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Teams claiming FCS playoff berths

After opening their season in unexpected ways, the Mercer Bears are now right where they expected to be all along.

Mercer (8-1) is climbing in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll – at No. 8 in the new national media rankings – and heading back to the FCS playoffs via the Southern Conference’s automatic bid. It comes after the Bears won one of the season’s best and wildest games, 49-47 at Western Carolina on Saturday.

Mercer’s season opener against UC Davis was halted in the fourth quarter by inclement weather and not completed. A week later, coach Mike Jacobs’ squad became the first nationally ranked team to lose to a non-scholarship Pioneer Football League team since 2018, which led to being outside the next four polls.

But Mercer hasn’t lost since making a quarterback change to Braden Atkinson, with the thriller over WCU the Bears’ eighth straight win and clinching a least a share of a second consecutive SoCon title. The new ranking is one shy of their all-time high.

Top-ranked North Dakota State, the Missouri Valley Football Conference champ, also has clinched a playoff bid, with more teams expected to make their way into the 24-team field this weekend. The pairings will be announced on Nov. 23.

The Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll is released each Monday during the regular season and one day after the FCS championship game (to be played Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee). A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll (Nov. 10)

  1. North Dakota State (10-0, 7-0 MVFC)

Points: 1,399 (55 of 56 first-place votes); Previous Ranking: 1; Week 11: 15-10 win at then-No. 13 North Dakota; Week 12: Northern Iowa

  1. Montana (10-0, 6-0 Big Sky)

Points: 1,327; Previous Ranking: 2; Week 11: 29-24 win over Eastern Washington; Week 12: at Portland State

  1. Montana State (8-2, 6-0 Big Sky)

Points: 1,300 (1 first-place vote); Previous Ranking: 3; Week 11: 66-14 win over Weber State; Week 12: No. 9 UC Davis

  1. Lehigh (10-0, 5-0 Patriot)

Points: 1,196; Previous Ranking: 4; Week 11: 38-3 win over Holy Cross; Week 12: at Colgate

  1. Tennessee Tech (10-0, 7-0 OVC-Big South)

Points: 1,157; Previous Ranking: 5; Week 11: 21-9 win at Eastern Illinois; Week 12: at Kentucky

  1. Tarleton State (9-1, 5-1 UAC)

Points: 1,130; Previous Ranking: 6; Week 11: No game; Week 12: North Alabama

  1. Harvard (8-0, 5-0 Ivy)

Points: 956; Previous Ranking: 9; Week 11: 31-14 win at Columbia; Week 12: Penn

  1. Mercer (8-1, 7-0 SoCon)

Points: 916; Previous Ranking: 12; Week 11: 49-47 win at then-No. 24 Western Carolina; Week 12: Chattanooga

  1. UC Davis (6-3, 4-2 Big Sky)

Points: 890; Previous Ranking: 11; Week 11: 28-14 win at Idaho; Week 12: at No. 3 Montana State

  1. Villanova (7-2, 6-1 CAA)

Points: 888; Previous Ranking: 10; Week 11: 28-10 win at Towson; Week 12: Stony Brook

  1. Rhode Island (8-2, 6-0 CAA)

Points: 800; Previous Ranking: 14; Week 11: 34-20 win at Elon; Week 12: at Maine

  1. Monmouth (8-2, 5-1 CAA)

Points: 661; Previous Ranking: 7; Week 11: 34-13 loss to New Hampshire; Week 12: at North Carolina A&T

  1. North Dakota (6-4, 4-2 MVFC)

Points: 653; Previous Ranking: 13; Week 11: 15-10 loss to then-No. 1 North Dakota State; Week 12: at Murray State

  1. Illinois State (7-3, 4-2 MVFC)

Points: 629; Previous Ranking: 16; Week 11: 52-20 win at Indiana State; Week 12: at No. 16 South Dakota State

  1. Stephen F. Austin (8-2, 6-0 Southland)

Points: 598; Previous Ranking: 17; Week 11: 50-3 win at HCU; Week 12: No. 19 Lamar

  1. South Dakota State (7-3, 3-3 MVFC)

Points: 544; Previous Ranking: 8; Week 11: 24-17 loss at then-No. 22 South Dakota; Week 12: No. 14 Illinois State

