Five unbeaten FCS teams are rightfully receiving national attention, and one of them, Jackson State, is about to be the center of the college football world by hosting ESPN’s iconic pregame show “College GameDay.”
Heading into the final weekend of October, though, there are seven other teams that remain unbeaten against FCS opponents with only losses to FBS foes. Each was ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 on Monday.
Top-ranked South Dakota State (7-1) leads the way in the national media poll, coming off a 49-35 road win at then-No. 20 North Dakota. Third-ranked Montana State (7-1), No. 7 Chattanooga (6-1), No. 13 Samford (6-1), No. 14 Idaho (5-2), No. 15 Southeast Missouri (6-1) and No. 22 Fordham (7-1) also are unbeaten against FCS foes.
The overall unbeatens are No. 2 Sacramento State (7-0) from the Big Sky, co-No. 5 Holy Cross (7-0) from the Patriot League, No. 9 Jackson State (7-0) from the SWAC and the Ivy League pair of Princeton (6-0) and Penn (6-0). Princeton is the second team outside the Top 25 and Penn also is receiving votes.
Jackson State will host “GameDay” Saturday morning before it plays Southern. The Idaho at Sacramento State and Fordham at Holy Cross matchups also are headline games and guarantee at least two teams will suffer their first FCS loss.
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 8 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Oct. 24)
1. South Dakota State (7-1, 5-0 MVFC), 1,347 points (51 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 8 Result: 49-35 win at then-No. 20 North Dakota
2. Sacramento State (7-0, 4-0 Big Sky), 1,268 (2)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 8 Result: 31-24 OT win over then-No. 7 Montana
3. Montana State (7-1, 5-0 Big Sky), 1,249
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 8 Result: 43-38 win over then-No. 5 Weber State
4. North Dakota State (5-2, 3-1 MVFC), 1,195
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 8 Result: No game
5.(tie) Weber State (6-1, 3-1 Big Sky), 1,014
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 8 Result: 43-38 loss at then-No. 3 Montana State
5.(tie) Holy Cross (7-0, 3-0 Patriot), 1,014
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 8 Result: 24-21 win at Lafayette
7. Chattanooga (6-1, 4-0 Southern), 995
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 8 Result: 41-21 win over then-No. 11 Mercer
8. UIW (7-1, 3-1 Southland), 979
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 8 Result: 70-0 win over Faulkner
9. Jackson State (7-0, 4-0 SWAC), 918 (1)
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 8 Result: 22-14 win over Campbell
10. William & Mary (6-1, 3-1 CAA), 848
Previous Ranking: 12;Week 8 Result: 44-24 win at Towson
11. Montana (5-2, 2-2 Big Sky), 824
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 8 Result: 31-24 OT loss at then-No. 2 Sacramento State
12. Delaware (6-1, 3-1 CAA), 779
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 8 Result: 38-7 win over Morgan State
13. Samford (6-1, 4-0 Southern), 684
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 8 Result: 55-45 win at ETSU
14. Idaho (5-2, 4-0 Big Sky), 606
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 8 Result: 56-21 win over Portland State
15. Southeast Missouri (6-1, 2-0 Ohio Valley), 578
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 8 Result: 51-16 win at Northwestern State
16. Mercer (6-2, 4-1 Southern), 547
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 8 Result: 41-21 loss at then-No. 10 Chattanooga
17. Richmond (5-2, 3-1 CAA), 455
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 8 Result: 41-10 win at Hampton
18. Rhode Island (5-2, 3-1 CAA), 330
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 8 Result: 48-46, seven-OT win at Monmouth
19. New Hampshire (6-2, 5-0 CAA), 315
Previous Ranking: 25; Week 8 Result: 40-22 win over then-No. 21 Elon
20. Southern Illinois (5-3, 4-1 MVFC), 270
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 8 Result: 27-24 loss at South Dakota
21. UT Martin (4-3, 3-0 Ohio Valley), 257
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 8 Result: 65-24 loss at Tennessee
22. Fordham (6-1, 2-0 Patriot), 253
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 8 Result: No game
23. North Dakota (4-3, 3-2 MVFC), 185
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 8 Result: 49-35 loss to then-No. 1 South Dakota State
24. Furman (6-2, 4-1 Southern), 171
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 8 Result: 41-3 win at VMI
25. Austin Peay (5-2, 5-1 ASUN-WAC), 159
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 8 Result: No game
Dropped Out: Elon (21)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Southeastern Louisiana (4-3, 1-1 Southland) 64, Princeton (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) 62, Stephen F. Austin (5-3, 4-0 ASUN-WAC) 39, Elon (5-3, 3-2 CAA) 30, Illinois State (5-2, 3-1 MVFC) 26, Villanova (4-3, 2-2 CAA) 25, Abilene Christian (5-2, 4-1 ASUN-WAC) 16, Eastern Kentucky (4-3, 4-2 ASUN-WAC) 15, Campbell (4-3, 2-0 Big South) 7, Penn (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) 7
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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.