Week 7 FCS Football Power Rankings

October 15, 2018 · Jason Groomes
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings is a relatively basic power rating system when compared to the highly complex systems involving comparative scoring formulas. This system uses no comparative scoring, so any parallel between this and other ranking systems is purely coincidental. There is also no momentum involved in these rankings, so “What have you done for me lately?” does not apply. Everything is valued as a whole. The objective remains the same though; to create an unbiased mechanism to sort the general strength of the 125 teams within the Football Championship Subdivision.
 
Teams are awarded for Wins and Points Scored, then penalized for Losses and Points Allowed. Teams also receive a ‘Stature Constant.’ The strongest FCS conferences get a higher value than the weaker conferences. This is done to lessen the effects of a superior team in a weak conference from building huge point margins and manipulating the system. This constant has been tweaked since last season also, to include each individual conference’s overall success in FCS vs. FCS games.
 
Teams will also gain bonuses for beating FBS teams. This has also been tweaked, giving a little more weight to those who beat Power Five teams as opposed to Group of Five teams. Also, a team will be penalized for losing to a school from a class below FCS (Division II, Division III, NAIA, NCCAA). The final piece of the puzzle is an RPI-style Strength of Schedule multiplier, where teams get bonuses and demerits just for playing teams listed previously in this paragraph.
 
The first rankings will appear after Week 5, September 29th. These will be available on the Madness no later than Monday every week from then on. There will also be a final edition released after the FCS Championship game in January. Like most ranking systems, a very strong or weak schedule or huge upsets, one way or the other, can have a drastic impact early on. As the season progresses the numbers, and teams, will sort themselves out and be much truer towards the end.
 

