Fear The FCS 2026 Week 9 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 9 games. The Week 8 submission can be found here.

General Thoughts

The end of October brought the FCS some massive games and some upsets, although not as much chaos as we’ve seen in previous weeks. Let’s start at the top, where I have Youngstown State at #1 for the third straight week. It looked dire for YSU at halftime and even midway through the third quarter. However, the defense came alive to stop a top-10 team in North Dakota and the offense made all the clutch plays to secure the comeback in the 31-28 victory. The defense really struggled in the first half, but whatever adjustments they made flipped the game. Montana State moves up two spots to 2nd after obliterating Cal Poly 61-7. It was the most impressive performance of the weekend from a top 25 team, and the Bobcats have looked better since the 35-34 loss against Idaho. It’s not implausible for YSU to fall a spot or two by the end of the regular season if they win out, but three weeks remain, and a lot can change in that time.

Tarleton State drops one spot to 3rd after a rather weak performance against Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels forced three turnovers and had several chances to build a double-digit lead, but failed to score a touchdown on back-to-back drives. The Texans showed mettle, but the overall performance against a three-win team at home doesn’t hold up relative to other teams. South Dakota State jumps three spots from 7th to 4th after the 31-21 win over South Dakota. The Jackrabbits dominated the game for three quarters, but decided to fall asleep in the final stanza and nearly cost themselves the game. SDSU’s nonchalance in the fourth quarter is worrisome because they did the same thing for the entire game against North Dakota two weeks prior. Stephen F. Austin remains in 5th after a 37-6 home win over Houston Christian.

Northern Arizona stays in 6th after a 34-27 road win over Southern Utah. NAU held a 27-10 lead after three quarters, but some lackadaisical defense in the fourth quarter allowed SUU to close the deficit. South Dakota fell four spots from 3rd to 7th after the 31-21 loss at South Dakota State. It was a poor performance for three quarters, especially on offense, before waking up in the fourth quarter. Tennessee Tech moves from 12th to 8th after defeating East Tennessee State 24-17. TTU scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and made a red zone stop in the final minute to secure the win. Austin Peay had a bye and was unchanged from its 9th-place ranking. Monmouth moves from 18th to 10th after an impressive 34-21 win over Bryant. The Hawks ran all over Bryant, with a late score by Bryant flattering the scoreline.

Lamar moves up five spots from 16th to 11th after cruising past UTRGV 52-23. The Cardinals have a big matchup with SFA next week. Albany is the second CAA team in this week’s ballot to move up 8 spots. The Great Danes defeated Campbell 45-35 and are playing fantastically on offense right now. Weber State moves from 17th to 13th following the 38-14 win over UC Davis. The Wildcats are beginning to peak on offense at the right time. East Tennessee State falls three spots from 11th to 14th after the 24-17 loss at home to Tennessee Tech. The Bucs are very much alive for an at-large berth if they win out. Mercer dropped one spot to 15th despite the 28-19 win over The Citadel. The offense was nonexistent in the first half, which is reminiscent of some early season performances. Not a great game over a two-win opponent.

North Dakota drops six spots from 10th to 16th. Look, it was a tough game at the #1 team on this ballot, Youngstown State, but this was a very winnable game at halftime. The defense collapsed, the offense disappeared, and the special teams put on a disaster class. They can look like worldbeaters against SDSU, but they disappeared for long stretches of games against Murray State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, and now Youngstown State. The Fighting Hawks are too inconsistent to be a legitimate top 10 team. Fellow MVFC member Illinois State dropped two spots to 17th. The Redbirds defeated Murray State at home 35-14, but it took a while for the offense to get going, which is the second straight game of offensive struggles.

Montana moves up one spot from 19th to 18th after defeating Eastern Washington 42-33 on the road. Montana’s offense is great, arguably one of the best in the country. The defense, however, is not good, and it’s holding them way back. I don’t know any other way to put it. Campbell fell from 13th to 19th this week after the 45-35 loss at Albany. If you read the last two ballot articles, you’ll know that I was not sold on Campbell’s recent performances. I’m not surprised by this loss, but I don’t think Campbell is suddenly a bad team. Albany is playing very well right now, but the Camels will need to right the ship in a hurry with three tough opponents to end the season. Abilene Christian moves up from 23rd to 20th after crushing West Georgia 59-0. ACU is once again the biggest threat to Tarleton State this season, and the two teams will meet next week.

Harvard plummets from 8th to 21st this week. The Crimson lost 24-14 at Dartmouth, but it was a bad performance by the offense. Charlie Smith threw 5 interceptions in this game. Dartmouth had only 42 yards passing and threw 3 interceptions of their own. Harvard was lucky to get past Colgate earlier this season, and recent games were better. Unfortunately, a game like this exposes them and puts them in danger of losing the Ivy League. Incarnate Word pops into the top 25 at #22. UIW destroyed Northwestern State 66-14, but their four losses have been to Northern Arizona (#6 in this ballot), Texas State (FBS), Stephen F. Austin (#5 in this ballot), and Lamar (#11 in this ballot). The SFA and Lamar games were also decided by 3 points or less.

