I am grateful to again have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2024 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.
Notes at the bottom.
Delaware and Missouri State, FCS-to-FBS transitioning teams, are not eligible to be voted on in the poll.
FCS Top 25
1. South Dakota State
2. North Dakota State
3. Montana State
4. Idaho
5. Villanova
6. South Dakota
7. Central Arkansas
8. Chattanooga
9. North Dakota
10. Montana
11. Sacramento State
12. Southern Illinois
13. UIW
14. Elon
15. UC Davis
16. William & Mary
17. SEMO
18. Illinois State
19. Tarleton State
20. Nicholls
21. Weber State
22. Youngstown State
23. Wofford
24. Mercer
25. Southern Utah
Leaving: Western Carolina, Lafayette, Furman, Eastern Illinois, Richmond
Entering: SEMO, Weber State, Wofford, Mercer, Southern Utah
Folks ,,, Everything will work itself out when we have more games to analyze. Just hear me out on what I think is a reasonable way to vote in weekly polls.
Is Montana really the 10th-best team after returning so much talent from its national runner-up squad? Maybe. So far this season it appears so. Or maybe not. There is plenty of season left to prove where it really sits.
Is North Dakota really the 9th-best team in the FCS after losing most of its starters from 2023? Maybe. So far this season it appears so. Or maybe not. There is plenty of season left to prove where it really sits
Is the weekly FCS Top 25 poll a snapshot of the 25 best teams at this point in the season? Or is it a playoff power poll projecting where voters think teams will finish at the end of the year? There isn’t a wrong answer to that, in my opinion. There is no handbook on how a voter should vote. That’s why there are 50+ voters from all across the country for the media poll. Opinions differ.
For me personally, I’m going to rank teams based on right now, balancing the talent I believe teams have and their performances so far this season. While some may be uncomfortable with big movements in polls, I vote based on where teams deserve to be ranked right now.
I try to not let my preseason opinions impact how I vote, while also understanding returning talent on successful teams gives you a base-level analysis of how good a team can be. I think it is too hard-headed to say “I can’t move UND from No. 25 to No. 9, that’s too drastic.” Well, why not? Maybe I misevaluated UND and should have had the Hawks that high anyway. They literally just beat the No. 4 team in the country. Why shouldn’t they be considered a Top 10 team right now, especially when resumes aren’t filled out? You can take a more overall body of work approach later in the season. Obviously, if a 2-7 team beats a 7-2 team, you don’t move the 2-7 team ahead of the 7-2 team. But UND and Montana are both 1-1 and UND’s loss is to a P4 opponent. As we sit right now, UND deserves to be ranked ahead of Montana.
I fully realize Montana dropped in my ballot early last year, rose back up, and made a run to the national title game. I fully realize UND dominated NDSU last year, rose to No. 8 on my ballot, and then fell flat after that. But again, I’m not projecting ahead here. This is a poll for the third week of the FCS regular season, and to me, it’s not predicting who I think will be better by November.
And hey, I asked Twitter people for their thoughts (which is always a great strategy), and 76% of the 650ish voters said to vote based on this point of the season while 24% said to slot vote.
So alright then. There’s that.
Let’s talk about other movements.
UIW moved up after pushing SDSU for three quarters, proving I should have had them higher on my ballot.
SDSU, NDSU, and Montana State could be fairly argued for whatever order. I believe SDSU still has the most talented roster in the FCS, and I think beating the No. 12-ranked UIW by 21 points is better than any FBS win so far. NDSU arguably has the best quarterback play in the FCS right now and has one of the best front 7s in the subdivision. MSU is 3-0 with an FBS win and has a fair argument to jump the Bison for No. 2. I just think the Bison have the edge on paper with its QB play and run defense.
Idaho also moved up after beating FBS Wyoming. It was one of three FCS over FBS wins on Saturday. Saint Francis beat Kent State. I didn’t rank SFU due to its Week 1 loss to Dayton. Southern Utah beat UTEP, which put SUU on my ballot. The Thunderbirds were my preseason No. 3 team in the UAC, so they were already on my radar as a potential Top 25 squad.
Also entering my ballot along with SUU are SEMO, Weber State, Wofford, and Mercer.
SEMO is 2-1 with a near FBS win. The Redhawks beat North Alabama 37-15 without their starting quarterback in the second half during Week 0, a UNA team that Illinois State just beat 24-17. And SEMO just defeated Big South-OVC preseason favorite UT Martin in overtime. Weber State is 1-1 after an impressive 43-16 win over Portland State. Wofford is 2-0, beating two 2023 playoff teams in Gardner-Webb and No. 14 Richmond. Mercer is also 2-0 with two dominant wins over Presbyterian and Bethune-Cookman.
Leaving my ballot are Western Carolina, Lafayette, Furman, Eastern Illinois, and Richmond.
Western Carolina is 0-2 and just lost to unranked Campbell. The Catamounts are in danger of falling to 0-4 with road trips to ranked Elon and Montana. Furman and Richmond are both 0-2 and lost to unranked opponents Charleston Southern and Wofford. Lafayette and Eastern Illinois are both 1-1 overall and 1-0 vs. the FCS, but I felt other teams had more impressive FCS performances, which bumped those two out.
