Week 8 FCS Football Power Rankings

October 21, 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 RANK CONFERENCE RATING
1 North Dakota State 54.74 7 0 1 1 COLONIAL 30.90
2 James Madison 46.46 5 2 3 2 MISSOURI VALLEY 30.48
3 Dartmouth 44.86 6 0 5 3 IVY LEAGUE 28.35
4 Princeton 42.85 6 0 2 4 SOUTHERN 26.35
5 South Dakota State 41.31 4 2 4 5 BIG SKY 24.89
6 Northern Iowa 41.26 4 3 8 6 SOUTHLAND 24.26
7 Elon 39.30 5 2 6 7 BIG SOUTH 23.30
8 UC Davis 38.83 6 1 9 8 OHIO VALLEY 22.86
9 Delaware 38.52 5 2 7 9 PATRIOT 20.42
10 Towson 36.09 6 1 10 10 PIONEER 15.08
11 Stony Brook 35.66 6 2 17 11 NORTHEAST 14.99
12 Jacksonville State 34.21 5 2 14 12 MID-EASTERN 14.80
13 Illinois State 34.05 5 2 22 13 SOUTHWESTERN 11.91
14 Colgate 33.89 6 0 23
15 Weber State 33.18 5 2 20
16 North Dakota 33.12 5 2 21
17 Eastern Washington 32.71 5 2 12
18 Villanova 32.63 3 4 15
19 Nicholls 32.29 4 3 11
20 Monmouth 31.94 5 2 40
21 Chattanooga 31.85 5 2 18
22 Western Illinois 31.16 3 4 27
23 Wofford 30.64 5 2 43
24 Idaho State 30.22 4 3 24
25 Montana 29.94 4 3 29
26 Montana State 29.74 4 3 25
27 Incarnate Word 29.66 4 3 44
28 Yale 29.30 4 2 42
29 Sam Houston State 29.23 4 3 19
30 Furman 29.19 2 4 13
31 Rhode Island 28.59 4 3 16
32 The Citadel 28.47 2 4 26
33 Samford 28.45 4 4 33
34 Kennesaw State 28.41 6 1 28
35 Southeast Missouri State 27.92 5 2 49
36 Austin Peay 27.51 3 4 31
37 Central Arkansas 27.42 5 2 37
38 Columbia 26.78 3 3 34
39 McNeese 26.74 5 2 35
40 Campbell 26.47 5 2 41
41 Cornell 25.35 3 3 45
42 Murray State 24.92 4 3 70
43 William & Mary 24.75 3 4 57
44 Penn 24.74 4 2 36
45 North Carolina A&T 24.63 6 2 52
46 Richmond 24.20 3 5 47
47 Missouri State 24.06 4 3 32
48 New Hampshire 24.00 1 6 39
49 Charleston Southern 23.96 3 3 71
50 Harvard 23.94 3 3 59
51 Southeastern Louisiana 23.87 3 5 46
52 East Tennessee State 23.49 6 2 50
53 Maine 23.44 4 3 38
54 Abilene Christian 23.23 4 4 61
55 South Dakota 22.73 3 4 51
56 Eastern Kentucky 22.62 3 4 48
57 Georgetown 22.49 4 4 55
58 Mercer 22.40 4 3 73
59 Florida A&M 22.37 5 2 58
60 Youngstown State 22.33 3 4 60
61 Sacred Heart 22.00 4 3 72
62 Northern Colorado 21.76 1 7 74
63 Southern Illinois 21.75 1 6 53
64 Drake 21.66 4 2 63
65 Idaho 21.57 3 4 64
66 Stephen F. Austin 21.55 2 5 67
67 Cal Poly 21.43 2 5 54
68 Lafayette 21.34 2 5 66
69 Tennessee State 21.28 3 3 65
70 Northwestern State 21.25 2 5 56
71 Northern Arizona 21.07 3 4 30
72 San Diego 20.73 5 2 76
73 Lamar 20.59 3 4 83
74 Dayton 20.42 3 5 69
75 Tennessee-Martin 19.86 1 6 62
76 Alcorn State 19.47 6 2 77
77 Holy Cross 19.30 1 6 68
78 Marist 18.64 3 4 87
79 Albany 18.56 2 5 75
80 Portland State 18.06 3 4 79
81 Indiana State 17.87 3 4 81
82 Stetson 17.85 5 1 84
83 Fordham 17.68 1 6 80
84 Duquesne 17.42 5 3 82
85 Bucknell 17.41 1 7 78
86 Central Connecticut State 17.37 4 4 85
87 Bryant 17.12 5 2 89
88 Alabama A&M 16.43 3 4 86
89 Sacramento State 15.67 2 5 95
90 Southern 15.62 4 3 92
91 South Carolina State 15.40 2 5 91
92 Eastern Illinois 14.92 2 6 99
93 North Carolina Central 14.44 3 3 112
94 Jackson State 14.40 3 3 94
95 Western Carolina 14.21 3 4 97
96 Norfolk State 13.95 3 3 88
97 Southern Utah 13.79 1 6 90
98 Prairie View A&M 13.72 3 4 96
99 Morgan State 13.70 2 5 100
100 Bethune-Cookman 13.46 4 4 110
101 Gardner-Webb 13.05 1 6 98
102 Lehigh 12.72 1 6 103
103 Howard 12.59 3 3 111
104 Grambling State 12.57 3 4 105
105 Jacksonville 12.34 1 5 114
106 Morehead State 12.17 3 4 104
107 Houston Baptist 12.16 1 6 101
108 Butler 11.99 3 4 108
109 Tennessee Tech 11.91 0 7 106
110 Virginia Military 11.84 0 7 107
111 Brown 11.74 1 5 102
112 Presbyterian 11.66 2 4 93
113 Hampton 11.00 3 3 115
114 Wagner 10.65 2 5 109
115 St. Francis 10.45 2 5 116
116 Davidson 10.00 5 3 113
117 North Alabama 9.68 5 3 118
118 Savannah State 9.10 1 5 117
119 Texas Southern 7.99 1 6 120
120 Robert Morris 7.90 2 5 119
121 Alabama State 6.99 2 4 121
122 Valparaiso 6.91 1 6 122
123 Mississippi Valley State 6.43 1 5 123
124 Delaware State 3.15 0 7 125
125 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3.09 1 6 124