Fear The FCS 2026 Week 10 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 10 games. The Week 9 submission can be found here.

General Thoughts

It was a relatively calm week of action in the FCS to start November, but there were still a few upsets. At the top of the poll, Youngstown State remains #1 for this ballot. The Penguins crushed Murray State 62-35 in a game that was over at halftime. Tarleton State moves up one spot from 3rd to 2nd after defeating Abilene Christian 40-27. The Texans scored two touchdowns in 22 seconds to take control in the fourth quarter. Montana State slips from 2nd to 3rd after surviving a triple overtime scare against Idaho State 28-26. It was a subpar defensive effort, giving up 410 yards and allowing 9 of 18 third-down conversions. The defensive issues keep popping up every other game, which is a worrisome trend. South Dakota State handled Northern Iowa at the UNI-Dome 41-15 and remains in fourth. Northern Arizona moves up one spot to 5th after easily defeating Cal Poly 28-10 on the road.

Lamar moves up 5 spots from 11th to 6th after upsetting Stephen F. Austin at home 45-28. The Cardinals led 17-0 and looked poised to cruise, but SFA rallied to close the deficit. Two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter sealed the impressive victory. South Dakota had a bye and remains in 7th. South Dakota doesn’t have a win on the same level as Lamar to stay ahead of the Cardinals. Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay remain in 8th and 9th, respectively, after big wins over outmatched opponents. Stephen F. Austin falls from 5th to 10th after the 45-28 loss to Lamar. It was a rough loss for the Lumberjacks, with both sides of the ball facing questions.

Monmouth drops one spot from 10th to 11th after a 21-17 win over North Carolina A&T. The Hawks clinched a share of the CAA title thanks to the defense shutting out NCAT in the second half. The offense’s disappearing act in the final 30 minutes is a concern for a unit that put up 30+ points in the previous five games. Weber State was on a bye and moved up one spot to 12th. Mercer moves from 15th to 13th after a hard-fought 14-7 overtime win at Chattanooga. The offense struggled against the Mocs, although it was expected from a good defensive opponent. North Dakota also moves up two spots to 14th after the offense came roaring back to life against Illinois State in the 49-21 victory. Harvard moves from 21st to 15th after posting a 37-0 win over Columbia. It was a much improved performance on both sides of the ball after the 24-14 loss to Dartmouth last week.

Montana moves from 18th to 16th following a 57-24 win over Portland State. It’s difficult to know how much (if at all) the defense improved against a PSU team that sits at 2-8 overall. Campbell is also up two spots to 17th after defeating Stony Brook 48-35 at home. The Camels trailed 35-21 early in the 3rd quarter and the defense continued to struggle, giving up 553 yards. Princeton jumps up five spots to 18th after a 21-14 win at home against Dartmouth. The Tigers struggled offensively in the second half, while the defense came up with two interceptions and forced a turnover on downs in the final 30 minutes to fend off the Big Green. Lehigh pops back into the poll at #19 following the 33-7 win over Colgate. The team looked far better this week, even with first-year QB Patrick Coan getting a majority of the snaps. Incarnate Word is up two spots to 20th after winning 35-16 over Southeastern Louisiana. UIW looked great in the first half, disappeared in the third quarter, but reappeared for the fourth quarter.

Illinois State drops four spots to 21st after the 49-21 at North Dakota. The Redbirds don’t have an easy schedule to end the regular season, with games against Youngstown State (road) and South Dakota (home). Would the Northern Illinois win be enough to keep them in the playoff picture with a 7-5 record? Abilene Christian is down two spots to 22nd after losing 40-27 to Tarleton State. The Wildcats will need to beat Austin Peay on the road next week to have any chance of an at-large berth. Idaho jumps into the poll at #23 following the 62-31 win over Eastern Washington. The Vandals own the two big wins over Montana and Montana State.

Central Connecticut State makes the poll at #24 following a 31-7 win over Stonehill. The Blue Devils are playing very well right now, especially on defense. CCSU has already clinched a share of the NEC title and can win it outright with a victory in either of its final two games. East Tennessee State rounds out the poll at #25. The Bucs fall from 14th to 25th after an awful last-second 37-35 loss at home to Samford. The paper is inexplicable on paper because ETSU hasn’t really struggled against inferior opponents to this point, losing only to Campbell (#17 on this ballot), North Carolina (FBS), and Tennessee Tech (#8).

Teams That Dropped Out and Other Notables

Three teams dropped out of the top 25: #12 Albany, #24 Alabama A&M, and #25 South Carolina State. Albany put on a dreadful performance against Bryant, losing 31-7. While Bryant is not a bad team, Albany’s offense went completely MIA after averaging nearly 40 points per game over the last 4 games. Running back Rahshan La Mons was out with an ankle injury, but it’s hard to think he was the sole reason for the drop-off. The defense also played poorly, allowing an astounding 12 of 17 on third down and letting Bryant hold the ball for 36 minutes. Of course, some of the defense’s woes came from the offense not keeping possession. I understand this may seem like an overreaction, but if losing your top RB causes this much regression in an offense, and there’s not a certain timetable for his return, then this kind of movement is warranted.