RANK TEAM RATING W L Prev
1 North Dakota State 52.19 6 0 3
2 Princeton 47.22 5 0 1
3 James Madison 46.54 5 2 2
4 South Dakota State 45.60 4 1 4
5 Dartmouth 44.09 5 0 6
6 Elon 40.52 4 2 5
7 Delaware 39.30 4 2 13
8 Northern Iowa 37.82 3 3 8
9 UC Davis 35.03 5 1 14
10 Towson 34.97 5 1 10
11 Nicholls 34.21 4 3 7
12 Eastern Washington 33.85 5 2 12
13 Furman 33.79 2 3 24
14 Jacksonville State 33.43 5 1 9
15 Villanova 32.96 3 4 11
16 Rhode Island 32.44 4 2 23
17 Stony Brook 31.92 5 2 16
18 Chattanooga 31.90 5 2 25
19 Sam Houston State 31.49 4 2 15
20 Weber State 31.46 4 2 36
21 North Dakota 31.40 4 2 26
22 Illinois State 31.11 5 1 27
23 Colgate 30.61 6 0 18
24 Idaho State 30.20 4 2 19
25 Montana State 29.68 4 2 28
26 The Citadel 29.66 1 4 29
27 Western Illinois 29.39 2 4 17
28 Kennesaw State 28.46 6 1 30
29 Montana 28.43 4 3 20
30 Northern Arizona 28.22 3 3 34
31 Austin Peay 27.78 3 4 22
32 Missouri State 27.65 4 2 31
33 Samford 27.62 3 4 32
34 Columbia 27.24 3 2 41
35 McNeese 27.17 5 1 33
36 Penn 27.02 4 1 38
37 Central Arkansas 26.58 4 2 39
38 Maine 26.00 4 2 53
39 New Hampshire 25.54 1 5 35
40 Monmouth 25.22 4 2 67
41 Campbell 25.16 5 1 47
42 Yale 25.13 3 2 48
43 Wofford 25.08 4 2 21
44 Incarnate Word 24.55 3 3 44
45 Cornell 24.47 2 3 58
46 Southeastern Louisiana 24.40 3 4 50
47 Richmond 24.26 3 4 65
48 Eastern Kentucky 24.02 3 3 54
49 Southeast Missouri State 23.76 4 2 55
50 East Tennessee State 23.33 6 1 59
51 South Dakota 23.25 3 3 46
52 North Carolina A&T 23.22 5 2 52
53 Southern Illinois 23.03 1 5 42
54 Cal Poly 22.78 2 4 40
55 Georgetown 22.77 3 4 57
56 Northwestern State 22.37 2 4 62
57 William & Mary 22.36 2 4 56
58 Florida A&M 22.25 5 2 63
59 Harvard 22.09 3 2 37
60 Youngstown State 21.12 2 4 49
61 Abilene Christian 21.08 3 4 74
62 Tennessee-Martin 21.01 1 5 51
63 Drake 20.88 3 2 45
64 Idaho 20.65 2 4 70
65 Tennessee State 20.58 2 3 43
66 Lafayette 20.47 1 5 71
67 Stephen F. Austin 19.88 1 5 72
68 Holy Cross 19.88 1 6 68
69 Dayton 19.79 3 4 73
70 Murray State 19.74 3 3 78
71 Charleston Southern 19.73 2 3 66
72 Sacred Heart 19.43 3 3 69
73 Mercer 18.95 3 3 64
74 Northern Colorado 18.85 0 7 61
75 Albany 18.56 2 4 60
76 San Diego 18.40 4 2 88
77 Alcorn State 17.52 5 2 83
78 Bucknell 17.43 1 6 75
79 Portland State 17.34 3 4 76
80 Fordham 17.02 1 5 102
81 Indiana State 17.00 2 4 90
82 Duquesne 16.79 4 3 80
83 Lamar 16.67 2 4 96
84 Stetson 16.54 4 1 100
85 Central Connecticut State 16.40 4 3 106
86 Alabama A&M 16.30 3 4 86
87 Marist 16.18 2 4 82
88 Norfolk State 15.96 3 2 84
89 Bryant 15.95 4 2 79
90 Southern Utah 15.01 1 5 101
91 South Carolina State 14.78 1 5 89
92 Southern 14.62 3 3 108
93 Presbyterian 14.32 2 3 91
94 Jackson State 14.08 3 2 94
95 Sacramento State 13.97 2 4 77
96 Prairie View A&M 13.89 3 4 87
97 Western Carolina 13.78 3 3 111
98 Gardner-Webb 13.12 1 6 92
99 Eastern Illinois 13.12 1 6 104
100 Morgan State 12.89 2 4 95
101 Houston Baptist 12.84 1 5 98
102 Brown 12.71 1 4 97
103 Lehigh 12.10 1 5 85
104 Morehead State 11.90 2 4 117
105 Grambling State 11.79 3 3 103
106 Tennessee Tech 11.59 0 6 105
107 Virginia Military 11.14 0 6 81
108 Butler 11.02 3 3 93
109 Wagner 10.68 2 5 114
110 Bethune-Cookman 10.67 4 3 109
111 Howard 10.67 2 3 115
112 North Carolina Central 10.51 2 3 110
113 Davidson 10.18 5 2 107
114 Jacksonville 10.07 1 4 99
115 Hampton 9.97 3 3 121
116 St. Francis 9.23 2 4 113
117 Savannah State 8.95 1 5 118
118 North Alabama 7.76 4 3 112
119 Robert Morris 7.55 1 5 119
120 Texas Southern 7.42 1 5 120
121 Alabama State 6.88 2 4 116
122 Valparaiso 6.82 1 5 122
123 Mississippi Valley State 4.66 0 5 125
124 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3.05 1 5 123
125 Delaware State 1.79 0 6 124

RANK CONFERENCE RATING
1 COLONIAL 31.40
2 MISSOURI VALLEY 30.44
3 IVY LEAGUE 28.53
4 SOUTHERN 26.30
5 BIG SKY 24.83
6 SOUTHLAND 23.79
7-t OHIO VALLEY 21.97
7-t BIG SOUTH 21.97
9 PATRIOT 20.34
10 NORTHEAST 14.27
11 MID-EASTERN 14.08
12 PIONEER 14.06
13 SOUTHWESTERN 11.65