FCS Polls

[JackJD]

Here's the Stats Perform top 25 ranking (from NCAA,com) with games through 9/22/24:

1	South Dakota State (40)	3-1	1379	1
2	North Dakota State (5)	3-1	1308	2
3	Montana State (6)	4-0	1295	3
4	Idaho (5)	3-1	1272	4
5	South Dakota	2-1	1137	6
6	Villanova	3-1	1070	5
7	Central Arkansas	3-1	1008	8
8	Montana	3-1	993	9
9	North Dakota	3-1	959	10
10	Sacramento State	2-2	912	11
11	William & Mary	3-1	798	12
12	Mercer	4-0	699	14
13	Southeast Missouri	3-1	691	21
14	UC Davis	3-1	681	13
15	UIW	2-2	574	15
16	Tarleton State	3-1	568	16
17	Southern Illinois	2-2	549	7
18	Illinois State	3-1	524	17
19	Lamar	3-1	284	22
20	Abilene Christian	2-2	276	19
21	UAlbany	1-2	198	20
22	Rhode Island	3-1	128	NR
23	Wofford	2-1	103	NR
24	New Hampshire	3-1	101	NR
25	Weber State	2-2	94	20

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Chattanooga (0-3, 0-1 SoCon) 80; ETSU (2-2, 0-0 SoCon) 75; Northern Iowa (2-2, 0-0 MVFC) 73; Richmond (2-2, 0-0 CAA) 72; Lafayette (2-2, 0-0 Patriot) 51; Western Carolina (1-3, 0-0 SoCon) 47; Florida A&M (2-2, 0-0 SWAC) 43; North Carolina Central (2-2, 0-0 MEAC) 28; Columbia (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) 21; Harvard (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) 19; McNeese (3-2, 1-0 Southland) 18; Duquesne (2-2, 0-0 NEC) 12; Nicholls (1-3, 0-0 Southland) 12; Lehigh (3-1, 0-0 Patriot) 10; Stony Brook (3-1, 1-0 CAA) 9; Monmouth (2-2, 1-0 CAA) 4; Yale (1-0, 0-0 Ivy)

[Prairiehaas]

Here's the Coach's poll with games through 9/22/24 (from NCAA.com

Left to right columns: Rank; School (votes for 1st); record; voting points; prior-week rank.

1	South Dakota State (22)	3-1	644	1
2	North Dakota State (1)	3-1	612	2
3	Montana State (2)	4-0	598	3
4	Idaho (1)	3-1	578	4
5	South Dakota	2-1	515	6
6	Villanova	3-1	475	5
7	Central Arkansas	3-1	467	8
8	North Dakota	3-1	457	9
9	Montana	3-1	453	10
10	Sacramento State	2-2	408	11
11	UC Davis	3-1	366	12
12	William & Mary	3-1	355	13
13	Mercer	4-0	286	16
14	Southeast Missouri State	3-1	277	21
15	Illinois State	3-1	276	15
16	Tarleton State	3-1	263	17
17	Southern Illinois	2-2	248	7
18	UIW	2-2	194	18
19	Northern Iowa	2-2	105	19
20	New Hampshire	3-1	98	NR
21	Florida A&M	2-2	85	20
22	ACU	2-2	78	23
T23	UAlbany	1-2	73	22
T23	Richmond	2-2	73	NR
25	Lamar	3-1	68	NR

Others Receiving Votes: Rhode Island, 54; Lafayette, 49; Chattanooga, 46; Weber St., 28; McNeese, 23; Eastern Illinois, 20; Missouri St., 20; Harvard, 19; Lehigh, 19; Stony Brook, 16; Wofford, 14; Monmouth (N.J.), 10; Youngstown St., 10; Duquesne, 9; North Carolina Central, 9; Stephen F. Austin, 9; Nicholls, 7; Butler, 6; East Tennessee St., 6; Indiana St., 5; Northern Arizona, 4; Southern, 4; Dartmouth, 3; Yale, 3; Central Connecticut St., 2; Jackson St., 1; Murray St., 1; Western Carolina, 1.

