The 2025 FCS playoffs will be here in no time, with just 18 days until the postseason bracket is revealed. It's time for a look at how the Division I Football Championship Committee has evaluated the action so far as it reveals its second in-season top-10 rankings.
The rankings were announced shortly after 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Nov. 5 on ESPN2's "College Football Live" broadcast.
The committee used results of games played through Nov. 1, and these in-season rankings serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.
The committee's top-10 rankings give insight into which teams are in contention for the first round byes given to the eight seeded teams in the FCS playoff bracket. Like last year, teams seeded Nos. 9-16 will also be seeded, increasing the importance of the last two teams ranked in the committee's rankings. Click or tap here for more on this year's FCS Championship.
Here are the top 10 rankings below along with a breakdown of each team.
| Rank | School | Record | Rank in 1st Committee Rankings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota State | 9-0 | No. 1 |
| 2 | Montana State | 7-2 | No. 4 |
| 3 | Montana | 9-0 | No. 5 |
| 4 | Lehigh | 9-0 | No. 7 |
| 5 | Tarleton State | 9-1 | No. 3 |
| 6 | South Dakota State | 7-2 | No. 2 |
| 7 | Tennessee Tech | 9-0 | No. 10 |
| 8 | Monmouth | 8-1 | No. 9 |
| 9 | Harvard | 7-0 | NR |
| 10 | UC Davis | 6-2 | No. 6 |
The following team dropped from the committee's top 10: North Dakota (No. 8)
PAST RANKINGS: See how the Committee ranked the teams in their first rankings three weeks ago
Criteria for selection
The committee consider some of the following criteria (in no order) when selecting at large teams:
- Regional Advisory Committee rankings
- Committee review of 3-4 games nationally each week
- Each team’s won-lost record
- Each team's strength of schedule
- The won-lost record of a team will be scrutinized to determine a team’s strength of schedule; however, fewer than six Division I wins may place a team in jeopardy of not being selected.
- The committee may give more consideration to those teams that have played all Division I opponents.
- Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship
The committee also has four metrics available as a secondary consideration for evaluating teams:
- Two predictive methods (Massey and ESPN)
- Two results-based metrics (KPI and ESPN)
- KPI is a metric developed by Kevin Pauga (Kevin Pauga Index). Here's an example of how it's used in college basketball.
Unlike past years, the FCS Coaches Poll and FCS STATS Perform Poll ARE NOT considered.
What to know about the top-10 teams
No. 1 North Dakota State
| Record | 9-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
South Dakota, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, South Dakota State, Youngstown State |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | @ North Dakota, vs. Northern Iowa, vs. St. Thomas (Minn.) |
No. 2 Montana State
| Record | 7-2 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | South Dakota State |
| FBS Losses | Oregon |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Northern Arizona* |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| Future Opponents (Schedule Order) | vs. Weber State, vs. UC Davis, @ Montana |
No. 3 Montana
| Record | 9-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
North Dakota, Idaho* |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Sacred Heart, Sacramento State |
| Non-DI Wins | Central Washington |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | vs. Eastern Washington, @ Portland State, vs. Montana State |
No. 4 Lehigh
| Record | 9-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Richmond* |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Duquesne, Yale, Penn |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | vs. Holy Cross, @ Colgate, @ Lafayette |
No. 5 Tarleton State
| Record | 9-1 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | Abilene Christian |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
West Georgia* |
| FBS Wins | Army |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | vs. North Alabama, vs. Austin Peay |
No. 6 South Dakota State
| Record | 7-2 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | North Dakota State, Indiana State |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Sacramento State*, Montana State, Youngstown State |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | @ South Dakota, vs. Illinois State, @ North Dakota |
No. 7 Tennessee Tech
| Record | 9-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
None |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Gardner-Webb |
| Non-DI Wins | Cumberland (Tenn.) |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | @ Eastern Illinois, @ Kentucky, vs. UT Martin |
No. 8 Monmouth
| Record | 8-1 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | Charlotte |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Villanova |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Delaware State |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | vs. New Hampshire, @ North Carolina A&T, vs. UAlbany |
No. 9 Harvard
| Record | 7-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
None |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Dartmouth |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | @ Columbia, vs. Penn, @ Yale |
No. 10 UC Davis
| Record | 6-2 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | Idaho State |
| FBS Losses | Washington |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Northern Arizona* |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
| FUTURE OPPONENTS (SCHEDULE ORDER) | @ Idaho, @ Montana State, vs. Sacramento State |
*UC Davis' game against Mercer in Week Zero was halted and therefore considered a no contest.
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