I am grateful to have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2025 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.
Notes at the bottom.
FCS Top 25
1. North Dakota State
2. South Dakota State
3. Montana State
4. Tarleton State
5. Montana
6. Illinois State
7. Rhode Island
8. North Dakota
9. Southern Illinois
10. Idaho
11. Abilene Christian
12. UC Davis
13. Tennessee Tech
14. Northern Arizona
15. Lehigh
16. Jackson State
17. Austin Peay
18. West Georgia
19. Villanova
20. Lamar
21. South Dakota
22. Nicholls
23. ETSU
24. SFA
25. Gardner-Webb
A rather tame weekend of FCS tackle football action with no upsets in the Top 25. Only four teams in my ballot last week lost, three of them to FBS opponents and the fourth in a ranked matchup.
Montana was the biggest winner, defeating ranked North Dakota 24-23 in comeback fashion. The Grizzlies erased a two-score fourth-quarter deficit behind some big-time throws from Keali’i Ah Yat. Montana slides into my Top 5 at 2-0. Expect the Griz to keep rattling off wins.
Tennessee Tech slid up a few spots after more evaluation. The Golden Eagles are 3-0 with three dominating wins (65-0 vs. Cumberland, 45-17 vs. Chattanooga, 72-14 vs. Davidson). This is a talented roster with a very manageable schedule. Northern Arizona also bumped up a couple of spots after an entertaining road win at Southern Utah, which isn’t an easy place to get a W. The Lumberjacks (2-1, 2-0 vs. the FCS) won 52-49, scoring the game-winner in the final 30 seconds. Ty Pennington lit it up, throwing for 366 yards and three touchdowns. NAU returns an experienced team from last year’s playoff squad.
West Georgia keeps on winning. The Wolves are 3-0 in their second season in the FCS, grabbing wins over Samford (34-3), No. 22 Nicholls (34-10), and ETSU (35-31). In Saturday’s win over ETSU, who is receiving votes, UWG scored twice in the final seven minutes to overcome a 31-20 deficit. ETSU ended up moving into my ballot despite the loss after being No. 26 last week due to UIW losing and a few teams just on the outside of my ballot also losing.
UIW fell out of my ballot, losing 48-20 at UTSA in an FCS-FBS matchup some thought could be competitive. The Cardinals are now 1-2 with their only win coming against 0-3 EWU. UIW is making a starting QB switch this week, going with EJ Colson, who came in and provided a spark against UTSA and went 17/24 for 213 yards and three TDs.
