Scenarios involving conference titles and playoff bids in FCS college football are often a matter of contingent results at this point of the season, but the Southern Conference is more definitive heading into the make-or-break month of November.
Saturday’s winner between Furman (7-1), the No. 2-ranked team on Monday in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, presented by FedEx Ground, and Chattanooga (7-2), up to No. 14 in the national media rankings, will secure the SoCon’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs – the first for the 24-team field (10 of the bids go to conference champions).
Furman, which is riding a 12-game conference winning streak, has captured the most all-time SoCon titles with 14.
It’s a banner week overall for head-to-head matchups of ranked teams, with Furman at Chattanooga joined by No. 11 North Dakota State at No. 1 South Dakota State and No. 9 South Dakota at No. 10 Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, No. 4 Montana hosting No. 7 Sacramento State in the Big Sky, and No. 24 William & Mary at No. 23 UAlbany in CAA Football.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll. 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 college football weekend, here are our Week 9 Takeaways)
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Oct. 30)
Presented by FedEx Ground
1. South Dakota State (8-0, 5-0 MVFC), 1,400 points (56 of 56 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 9: 37-3 win at then-No. 4 South Dakota; Week 10: North Dakota State
2. Furman (7-1, 5-0 SoCon), 1,278
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 9: 16-8 win over ETSU; Week 10: at Chattanooga
3. Idaho (6-2, 4-1 Big Sky), 1,218
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 9: 24-21 win over then-No. 2 Montana State; Week 10: at Northern Colorado
4. Montana (7-1, 4-1 Big Sky), 1,190
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 9: 40-0 win over Northern Colorado; Week 10: Sacramento State
5. Delaware (7-1, 5-0 CAA), 1,171
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 9: 51-13 win at Towson; Week 10: Elon
6. Montana State (6-2, 4-1 Big Sky), 1,150
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 9: 24-21 loss at then-No. 9 Idaho; Week 10: Northern Arizona
7. Sacramento State (6-2, 3-2 Big Sky), 1,074
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 9: 51-16 win over Idaho State; Week 10: at Montana
8. UIW (7-1, 4-0 Southland), 980
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 9: 17-7 win at Lamar; Week 10: Nicholls
9. South Dakota (6-2, 4-1 MVFC), 964
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 9: 37-3 loss to then-No. 1South Dakota State; Week 10: at Southern Illinois
10. Southern Illinois (6-2, 3-2 MVFC), 862
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 9: 63-0 win at Western Illinois; Week 10: South Dakota
11. North Dakota State (6-2, 3-2 MVFC), 815
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 9: 38-6 win over Murray State; Week 10: at South Dakota State
12. North Carolina Central (7-1, 2-0 MEAC), 751
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 9: 62-28 win over South Carolina State; Week 10: Norfolk State
13. North Dakota (5-3, 3-2 MVFC), 648
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 9: 36-33 OT win over Indiana State; Week 10: at Murray State
14. Chattanooga (7-2, 6-1 Southern), 578
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 9: 24-23 win at VMI; Week 10: Furman
15. Florida A&M (7-1, 6-0 SWAC), 576
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 9: 45-7 win over Prairie View A&M; Week 10: at Alabama A&M
16. Western Carolina (5-3, 3-2 SoCon), 516
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 9: 45-38 loss to Mercer; Week 10: at Wofford
17. Villanova (6-2, 4-1 CAA), 471
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 9: 48-13 win over Stony Brook; Week 10: at New Hampshire
18. Northern Iowa (5-3, 4-1 MVFC), 389
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 9: 24-21 win at Illinois State; Week 10: Western Illinois
19. Austin Peay (6-2, 3-0 UAC), 387
Previous Ranking: 20; Week 9: 49-39 win over North Alabama; Week 10: at Eastern Kentucky
20. Lafayette (7-1, 3-0 Patriot), 354
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 9: 35-25 win at Georgetown; Week 10: Colgate
21. UT Martin (6-2, 3-1 Big South-OVC), 314
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 9: 38-34 loss at Gardner-Webb; Week 10: at Tennessee Tech
22. Youngstown State (5-3, 3-2 MVFC), 269
Previous Ranking: 24; Week 9: 44-28 win over Missouri State; Week 10: at Indiana State
23. UAlbany (6-3, 4-1 CAA), 249
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 9: 37-21 win at Maine; Week 10: William & Mary
24. William & Mary (5-3, 3-2 CAA), 184
Previous Ranking: 22; Week 9: 31-28 win over Monmouth; Week 10: at UAlbany
25. Mercer (6-3, 4-2 SoCon), 103
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 9: 45-38 win over then-No. 10 Western Carolina; Week 10: at The Citadel
Dropped Out: Central Arkansas (18),UC Davis (25)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Central Arkansas (5-3, 2-1 UAC) 94; Harvard (6-1, 3-1 Ivy) 80; Holy Cross (5-3, 3-1 Patriot) 48; Tennessee State (6-2, 2-1 Big South-OVC) 48; Tarleton (6-3, 2-2 UAC) 14; Richmond (6-3, 5-1 CAA) 13; Gardner-Webb (4-4, 2-1 Big South-OVC) 5; UC Davis (4-4, 2-3 Big Sky) 3
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Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Voters – Stats Perform: Craig Haley, Gary Reasons. Big Sky Conference: Doug Kelly, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. Big South-OVC Football Association: Mike Bradd, Brian Cleary, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. CAA Football: Matt Harmon, Scott Klatzkin, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: Rick Bender, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis, Patricia Porter-Mayfield. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Dom Izzo, Mike Kern, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Randy Brochu. Patriot League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Jack Cronin. Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller, Ralan Wardlaw. Southland Conference: Matthew Bonnette, James Dixon, James Hill. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Ronnie Johnson, Joshua Padilla. United Athletic Conference: Steve East, Tony Jones, Brian Morgan, Jake Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson, Zack Carlton, Riley Corcoran, Joe DeLeone, Steven J. Gaither, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Brian McLaughlin, Jon Passman, Omar Rashon Borja, Ryan Roberts, Kent Schmidt, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.