Each week, throughout
the college
football season, alumni, fans, media and the teams themselves
look to the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll to see who is rising and
moving within the national rankings. The new poll follows Week 11
games.
After opening their season in unexpected ways, the Mercer Bears
are now right where they expected to be all along.
Mercer (8-1) is climbing in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll –
at No. 8 in the new national media rankings – and heading back to
the FCS playoffs via the Southern Conference’s automatic bid. It
comes after the Bears won one of the season’s best and wildest
games, 49-47 at Western Carolina on Saturday.
Mercer’s season opener against UC Davis was halted in the fourth
quarter by inclement weather and not completed. A week later, coach
Mike Jacobs’ squad became the first nationally ranked team to lose
to a non-scholarship Pioneer Football League team since 2018, which
led to being outside the next four polls.
But Mercer hasn’t lost since making a quarterback change to
Braden Atkinson, with the thriller over WCU the Bears’ eighth
straight win and clinching a least a share of a second consecutive
SoCon title. The new ranking is one shy of their all-time high.
Top-ranked North Dakota State, the Missouri Valley Football
Conference champ, also has
clinched a playoff bid, with more teams expected to make their
way into the 24-team field this weekend. The pairings will be
announced on Nov. 23.
The Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll is released each Monday during
the regular season and one day after the FCS championship game (to
be played Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee). A first-place vote is
worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to
one point for a 25th-place vote.
Graphic by Graham
Bell.
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Nov. 10)
1. North Dakota State (10-0,
7-0 MVFC)
Points: 1,399 (55 of 56 first-place votes);
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 11:
15-10 win at then-No. 13 North Dakota; Week 12:
Northern Iowa
2. Montana (10-0, 6-0 Big
Sky)
Points: 1,327; Previous
Ranking: 2; Week 11: 29-24 win over
Eastern Washington; Week 12: at Portland State
3. Montana
State (8-2, 6-0 Big Sky)
Points: 1,300 (1 first-place vote);
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 11:
66-14 win over Weber State; Week 12: No. 9 UC
Davis
4. Lehigh (10-0, 5-0
Patriot)
Points: 1,196; Previous
Ranking: 4; Week 11: 38-3 win over Holy
Cross; Week 12: at Colgate
5. Tennessee Tech (10-0, 7-0
OVC-Big South)
Points: 1,157; Previous
Ranking: 5; Week 11: 21-9 win at Eastern
Illinois; Week 12: at Kentucky
6. Tarleton State (9-1, 5-1
UAC)
Points: 1,130; Previous
Ranking: 6; Week 11: No game;
Week 12: North Alabama
7. Harvard (8-0, 5-0
Ivy)
Points: 956; Previous Ranking:
9; Week 11: 31-14 win at Columbia; Week
12: Penn
8. Mercer (8-1, 7-0
SoCon)
Points: 916; Previous Ranking:
12; Week 11: 49-47 win at then-No. 24 Western
Carolina; Week 12: Chattanooga
9. UC Davis (6-3, 4-2 Big
Sky)
Points: 890; Previous Ranking:
11; Week 11: 28-14 win at Idaho; Week
12: at No. 3 Montana State
10. Villanova (7-2, 6-1
CAA)
Points: 888; Previous Ranking:
10; Week 11: 28-10 win at Towson; Week
12: Stony Brook
11. Rhode
Island (8-2, 6-0 CAA)
Points: 800; Previous Ranking:
14; Week 11: 34-20 win at Elon; Week
12: at Maine
12. Monmouth (8-2, 5-1
CAA)
Points: 661; Previous Ranking:
7; Week 11: 34-13 loss to New Hampshire;
Week 12: at North Carolina A&T
13. North Dakota (6-4, 4-2
MVFC)
Points: 653; Previous Ranking:
13; Week 11: 15-10 loss to then-No. 1 North Dakota
State; Week 12: at Murray State
14. Illinois State (7-3, 4-2
MVFC)
