Folks, I’m not going to mince words on this. I just submitted my FCS Poll Ballot (on behalf of GridironHeroics) a few minutes ago to the FCS godfather, Craig Haley, at STATS/PERFORM as part of the official FCS football poll this week — and it was a toss-up in many ways.
By Tuesday morning (maybe earlier now that we’re getting really close)? I’m going to publish more of a fleshed-out postseason/playoff picture (seedings, at-larges, guaranteed playoff berths, etc) with only a few weeks remaining (seeding and at-large projection, etc.) because there are trickier dynamics when it comes to the postseason picture.
WEEK 10 FCS REACTION: OPINION: How did this weekend affect the playoff picture?
The FCS annually has eight top seeds who don’t have to play on Thanksgiving weekend. trust me, these young men and their coaching staffs want to earn that free weekend, they’d love to eat turkey at home with their families. That’s the bonus of securing a seed.
That’s also the bonus of not being an FBS team and not securing a bowl berth because your fans don’t travel well — while a 6-6 team that you’ve beaten? Gets the bid. Shrug.
You can always find an opinion about who might do this … on my Twitter acct (@BrianMacWriter) by … soon.
Below is my week’s FCS poll ballot explanation is in the Week 10 FCS reaction piece linked below:
FCS PODCAST – BMAC AND THE NACH – ON APPLE PODCASTS
BMAC’S FCS POLL BALLOT EXPLANATION:
Want to know the reasoning for this week’s vote? It’s available at the link immediately below!
WEEK 10 FCS REACTION: OPINION: How did this weekend affect the playoff picture?
THE VOTE: (note that FCS REC (record vs. FCS) is what the playoff committee will look at — unless the FCS school has an FBS win or a lower-division loss).
| RK | WEEK 10 (Nov 5) | CONF. | REC | FCS | STRK | WEEK 10 (Nov 5) |
| 1 | Sac. State | BIG SKY | 9-0 | 8-0+ | W9 | BEAT at Weber by 3 |
| 2 | SDSU | MVFC | 9-1 | 9-0 | W9 | BEAT No. Iowa by 3 |
| 3 | NDSU | MVFC | 7-2 | 7-1 | W2 | BEAT West Illinois by 39 |
| 4 | Montana State | BIG SKY | 8-1 | 8-0 | W6 | BEAT at NAU by 3 |
| 5 | William & Mary | CAA | 8-1 | 7-1+ | W6 | BEAT Hampton by 6 |
| 6 | Weber State | BIG SKY | 7-2 | 5-2+ | L1 | LOST Sac. St by 2 (home) |
| 7 | Incarnate Word | SOUTHLAND | 9-1 | 8-1+ | W6 | BEAT Houston Chr by 53 |
| 8 | Holy Cross | PATRIOT | 8-0 | 7-0+ | W8 | BEAT Lehigh by 28 |
| 9 | Samford | SOCON | 8-1 | 8-0 | W7 | BEAT VMI by 19 |
| 10 | Idaho | BIG SKY | 6-3 | 6-1 | W1 | BEAT East Wash by 32 |
| 11 | Montana | BIG SKY | 6-3 | 6-3 | W1 | BEAT Cal Poly by 57 |
| 12 | Furman | SOCON | 7-2 | 6-1 | W4 | OPEN DATE |
| 13 | Chattanooga | SOCON | 7-2 | 7-1 | W1 | BEAT The Citadel by 10 |
| 14 | Elon | CAA | 7-3 | 7-2 | W2 | BEAT Albany by 24 |
| 15 | Delaware | CAA | 7-2 | 6-2+ | W1 | BEAT Monmouth by 32 |
| 16 | SEMO | OVC | 7-2 | 7-1 | W1 | BEAT Tenn. St. by 42 |
| 17 | Rhode Island | CAA | 6-3 | 6-2 | W1 | BEAT Maine by 4 |
| 18 | Richmond | CAA | 7-2 | 7-1 | W4 | BEAT New Hamp by 6 |
| 19 | Mercer | SOCON | 7-2 | 7-1 | W1 | OPEN DATE |
| 20 | Jackson St. | SWAC | 9-0 | 9-0 | W9 | BEAT Tex. South by 27 |
| 21 | Princeton | IVY | 8-0 | 8-0 | W8 | BEAT Dartmouth by 3 |
| 22 | SE Louisiana | SOUTHLAND | 6-3 | 6-1 | W3 | BEAT Lamar by 16 |
| 23 | East. Kentucky | ASUN-WAC | 6-3 | 5-2+ | W3 | BEAT Cent. Ark by 28 |
| 24 | North Dakota | MVFC | 6-3 | 6-2 | W2 | BEAT Indiana St by 35 |
| 25 | Youngstown St | MVFC | 6-3 | 6-2 | W4 | BEAT Illinois St by 2 |
WEEK 10 FCS REACTION: OPINION: How did this weekend affect the playoff picture?
A (+) indicates the team has beaten a Group of Five Conference FBS team, and a (&) indicates the team has beaten a Power Five Conference FBS team. FBS wins are key come postseason selection time.
Brian McLaughlin has been a voter on the STATS/PERFORM FCS football poll since 2016, while also voting on the postseason awards — the Walter Payton Award (top offensive player), the Buck Buchanan Award (top defensive player), the Jerry Rice Award (the top freshman in FCS football), and the Eddie Robinson Award (top coach that year).
Brian votes based on his ballot last week, not the final poll tally from the entire group of voters. He believes this keeps his vote to comparing apples to apples and expressing his opinion on what he has seen. When there is a team listed above that doesn’t make it into the publically released FCS football poll, that indicates that no other voter listed the team and that eliminates that team from being even in the “also receiving votes” category.
Also, this year, if a program is ineligible for the postseason yet is playing in one of the playoff-bound conferences (Sam Houston and Jacksonville State are examples) — that program isn’t allowed in the poll. But Ivy Leagues and HBCUs are included because they determine their champions in a different way.
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