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. Campbell
24. Austin Peay
23. Fordham
22. Southern Illinois
21. Rhode Island
20. Furman
19. Southeastern Louisiana University
18. Richmond
17. New Hampshire
16. Samford
15. Mercer
14. SEMO
13. Jackson State
12. Incarnate Word
11. Montana
10. Delaware
9. William & Mary
8. Holy Cross
7. Idaho
6. Chattanooga
5. Weber State
4. Sacramento State
3. North Dakota State
2. Montana 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.
The teams dropping out of my ballot from last week are Elon and North Dakota.
I get dropping Elon may not be totally fair, considering the Phoenix are 5-2 vs. the FCS with two wins against teams in my Top 25 (W&M and Richmond). But they are on a two-game losing streak, scoring 10 points at Rhody and losing by 18 points at UNH in a game that wasn’t even that close. And the W&M and Richmond wins were 50/50 games. I want to see what Elon does vs. ranked Delaware this week to see if this is a pattern of struggles. UND lost at home 49-35 to No. 1 SDSU, but the Fighting Hawks scored on a blocked punt with a minute left to make it closer than what it was. It was really a dominant second half and a convincing win by the Jacks. UND is 4-2 vs. the FCS with two double-digit losses to ranked teams (SIU and SDSU). A two-point win vs. UNI (ranked then, now out of the Top 25), a three-point win at NAU (now 3-5), a 17-point win vs. Mo State (ranked then, now out of the Top 25), and a five-point win at YSU (who is 4-3) isn’t the resume it was a few weeks ago after beating Mo State.
Taking those two spots are Furman and New Hampshire.
Furman is now 6-2 overall and 5-1 vs. the FCS. The one loss was a 50/50 game vs. ranked Samford. Furman can prove its strength these next two games vs. Chattanooga and at Mercer. New Hampshire just beat ranked Elon to improve to 6-2 overall and 6-1 vs. the FCS. The one loss is to NC Central, who got hammered by Campbell earlier this season, which is why I still have Campbell ranked at 4-3 overall and 4-2 vs. the FCS (losses to ranked W&M and Jackson State).
Southern Illinois is one big drop-down within my ballot to No. 22 after losing 27-24 at South Dakota. SIU is 5-3 with a P5 win (Northwestern) and a ranked win vs. UND (other losses to UIW and SEMO).
The biggest rise-up within my ballot is Chattanooga going to No. 6. The Mocs crushed ranked Mercer 41-21, a team I was super high on and had in my Top 10 last week. Chattanooga is now 6-1 overall and 6-0 vs. the FCS.
Now to the Top 5…
South Dakota State remained my No. 1 after winning 49-35 at ranked UND. North Dakota State stayed at my No. 3 after a bye. I also kept Sac State at No. 4 after it beat ranked Montana at home 31-24 in overtime. I moved Montana State to No. 2 this week from No. 5. And I moved Weber State to No. 5 this week from No. 2.
MSU beat Weber 43-38 in Bozeman in just a wild game. Here’s a recap of what all went down. I thought MSU’s win was slightly more impressive than Sac State’s win. But both were great wins. The difference? MSU was down several starters, including a couple of OL and the FCS leader in rushing TDs Sean Chambers, yet still came back from a 24-9 deficit and ran for 347 yards against one of the best run defenses in the FCS. Tommy Mellott showed last year’s playoff magic wasn’t magic, and he’s just that dude in big games. Sac State found a way to erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to win in OT. But some calls went their way, and Montana lost starting QB Lucas Johnson early in the game after taking a scary hit to the helmet. UM’s offense just isn’t the same with Johnson out, who looked sharp to start the game in Sacramento. I kept the Griz at No. 11 (5-2 overall, no ranked wins, two close losses to teams in my Top 10 — Idaho, Sac State)
This is not saying Sac State’s win wasn’t impressive. We’re just splitting hairs here when it comes to the No. 2 and No. 4 rankings, and MSU has the edge in its Week 8 win. I kept NDSU No. 3 and ahead of Sac State simply because I think the Bison would beat the Hornets head-to-head based on what I saw from Sac State’s run defense.
SDSU and Montana State are 7-1 overall and 7-0 vs. the FCS, NDSU is 5-2 overall and 5-1 vs. the FCS (loss to SDSU), Sac State is 7-0 overall with an FBS win (Colorado State), and Weber State is 6-1 overall (FBS win on Utah State, non-counter win over Western Oregon, and its one loss to MSU).
