Fear The FCS 2026 Week 5 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 5 games. You can find the week 4 submission here.

General Thoughts

It was another week of upsets in the FCS, including Montana State‘s last-second loss. There’s also a recurring theme in the bottom half of the poll: chaos. Every team beyond 13th was difficult to rank, and I wish I could have stopped at that point. Alas, it’s my job to rank the full top 25, whether I like it or not.

There’s a new number one this week: South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits ran away from Illinois State in the second half to a 31-14 win. Chase Mason still isn’t back, but that didn’t matter. Likely controversial to some: Youngstown State moves up to second. They have losses to Kentucky and SDSU, but have otherwise looked excellent. They own back-to-back wins over South Dakota and Southern Illinois, both in impressive fashion. Montana jumps up two spots to third after 5 touchdown passes by Keali’i Ah Yat. The Griz are starting to get going, but they have a tough road trip next week at Northern Arizona.

Tarleton State drops one spot, with Youngstown State and Montana jumping over them. It took them the entire first half to get going against Chicago State, which doesn’t have the greatest defense. Maybe they were taking them lightly, but a slow start five games into the season shouldn’t be discarded. South Dakota jumps four spots to fifth. The Coyotes were more impressive against Indiana State than North Dakota was the week before. Also, North Dakota had an atrocious start against Murray State, falling behind 21-0 at home. I can’t penalize Tarleton State for a slow start and then ignore a more egregious one from North Dakota. Austin Peay moves up two spots to 6th. The Governors have been consistent this year: big wins, good defense, and no hiccups. They’re just ahead of North Dakota, which slides one spot to 7th.

Let’s talk about Montana State. The Bobcats were the top-ranked team and were without four All-Americans in the 35-34 loss at previously winless Idaho: QB Justin Lamson, RB Adam Jones, WR Taco Dowler, and DB Caden Dowler. The Bobcats held a 34-20 lead early in the fourth, and the Vandals needed an unlikely finish to win (aided by some questionable time management). In a vacuum, it would be easy to write off the loss due to missing four key players. While that’s probably true, we’d also have to ignore the previous week when MSU, without those same four players, beat an arguably better team in Northern Arizona 28-14. It would also ignore the Central Connecticut State game where all four players did play, and the Bobcats still struggled to win 35-30. We also are assuming that all four players will return healthy after the bye week and play at the highest level. I think there’s enough evidence to justify dropping Montana State to 8th this week, especially with the defensive struggles we’ve seen.

Stephen F. Austin drops from 7th to 9th this week after defeating Incarnate Word 28-26. I raved about SFA’s defense last week, so naturally, they struggled against UIW. We still don’t know if UIW will be good or not five weeks into the season. Lehigh rounds out the top 10 after putting up 31 second quarter points in the 34-0 win over Fordham. Lehigh was without Hayden Johnson once again, which is my main concern heading into the back half of the season. Lamar moves up one spot to 11th, while Northern Arizona jumps five spots to 12th. NAU posted a big 38-31 road victory over Idaho State. UC Davis jumps three spots to 13th after defeating Eastern Washington 49-38, although I still have concerns about the Aggies’ defense.

Now for the bottom half of the poll, where it has been a nightmare to rank the last few weeks. It’s a mix of dropping teams, unimpressive teams, and middling teams who could end up good enough for the top 10 or falling out of the poll completely. Campbell benefits from the chaos, moving up five spots to 14th. The Camels outlasted North Carolina Central and sit at 5-1 overall (2-0 CAA). They own two wins over East Tennessee State and Western Carolina that became a lot more impressive this week. Idaho State drops two spots to 15th after a tough loss at home to Northern Arizona.

East Tennessee State enters the poll in 16th after an impressive 14-3 win against Chattanooga, just a week after defeating Western Carolina 58-31. Stony Brook moves from 22nd to 17th after a bye, thanks entirely to the carnage around them. Illinois State drops four spots to 18th after a tough second half against South Dakota State. The Redbirds are trending in the wrong direction. Harvard moves up six spots from 25th to 19th after the miraculous Hail Mary win at home against Colgate. My biggest concern with Harvard is the offense, which has been woefully inefficient in the last two games. Ironically, if not for the offense’s false start on a 57-yard field goal attempt that led to the Hail Mary, Harvard would likely have lost and dropped out of the poll.

