Each week, throughout the college football season, alumni, fans, media and the teams themselves look to the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll to see who is rising and moving within the national rankings.
It wasn’t surprising to see South Dakota State and North Dakota State ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll on Monday.
It’s been that way since the preseason and, quite frankly, the two championship programs are synonymous with the national media poll.
NDSU (6-1) made its 195th consecutive appearance, matching Montana’s record streak from 1998 to 2002. The Bison have been in every poll since Nov. 1, 2010 – the season prior to the first of their nine FCS national championships.
SDSU (5-1), which has captured the last two FCS titles, made its 167th consecutive appearance since Oct. 29, 2012.
SDSU’s 63-13 rout of Youngstown State and NDSU’s 24-3 victory at Southern Illinois this past weekend set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup on Saturday in Fargo, North Dakota. It will be the ninth all-time meeting of the two top-ranked teams, but just the third in the regular season. Two years ago, SDSU was No. 2-ranked when it defeated No. 1 NDSU 23-21 in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game at the Fargodome.
Montana State, which routed Idaho 38-7 in a Top 10 matchup, remained No. 3 in the poll, closing some of the gap on both SDSU and NDSU. The Bobcats’ Big Sky Conference is one of nine FCS leagues represented in the Top 25.
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 is our FCS Week 7 Review)
1. South Dakota State (5-1, 2–0 MVFC), 1,374 points (38 of 56 first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1; Week 7: 63-13 win over Youngstown State; Week 8: at No. 2 North Dakota State
2. North Dakota State (6-1, 3-0 MVFC), 1,337 (8)
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 7: 24-3 win at Southern Illinois; Week 8: No. 1 South Dakota State
3. Montana State (7-0, 3-0 Big Sky), 1,320 (10)
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 7: 38-7 win over then-No. 7 Idaho; Week 8: at Portland State
4. South Dakota (5-1, 3-0 MVFC), 1,224
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 7: 42-17 win over Northern Iowa; Week 8: at Youngstown State
5. Villanova (5-1, 2-0 CAA), 1,148
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 7: No game; Week 8: at Maine (1 p.m., FloFootball)
6. UC Davis (6-1, 3-0 Big Sky), 1,117
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 7: 56-10 win over Cal Poly; Week 8: at Eastern Washington
7. Mercer (6-0, 3-0 SoCon), 1,050
Previous Ranking: 8; Week 7: 34-7 win over Princeton; Week 8: at Samford
8. Southeast Missouri (6-1, 3-0 Big South-OVC), 945
Previous Ranking: 11; Week 7: 34-3 win over Tennessee Tech; Week 8: at Charleston Southern
9. North Dakota (4-2, 1-1 MVFC), 927
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 7: No game; Week 8: Northern Iowa
10. Tarleton State (6-1, 3-0 UAC), 835
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 7: 42-0 win over Utah Tech; Week 8: No game
11. Montana (5-2, 2-1 Big Sky), 791
Previous Ranking: 14; Week 7: 31-20 win over then-No. 24 Northern Arizona; Week 8: No game
12. Central Arkansas (5-2, 2-1 UAC), 790
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 7: 34-33 win over West Georgia; Week 8: No game
13. Idaho (4-3, 1-2 Big Sky), 778
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 7: 38-7 loss at then-No. 3 Montana State; Week 8: Cal Poly
14. UIW (4-2, 1-0 Southland), 754
Previous Ranking: 15; Week 7: 55-10 win over Nicholls; Week 8: McNeese
15. William & Mary (4-2, 1-1 CAA), 547
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 7: No game; Week 8: Campbell
16. Rhode Island (5-1, 2-0 CAA), 525
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 7: 31-21 win over Brown; Week 8: at No. 24 New Hampshire
17. Abilene Christian (4-3, 3-1 UAC), 491
Previous Ranking: 10; Week 7: 47-34 loss at North Alabama; Week 8: Eastern Kentucky
18. Richmond (4-2, 2-0 CAA), 387
Previous Ranking: 21; Week 7: No game; Week 8: Delaware
19. Chattanooga (3-3, 2-1 SoCon), 341
Previous Ranking: 23; Week 7: 41-10 win at Furman; Week 8: Wofford
20. North Carolina Central (5-2, 2-0 MEAC), 212
Previous Ranking: 25; Week 7: 68-0 win over Virginia-Lynchburg; Week 8: No game
21. Illinois State (4-3, 1-2 MVFC), 193
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 7: 41-7 loss to Missouri State; Week 8: at Murray State
22. Dartmouth (4-0, 2-0 Ivy), 158
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 7: 44-43 OT win at Yale; Week 8: Central Connecticut State
23. ETSU (4-3, 2-1 SoCon), 117
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 7: 31-28 win over Samford; Week 8: No game
24. New Hampshire (4-2, 2-0 CAA), 100
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 7: 17-10 win at Elon; Week 8: No. 16 Rhode Island
T25. Florida A&M (3-2, 1-0 SWAC), 81
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 7: No game; Week 8: at Jackson State
T25. UT Martin (4-3, 2-1 Big South-OVC), 81
Previous Ranking: NR; Week 7: 45-17 win at Western Illinois; Week 8: No game
Dropped Out: Sacramento State (18), Weber State (20), Lamar (22), Northern Arizona (24)
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Western Carolina (3-3, 2-0 SoCon), 75; Tennessee State (5-2, 3-1 Big South-OVC), 71; Duquesne (4-2, 2-0 NEC), 57; Sacramento State (2-4, 0-2 Big Sky), 57; Stephen F. Austin (4-2, 2-1 Southland), 43; Stony Brook (4-2, 1-1 CAA), 41; Northern Arizona (3-4, 1-2 Big Sky), 36; McNeese (4-3, 1-1 Southland), 33; Weber State (3-4, 2-1 Big Sky), 26; Harvard (3-1, 1-1 Ivy), 25; Towson (3-3, 1-1 CAA), 24; Drake (4-1, 3-0 Pioneer), 14; Monmouth (3-3, 1-1 CAA), 13; Lamar (3-3, 0-1 Southland), 11; Southeastern Louisiana (3-4, 2-0 Southland) 7; Southern Utah (3-4, 2-1 UAC), 7; Dayton (4-1, 2-0 Pioneer), 2
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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, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. CAA Football: Roger Brown, Matt Harmon, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: JJ Klein, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis, Alysse Scripter. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Dom Izzo, Mike Kern, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Brian Cleary. Patriot League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Larry Hansgen. 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: Brian Morgan, Benjamin Ray, Jake Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson, Stan Becton, Zack Carlton, Gene Clemons, 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.
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