UNI is ranked #19? Wow, just wow.

[ringthebells]

UNI is ranked #19? Wow, just wow.

We'll find out about UNI soon enough. Their schedule coming up is SDSU, USD, UND, Mo State, NDSU, Ill St. Talk about a gauntlet.

[jakejc795]

We'll find out about UNI soon enough. Their schedule coming up is SDSU, USD, UND, Mo State, NDSU, Ill St. Talk about a gauntlet.

The Jacks are already fighting Skeletor on 10/5; we don't need to be tempting jinxery, especially so close to Halloween

Seriously though, your point is valid; their two losses are to #23 Nebraska and another FBS school Hawaii.

Speaking of Hawaii, what do you think would happen w/Fargo mediaites if the Pac-? and MWC came to their litigious senses and agreed to waive any punitive fees/drop court cases if the Pac agreed to take Hawaii, thereby saving MWC thousands (and perhaps millions) in travel costs.

[ringthebells]

The Jacks are already fighting Skeletor on 10/5; we don't need to be tempting jinxery, especially so close to Halloween

Seriously though, your point is valid; their two losses are to #23 Nebraska and another FBS school Hawaii.

Speaking of Hawaii, what do you think would happen w/Fargo mediaites if the Pac-? and MWC came to their litigious senses and agreed to waive any punitive fees/drop court cases if the Pac agreed to take Hawaii, thereby saving MWC thousands (and perhaps millions) in travel costs.

That's an interesting take. What if they give Hawaii to PAC, then Air Force heads to the AAC and UNLV leaves. Will the MW wish they still had the expensive member in Hawaii? Is the MW ok with taking in FCS teams? If they are ok with adding SDSU, NDSU, the Montanas and Idaho or some combo of those then maybe they aren't too concerned with Hawaii. If they balk at allowing FCS in, then they may want to hold Hawaii tight to keep their numbers up. Who knows? It has made for great fan board discussions though.

[91jack]

We'll find out about UNI soon enough. Their schedule coming up is SDSU, USD, UND, Mo State, NDSU, Ill St. Talk about a gauntlet.

We will find out about most teams in 2 or 3 weeks.
USD lost to FBS Wisconsin. They beat DII Northern abd non-scholarship Drake. Does that mean they are good, average or not good? Thye do not have FCS game that they have played yet. They do have about as easy of a schedule as you can get in the MVFC. They do not have back-to-back ranked games until UND and NDSU.

How good were the FCS teams SDSU played?

[jakejc795]

Should have at least a one-week reprieve on the Idaho boosterism after road loss to UC-Davis.

[JackJD]

Here's the FCS Coaches Poll courtesy of NCAA.com, as of September 30, 2024:

1	South Dakota State (21)	3-1	620	1
2	North Dakota State (3)	4-1	598	2
3	Montana State (1)	5-0	575	3
4	South Dakota	3-1	546	5
5	Villanova	4-1	508	6
6	North Dakota	4-1	481	8
7	Central Arkansas	4-1	475	7
8	UC Davis	4-1	434	11
9	Montana	4-1	425	9
10	William & Mary	4-1	388	12
11	Mercer	5-0	356	13
12	Idaho	3-2	354	4
13	Southeast Missouri State	4-1	320	14
14	Tarleton State	4-1	315	16
15	UIW	2-2	229	18
16	New Hampshire	3-1	194	20
17	ACU	3-2	160	22
18	Northern Iowa	2-2	150	19
19	Illinois State	3-2	143	15
20	Sacramento State	2-3	139	10
21	Richmond	3-2	134	23t
22	Florida A&M	2-2	109	21
23	Southern Illinois	2-3	102	17
24	McNeese	4-2	72	NR
25	Rhode Island	3-1	50	NR

Others Receiving Votes: Stony Brook, 28; Missouri St., 27; Lafayette, 24; East Tennessee St., 22; Northern Arizona, 22; Chattanooga, 21; Monmouth (N.J.), 18; Lamar, 17; North Carolina Central, 13; Duquesne, 12; Butler, 9; Dartmouth, 5; Jackson St., 4; Western Carolina, 4; Brown, 3; Drake, 3; Murray St., 3; Nicholls, 3; Bucknell, 2; Dayton, 2; Weber St., 2; Wofford, 2; Alabama A&M, 1; UAlbany, 1.

