Folks, I’m not going to mince words on this. I just submitted this vote a few minutes ago to Craig Haley at STATS/PERFORM as part of the official FCS poll ballot week five — and it was a toss-up in many ways.
Later Monday? I’m going to develop more of a postseason/playoff picture (seeding and at-large projection, etc.) because there are trickier dynamics when it comes to the postseason picture. The FCS annually has eight top seeds who don’t have to play on Thanksgiving weekend. They can go home and enjoy turkey with family and friends without worrying about a game in 48 hours. That comes in the next story, which you can find pinned to the top of my Twitter acct (@BrianMacWriter) by Monday evening.
WEEK FIVE FCS WRAP: How did this weekend affect the playoff picture?
FCS PODCAST – BMAC AND THE NACH – ON APPLE PODCASTS
POLL BALLOT ACTION:
I’m only comparing below with my poll ballot last week, not the final vote of the STATS/PERFORM national poll. I so often vastly disagree with the overall poll results (like NDSU losing first-place votes earlier this season after falling to Arizona by a few points) that I feel like I should only compare apples to apples and critique my own vote from last week.
THE LIST – FCS POLL BALLOT WEEK FIVE
THE TOP 10: There really isn’t a whole lot of action here. Missouri State drops out of it after a blowout loss at North Dakota, with everyone bumping up a notch or two. But I haven’t changed my mind a whole lot about who the elite teams are. At least not yet. I will say that the No. 8 through No. 11 zone is a bit tricky to put in an order at this point.
NO. 10 THROUGH NO. 25: This is where it gets really, really confusing. This portion of the poll ballot is what I like to call the circular-firing squad portion. Between No. 12 and No. 21, it’s an absolute crapshoot. These schools are all good but have beaten each other up a good bit, and there’s no perfectly square ranking to be had here. Good luck putting these in order.
THE REST OF THE BEST
DROPPED FROM TOP 25 (for now): UC Davis, Furman, and North Carolina Central had to make way for some new blood this week, but all could be in the playoff picture by November if they bounce back.
CONSIDERING: Moving forward, I’ll be keeping my eye on a gaggle of CAA teams to see who will join Delaware, Elon, and William & Mary at the top of the conference. Villanova, Rhode Island, Richmond, and Monmouth seem like those teams. Obviously, not all of these schools can make up the top third, but they all look like they have early arguments. The Ivy League is another dynamic, and I really like Princeton. I’ll be ready to rank top Ivy schools after one more week of results.
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 FIVE (OCT 2 VOTE) | REC | FCS REC | FBS WIN? | LAST WK | WEEK 5 RESULTS |
| 1 | NDSU | 4-1 | 4-0 | 1 | beat Youngstown by 13 | |
| 2 | Montana | 5-0 | 5-0 | 2 | beat Idaho St | |
| 3 | Weber State | 4-0 | 2-0+ | YES (g5) | 3 | OPEN DATE |
| 4 | SDSU | 4-1 | 4-0 | 4 | beat Western Ill. By 24 | |
| 5 | Montana State | 4-1 | 4-0 | 5 | beat UC Davis | |
| 6 | Delaware | 5-0 | 4-0+ | YES (g5) | 6 | beat Towson by 14 |
| 7 | Sac. State | 4-0 | 3-0+ | YES (g5) | 8 | beat Cal Poly by 28 |
| 8 | SEMO | 4-1 | 4-0 | 14 | beat Lindenwood by 21 | |
| 9 | Holy Cross | 5-0 | 4-0+ | YES (g5) | 17 | beat Harvard by 9 |
| 10 | Chattanooga | 4-1 | 4-0 | 9 | beat at ETSU by 8 | |
| 11 | Elon | 4-1 | 4-0 | 21 | beat Richmond by 3 | |
| 12 | Incarnate Word | 4-1 | 3-1+ | YES (g5) | 11 | beat McNeese by 28 |
| 13 | Southern Illinois | 3-2 | 2-2+ | YES (P5) | 15 | beat Illlinois State by 5 |
| 14 | North Dakota | 3-2 | 3-1 | NR | BEAT Missouri St by 11 | |
| 15 | Missouri State | 2-3 | 2-2 | 7 | LOST TO NO. DAKOTA BY 17 | |
| 16 | Central Arkansas | 2-3 | 2-2 | NR | beat Austin Peay by 29 | |
| 17 | Austin Peay | 4-2 | 4-1 | 10 | LOST TO CENT ARK BY 29 | |
| 19 | East. Kentucky | 3-2 | 1-1+ | YES (g5) | 13 | beat Southern Utah by 7 |
| 20 | SE Louisiana | 3-2 | 3-0 | 20 | beat Murray St by 34 | |
| 21 | William & Mary | 4-1 | 3-1+ | YES (g5) | 12 | beat Stony Brook by 17 |
| 21 | Jackson St. | 4-0 | 4-0 | 18 | OPEN DATE | |
| 22 | Idaho | 3-2 | 3-0 | NR | beat No. Colo. | |
| 23 | Mercer | 4-1 | 4-0 | 19 | beat Wofford by 35 | |
| 24 | Samford | 4-1 | 4-0 | 23 | beat Furman by 7 | |
| 25 | Fordham | 4-1 | 4-0 | 24 | beat Georgetown by 21 |
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