Week 5 FCS Football Power Rankings

September 29, 2019 · Jason Groomes
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings – Week 5
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings are 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 126 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’. Teams from the full-scholarship automatic qualifying FCS conferences get the highest value. Non- or less than full-scholarship FCS conference teams get a middle value. And those from non-automatic leagues get the lowest value. 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.
 
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 29. These will be available on the Madness no later than Monday every week from now 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. So if the rankings appear a little skewed early on, give it a little time.
 

RANK TEAM RATING Won Lost Prev RANK CONFERENCE RATING
1 North Dakota State 49.97 4 0 N/A 1 MISSOURI VALLEY 29.71
2 Central Arkansas 44.00 3 1 N/A 2 COLONIAL 27.03
3 James Madison 42.58 4 1 N/A 3 SOUTHERN 23.68
4 Montana 41.96 4 1 N/A 4 BIG SKY 23.66
5 Weber State 41.20 2 2 N/A 5 OHIO VALLEY 22.34
6 Towson 40.03 3 2 N/A 6 IVY LEAGUE 20.98
7 Youngstown State 38.49 4 0 N/A 7 PATRIOT 20.91
8 South Dakota State 37.01 3 1 N/A 8 SOUTHLAND 20.15
9 Samford 36.71 3 2 N/A 9 BIG SOUTH 18.27
10 UC Davis 35.07 2 3 N/A 10 NORTHEAST 14.85
11 Villanova 33.24 5 0 N/A 11 SOUTHWESTERN 11.56
12 Austin Peay 32.72 3 2 N/A 12 MID-EASTERN 11.12
13 North Dakota 30.61 2 2 N/A 13 PIONEER 9.00
14 Columbia 30.52 1 1 N/A
15 Furman 30.42 3 2 N/A
16 Southeastern Louisiana 30.29 3 1 N/A
17 Jacksonville State 30.23 3 2 N/A
18 Yale 29.98 2 0 N/A
19 Tennessee-Martin 29.35 2 2 N/A
20 Dartmouth 29.21 2 0 N/A
21 Elon 28.64 2 3 N/A
22 Georgetown 27.88 3 1 N/A
23 Delaware 27.72 3 2 N/A
24 Northern Iowa 27.71 2 2 N/A
25 Maine 27.55 2 3 N/A
26 Montana State 27.49 4 1 N/A
27 Wofford 27.40 2 2 N/A
28 Sam Houston State 27.04 3 2 N/A
29 South Dakota 26.62 1 3 N/A
30 Southern Illinois 26.15 2 2 N/A
31 Illinois State 25.48 3 1 N/A
32 Sacramento State 25.13 2 2 N/A
33 Holy Cross 24.88 1 3 N/A
34 Indiana State 24.75 2 2 N/A
35 Monmouth 23.70 2 2 N/A
36 Mercer 23.64 2 3 N/A
37 The Citadel 23.63 2 3 N/A
38 McNeese 23.59 2 3 N/A
39 Southeast Missouri State 23.56 2 2 N/A
40 Campbell 23.53 3 1 N/A
41 East Tennessee State 23.27 2 3 N/A
42 Stony Brook 22.77 4 1 N/A
43 Princeton 22.77 2 0 N/A
44 Idaho State 22.75 2 2 N/A
45 Central Connecticut State 22.46 3 1 N/A
46 William & Mary 22.43 2 3 N/A
47 Nicholls 21.42 2 2 N/A
48 Murray State 21.37 2 3 N/A
49 North Carolina A&T 20.93 3 1 N/A
50 Lehigh 20.80 1 3 N/A
51 Cornell 20.78 1 1 N/A
52 Eastern Washington 20.60 2 3 N/A
53 Davidson 20.48 3 1 N/A
54 Northern Arizona 20.28 2 3 N/A
55 Kennesaw State 19.90 4 1 N/A
56 Albany 19.71 3 2 N/A
57 Abilene Christian 19.50 2 3 N/A
58 Richmond 19.27 1 3 N/A
59 Southern 19.23 2 3 N/A
60 Duquesne 19.18 2 2 N/A
61 Eastern Kentucky 18.73 3 2 N/A
62 Rhode Island 18.64 0 4 N/A
63 North Alabama 18.61 2 3 N/A
64 Harvard 18.49 1 1 N/A
65 Chattanooga 18.31 2 3 N/A
66 Fordham 18.19 2 3 N/A
67 Dayton 18.03 2 1 N/A
68 Eastern Illinois 17.96 0 5 N/A
69 Idaho 17.63 2 3 N/A
70 Western Illinois 17.50 0 4 N/A
71 Portland State 16.90 2 3 N/A
72 Tennessee Tech 16.80 4 1 N/A
73 Bucknell 15.97 0 4 N/A
74 Cal Poly 15.97 2 2 N/A
75 Missouri State 15.64 0 3 N/A
76 Incarnate Word 15.19 2 2 N/A
77 Colgate 15.18 0 5 N/A
78 New Hampshire 15.17 2 2 N/A
79 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 15.10 3 2 N/A
80 Lafayette 14.95 0 5 N/A
81 Penn 14.68 1 1 N/A
82 Northern Colorado 14.53 1 4 N/A
83 St. Francis 14.32 3 2 N/A
84 Florida A&M 14.19 3 1 N/A
85 Gardner-Webb 14.03 1 3 N/A
86 Alcorn State 13.97 3 2 N/A
87 Houston Baptist 13.74 4 1 N/A
88 Southern Utah 13.58 1 4 N/A
89 San Diego 13.45 1 2 N/A
90 Virginia Military 12.82 2 3 N/A
91 Lamar 12.50 2 3 N/A
92 Prairie View A&M 12.48 2 3 N/A
93 South Carolina State 12.01 2 1 N/A
94 Alabama A&M 11.97 3 2 N/A
95 Alabama State 11.91 2 2 N/A
96 Bethune-Cookman 11.61 3 1 N/A
97 Grambling State 11.55 0 4 N/A
98 Marist 11.01 1 3 N/A
99 Merrimack 10.93 2 3 N/A
100 Sacred Heart 10.92 3 1 N/A
101 Bryant 10.78 0 5 N/A
102 Charleston Southern 10.68 0 4 N/A
103 Tennessee State 10.54 1 4 N/A
104 Presbyterian 10.41 0 4 N/A
105 Norfolk State 10.11 1 4 N/A
106 Stephen F. Austin 9.31 1 4 N/A
107 Western Carolina 9.05 1 3 N/A
108 North Carolina Central 9.04 2 3 N/A
109 Morehead State 8.86 2 2 N/A
110 Delaware State 8.64 1 3 N/A
111 Howard 8.54 1 4 N/A
112 Hampton 8.50 2 2 N/A
113 Stetson 8.49 3 1 N/A
114 Robert Morris 8.31 1 4 N/A
115 Long Island 8.22 0 3 N/A
116 Mississippi Valley State 8.08 0 4 N/A
117 Northwestern State 7.58 0 5 N/A
118 Wagner 7.14 1 4 N/A
119 Jacksonville 6.64 2 2 N/A
120 Drake 5.73 1 3 N/A
121 Brown 4.29 1 1 N/A
122 Jackson State 3.95 1 3 N/A
123 Morgan State 3.83 0 4 N/A
124 Butler 3.26 1 3 N/A
125 Texas Southern 1.34 0 4 N/A
126 Valparaiso 0.20 0 4 N/A