Points: 629; Previous Ranking:
16; Week 11: 52-20 win at Indiana State;
Week 12: at No. 16 South Dakota State
15. Stephen F. Austin (8-2,
6-0 Southland)
Points: 598; Previous Ranking:
17; Week 11: 50-3 win at HCU; Week
12: No. 19 Lamar
16. South Dakota State (7-3,
3-3 MVFC)
Points: 544; Previous Ranking:
8; Week 11: 24-17 loss at then-No. 22 South
Dakota; Week 12: No. 14 Illinois State
17. South Dakota (7-4, 5-2
MVFC)
Points: 530; Previous Ranking:
22; Week 11: 24-17 win over then-No. 8 South
Dakota State; Week 12: at No. 21 Southern
Illinois
18. Abilene Christian (6-4,
5-1 UAC)
Points: 506; Previous Ranking:
18; Week 11: 31-10 win over Utah Tech;
Week 12: at Eastern Kentucky
19. Lamar (8-2, 5-1
Southland)
Points: 503; Previous Ranking:
20; Week 11: 14-12 win over then-No. 19
Southeastern Louisiana; Week 12: at No. 15 Stephen
F. Austin
20. Youngstown State (6-4, 3-3
MVFC)
Points: 445; Previous Ranking:
21; Week 11: 48-38 win over then-No. 15 Southern
Illinois; Week 12: Indiana State
21. Southern Illinois (6-4,
3-3 MVFC)
Points: 242; Previous Ranking:
15; Week 11: 48-38 loss at then-No. 21 Youngstown
State; Week 12: No. 17 South Dakota
22. Jackson State (7-2, 5-1
SWAC)
Points: 226; Previous Ranking:
23; Week 11: 42-3 win at Mississippi Valley State;
Week 12: Bethune-Cookman
23. Southeastern Louisiana
(7-3, 5-1 Southland)
Points: 208; Previous Ranking:
19; Week 11: 14-12 loss at then-No. 20 Lamar;
Week 12: at UIW
24. Northern Arizona (6-4, 3-3
Big Sky)
Points: 81; Previous Ranking:
NR; Week 11: 49-10 win over Northern Colorado;
Week 12: Cal Poly
25. Western Carolina (6-4, 5-1
SoCon)
Points: 75; Previous Ranking:
24; Week 11: 49-47 loss to then-No. 12 Mercer;
Week 12: ETSU
Dropped Out of FCS Top 25: Presbyterian
(25)
MORE FCS FOOTBALL ON OPTA ANALYST
Others Receiving Votes
(schools listed on two or more ballots)
New Hampshire (6-4, 4-2 CAA), 74;
Alabama State (7-2, 5-1 SWAC), 69;
Lafayette (7-3, 5-0 Patriot), 39; West
Georgia (7-3, 4-3 UAC), 36; Delaware State (7-3,
3-0 MEAC), 35; Austin Peay (6-4, 4-3
UAC), 22; Yale (6-2, 4-1 Ivy), 18;
Sacramento State (6-4, 4-2 Big Sky), 11;
Dartmouth (6-2, 4-2 Ivy), 10; Central
Connecticut State (7-3, 5-0 NEC), 9; South
Carolina State (7-3, 3-0 MEAC), 7; Southern Utah
(5-5, 4-2 UAC), 3
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll
Voting Panel
Stats Perform: Craig Haley. Big Sky
Conference: Riley Corcoran, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir.
CAA Football: Roger Brown, Matt Harmon, Rob
Washburn. Ivy League: JJ Klein, Craig Larson.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis,
Patricia Porter-Mayfield. Missouri Valley Football
Conference: Kyle Grooms, Dom Izzo, Randy Reinhardt.
Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Brian
Cleary. OVC-Big South Football Association: Mike
Bradd, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. Patriot
League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer
Football League: Cody Bush, Larry Hansgen.
Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller,
Ralan Wardlaw. Southland Conference: Matthew
Bonnette, James Dixon, James Hill. Southwestern Athletic
Conference: Curtis Ford, Ronnie Johnson. United
Athletic Conference: Brian Morgan, Benjamin Ray, Jake
Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson,
Stan Becton, Zack Carlton, Gene Clemons, Joe DeLeone, Matt Dixon,
Steven J. Gaither, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Doug Kelly, Kyle
Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Jon Passman, Omar Rashon
Borja, Ryan Roberts, Timothy Rosario, Kent Schmidt, Phil Sokol,
Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.
Top photo from Mercer
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