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
4. Montana State
5. Tarleton State
6. Southern Illinois
7. Rhode Island
8. North Dakota
9. UC Davis
10. Illinois State
11. Tennessee Tech
12. Northern Arizona
13. Monmouth
14. Idaho
15. West Georgia
16. Lehigh
17. Abilene Christian
18. Jackson State
19. Austin Peay
20. Harvard
21. UIW
22. Presbyterian
23. Mercer
24. SFA
25. Youngstown State
Leaving: Lamar, South Dakota, ETSU, Sac State
Entering: Harvard, UIW, Presbyterian, Mercer
The Top 5 is strong in the FCS. I imagine the order will vary greatly across the many ballots. So let’s spend most of this ballot breaking it down for me.
Montana goes from my No. 5 to No. 3 after defeating media poll No. 8 Idaho, a move I hinted at last week if the Grizzlies secured a win. They won 41-30, but it felt more decisive than that. Montana led by double-digits most of the game, including leading 41-22 until Idaho scored in the final minute. Montana is 4-0 and has two wins over teams I ranked in my Top 10 last week (UND, Idaho). You couple that with the eye test and watching just how comfortable and good QB Keali’i Ah Yat has been, and that bumps the Griz over Montana State and Tarleton State. Montana State looks the part of a contender as well if you watch them and not just look at their 3-2 record. But Montana has the wins that move the needle a bit more. After a ho-hum Week 4 game, the Cats looked like the usual Cats after dismantling EWU 57-3. They are a very strong No. 4 team with an elite defense.
Tarleton State is 5-0, highlighted by an FBS win over Army. I do believe the Texans will be a scary out in the postseason with their explosive offense and a defense that seemingly has the physicality and depth to contend deep in the bracket. But there aren’t any barometer games yet against FCS competition. And Army isn’t that Army team so far this fall, currently sitting at 1-3.
While SDSU has a stronger resume and strength of schedule than NDSU, eye test is also worth some weight. The Bison (4-0, one ranked win) look tremendous on both sides of the ball, especially after their 51-13 win over No. 17 South Dakota. There is a fair argument that USD shouldn’t have been ranked after its non-conference performances, but winning in that fashion was impressive for NDSU. The Jackrabbits are 4-0 with two ranked wins (Sac State, Montana State). The MSU victory on the road is the best win of the season for any team so far. What’s interesting is that Cole Payton is starting to get some Walter Payton Award candidate tweets. Which I totally agree with. He has been awesome. But if you put Payton in that conversation, you also have to put Chase Mason in that convo.
Payton: 72.6%, 979 yards, 8 TDs, 0 INT, 277 rush yards, 2 TDs, No. 74 SOS, 210 snaps.
Mason: 71.6%, 910 yards, 8 TDs, 0 INT, 123 rush yards, 1 TD, No. 30 SOS, 283 snaps.
WCU quarterback Taron Dickens, Monmouth QB Derek Robertson, and Montana RB Eli Gillman will factor in as well in what could be an entertaining Payton race.
South Dakota moves out of my ballot at 2-3 overall. Lamar also moves out despite winning this week. Their win over USD was what got the Cardinals onto my ballot. But that win hasn’t aged well, as resumes are fluid with more games being played. Winning 35-32 vs. Central Arkansas on Saturday, a team that lost 45-16 at Sac State and 56-10 vs. Tarleton State, doesn’t look great. Especially as Sac State also falls out of my ballot after a surprising 32-24 home loss to Cal Poly. ETSU exits the ballot after its loss to Mercer, dropping its record to 2-3 overall.
That win moves Mercer back into my ballot. Mercer is now 3-1 and looks like a whole new team after making a QB change and going with true freshman Braden Atkinson. Presbyterian also moves into my ballot at 5-0. While two of those wins are against non-D1 opponents, the Blue Hose have victories over Furman and Mercer, two SoCon teams with 3-1 records. You could argue that Mercer would beat Presbyterian with its new quarterback if they played this week, but I’ll keep the Blue Hose ahead for now.
Harvard and UIW are two more teams moving into my ballot. I had Harvard preseason ranked, but it was hard to keep the Crimson in there when they started a couple of weeks after everyone and other teams had quality wins to move them into my Top 25. Harvard is now 2-0 with two dominating wins over Stetson and Brown. Beating Brown 41-7, a week after Brown beat Georgetown 46-0, was impressive. This Harvard squad is a veteran team and looks to make the postseason this year.
UIW throttled media poll No. 12 Abilene Christian 38-7. I kept ACU ahead for now due to its overall body of work (two ranked wins), but UIW re-enters my ballot after falling out for a little bit. It was a much-needed win for a team that had massive preseason expectations. A quarterback change to EJ Colson could vault the Cardinals into a season many of us expected. UIW is 2-3 overall and 2-2 vs. the FCS. It nearly won at ranked NAU last week, and Saturday’s win over ACU was a statement performance.
