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. Montana
3. Montana State
4. Tarleton State
5. North Dakota
6. South Dakota State
7. UC Davis
8. Tennessee Tech
9. Lehigh
10. Harvard
11. Monmouth
12. Mercer
13. Youngstown State
14. Villanova
15. Illinois State
16. Southern Illinois
17. Abilene Christian
18. Northern Arizona
19. Austin Peay
20. Rhode Island
21. SFA
22. Southeastern Louisiana University
23. Jackson State
24. Lamar
25. Western Carolina
Leaving: Presbyterian
Entering: Western Carolina
There wasn’t much drama in FCS results this weekend. Only three teams in my ballot lost, and two were unexpected losses.
Presbyterian, who I ranked No. 23 last week, lost 35-19 at Dayton. That drops the Blue Hose out of my ballot. Jackson State, who I had No. 16 last week, lost 26-24 to Grambling State in Las Vegas. I moved JSU back to No. 23 at 5-2 overall and 4-1 vs. the FCS.
Entering my ballot is Western Carolina despite being on a bye. WCU was just outside of my ballot at No. 26 last week. The Catamounts are 5-3 overall/vs. the FCS, but they are 5-0 and on a 5-game winning streak since the return of electrifying quarterback Taron Dickens. In just five games, Dickens is completing 79.9% of his passes for 1,976 yards, 22 touchdowns, and one interception.
The most notable move is South Dakota State going from No. 2 to No. 6 after its 38-7 home loss to No. 1 North Dakota State. Had the Jackrabbits shown some fight with their starting QB Chase Mason sidelined with injury, they could have stayed at No. 2. But it was a disappointing performance on both sides of the ball, and NDSU would have won regardless of Mason’s health against that defensive effort. Yes, SDSU has a head-to-head win over Montana State. But MSU looks like it’s playing better ball than the Jacks right now. The same can be said for North Dakota, who is rolling and looking like a more complete team than SDSU.
Real quick on the Jacks. They are still 7-1 overall with a couple of currently-ranked wins. Dan Jackson may be the frontrunner for the Eddie Robinson Award, considering how much SDSU had to overcome with an entire coaching staff change, transfer portal losses, and dealing with tragedy with the death of running back Nate White. SDSU has a good chance to finish 10-2, possibly 11-1. But the Jacks have to get healthy before the regular-season finale at UND. Their depth will be tested as a few key players (Mason, WR Lofton O’Groske, LB Chase Van Tol) are hurt. After a hot 2-0 start with two ranked wins, some warning signs began to pop up with SDSU’s play. And those were exposed by NDSU — lack of explosiveness in the run game, o-line lacking a great push, and too many explosive plays defensively. If the Jacks get healthy, notably getting the return of Mason at some point, they could prove to be the No. 2 team in the FCS again during the playoffs. But right now, they have to prove they can get back to that level of play. There are concerns beyond QB health after Saturday’s performance.
NDSU, meanwhile, looks like its star QB Cole Payton in the open field – a runaway freight train.
The Bison are 8-0, have beaten four ranked teams, and their closest game is a 17-point win.
I’ve seen plenty of tweets today and last night from multiple FCS fan bases saying everyone is playing for second place. And they’re probably right, to be honest. But that’s not great for the FCS. It wasn’t great in 2023 with SDSU or in 2018 with NDSU. A 24-team bracket to determine a D1 football national champion is awesome. But it’s less fun if a team is already assumed the champion. The FCS, in its current state, will never have a wide-open field. And even since the 2010s, there are usually only 2-3 teams good enough to win a title. But that’s better than a one-team race.
A lot of football left, and the Bison still have to go to UND, but it’s certainly a feeling of NDSU vs. the field.