Princeton comes into the poll at #23. The Tigers needed a touchdown in the final two minutes to squeak by Cornell 21-20. Princeton is 5-2 overall and owns a win over Albany, which is looking more impressive this week. Alabama A&M moves up one spot from 25th to 24th after a close win over Alabama State 31-28. South Carolina State occupies the final spot in the poll after thrashing Morgan State 51-10. It was a dominating effort, with the offense putting up more than 500 yards and the defense holding Morgan State to 150 yards.

Teams That Dropped Out and Other Notables

Three teams fell out of this week’s top 25: #21 Southeastern Louisiana, #22 UC Davis, and #24 Idaho State. SE Louisiana put in another pitiful offensive performance, this time against East Texas A&M in a 10-7 loss. Earlier in October, SELA also lost 13-3 to UTRGV. UC Davis lost 38-14 to Weber State, but their resume just doesn’t hold up well at this point, with wins over Portland State (2-7), San Diego (4-5), Stetson (1-8), Eastern Washington (2-7), and Northern Colorado (3-6). Idaho State defeated Utah Tech, but it was a lackluster game against a 1-8 opponent. The Bengals needed a defensive touchdown in the final minute to break the deadlock.

Last week’s ballot considered Chattanooga, Lehigh, Northern Iowa, Princeton, Richmond, and Stony Brook. Of those teams, Richmond and Stony Brook lost. I’ve been harping on Richmond’s resume to this point, and I have resisted joining the consensus ranking them this season. Their wins are against Bucknell (1-8), Howard (4-5), Georgetown (3-4), Furman (2-7), Lafayette (3-5), and Colgate (5-4). Their losses have been against Fordham (2-7) and Holy Cross (4-5). The loss against Fordham was inexcusable, but they haven’t looked good in any of their games this season. Stony Brook fell apart in the fourth quarter, squandering a 31-13 lead and losing 32-31 to Sacred Heart in the final 10 seconds.

This week’s ballot considered the following teams: Central Connecticut State, Chattanooga, Dartmouth, Idaho State, Lehigh, and Northern Iowa. Chattanooga posted an unconvincing 24-10 win over VMI, but they have a weak resume. They’ve defeated West Georgia (1-8), Wofford (5-4), The Citadel (2-7), Samford (3-6), Western Carolina (4-5), and VMI (0-9). The losses came against Tennessee Tech, ETSU, and Eastern Kentucky, with the latter looking a bit better this week, but EKU is still 3-6.

I want to talk about Central Connecticut State in depth. CCSU opened with losses to South Dakota, Toledo, and Montana State, with the MSU game being the most impressive. Since then, CCSU has reeled off five wins in a row. Unfortunately, the first four are against some weak competition: Wagner (1-8), American International (D-II, 4-5), Mercyhurst (1-8), New Haven (2-7), and Robert Morris (4-5). The game against Robert Morris this weekend was quite impressive because the score was 42-7 at half, and RMU is the best team they’ve played across the last five. This is where it gets difficult when creating a ballot. They look great against bad teams, played a tough non-conference slate (save AIC), and one of those non-conference games was a near upset of a top team. It’s not quite enough for me to rank them, but I did consider them.

Dartmouth received consideration for the win over Harvard, but they don’t have much else. Their other 3 wins are against Penn (3-4), Merrimack (4-5), and Columbia (4-3), which aren’t horrific, but also aren’t great. The three losses have been against Lehigh (7-2), Monmouth (7-2), and Yale (4-3). I need to see more out of them, which includes next week’s game at Princeton. Northern Iowa is similar. We know they’re good at home, but they’ve shown nothing on the road. They’ll have to change that narrative.

Idaho State is interesting. I know I dropped them from the top 25 after struggling to beat Utah Tech (1-8), but I did consider keeping them in. They have the big win over FBS Utah State (3-5), but the others aren’t that great: VMI (0-9), San Diego (4-5), Southern Utah (3-6), and Portland State (2-7). The losses have been against Northern Arizona (7-2), Cal Poly (4-6), and Weber State (6-4). I need to see more out of them than I did against a one-win Utah Tech squad.

Finally, we arrive at Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks were part of the Stats Top 25 this week at #19, while I dropped them from the rankings last week. Lehigh was coming off back-to-back losses against Cornell (48-38) and Villanova (24-18). This week, they needed to stop a two-point conversion to fend off Bucknell 31-30. Lehigh’s wins have been against Holy Cross (4-5), Georgetown (3-4), William & Mary (3-6), Dartmouth (4-3), Penn (3-4), Fordham (2-7), and Bucknell (1-8). The losses to Cornell (3-4) and Villanova (5-4) aren’t bad, while the Dartmouth win is boosted by its upset of Harvard. However, I can’t ignore how Lehigh is playing right now, and being taken to the brink by a 1-8 Bucknell team is not good form.

Photo Courtesy of Albany Athletics