Half Way Point
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 9:56 pm
The conference slate may have just begun, but the regular season itself is halfway over already.
A lot of talk lately about differences in strengths of schedules, thought I'd do a fairly quick comparison and rundown of the Big Sky and the handful of the top contenders.
This is their rankings among all 126 FCS Teams
Team-Massey Rating-SOS-Defensive PPG-Offensive PPG
SDSU......1....22.....7....16
NDSU......2....59.....1....6
MSU.......3....2......11...25
Tarleton...4...38......8.....4
um.........5....35....47...9
UCD.......6....13.....91...24
NAU......10....9......85...34
Idaho.....14....4.....42....61
SacSt.....26....28....36....45
Weber....32....11....107...88
EWU......37....15....100...72
ISU........39....24....66....12
CP.........41....34....72....32
UNC......67....55....17.....97
PSU.......79....1.....115....124
NDSU has undoubtedly looked impressive, having the #1 ranked defense and #6 ranked offense is impressive. Seeing that it's against the 59th toughest schedule so far also adds a lot of context. Not to say it won't continue, but it's definitely too early to call this team untouchable.
MSU's defense has been great as we've all seen. Officially 11th in the FCS in PPG, but seeing that we've played the 2nd toughest schedule up to this point adds a lot of context to that as well. Playing the #3 team in the FBS and going two extra periods against the #2 team in the FCS skews the data a bit. Switch out our game with Oregon with some random D2 team from the PNW and we'd likely be sitting much higher than 11th.
Really have to feel for PSU right now (kind of). They've played the toughest schedule in the FCS up to this point. And rank 115th out of 126 in PPG scored and 124th out of 126 in PPG given up. That's rough.
A lot of talk lately about differences in strengths of schedules, thought I'd do a fairly quick comparison and rundown of the Big Sky and the handful of the top contenders.
This is their rankings among all 126 FCS Teams
Team-Massey Rating-SOS-Defensive PPG-Offensive PPG
SDSU......1....22.....7....16
NDSU......2....59.....1....6
MSU.......3....2......11...25
Tarleton...4...38......8.....4
um.........5....35....47...9
UCD.......6....13.....91...24
NAU......10....9......85...34
Idaho.....14....4.....42....61
SacSt.....26....28....36....45
Weber....32....11....107...88
EWU......37....15....100...72
ISU........39....24....66....12
CP.........41....34....72....32
UNC......67....55....17.....97
PSU.......79....1.....115....124
NDSU has undoubtedly looked impressive, having the #1 ranked defense and #6 ranked offense is impressive. Seeing that it's against the 59th toughest schedule so far also adds a lot of context. Not to say it won't continue, but it's definitely too early to call this team untouchable.
MSU's defense has been great as we've all seen. Officially 11th in the FCS in PPG, but seeing that we've played the 2nd toughest schedule up to this point adds a lot of context to that as well. Playing the #3 team in the FBS and going two extra periods against the #2 team in the FCS skews the data a bit. Switch out our game with Oregon with some random D2 team from the PNW and we'd likely be sitting much higher than 11th.
Really have to feel for PSU right now (kind of). They've played the toughest schedule in the FCS up to this point. And rank 115th out of 126 in PPG scored and 124th out of 126 in PPG given up. That's rough.