North Dakota State’s hold on No. 1 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 remained strong on Monday, but who was right behind the Bison became more interesting because there were ties for the second and fourth spots in the national media poll.
Montana, which beat Indiana State 49-14 this past weekend, had been ranked third behind South Dakota State since the preseason, but it moved into a tie for No. 2 with six of the 54 first-place votes, or one more than the Jackrabbits. It marked the highest ranking for the Grizzlies (3-0) since they were No. 1 on Sept. 6, 2010.
South Dakota State (2-1) is coming off a 45-17 win over Drake, but it has an FBS loss, which North Dakota State (2-1) also suffered this past weekend, falling 31-28 at Arizona. The defending national champion Bison had 43 first-place votes, down nine from last week’s poll.
Although none of the top 17 teams in the rankings has lost to a fellow FCS program, Montana State (2-1) and Missouri State (2-1) suffered FBS losses this past weekend, allowing UIW (3-0) to move up two spots into a tie with Montana State at No. 4, with Missouri State dropping one to No. 6. UIW is one of seven FCS teams to defeat an upper-tier program in Division I, and it’s helped the defending Southland Conference champ to achieve a program-high ranking.
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 3 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Sept. 19)
1. North Dakota State (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,334 points (43 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 3 Result: 31-28 loss at Arizona
2.(tie) Montana (3-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 1,267 (6)
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 3 Result: 49-14 win at Indiana State
2.(tie) South Dakota State (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,267 (5)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 3 Result: 45-17 win over Butler
4.(tie) Montana State (2-1, 0-0 Big Sky), 1,108
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 3 Result: 68-28 loss at Oregon State
4.(tie) UIW (3-0, 0-0 Southland), 1,108
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 3 Result: 31-14 win at Prairie View A&M
6. Missouri State (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 1,091
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 3 Result: 38-27 loss at Arkansas
7. Sacramento State (2-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 995
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 3 Result: 37-21 win at Northern Iowa
8. Delaware (3-0, 1-0 CAA), 963
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 3 Result: 42-21 win at then-No. 17 Rhode Island
9. Villanova (2-1, 0-0 CAA), 874
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 3 Result: 49-10 loss at Army
10. Chattanooga (3-0, 1-0 Southern), 831
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 3 Result: 41-14 win over North Alabama
11. Jackson State (3-0, 1-0 SWAC), 818
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 3 Result: 66-24 win over Grambling State
12. Weber State (3-0, 0-0 Big Sky), 789
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 3 Result: 44-14 win over Utah Tech
13. Holy Cross (3-0, 0-0 Patriot), 742
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 3 Result: 38-14 win over Yale
14. William & Mary (3-0, 0-0 CAA), 610
Previous Ranking: 15;Week 3 Result: 34-7 winat Lafayette
15. Eastern Washington (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky), 559
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 3 Result: No game
16. Eastern Kentucky (2-1, 2-0 ASUN-WAC), 449
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 3 Result: 40-17 win over Charleston Southern
17. Mercer (2-1, 1-0 Southern), 401
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 3 Result: 17-0 win over The Citadel
18. UT Martin (1-2, 0-0 Ohio Valley), 351
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 3 Result: 30-7 loss at Boise State
19. North Dakota (2-1, 1-0 Missouri Valley), 305
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 3 Result: 27-24 win at Northern Arizona
20. Rhode Island (2-1, 1-1 CAA), 232
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 3 Result: 42-21 loss to then-No. 9 Delaware
21. Samford (2-1, 0-0 Southern), 212
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 3 Result: 33-28 win at Tennessee Tech
22. Richmond (2-1, 0-0 CAA), 164
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 3 Result: 30-6 win at Lehigh
23. Stephen F. Austin (1-2, 1-0 ASUN-WAC), 131
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 3 Result: No game
24. Southern Illinois (1-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley), 123
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 3 Result: 31-24 win at Northwestern
25. North Carolina Central (3-0, 0-0 MEAC), 104
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 3 Result: 45-27 win at then-No. 25 New Hampshire
Dropped Out: ETSU (18), Kennesaw State (23), New Hampshire (25)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Furman (2-1, 1-0 Southern) 99; Southeastern Louisiana (1-2, 0-0 Southland) 98; Kennesaw State (0-2, 0-1 ASUN-WAC) 93; Southeast Missouri (2-1, 0-0 Ohio Valley) 93; Austin Peay (3-1, 3-0 ASUN-WAC) 87; UC Davis (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky) 82; ETSU (1-2, 0-2 Southern) 46; Elon (2-1, 0-0 CAA) 28; Fordham (3-0, 0-0 Patriot) 27; Dartmouth (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) 23; New Hampshire (2-1, 2-0 CAA) 19; Northern Arizona (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky) 5; Youngstown State (2-1, 0-0 Missouri Valley) 5; South Dakota (1-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley) 2
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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.