I am grateful to again have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2022 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.
Notes at the bottom.
FCS Top 25
25. UC Davis
24. Rhode Island
23. SEMO
22. Eastern Kentucky
21. Southeastern Louisiana University
20. North Dakota
19. Jackson State
18. Delaware
17. Mercer
16. Elon
15. Montana
14. New Hampshire
13. Richmond
12. Chattanooga
11. Furman
10. Incarnate Word
9. William & Mary
8. Holy Cross
7. Idaho
6. Samford
5. Weber State
4. North Dakota State
3. Montana State
2. Sacramento State
1. South Dakota State
Notes
I reevaluate my order every week, which can result in big jumps and falls. I don’t like to slot teams based on last week’s order since every week of more games we get a clearer picture. So Team A can jump Team B even if both teams had similar wins. And a team can drop even after wins or a bye based on what happens all across the country.
Fordham ended up dropping off my ballot. Not that it did anything wrong this week in its 59-17 win over Bucknell, I just found 25 more deserving teams this week.
Moving into my Top 25 then is Eastern Kentucky. EKU is rolling right now, winning three straight, including giving SEMO its first FCS loss on Oct. 29. The Colonels just throttled Central Arkansas 42-14, a team that beat ranked Austin Peay earlier in the year. EKU is 6-3 overall and 5-2 vs. the FCS, including a one-score FBS loss and an FBS win over Bowling Green. The two FCS losses are to Austin Peay and Sam Houston, but EKU looks to be hitting a different gear down the stretch behind QB Parker McKinney.
Sac State jumped NDSU and Montana State to No. 2. The Hornets picked up their third straight ranked win, this one on the road at No. 5 Weber State. At 9-0, including an FBS victory, I think Sac State will be the No. 1 seed if it wins out. I personally still believe South Dakota State is the best and most talented team in the FCS. The Jacks needed a field goal as time expired to beat an unranked but playing-for-its-playoff-lives UNI team on the road this last weekend. But hey, Montana State did the same at NAU on Saturday and NDSU only beat Indiana State by a score on the road earlier this season. And Sac State has also needed some late-game luck to win. Every great team needs some luck and some bounces throughout the course of a season. A close game at UNI (who was hot and looks different than earlier in the year when Sac State beat them) was expected for the Jacks, who are 9-0 vs. the FCS, including ranked wins at NDSU and UND, knocking the Bison out of their No. 1 ranking. Massey strength of schedules are on par with SDSU No. 4 and Sac State No. 8.
Montana State and NDSU bumped down a spot even after wins, but that’s because Sac State moved up. Fans need to see the whole landscape instead of zeroing in on their team’s movement and getting mad that they moved down after a win.
Weber stayed at No. 5 for me after the loss. I can’t think of another team to take their Top 5 spot. Weber is 7-2 overall with an FBS win, a ranked win over Montana, and two close losses to Sac State and Montana State. Weber has the second-best record (behind SDSU) in the Top 7 FCS strength of schedules. (Weber’s SOS is No. 7.)
The CAA is still sorting itself out with a circular motion of “well this team beat this team but lost to this team, who beat that team and lost to this other team.” Richmond moved up the most after beating ranked UNH. Richmond is 7-1 vs. the FCS, the loss coming in 2OT at Elon in early October. Elon has been up and down since, and I think Richmond is playing as complete of ball as anyone in the CAA, but I still have William & Mary (7-1 vs. the FCS, ranked wins over Delaware and Rhody) as the highest-ranked CAA squad.
Jackson State moved down after more evaluation. Its biggest regular-season test seemed to be against Campbell a few weeks ago. JSU won 22-14. This was a one-possession game for mostly all four quarters. JSU went ahead two scores with 3:17 left before Campbell scored again. But it was competitive for most of the game. Campbell has since been slipping, including a head-scratching loss to Bryant this weekend. That does not favor JSU when trying to gauge them in the No. 114 FCS strength of schedule.
Austin Peay is close to being ranked at 6-2 vs. the FCS, including an earlier win over EKU. Fordham was still highly considered. Youngstown State is close at 6-2 vs. the FCS. But a six-point win over Indiana State, a one-point win over WIU, and needing a last-minute score this last weekend to win 19-17 at an Illinois State team without its starting QB (who makes that offense go) doesn’t make me reach the conclusion YSU is a Top 25 team yet. But with winnable games at Mo State and vs. SIU, the Penguins could make the playoffs at eight D1 wins. Princeton was considered as well as it remains undefeated.