Western Carolina enters the poll in 20th after the big 44-20 win over Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles dropped from 10th to 21st after the loss. It was the second straight week that Tennessee Tech struggled defensively against a decent-to-good opponent. Colgate drops one spot to 22nd after the heartbreaking loss to Harvard. Houston Christian jumps into the poll at 23rd and slots in ahead of Southeastern Louisiana, but also has a loss to Incarnate Word. While the Lions have an FBS win, plus a win over North Alabama (4-2), Houston Christian owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. The last spot in the poll is Jackson State, which makes its top 25 debut after a comeback victory over Alabama A&M last week to move to 5-0.

Teams That Dropped Out and Other Notables

The wild week of action cost four teams a spot in the poll: #15 West Florida, #18 South Carolina State, #20 Alabama State, and #23 Southern Illinois. West Florida was crushed 35-7 by Abilene Christian on the road, but their signature win over Southern Illinois isn’t holding up as strongly. South Carolina State lost to The Citadel 34-31 and was bounced from the poll. The Bulldogs struggled to put away Furman and Bethune-Cookman in the previous two games before losing to The Citadel, so there were already question marks about this team.

Alabama State lost 16-10 to Bethune-Cookman in a second straight game without Andrew Body. This time, it didn’t work out as BCU held the Hornets to 255 total yards, while rushing for 337 of their own. Southern Illinois lost 28-16 to Youngstown State, which isn’t surprising, but the Salukis don’t have a great resume at this point. SIU has a 22-18 win over Samford (2-4), a 34-20 win over SEMO (2-3), and a 46-6 win over Murray State (1-5).

The list of teams that received consideration for the top 25 this week was short: Abilene Christian, Cornell, Mercer, Monmouth, Morgan State, and Richmond. Last week, I said Elon and Richmond had deceptive records. Well, Elon went out and proved me right by losing to New Hampshire, who was 1-4 entering the week. I know this will put me at odds with my fellow voters, but Richmond’s 5-1 record doesn’t impress me. They have wins over Bucknell (1-4), Howard (2-3), Georgetown (0-4), Furman (2-4), and Lafayette (1-4). While you can only beat who you have on your schedule, I can only judge teams based on what I’ve seen. Richmond hasn’t beaten anyone good and hasn’t looked particularly good doing so. Next week probably won’t reveal much either because Richmond faces 1-5 Fordham.

Compare Richmond’s schedule to that of Abilene Christian. The Wildcats are 2-4 overall, with losses to Lamar (#11 in my poll), Mercer (#25), Stephen F. Austin (#9), and Texas Tech (FBS). They also have wins over Idaho (1-4, who just defeated Montana State) and West Florida (previously ranked). The problem for ACU is they need to actually win more games. Quality losses are still losses and can only get you so far. I can see an argument for both teams: Richmond’s proven they can win, albeit against inferior teams, while ACU has played a much more difficult schedule with a few okay-to-solid wins.

The weak schedule argument is also working against teams like Morgan State. Morgan State is 4-1 after defeating Villanova 38-35, but the Wildcats (2-4) are clearly not the team we expected from the preseason. I’ve had them out of the top 25 since Week 1. Morgan State’s other wins are against NCAT (1-5), Towson (0-6), and Virginia-Lynchburg. Records aren’t everything, so you have to ask: does this team play like a top 25 program, or are they on a comparable level with other teams near the top 25? In my opinion, the answer is no for Morgan State. I believe Alabama State and South Carolina State were top 25 in prior weeks, but that’s no longer the case.

Idaho received zero consideration for my top 25. I understand that a win over the previous #1 team is something no one else has, but a 1-4 record is too much to overlook. One of those losses is to Abilene Christian, which I already left out of the top 25. ACU has a very similar resume, with a tough schedule and little to show for it. For Idaho, the other factor working against them is that one of their 4 losses is to Cal Poly, a team I think is worse than what their 3-3 record would indicate. The top 25 bubble discussion highlights one of the tougher subjective parts of the top 25: how are wins, strength of schedule, and resumes valued? And how does that value change based on different factors? Every voter has their own answer.

Photo Credit to Western Carolina University Athletics