To be No. 1, you have to beat No. 1.
Or something like that.
South Dakota State surely will accept wording that’s close enough to the old expression just as the Jackrabbits were happy to secure the No. 1 ranking in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 on Monday. It marked the first time the Missouri Valley Football Conference power has held the top spot in the national media poll since joining Division I in 2004.
To get there, SDSU (6-1) rallied on Saturday from a 21-7 halftime deficit to a 23-21 win over defending national champion North Dakota State, its third straight in the series. The Jackrabbits, under coach John Stiegelmeier, had been ranked No. 2 to the Bison (5-2) since the preseason.
Anticipating No. 1 after the win, Stiegelmeier said, “It would mean a bunch of guys in 2004 drew a line in the sand and stepped over it and said, ‘Let’s change the image of South Dakota State football.’ And it’s been changed.”
SDSU, whose lone loss is 7-3 at Iowa, has been a part of the last 139 national polls, the second-longest active streak to the Bison’s 167 appearances. The Bison’s loss dropped them to No. 4 behind Sacramento State and Montana State.
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 7 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Oct. 17)
1. South Dakota State (6-1, 4-0 Missouri Valley), 1,346 points (51 of 54 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 7 Result: 23-21 win at then-No. 1 North Dakota State
2. Sacramento State (6-0, 3-0 Big Sky), 1,243 (1)
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 7 Result: 52-28 win at Eastern Washington
3. Montana State (6-1, 4-0 Big Sky), 1,225
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 7 Result: 37-14 win at Northern Colorado
4. North Dakota State (5-2, 3-1 Missouri Valley), 1,208
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 7 Result: 23-21 loss to then-No. 2 South Dakota State
5. Weber State (6-0, 3-0 Big Sky), 1,145
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 7 Result: 42-7 win at Portland State
6. Holy Cross (6-0, 2-0 Patriot), 983
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 7 Result: No game
7. Montana (5-1, 2-1 Big Sky), 945
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 7 Result: 30-23 loss to Idaho
8. UIW (6-1, 3-1 Southland), 940
Previous Ranking: 8(tie); Week 7 Result: 49-14 win at Nicholls
9. Jackson State (6-0, 4-0 SWAC), 907 (2)
Previous Ranking: 8(tie); Week 7 Result: 48-8 win over Bethune-Cookman
10. Chattanooga (5-1, 3-0 Southern), 859
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 7 Result: 41-13 win over VMI
11. Mercer (6-1, 4-0 Southern), 785
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 7 Result: 55-33 win over ETSU
12. William & Mary (5-1, 2-1 CAA), 784
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 7 Result: No game
13. Delaware (5-1, 3-1 CAA), 713
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 7 Result: No game
14. Southern Illinois (5-2, 4-0 Missouri Valley), 602
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 7 Result: 30-7 win over Western Illinois
15. Samford (5-1, 3-0 Southern), 588
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 7 Result: No game
16. Southeast Missouri (5-1, 2-0 Ohio Valley), 441
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 7 Result: No game
17. Idaho (4-2, 3-0 Big Sky), 424
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 7 Result: 30-23 win at then-No. 3 Montana
18. UT Martin (4-2, 3-0 Ohio Valley), 380
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 7 Result: No game
19. Richmond (4-2, 2-1 CAA), 364
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 7 Result: 20-10 win over then-No. 17 Villanova
20. North Dakota (4-2, 3-1 Missouri Valley), 354
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 7 Result: No game
21. Elon (5-2, 3-1 CAA), 285
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 7 Result: 17-10 loss at then-No. 25 (tie) Rhode Island
22. Rhode Island (4-2, 2-1 CAA), 246
Previous Ranking: 25(tie); Week 7 Result: 17-10 win over then-No. 14 Elon
23. Fordham (6-1, 2-0 Patriot), 231
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 7 Result: 45-14 win over Stony Brook
24. Austin Peay (5-2, 5-1 ASUN-WAC), 153
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 7 Result: 52-17 win overMurray State
25. New Hampshire (5-2, 4-0 CAA), 87
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 7 Result: 14-0 win at Dartmouth
Dropped Out: Villanova (17), Eastern Kentucky (23), Southeastern Louisiana (25-tie)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Villanova (3-3, 1-2 CAA) 74, Furman (5-2, 3-1 Southern) 52, Southeastern Louisiana (3-3, 1-1 Southland) 43, Stephen F. Austin (4-3, 3-0 ASUN-WAC) 36, Princeton (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) 20, Campbell (4-2, 2-0 Big South) 19,Missouri State (2-4, 0-3 Missouri Valley) 18, North Carolina Central (5-1, 1-0 MEAC) 13, Illinois State (4-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley) 12, Eastern Kentucky (3-3, 3-2 ASUN-WAC) 11, Abilene Christian (5-2, 4-1 ASUN-WAC) 9
—
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.