top 5, is down to No. 15 now. The Griz lost to EWU, didn’t look all that sharp against Dixie State, and then lost to Sac State. They are just 3-2 against the FCS. FBS Washington, who was No. 20 when Montana won to vault the Griz up the rankings, is now 2-4. Montana starting QB Cam Humphrey has missed the last two games due to injury, but he appears ready to return sooner than later.
There was plenty of shuffling from 16-24.
Nicholls, UND, Mercer, Weber State, and Delaware fell out of my Top 25 after losses. Entering my ballot was Sac State, VMI, Eastern Kentucky, Chattanooga, and Princeton.
ETSU and Rhody dropped pretty far in the polls after losses. UNI did too and is hanging on by a thread, but I like its win at Sac State. However, the Panthers are trending in the wrong direction after a rough outing against USD, and a loss at SDSU will knock them out.
VMI is back to being the top-ranked team in the SoCon after UTC beat previously undefeated ETSU and VMI annihilated Mercer, who I ranked last week. VMI is 5-1 against the FCS with the loss being to The Citadel. I still ranked ETSU ahead of UTC since ETSU is 6-1 with an FBS win, and UTC is 3-3 overall and 3-2 against FCS opponents (losses to Austin Peay and VMI).
Princeton is 5-0 with a win against Big South top dog Monmouth. Jackson State continues to show off its really good defense and is 5-1 overall with a 12-7 loss to FBS Lousiana-Monroe. And EKU had a gutsy comeback win against UCA and is now 5-1 against the FCS (loss to Indiana State). It continues to be a revolving door on which AQ7 team wants to be No. 2 in the conference behind SHSU.
NEXT: Week 8 Resumes
