Fear The FCS 2026 Week 3 Media Ballot

In 2025, I was invited to vote in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 for the first time. I was beyond thrilled to accept the invitation, and like many others, I take the opportunity seriously. I am a returning voter in 2026 and, as part of the weekly process, I will provide some thoughts, reasoning, and transparency for my top 25 ballot. Below is the Stats Perform Top 25 poll submitted after the week 2 games. The week 2 submission can be found here.

General Thoughts

Week 2 brought us more FCS versus FBS games (and wins), as well as lots of wins from the top teams. So, has anything changed from last week? Not on this ballot. As it stands, Montana State is clearly the top team in the FCS. They dominated Nevada in the 20-7 win and have left no doubt as to where they belong. Beyond the Bobcats, I think there are many arguments to be made for the rest of the top 15 teams. For my ballot, I didn’t have much change among the top 15, but I also feel there isn’t much separating teams 2 through 15.

As I see the FCS landscape, I think every team beyond Montana State has concerns. Some schools have crushed inferior competition, others have played a tough schedule, and some have questions about offense or defense. Take Montana, for example, which I have in 9th again this week, while most people have both of those teams in the top 5. I don’t think the Grizzlies have been a complete team, with many penalties and inconsistent offense and defense. However, some will say they’re still 3-0, and their resume is better than other teams ahead of them on my ballot. I can understand the logic, even if I don’t fully agree.

Another example is Lehigh, which remains in 10th on my ballot this week. Lehigh looked good in the 44-20 win over William & Mary… but now questions arise about W&M’s resume, which will impact Lehigh as well. The Tribe defeated Villanova 35-32 in the opening game, but the Wildcats haven’t looked good this year. In fact, I dropped Villanova last week after barely getting by Bucknell. The Tribe has also defeated Delaware State 22-15, but DSU has wins over Stony Brook (41-34) and D-II Bowie State (21-6), with the latter being very uninspiring. I know it can be dangerous to play the transitive property game for opponents’ schedules, but it becomes another factor to consider as the season goes on. These are just two examples, but I could do the same for every team in the top 15-20 spots.

Overall, I don’t think we have enough results to make any meaningful changes to the top 15 teams this week. Unless there are significant upsets or injuries, there likely won’t be many big changes in the top 15 until we get more FCS versus FCS results. There are 18 FCS-FBS matchups in Week 3 and 13 in Week 4, with those games usually having little impact on the rankings. In 2026, most of the big changes have been at the bottom of the poll or for teams just on the cusp of the top 25.

The bottom 8 positions saw the most changes this week for me. West Florida moved from 22 to 18 this week despite having a bye, as their resume is better than the teams below. Alabama State moved up to 19th from 21st after a solid showing against Troy. Northern Arizona cracks the top 20 after winning at home against Incarnate Word. Yale continues to slide, going from 19th to 21st, but the Bulldogs (and the Ivy League) will begin playing this upcoming week. Cal Poly re-enters the poll at 22 after a good effort against San Jose State. I still have concerns over the defense, but the effort against an FBS team and some other teams under consideration losing helped bring them back in.

Furman jumps into the poll for the first time after defeating Mercer 20-13 on the road. The Paladins are followed by Campbell, which dropped one spot to 24th after losing 52-3 against Florida. William & Mary barely hangs on to a spot in the poll at 25th, but there was serious consideration to drop them. As stated above, I don’t know how good they are in light of other results for their opponents, but it would have been harsh to drop them entirely for losing to a top-10 team.

Teams That Dropped Out and Other Notables

Two teams dropped out from last week’s poll: #20 Abilene Christian and #25 Mercer. ACU has had a tough schedule so far, with games against Lamar (#11 on my ballot), FBS Texas Tech, and Stephen F. Austin (#12 on my ballot). It’s difficult to keep a team that is 0-3 on the ballot, especially after the lackluster performance this weekend versus SFA. Mercer also dropped out of the poll for the second time this season. I mentioned after week 1 that the Bears offense wasn’t very good in the second half against East Texas A&M in the opener. Against Furman, Mercer’s offense had five turnovers and went 2 of 16 on third down. Furman wasn’t much better, with 3 turnovers and 2 of 14 on third downs.

This week’s top 25 bubble was shrunk to about six teams this week. Central Arkansas, Delaware State, Prairie View A&M, Richmond, Southern Illinois, and Wofford were under consideration for the top 25. The final new entrant in this week’s poll came down to Furman and Wofford. Wofford played really well against Kent State on the road, but collapsed in the fourth quarter to fall 36-15. Furman’s in-conference road win over Mercer was enough to put them ahead of Wofford, but there’s also a case for Wofford to be in over Furman. It’s splitting hairs at this point, like much of the top 25.

Photo Credit to Northern Illinois University Athletics