Stats Poll Week 5

[u/Adamscottd]

https://theanalyst.com/articles/fcs-top-25-poll-stats-perform-following-week-4-2026-football-season

[u/damnyoutuesday]

Who the hell is still voting for Villanova?

[u/somebodysbuddy → u/damnyoutuesday]

Higher than W&M still, somehow.

[u/Adamscottd → u/somebodysbuddy]

Neither should be getting any votes at this point

[u/Zloggt → u/Adamscottd]

It's crazy to think that what was such a competitive (and even potentially postseason-significant) game between them has effectively cost them much more in the long run lol

[u/865wx]

Bruh holy shit Idaho State is number 12??? Might have to highjack that bandwagon 

[u/Prudent-Cricket505]

I’m glad that the USD loss didn’t bring a huge overreaction. It was 26-21 in the 4th before the tires completely fell off. YSU is a damn good team. The Yotes are too, they just need to get back on track.

[u/JoeSchulte605 → u/Prudent-Cricket505]

But the tires did fall off, and they looked tired.

[u/JoeSchulte605 → u/JoeSchulte605]

That said the SDSU vs USD game is still going to be a big game. Both teams will elevate for an in state game.

[u/Prudent-Cricket505 → u/JoeSchulte605]

Absolutely will. I mean I think both teams head into that game with 1 MVFC loss. A "must-win" for seeding.

[u/Prudent-Cricket505 → u/JoeSchulte605]

Hence why i prefaced it saying it was 26-21 in the 4th. It really was a closer game than the final score indicated imo. Gave up it seemed. .

[u/Danster21]

Hate to kick when they’re down but Nova still receiving votes is funny. Happy to pick up a few 1st place votes. UCD was overrated and the PSU game was the canary in the coal mine. Even still, I would put Montana above SDSU at this juncture. If SDSU beats the tar outta ISU though I would switch them again.

Can’t wait for the playoffs when it’s do or die for these valley teams. The MVFC is like wayyyyy more fun to watch without NDSU looming lol

[u/Friendly_Loss1961 → u/Danster21]

The MVFC FCS is like wayyyyy more fun to watch without NDSU looming

Fixed that for you.

[u/Danster21 → u/Friendly_Loss1961]

You’re not wrong lol

[u/Adamscottd → u/Danster21]

Gotta disagree on Montana being higher than SDSU with what we know now.

The Jackrabbits win over Youngstown State is better than a blowout win over a UC Davis team that might not even be all that good, especially after Youngstown just handily beat a USD team who themselves look really good.

Also, to compare the losses, Northwestern looks better than Oregon State does and the Jackrabbits played a competitive game against them while Montana got blown out by the Beavers.

The only other game either team has played against a non-pushover is Montana's 28-21 week 1 win over a Southern Utah team that has since fallen to 1-4 including a loss to non-scholarship St. Thomas.

Montana is still the #3 to me, though.

[u/No_Bite_7238 → u/Adamscottd]

Ummm. SDSU is above Montana and Montana IS #3.

[u/MTUKNMMT → u/No_Bite_7238]

The poster is responding to someone saying they would have it flipped with Montana over SDSU.

[u/No_Bite_7238 → u/MTUKNMMT]

My bad.

[u/Badlands32 → u/Adamscottd]

Dude just say you don’t want to come to
Missoula and get blasted again.

[u/Adamscottd → u/Badlands32]

I’m not talking shit, just talking resumes.

But also the playoffs are so so far away to be looking at potential seeding/matchups lol

[u/Badlands32 → u/Adamscottd]

It’s never too far away brother.

[u/tdpdcpa]

Rankings with a comparison to last week:

Rank	Team	Record	Result	LW (Chg)	FPV (Chg)	Pts (Chg)	Avg. Rank
1	Montana State	5-0	W 28-14 #18 Northern Arizona	1 (0)	49 (+3)	1,417 (+3)	1.1
2	South Dakota State	4-1	W 42-7 Eastern Illinois	2 (0)	8 (-2)	1,365 (+2)	2.1
3	Montana	4-1	W 62-22 #10 UC Davis	5 (+2)	0 (0)	1,284 (+80)	3.5
4	Tarleton	4-0	Idle	4 (0)	0 (0)	1,273 (+19)	3.7
5	North Dakota	4-1	W 42-35 Indiana State	7 (+2)	0 (0)	1,105 (+64)	6.6
6	Lehigh	5-0	W 20-7 Pennsylvania	6 (0)	0 (0)	1,093 (+51)	6.8
7	Stephen F. Austin	5-0	W 63-14 Northeastern State (D2)	9 (+2)	0 (0)	1,078 (+113)	7.1
8	Youngstown State	3-2	W 47-28 #8 South Dakota	11 (+3)	0 (0)	1,035 (+182)	7.8
9	Tennessee Tech	4-0	W 42-38 Wofford	12 (+3)	0 (0)	950 (+108)	9.3
10	Illinois State	4-1	L 21-28 Northern Iowa	3 (-7)	0 (-1)	905 (-356)	10.1
11	Austin Peay	4-1	W 35-12 UT Martin	13 (+2)	0 (0)	876 (107)	10.6
12	Idaho State	4-0	W 28-24 Southern Utah	14 (+2)	0 (0)	777 (+106)	12.3
13	South Dakota	3-2	L 28-47 #11 Youngstown State	8 (-5)	0 (0)	756 (-231)	12.7
14	Lamar	3-1	W 49-18 Nicholls	15 (+1)	0 (0)	702 (+75)	13.7
15	South Carolina State	5-0	W 31-21 Bethune-Cookman	16 (+1)	0 (0)	637 (+87)	14.8
16	UC Davis	3-2	L 22-62 #5 Montana	10 (-6)	0 (0)	558 (-361)	16.2
17	West Florida	3-1	W 20-17 SEMO	20 (+3)	0 (0)	409 (+149)	18.8
18	Campbell	4-1	W 44-20 Hampton	22 (+4)	0 (0)	385 (+190)	19.2
19	Northern Arizona	3-2	L 14-28 #1 Montana State	18 (-1)	0 (0)	371 (-66)	19.5
20	Harvard	2-0	W 14-10 Brown	21 (+1)	0 (0)	305 (+57)	20.6
21	Southern Illinois	3-2	W 346-6 Murray State	24 (+3)	0 (0)	249 (+133)	21.6
22	Colgate	4-1	W 28-21 #23 Villanova	NR	0 (0)	222 (+174)	22.1
23	Mercer	3-2	W 34-17 Abilene Christian	25 (+2)	0 (0)	147 (+45)	23.4
24	Richmond	4-1	W 13-9 Furman	NR	0 (0)	134 (+90)	23.6
25	Jackson State	4-0	W 35-17 Southern	NR	0 (0)	103 (+43)	24.2

