Fear The FCS 2026 Week 4 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 4 games. The week 3 submission can be found here.

General Thoughts

It was quite the week in the FCS with a big top 5 upset and some shaky performances from top 25 teams. I found this week to be among the most challenging because I have concerns about every team, particularly beyond the top 5. I’ll delve into those more below, but let’s start at the top. Montana State holds the top spot again this week after defeating Northern Arizona 28-14 at home. There was no Justin Lamson, Adam Jones, or the Dowler brothers, but the backups played quite well in their absences against a tough opponent. MSU remains ahead of South Dakota State, which didn’t have Chase Mason this week, and he isn’t expected to return for a few weeks. The Jackrabbits pounced all over Eastern Illinois 42-7. Tarleton State had a bye and remains third.

The big upset was Illinois State‘s loss to Northern Iowa 28-21 at the UNI-Dome. ISU drops from 4th to 14th in my poll because that is a terrible loss. UNI opened the season with a road loss to Eastern Washington (1-4), crushed Drake (1-3) at home, and then expectedly lost big to Iowa. I know it’s the UNI-Dome, but that’s a game a top 5 team should win. Jumping into 4th this week is Youngstown State, which pulled away from South Dakota in the fourth quarter to win 47-28. The Penguins looked excellent on the ground, just a week after getting stifled by SDSU.

Jumping from 8th to 5th is Montana. I’ve had issues with Montana not putting together a complete game this season, and their schedule has aged poorly (Drake, Southern Utah, and Utah Tech are a combined 2-12)… but I can’t ignore the beatdown they put on UC Davis. Eli Gillman ran circles around the Aggies on the road in the 62-22 win. Montana at its peak can compete with anyone, but they need to prove that consistency going forward.

North Dakota remains in 6th despite two teams ahead of them losing. My biggest issue with both North and South Dakota is that their defenses aren’t that good. North Dakota gave up 35 points to Indiana State last week, and both UND and USD have allowed at least 20 points in every game. The offenses have been quite good this year, but defense is what wins championships, and neither has a championship-winning defense right now.

Stephen F. Austin crushed D-II Northeastern State to move from 10th to 7th. SFA has looked good, especially on defense since the opening-week win over McNeese. Moving from 9th to 8th this week is Austin Peay, and I think they’re a bit under the radar for most folks. They have defeated hard-luck Gardner-Webb, West Florida, and UT Martin by 3+ scores. The game on October 10 against Tarleton State will reveal just how good the Govs are. South Dakota drops from 5th to 9th after the loss at YSU. I outlined the defensive issues they’ve had and we’ll get to see them against Indiana State next week for a comparison against UND. Tennessee Tech moves up from 12th to 10th after rallying to defeat Wofford 42-38 on the road. The Golden Eagles have some solid wins: Monmouth, Chattanooga, and now Wofford.

Lehigh remains in 11th, but I don’t have a good handle on them. Sure, they won a road game at Penn 20-7 without Hayden Johnson, but that begs the question: how long will he be out of the lineup? Based on what I’ve seen the last two weeks, Lehigh isn’t a top 10 without him. I know the defense is good, but the game against Penn was abysmal for Lehigh’s offense. The longer he remains sidelined, the more doubts I have about Lehigh’s ability to win big games that could move them higher in the polls.

Lamar is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the week. They move up 5 spots from 17th to 12th after crushing Nicholls 49-18 on the road. The Cardinals benefit from a few teams dropping after a loss, but also some not-so-convincing performances. Idaho State remains in 13th this week after surviving a 28-24 game against Southern Utah. It was a sloppy game, but SUU is a tough out. SUU’s three FCS losses have been by a touchdown or less. Illinois State falls from 4th to 14th after the loss at UNI, while West Florida moves from 21st to 15th after a 20-17 road win over Southeast Missouri State. UWF is in the same boat as Lamar, with losses and questionable performances from the teams behind them allowing them to vault up the poll.

UC Davis drops two spots from 14th to 16th after the big loss to Montana. Northern Arizona is just behind them in 17th, dropping one spot. NAU is in a precarious position because the next two games are at Idaho State and home against Montana. South Carolina State drops 3 spots from 15th to 18th after statistically dominating Bethune-Cookman, but playing a very poor second half. The Bulldogs have let opponents hang around in the second half for consecutive weeks now. Campbell remains in 19th after dispatching Hampton 44-20. Alabama State dropped two spots from 18th to 20th after a big win over Mississippi Valley State due to the logjam ahead of them.

Now comes the most chaotic portion of the poll: the last five spots. Colgate moves from 23rd to 21st after a 28-21 win over Villanova. The Raiders continue to play well defensively, and Colgate’s resume got a boost from Cornell‘s upset of Yale (Colgate defeated Cornell 20-7 in Week 3). Stony Brook drops from 20th to 22nd after a 31-16 win over Fordham. It was not an overly impressive showing, as Stony Brook held a slim 21-16 margin going into the fourth quarter. Southern Illinois returns to the top 25, at 23rd, following a 46-6 win over Murray State. Southeastern Louisiana also joins the top 25, ranking 24th, after a 52-21 win over Northwestern State. Harvard rounds out the top 25, dropping from 22nd to 25th. The Crimson held on to defeat Brown 14-10 in adverse conditions. The defense played well (Xaden Benson had 3 interceptions and a fumble recovery), but the offense struggled.

Teams That Dropped Out and Other Notables

Two teams dropped out of the poll: #24 Yale and #25 Rhode Island. Yale was without quarterback Dante Reno and lost 38-25 to Cornell. I mentioned last week that I had concerns about the defense giving up 28 points to Holy Cross, and this showing only makes me even more concerned. Even if Reno had played and Yale won, I would have dropped the Bulldogs from the top 25 on this defensive performance. Rhode Island put up the most inexcusable loss of the week, losing 22-18 to North Carolina A&T. Rhody was already on shaky ground without Devin Farrell, who didn’t play again this week. URI also saw Marquis Buchanan leave with an injury, but he later returned. Rhody is in a bad spot, and their FCS Playoff at-large chances are in peril, if not already evaporated.

There were several teams under consideration for the top 25 that (obviously) didn’t make it: Chattanooga, Elon, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Mercer, Monmouth, and Richmond. Elon and Richmond both fall in the same category for me. They have a solid record (both are 4-1), but haven’t really played well enough or beaten anyone noteworthy. For Elon, they’re 4-1, but their victories have been against D-II Glenville State, Davidson (2-3), Sacred Heart (1-3), and Maine (1-4). Their lone loss came at Rhode Island, a team whose stock couldn’t be dropping any faster. Elon has some good-looking wins, but it hasn’t been against good teams. Richmond defeated Bucknell (1-4), Howard (1-3), Georgetown (0-3), and Furman (2-3). The win versus Furman is solid, but they won a 13-9 struggle, and it came a week after barely beating Georgetown on a last-second field goal. Richmond has a decent resume, but hasn’t looked good in doing so. Personally, I don’t think either is top-25 worthy right now.

Photo Credit to Youngstown State University Athletics