Seven weeks of the 2025 FCS football season are in the books, with six weeks of action remaining. That's about the halfway point, so there's no better time for the Division I Football Championship Committee to reveal its first in-season top-10 rankings of the FCS teams.
The rankings were announced shortly after 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Oct. 15 on ESPN2's College Football Live broadcast.
The committee used results of games played through Oct. 11, and these in-season rankings serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final six 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, through games played on Oct. 11.
| Rank | School | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota State | 6-0 |
| 2 | South Dakota State | 6-0 |
| 3 | Tarleton State | 7-0 |
| 4 | Montana State | 5-2 |
| 5 | Montana | 6-0 |
| 6 | UC Davis | 5-1 |
| 7 | Lehigh | 7-0 |
| 8 | North Dakota | 4-2 |
| 9 | Monmouth | 5-1 |
| 10 | Tennessee Tech | 6-0 |
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 | 6-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
South Dakota, Illinois State, Southern Illinois |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
No. 2 South Dakota State
| Record | 6-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Sacramento State*, Montana State, Youngstown State |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Drake |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
No. 3 Tarleton State
| Record | 7-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
None |
| FBS Wins | Army |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
No. 4 Montana State
| Record | 5-2 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
No. 5 Montana
| Record | 6-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
North Dakota, Idaho |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | Central Washington |
No. 6 UC Davis
| Record | 5-1 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | Washington |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Northern Arizona |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
*UC Davis' game against Mercer in Week Zero was halted and therefore considered a no contest.
No. 7 Lehigh
| Record | 7-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Richmond* |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | Sacred Heart, Duquesne, Bucknell, Penn, Yale |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
No. 8 North Dakota
| Record | 4-2 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | Montana |
| FBS Losses | Kansas State |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
Youngstown State |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | None |
No. 9 Monmouth
| Record | 5-1 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
No. 10 Tennessee Tech
| Record | 6-0 |
|---|---|
| FCS Losses | None |
| FBS Losses | None |
| Ranked Wins (* = team not currently ranked) |
None |
| FBS Wins | None |
| Other Notable FCS Wins | None |
| Non-DI Wins | Cumberland |
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