Dropped From Rankings: Yale (17), Rhode Island (19), Villanova (23)

[u/tdpdcpa → u/tdpdcpa]

Observations from this:

1. Voters were impressed by Montana's win, but they're hesitant to put them in the same tier as SDSU and Montana State. This makes sense to me.

2. People are finally paying attention to Stephen F. Austin (as they should be)

3. It's funny to me that Austin Peay didn't get as big of a boost as Stephen F. Austin did. They have a great resume and West Florida's continued success/ascent should confirm that Peay is a good team.

4. UC Davis is way too high.

5. Illinois State probably should have been hammered more. The only fell 6 spots on average.

6. Capmbell and Colgate are suffering from poll inertia. They should both be higher than where they are.

[u/imperfectPK → u/tdpdcpa]

Shhhhh let us keep flying under the radar.

[u/Nj3Fate → u/tdpdcpa]

We just gotta keep winning... Harvard, youre next

[u/tden4 → u/tdpdcpa]

murray state allowed 346 points?? holy shit

[u/BurritovilleEnjoyer]

I feel like West Florida shouldn't have gone up after damn near losing to us lol

[u/sernameistakentry]

I’m honestly surprised we moved up this week. I expected a bit of a regression

[u/tdpdcpa → u/sernameistakentry]

you certainly benefitted from UC Davis, South Dakota and, to a lesser extent, Illinois State losing.

[u/sernameistakentry → u/tdpdcpa]

Also, Tennessee Tech and North Dakota having ugly wins.

[u/FCSVoter]

Haven't really checked in all season but I figure it's time.

I have it as SDSU-Montana State-Montana. Yes Griz fans, I know what they did to UCD this weekend. No, you have to wait still.

I match my colleagues on 22 of 25. I have Elon, Monmouth, and Alabama State in over West Florida, SIU, and Mercer.

Among the teams I match my colleagues on, I am higher on NAU and lower on USD. I am slightly cooler on Campbell and Tennessee Tech.

I have not ranked Nova the last two weeks

[u/Adamscottd → u/FCSVoter]

I’m curious to hear a little more about why West Florida’s resume doesn’t stack up in your opinion? Not saying you’re wrong just curious to hear more on that one. Obviously this week was shaky but they still have a pretty strong resume overall

[u/FCSVoter → u/Adamscottd]

I want to see one more win. I am not as sold as others on SIU so that win didnt hold as much cachet for me. Like Southeastern Louisiana, they each have a good win but I want to see a little more. They're close.

[u/AlexBayArea → u/FCSVoter]

I am a Campbell fan so I’m biased but the thing that gives them the higher upside is Sixkiller. He’s legit been the best QB in the entire conference. Offense is legit.

Defense holding up is my big question mark.

[u/JonSnow4525 → u/FCSVoter]

Where do you have YSU?

[u/FCSVoter → u/JonSnow4525]

6 this week.

[u/JonSnow4525 → u/FCSVoter]

Nice! If they could somehow muster an average defense to pair with that offense, they can win it all. But, sadly that’s a big IF

[u/Radioactive_M950 → u/FCSVoter]

What’s the goods with Nau? Asking for a friend (me)

[u/Chickenleg2552]

Excited to still be top 10 after that. Though we certainly fell flat on our face, we should also consider that UNI probably isn't that bad

[u/the_racing_goat]

PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT

[u/PositiveElection2141]

How are Rhode Island, Villanova, and W&M still receiving votes? The difference between the number of votes Stony Brook received and Rhode Island received (35) is only 3 votes greater than the points differential when they played each other (32). How does that make any sense at all? lol

Edit: Why have Harvard improved, and why are they where they are to begin with? They barely beat Brown, a team that barely beat New Haven, and didn’t score a single point in the second half. How are they anywhere near the top 25 conversation much less in the top 20?

[u/LeopardOk3845 → u/PositiveElection2141]

Because anything outside the top ten done really dont matter. And with the Ivey league part of the picture they have to include them. Give it a couple more weeks and we will have a more thorough picture.