[JackJD]

and here's the Stats Perform Top 25 FCS teams from NCAA.com, as of today, September 30:

1	South Dakota State (38)	3-1	1378	1
2	North Dakota State (10)	4-1	1337	2
3	Montana State (8)	5-0	1312	3
4	South Dakota	3-1	1210	5
5	Central Arkansas	4-1	1097	7
6	Villanova	4-1	1065	6
7	North Dakota	4-1	1024	9
8	Montana	4-1	980	8
9	UC Davis	4-1	961	14
10	Idaho	3-2	930	4
11	Mercer	5-0	836	12
12	William & Mary	4-1	833	11
13	Southeast Missouri State	4-1	730	13
14	Tarleton State	4-1	642	16
15	UIW	2-2	609	15
16	Abilene Christian	3-2	462	20
17	Sacramento State	2-3	453	10
18	Illinois State	3-2	314	18
19	Southern Illinois	2-3	293	17
20	Rhode Island	3-1	230	22
21	New Hampshire	3-1	208	24
22	McNeese	4-2	204	NR
23	ETSU	3-2	200	NR
24	Lamar	3-2	160	19
25	Northern Arizona	3-2	132	NR

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Richmond (3-2, 1-0 CAA), 107; Northern Iowa (2-2, 0-0 MVFC), 83; Chattanooga (1-3, 0-1 SoCon), 62; Stony Brook (4-1, 1-0 CAA), 55; Florida A&M (2-2, 0-0 SWAC), 53; Monmouth (3-2, 1-0 CAA), 41; Wofford (2-2, 0-1 SoCon), 40; Lafayette (2-2, 0-0 Patriot), 28; North Carolina Central (3-2, 1-0 MEAC), 28; Weber State (2-3, 1-0 Big Sky), 22; Western Carolina (1-3, 0-0 SoCon), 18; Nicholls (1-3, 0-0 Southland), 17; Duquesne (2-2, 0-0 NEC), 16; Southern Utah (2-3, 1-0 UAC), 10; Brown (2-0, 1-0 Ivy), 3; Dartmouth (2-0, 0-0 Ivy), 2; UT Martin (2-3, 0-1 Big South-OVC), 2

[JackJD]

And here is the latest FCS Top 10 through 9/29/240 from Jeff Sagarin's computer, the Sagarin College Football Ratings:
http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Columns starting on the left: FCS rank; Overall Sagarin D1 ranking; School; last week's Sagarin rank...

1 56 SDSU (54)
2 64 NDSU (74)
3 82 South Dakota (93)
4 96 Montana State (102)
5 100 Montana 94
6 102 Central Arkansas (98)
7 103 North Dakota (111)
8 116 Idaho (112)
9 124 Delaware
10 127 Villanova (126)

Edited: had some errors (listed Montana 2x)...corrections made. #9 Delaware is listed by Sagarin as "Aa" -- Delaware is in transition and will be FBS starting in 2025 when Delaware is officially part of Conference USA.

[JackJD]

I'll throw in the other significant computer-rating system, the Massey Ratings. A link to the Massey FCS ratings is pasted below. Listed below are the top 10 in the FCS Massey Ratings.
https://masseyratings.com/cf/fcs/ratings

1. SDSU
2. NDSU
3. Montana State
4. Montana
5. Idaho
6. North Dakota
7. South Dakota
8. Villanova
9. UC Davis
10. Delaware.