AAMU cut the deficit to 14-10 early in the third quarter and then did nothing offensively the rest of the game in the 31-10 loss to Prairie View A&M. South Carolina State defeated Howard 35-28, but it was a terrible second half for the Bulldogs. SCSCU led 21-7 at half and the defense had allowed only one drive to go more than 10 yards. The second half started the same, but Howard had 3 long TD drives to tie the game at 28. This was the same Howard offense that put up 114 total yards of offense last week against North Carolina Central in a 34-0 loss. This game reminded me of the defensive lapses against The Citadel and Charleston Southern.

Six teams were considered for last week’s top 25 ballot, but didn’t make it: Central Connecticut State, Chattanooga, Dartmouth, Idaho State, Lehigh, and Northern Iowa. CCSU and Lehigh are back in the top 25, while Chattanooga, Dartmouth, Idaho State, and Northern Iowa lost this week. Chattanooga lost 14-7 at home to Mercer, and while the defense is stout, the offense continues to struggle. Dartmouth lost 21-14 to Princeton and continues to fall short of its potential this season. The Big Green could be sitting at 7-1 right now after close losses to Lehigh (24-20), Monmouth (31-28), and now Princeton. Northern Iowa lost 41-15 to South Dakota State at home, putting them at 4-5 and ending the UNI-Dome magic this season.

We have five teams for this week’s list of considerables: Albany, Bryant, Dayton, Idaho State, and South Carolina State. I did consider keeping Albany in the top 25 this week, but the 31-7 loss to Bryant raised plenty of questions. For Bryant, they added an impressive win over Albany to their 21-14 victory against Princeton. South Carolina State dropped out but was still considered after the 35-28 win against Howard. Other teams have been more impressive than SCSU in recent weeks.

Dayton is 8-1 right now, with a win over a scholarship team in Eastern Kentucky (17-14 on the road), as well as a 19-9 road win over Butler (19-9). Working against the Flyers are the 30-22 loss at Drake (3-7) and their last three games. Against San Diego (5-5) two weeks ago and Valparaiso (4-5) this week, Dayton surrendered double-digit leads. They ultimately won both games with late fourth-quarter touchdowns. Last week, Dayton struggled mightily at Stetson (1-8), whose lone win is against an NAIA opponent. I understand the Flyers have a gaudy 8-1 record, but they don’t look like a top 25 team against weak competition.

Idaho State lost 28-26 at home in triple overtime to Montana State. It was an intense game and a better performance than their 34-27 win against Utah Tech (1-9) last week. ISU has become an enigma because they have one great win over Utah State (29-17), some close losses to good teams (Northern Arizona, Weber State, and Montana State), and a confounding loss to Cal Poly (4-7). For those who have followed this ballot, Cal Poly is a team I considered overrated for much of the season. They played up or down to their opponent for the first 7 games, but the last four games have shown us who Cal Poly really is. They lost to Northern Colorado (3-7), Utah Tech (1-9), Montana State (9-1), and Northern Arizona (8-2). Those last 2 aren’t surprising, but the first two are inexplicable for a team that had played consistently earlier in the season. ISU’s loss to Cal Poly is too much for me to ignore, especially when paired with the lack of a good FCS win. I understand if other voters think the Bengals should stay in the top 25, but they won’t be on my ballot.

Thoughts on the Committee’s Top 10

The Football Championship Committee released its second and final in-season top 10 rankings on Thursday, ahead of the Week 10 games. Montana State, Tarleton State, Stephen F. Austin, South Dakota State, and Youngstown State were the top 5 teams. Northern Arizona, Austin Peay, South Dakota, Tennessee Tech, and Lamar were ranked 6 through 10. Overall, I don’t have many qualms, except for Youngstown State dropping behind Stephen F. Austin. YSU defeated Indiana State (2-7), Northern Iowa (4-4), and North Dakota (6-4), with UND ranked in the top 10 at the time. SFA defeated Nicholls (3-6), SE Louisiana (4-5), and Houston Christian (4-5). I’m not sure how the committee can see those results and think SFA was worthy of jumping YSU. I could understand the rankings if SFA was ahead of YSU in the first rankings, but that wasn’t the case. The committee also didn’t provide any “receiving votes” teams. There may not have been any of those in this ranking, but the Committee should make that clear. There should be a clear standard to either include a certain number of teams receiving votes or none at all. Even though SFA lost this week, after the rankings came out, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lumberjacks somehow stayed ahead of YSU when the ballot is released.

Photo Credit to Lamar University Athletics