The winner of the Big Sky-MVFC Challenge will be decided this weekend, but if you looked across the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 on Monday, it already may suggest these are the two strongest conferences in the Division I subdivision.
The two conferences combine for the top five teams in the national media rankings. The Missouri Valley Football Conference features No. 1 North Dakota State, No. 2 South Dakota State and No. 5 Missouri State among its four ranked teams, while the Big Sky has five of the top 14 teams, including No. 3 Montana and No. 4 Montana State.
Their annual regular-season challenge series is tied at one win apiece heading into Saturday’s final four matchups. It’s been close in recent years, but the MVFC has won the first four series.
CAA Football gained a newcomer to the rankings in No. 25 New Hampshire, so its five teams match the Big Sky for the most overall with five. The Southern Conference joins the MVFC with four teams, and 10 conferences are represented in the rankings.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. 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.
(For more on the FCS college football weekend, here are our Week 2 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Sept. 12)
1. North Dakota State (2-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,348 points (52 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 2 Result: 43-3 win over North Carolina A&T
2. South Dakota State (1-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,263 (2)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 2 Result: 24-22 win over UC Davis
3. Montana (2-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 1,242
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 2 Result: 24-7 win over South Dakota
4. Montana State (2-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 1,199
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 2 Result: 63-13 win over Morehead State
5. Missouri State (2-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,097
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 2 Result: 35-30 win over then-No. 14 UT Martin
6. UIW (2-0, 0-0 Southland), 1,064
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 2 Result: 55-41 win at Nevada
7. Villanova (2-0, 0-0 CAA), 1,021
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 2 Result: 38-21 win at LIU
8. Sacramento State (1-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 967
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 2 Result: Bye
9. Delaware (2-0, 0-0 CAA), 865
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 2 Result: 35-9 win over Delaware State
10. Chattanooga (2-0, 1-0 Southern), 804
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 2 Result: 38-20 win at Eastern Illinois
11. Jackson State (2-0, 1-0 SWAC), 758
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 2 Result: 16-3 win over Tennessee State
12. Weber State (2-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 748
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 2 Result: 35-7 win at Utah State
13. Holy Cross (2-0, 0-0 Patriot), 713
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 2 Result: 37-31 win at Buffalo
14. Eastern Washington (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky), 562
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 2 Result: 70-14 loss at Oregon
15. William & Mary (2-0, 0-0 CAA), 542
Previous Ranking: 20;Week 2 Result: 37-21 win over Campbell
16. UT Martin (1-1, 0-0 Ohio Valley), 488
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 2 Result: 35-30 loss at then-No. 5 Missouri State
17. Rhode Island (2-0, 1-0 CAA), 468
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 2 Result: 35-21 win at Bryant
18. ETSU (1-1, 0-1 Southern), 388
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 2 Result: 20-17 loss at The Citadel
19. Eastern Kentucky (1-1, 1-0 ASUN-WAC), 285
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 2 Result: 59-57, seven-OT win at Bowling Green
20. Mercer (1-1, 0-0 Southern), 243
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 2 Result: Bye
21. Stephen F. Austin (1-2, 1-0 ASUN-WAC), 180
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 2 Result: 52-17 loss at Louisiana Tech
22. North Dakota (1-1, 1-0 Missouri Valley), 157
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 2 Result: 29-27 win over then-No. 24 Northern Iowa
23. Kennesaw State (0-2, 0-1 ASUN-WAC), 141
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 2 Result: 63-10 loss at Cincinnati
24. Samford (1-1, 0-0 Southern), 139
Previous Ranking: 25; Week 2 Result: 33-0 loss at Georgia
25. New Hampshire (2-0, 2-0 CAA), 138
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 2 Result: 28-23 win at UAlbany
Dropped Out: Southern Illinois (17), Southeastern Louisiana (21), Northern Iowa (24)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Richmond (1-1, 0-0 CAA) 137, Southeastern Louisiana (0-2, 0-0 Southland) 120, UC Davis (0-2, 0-0 Big Sky) 97, Austin Peay (2-1, 2-0 ASUN-WAC): 53, Southern Illinois (0-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley) 47, Southeast Missouri (1-1, 0-0 Ohio Valley) 40, The Citadel (1-1, 1-0 Southern) 33, Northern Arizona (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky) 29, Elon (1-1, 0-0 CAA) 28, Dartmouth (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) 27, North Carolina Central (2-0, 0-0 MEAC) 20, Furman (1-1, 0-0 Southern) 19, Northern Iowa (0-2, 0-1 Missouri Valley) 17, South Dakota (0-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley) 15, Fordham (2-0, 0-0 Patriot) 13, Youngstown State (2-0, 0-0 Missouri Valley) 10, Abilene Christian (2-0, 2-0 ASUN-WAC) 7, Idaho (0-2, 0-0 Big Sky) 6, South Carolina State (1-1, 0-0 MEAC) 4
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Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Voters – Stats Perform: Craig Haley, Gary Reasons. ASUN: John Bednarowski, Brian Morgan. Big Sky Conference: Doug Kelly, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. Big South Conference: Brian Cleary, Mark Simpson. CAA Football: Matt Harmon, Scott Klatzkin, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: Rick Bender, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Bill Hamilton, Maurice Williams. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Dom Izzo, Mike Kern, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Randy Brochu. Ohio Valley Conference: Mike Bradd, Kyle Schwartz. Patriot League: Eric Malanowski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Jack Cronin. Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller, Phil Perry. Southland Conference: Matthew Bonnette, James Dixon, Josh Manck. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Ronnie Johnson, Andrew Roberts, Jacob Shames. Western Athletic Conference: Eric Danner, Dennis Driscoll. National Representatives: Josh Buchanan, Zack Carlton, Riley Corcoran, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Brian McLaughlin, Jon Passman, Kent Schmidt, Lawrence Smith, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.