Google provides the following description of the Massey Ratings system:
Massey football ratings are a merit-based system that uses a Bayesian win–loss correction to calculate a team's overall rating. The ratings are based on the number of games played, the difference in points scored between teams, the score, venue, and date of each game. Massey ratings do not consider stats like rushing yards, field-goal percentage, or rebounds. They also don't take into account game conditions like weather, crowd noise, or grass/artificial turf.
Massey's Method, also known as the Point Spread Method, was created by mathematics professor Kenneth Massey in 1997. The Bowl Championship Series, which determines which NCAA college football teams play in bowl games, uses Massey's Method.

How does Massey differ from Sagarin? Google describes the Sagarin system as follows:
The Sagarin football rating system is a way to calculate a team's strength relative to other teams in the same league or division. The system is especially important for American college football and basketball, where teams can't play against a large percentage of their competitors.
Here are some things that affect a team's Sagarin rating:

• Winning against stronger opponents
  Teams earn higher ratings for winning games against stronger opponents, taking into account home-field advantage.
• Margin of victory
  The margin of victory also factors in, but there's a law of diminishing returns. For example, a team that wins by 7-6 is rewarded less than a team that wins by 21-7 against the same opponent.
• Group ratings
  There are three group ratings: the "central mean", the "simple average", and the WIN50%. The "central mean" gives the most weight to the middle teams in the group.

Gamblers often use Sagarin's ratings to determine the spread between two teams

[JackJD]

Top 10 FCS teams in the Sagarin Ratings for games through October 5, 2024:

http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Columns starting on the left: FCS rank; Overall Sagarin D1 ranking; School; last week's Sagarin rank...

52 SDSU (56)
56 NDSU (64)
73 USD (82)
90 Montana State (96)
103 UND (103)
109 Central Arkansas (102)
111 Montana (100)
113 Idaho (116)op
115 Delaware (124)
117 Illinois State (

[JackJD]

Here are the two polls found on the NCAA.com site, for games through 10/7/24. One of the "stories" on the NCAA site is from Stan Becton, an NCAA employee who covers FCS. He is a voter in the State Perform Top 25 poll. He's been voting against SDSU for several weeks. He places the Bison in the #1 spot.

Stats Perform Top 25:

1	South Dakota State (36)	4-1	1376	1
2	North Dakota State (14)	5-1	1346	2
3	Montana State (6)	6-0	1309	3
4	South Dakota	4-1	1220	4
5	Villanova	5-1	1145	6
6	UC Davis	5-1	1084	9
7	Idaho	4-2	1062	10
8	Mercer	5-0	939	11
9	North Dakota	4-2	869	7
10	Abilene Christian	4-2	854	16
11	Southeast Missouri	5-1	840	13
12	Central Arkansas	4-2	795	5
13	Tarleton State	5-1	717	14
14	Montana	4-2	683	8
15	UIW	3-2	662	15
16	Illinois State	4-2	532	18
17	William & Mary	4-2	442	12
18	Sacramento State	2-3	404	17
19	Rhode Island	4-1	359	20
20	Weber State	3-3	252	NR
21	Richmond	4-2	229	NR
22	Lamar	3-2	206	24
23	Chattanooga	2-3	166	NR
24	Northern Arizona	3-3	101	25
25	North Carolina Central	4-2	85	NR

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Florida A&M (3-2, 1-0 SWAC), 67; ETSU (3-3, 1-1 SoCon), 58; McNeese (4-3, 1-1 Southland), 49; Southern Illinois (2-4, 0-2 MVFC), 47; Dartmouth (3-0, 1-0 Ivy), 45; Lafayette (3-2, 1-0 Patriot), 37; Stony Brook (4-2, 1-1 CAA), 32; UT Martin (3-3, 1-1 Big South-OVC), 27; Western Carolina (2-3, 1-0 SoCon), 26; Duquesne (3-2, 1-0 NEC), 25; Nicholls (2-3, 0-0 Southland), 21; New Hampshire (3-2, 1-0 CAA), 16; Towson (2-3, 1-1 CAA), 15; Houston Christian (3-3, 1-0 Southland), 12; Butler (5-0, 1-0 Pioneer), 7; Harvard (2-1, 0-1 Ivy), 7; Monmouth (3-3, 1-1 CAA), 6; Tennessee State (4-2, 2-1 Big South-OVC), 6


