2025 STATS FCS preseason poll

[damnyoutuesday]

https://theanalyst.com/articles/fcs-top ... e-football

1. NDSU
2. MSU
3. SDSU
4. South Dakota
5. Incarnate Word
6. Illinois State
7. Montana
8. UC Davis
9. Rhode Island
10. Tarleton
11. Mercer
12. Idaho
13. Villanova
14. Lehigh
15. Sacramento State
16. Abilene Christian
17. Jackson State
18. Western Carolina
19. Northern Arizona
20. Southern Illinois
21. Tennessee Tech
22. Monmouth
23. Stephen F Austin
24. Stony Brook
25. Richmond

[ClowderUp]

Lots of respect for the Conference. Six teams #19 or better.

[SACCAT]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

[The Butcher]

Sac State at 15...
I guess voters are buying the self-made-hype by Sac.

[MSU01]

Sac State at 15...
I guess voters are buying the self-made-hype by Sac.

I'm not sure if being ranked as the 5th best team in the Big Sky and just ahead of teams like Abilene Christian and Western Carolina would necessarily qualify as voters buying into any hype. Being #15 in the JV...er, FCS doesn't mean anywhere near what it used to.

[damnyoutuesday]

Sac State at 15...
I guess voters are buying the self-made-hype by Sac.

I'm not sure if being ranked as the 5th best team in the Big Sky and just ahead of teams like Abilene Christian and Western Carolina would necessarily qualify as voters buying into any hype. Being #15 in the JV...er, FCS doesn't mean anywhere near what it used to.

Harvard is unranked, and they would school Sac State

[PapaG]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

[iaafan]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

[PapaG]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

I meant the schedule is brutal. No matter your thoughts on the Ducks, starting off at Oregon is almost certainly a loss against a team with a huge offensive line full of future pros, and the next weekend against an SDSU team that is in a reload isn’t a gimme.

Could be an 0-2 start which means almost no margin for error in terms of hosting a semifinal, that’s all I meant. Add in a QB making their first two starts in this offense, and it’s as tough as it gets as a two-game stretched to open. As for “average,” name another season with the first two games against opponents like Oregon and SDSU back-to-back.

I’ll be in Eugene rooting on the Cats, will you?

[iaafan]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

I meant the schedule is brutal. No matter your thoughts on the Ducks, starting off at Oregon is almost certainly a loss against a team with a huge offensive line full of future pros, and the next weekend against an SDSU team that is in a reload isn’t a gimme.

Could be an 0-2 start which means almost no margin for error in terms of hosting a semifinal, that’s all I meant. Add in a QB making their first two starts in this offense, and it’s as tough as it gets as a two-game stretched to open. As for “average,” name another season with the first two games against opponents like Oregon and SDSU back-to-back.

I’ll be in Eugene rooting on the Cats, will you?

Maybe.

Not a brutal schedule in my opinion. I don’t consider FBS games vs P4 teams as anything really. Losing doesn’t hurt at all and you can get beat and improve your stock sometimes. I think both sdsu and ndsu remained ahead of us last after losing to Colorado and Iowa State(?) or was it Oklahoma State? If we had sdsu and Davis on the road it’d be brutal. Half our tough games are at home and I see that as average.

[MSU01]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

I meant the schedule is brutal. No matter your thoughts on the Ducks, starting off at Oregon is almost certainly a loss against a team with a huge offensive line full of future pros, and the next weekend against an SDSU team that is in a reload isn’t a gimme.

Could be an 0-2 start which means almost no margin for error in terms of hosting a semifinal, that’s all I meant. Add in a QB making their first two starts in this offense, and it’s as tough as it gets as a two-game stretched to open. As for “average,” name another season with the first two games against opponents like Oregon and SDSU back-to-back.

I’ll be in Eugene rooting on the Cats, will you?

It could be an 0-2 start, but it could just as easily be a 1-1 start with MSU picking up a huge win over a team they may end up competing against for a Top 2 seed. And no better way to make the playoff committee's decision easy then to have a head-to-head win on your resume. We can debate the choice to schedule Oregon but to me playing FCS teams like SDSU in non-conference play is absolutely a good thing if they're willing to play home-and-home series.

[PapaG]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

I meant the schedule is brutal. No matter your thoughts on the Ducks, starting off at Oregon is almost certainly a loss against a team with a huge offensive line full of future pros, and the next weekend against an SDSU team that is in a reload isn’t a gimme.

Could be an 0-2 start which means almost no margin for error in terms of hosting a semifinal, that’s all I meant. Add in a QB making their first two starts in this offense, and it’s as tough as it gets as a two-game stretched to open. As for “average,” name another season with the first two games against opponents like Oregon and SDSU back-to-back.

I’ll be in Eugene rooting on the Cats, will you?

It could be an 0-2 start, but it could just as easily be a 1-1 start with MSU picking up a huge win over a team they may end up competing against for a Top 2 seed. And no better way to make the playoff committee's decision easy then to have a head-to-head win on your resume. We can debate the choice to schedule Oregon but to me playing FCS teams like SDSU in non-conference play is absolutely a good thing if they're willing to play home-and-home series.

If you’re a championship contender, which MSU certainly is, playing Oregon and SDSU early is an asset just to get used to elite size/speed with Oregon, and a similarly elite FCS roster in SDSU.

The Bobcats won’t face better teams than that until maybe the quarterfinals, but likely the semifinals.

[catatac]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

Correction, Oregon State didn't beat us they DESTROYED us. Grrrrr

[iaafan]

Cats play

4 Top 20 Pre-Season teams (3 of them Top 10). 2 of those 4 are at home.

Plus the #7 FBS team to start the season than might be ranked too low.

Brutal

Might be ranked too high. Oregon is one of the biggest underachieving teams in college football. I’m no more concerned about being “brutalized” by them than any other team.

We lost to Oregon State, which went on to finish 10-3 with a bowl win over Florida, in 2022. Two of their three losses came right AFTER playing us and we didn’t lose again until the semis. I guess that means we physically beat them up.

The 2025 schedule is easier than the 2023 schedule and relative to how good we are it’s average in degree of difficulty.

Correction, Oregon State didn't beat us they DESTROYED us. Grrrrr

Yes, destroyed but it had very little effect on our season. I suppose you could say a closer score might’ve moved us up a spot. I think JMU was 2 and ndsu was 3. I’m not sure we’d beat either of them even if we had them at home.

We weren’t very good defensively that year. I think sixth or seventh in points allowed per game in the BSC. We were the #1 offense. 2023 we were #1 offense and #2 defense. Last year #1 both.