  1. South Dakota (7-4, 5-2 MVFC)

Points: 530; Previous Ranking: 22; Week 11: 24-17 win over then-No. 8 South Dakota State; Week 12: at No. 21 Southern Illinois

  1. Abilene Christian (6-4, 5-1 UAC)

Points: 506; Previous Ranking: 18; Week 11: 31-10 win over Utah Tech; Week 12: at Eastern Kentucky

  1. Lamar (8-2, 5-1 Southland)

Points: 503; Previous Ranking: 20; Week 11: 14-12 win over then-No. 19 Southeastern Louisiana; Week 12: at No. 15 Stephen F. Austin

  1. Youngstown State (6-4, 3-3 MVFC)

Points: 445; Previous Ranking: 21; Week 11: 48-38 win over then-No. 15 Southern Illinois; Week 12: Indiana State

  1. Southern Illinois (6-4, 3-3 MVFC)

Points: 242; Previous Ranking: 15; Week 11: 48-38 loss at then-No. 21 Youngstown State; Week 12: No. 17 South Dakota

  1. Jackson State (7-2, 5-1 SWAC)

Points: 226; Previous Ranking: 23; Week 11: 42-3 win at Mississippi Valley State; Week 12: Bethune-Cookman

  1. Southeastern Louisiana (7-3, 5-1 Southland)

Points: 208; Previous Ranking: 19; Week 11: 14-12 loss at then-No. 20 Lamar; Week 12: at UIW

  1. Northern Arizona (6-4, 3-3 Big Sky)

Points: 81; Previous Ranking: NR; Week 11: 49-10 win over Northern Colorado; Week 12: Cal Poly

  1. Western Carolina (6-4, 5-1 SoCon)

Points: 75; Previous Ranking: 24; Week 11: 49-47 loss to then-No. 12 Mercer; Week 12: ETSU

Dropped Out of FCS Top 25: Presbyterian (25)

Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): New Hampshire (6-4, 4-2 CAA), 74; Alabama State (7-2, 5-1 SWAC), 69; Lafayette (7-3, 5-0 Patriot), 39; West Georgia (7-3, 4-3 UAC), 36; Delaware State (7-3, 3-0 MEAC), 35; Austin Peay (6-4, 4-3 UAC), 22; Yale (6-2, 4-1 Ivy), 18; Sacramento State (6-4, 4-2 Big Sky), 11; Dartmouth (6-2, 4-2 Ivy), 10; Central Connecticut State (7-3, 5-0 NEC), 9; South Carolina State (7-3, 3-0 MEAC), 7; Southern Utah (5-5, 4-2 UAC), 3

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll Voting Panel – Stats Perform: Craig Haley. Big Sky Conference: Riley Corcoran, Tyson Rodgers, Larry Weir. CAA Football: Roger Brown, Matt Harmon, Rob Washburn. Ivy League: JJ Klein, Craig Larson. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference: Kendrick Lewis, Patricia Porter-Mayfield. Missouri Valley Football Conference: Kyle Grooms, Dom Izzo, Randy Reinhardt. Northeast Conference: Sarah Boissonneault, Brian Cleary. OVC-Big South Football Association: Mike Bradd, Kyle Schwartz, Mark Simpson. Patriot League: Eric Malanoski, Ryan Sakamoto. Pioneer Football League: Cody Bush, Larry Hansgen. Southern Conference: Scott Keeler, Andrew Miller, Ralan Wardlaw. Southland Conference: Matthew Bonnette, James Dixon, James Hill. Southwestern Athletic Conference: Curtis Ford, Ronnie Johnson. United Athletic Conference: Brian Morgan, Benjamin Ray, Jake Withee. National Representatives: Sean Anderson, Stan Becton, Zack Carlton, Gene Clemons, Joe DeLeone, Matt Dixon, Steven J. Gaither, Sam Herder, Emory Hunt, Doug Kelly, Kyle Kensing, Brandon Lawrence, Zach McKinnell, Jon Passman, Omar Rashon Borja, Ryan Roberts, Timothy Rosario, Kent Schmidt, Phil Sokol, Reggie Thomas, Ralph Ventre, Jamie Williams.

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