I am grateful to have a vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll for the 2024 season. I’ll publish my ballot every week and provide some reasoning for my order.
Notes at the bottom.
Delaware and Missouri State, FCS-to-FBS transitioning teams, are not eligible to be voted on in the poll.
FCS Top 25
1. Idaho
2. South Dakota State
3. Montana State
4. North Dakota State
5. South Dakota
6. Central Arkansas
7. Villanova
8. North Dakota
9. Sacramento State
10. Montana
11. Mercer
12. SEMO
13. William & Mary
14. UC Davis
15. Southern Illinois
16. UIW
17. Illinois State
18. ETSU
19. Wofford
20. Tarleton State
21. Lamar
22. Rhode Island
23. Abilene Christian
24. Western Carolina
25. Chattanooga
Leaving: Elon, Southern Utah
Entering: Abilene Christian, Chattanooga
Only four teams in my Top 25 ballot from last week lost to FCS opponents, and only two lost to unranked opponents. That makes my ranking a bit easier this week.
Southern Illinois lost to ranked SEMO, and Western Carolina lost to ranked Montana. Elon lost to unranked ETSU (although I had ETSU personally ranked last week), and Southern Utah lost to unranked Idaho State.
Villanova also lost, but it was to FBS Maryland. Nova dropped a couple of spots after more evaluation of its performances so far this year and its ranked win over Youngstown State not aging well, so South Dakota and Central Arkansas bumped up a spot or two.
My Top 4 from last week stayed the same. I still think Idaho looks like the most complete team so far and has the resume to back it up — competitive loss to a Top 10 FBS team, an FBS win, and two ranked FCS wins.
SEMO moved from No. 16 to No. 12 after beating ranked SIU 38-21. SEMO is now 3-1 overall with a near FBS win over New Mexico State. That slid Southern Illinois back a few spots, but it stayed ahead of UIW, who the Salukis beat two weekends ago.
Illinois State moved up a couple of spots from No. 19 to No. 17 after an impressive 31-7 win over Eastern Illinois. EIU was a preseason ranked team for me. ISU is now 3-1 overall and 3-0 vs. the FCS.
ETSU also moved up a couple of spots from No. 20 to No. 18 after an impressive 34-14 road win at Elon. That result made Elon go from No. 24 to out of my ballot.
Southern Utah also exited my ballot after I ranked them No. 25 last week. SUU lost to Idaho State and is now 1-3 with an FBS win.
Moving into my ranking are two teams: Abilene Christian and Chattanooga.
Both of these teams were just outside of my Top 25 last week. And with Elon and SUU losing, I moved them into my ranking.
Yes, Abilene Christian lost Saturday and still moved into my Top 25. It gave my No. 1 team Idaho a second-half scare in a 27-24 loss. ACU is now 2-2 overall with its two losses being one-score games to FBS Texas Tech and Idaho.
Chattanooga is 0-3, yes. But two losses are to FBS opponents (one of them a 24-21 loss), and the third is a one-score loss to Mercer, who is my No. 11 team. Chattanooga is probably one of the 25 best teams in the FCS despite an 0-3 record.