Here's the AFCA Coaches Poll top 25:

1	South Dakota State (21)	4-1	644	1
2	North Dakota State (3)	5-1	624	2
3	Montana State (2)	6-0	600	3
4	South Dakota	4-1	552	4
5	Villanova	5-1	541	5
6	UC Davis	5-1	504	8
7	Mercer	5-0	464	11
8	Idaho	4-2	419	12
9	Southeast Missouri State	5-1	404	13
10	North Dakota	4-2	401	6
11	Tarleton State	5-1	383	14
12	ACU	4-2	332	17
13	Central Arkansas	4-2	291	7
14	Montana	4-2	290	9
15	UIW	3-2	288	15
16	Illinois State	4-2	276	19
17	Richmond	4-2	214	21
18	William & Mary	4-2	197	10
19	Florida A&M	3-2	167	22
20	Sacramento State	2-3	157	20
21	Rhode Island	4-1	139	25
22	New Hampshire	3-2	63	16
23	Weber State	3-3	57	NR
24	North Carolina Central	4-2	52	NR
25	Missouri State	3-2	50	NR

Others Receiving Votes: Lafayette, 49; Northern Iowa, 47; Dartmouth, 32; McNeese, 31; Butler, 27; Jackson State, 27; Duquesne, 24; Stony Brook, 21; Harvard, 15; Chattanooga, 14; Lamar, 10; Monmouth (N.J.), 10; Southern Illinois, 9; Western Carolina, 6; East Tennessee State, 5; Columbia, 4; Nicholls, 4; Northern Arizona, 4; Davidson, 1; Drake, 1.

[Prairiehaas]

The pools are finally starting to make more sense. Currently looks like the race is between SDSU & NDSU with MtSU and USDr in the wings. There are big games for all four in October which will sort things out a bit. The playoffs could be a rinse and repeat of those games.

[JackJD]

Jeff Sagarin’s computer ranks 263 NCAA Division 1 schools, FBS and FCS. Below is the listing of the top 10 ranked FCS teams in the Sagarin Ratings for games through October 12, 2024.

Sagarin’s computer-ranking system “likes” what the Jackrabbits are doing: The Jacks continue to be Sagarin's #1-ranked FCS team...and this week rose 13 places overall in Division 1 after yesterday's 63-13 drubbing of Youngstown .

A couple additional iInteresting notes for this week:
---Oklahoma State with its 3-3 record is ranked 40.
---The Idaho Vandals coached by former SDSU Offensive Coordinator, Jason Eck, after last evening’s rude 38-7 treatment in Bozeman, dropped from 113 overall, which was eighth highest FCS, to 132, fifteenth among just FCS schools.

http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Columns starting on the left:Overall Sagarin D1 ranking; School; last week's Sagarin rank...
39 SDSU (52)
61 NDSU (56))
71 USD (73)
78 Montana State (90)
106 Montana (111)
107 UND (103)
108 Incarnate Word (?)
111 Delaware (115)
115 Missouri State (?)
122 Mercer (?)

__________________________

Sagarin also presents its rankings by Division 1 conference. Go to the Sagarin website and scroll down. For example, here are the Missouri Valley Football Conference rankings. Note Sagarin lists Missouri State as "Aa" -- transitioning to FBS -- and does not list Missouri State in the MVFC. The official MVFC website continues to list Missouri State for this season.
39 SDSU
61 NDSU
71 USD
107 UND
138 Illinois State
154 Southern Illinois
170 Northern Iowa
178 Youngstown State
208 Indiana State
227 Murray State