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 I’m sure rationally discuss with a clear lens.
Some notes at the bottom.
RELATED: FCS Bracketology 2.0
Top 25
25. Alabama A&M
24. Kennesaw State
23. Furman
22. Austin Peay
21. VMI
20. Northern Iowa
19. Villanova
18. Southeastern Louisiana
17. Jacksonville State
16. Central Arkansas
15. Monmouth
14. Missouri State
13. Eastern Washington
12. ETSU
11. Delaware
10. UC Davis
9. North Dakota
8. Montana State
7. Weber State
6. Southern Illinois
5. North Dakota State
4. Montana
3. James Madison
2. Sam Houston
1. South Dakota State
Notes
The most notable shift from last week is JMU and Montana switching spots. As I noted last week, I reevaluate things every week and so I don’t buy into the “How can Montana move down when it didn’t even play a game?” thought process. The Dukes had a second-straight convincing win at Weber State, which leads me to believe they would beat Montana on a neutral field. I still do think SDSU is the best team in the FCS. And SHSU is as balanced and talented as anyone in the subdivision.
NDSU is looking strong and resembles Bison teams of old, standout QB play and everything. But I’d like to see what the Bison do against quality MVFC opponents first before potentially moving them up.
I kept Weber at No. 7 for the time being despite the blowout loss to JMU. Weber gets UC Davis at home this week and Montana State at home in a few weeks, and I want to see what the Wildcats do against UC Davis before moving them around too much. JMU just might be that good. Weber could still go on to win the Big Sky, so we’ll see how it looks this week.
Other movement includes swapping UC Davis and Delaware at No. 10 and 11. This has less to do about Delaware’s blowout loss to Rutgers and more about how impressive UC Davis is looking. I also switched around Monmouth and UCA. The Hawks looked like the team I was expecting to see this season in their dominant win against Charleston Southern.
Duquesne and NC Central left my Top 25. Duquesne had a bye after an FBS win against Ohio, but it got bumped after more thought and me feeling like Kennesaw State is a Top 25 team after it beat up on Wofford. I also really like Alabama A&M’s two wins, beating SC State and Bethune-Cookman.
Some teams that are close to being ranked on my ballot…
Rhode Island and UNH are 3-0, but their wins don’t move the needle for me too much. UNH is already in the Stats Perform poll, but beating Lafayette 19-13 this last week hasn’t convinced me yet.
Jackson State is also close with a 2-1 record and a near FBS win against ULM. Same with South Dakota, who is 2-1 with a close loss to Kansas and two dominant wins against NAU (who just beat P5 Arizona) and Cal Poly.
