Week 8 FCS Football Power Rankings

October 20, 2019 · Jason Groomes
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings – Week 8
 
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 51.42 7 0 1 1 MISSOURI VALLEY 29.89
2 James Madison 45.84 7 1 3 2 COLONIAL 29.73
3 Montana 42.66 5 2 2 3 SOUTHERN 26.24
4 South Dakota State 41.73 6 1 4 4 BIG SKY 25.88
5 Sacramento State 37.06 5 2 16 5 OHIO VALLEY 23.95
6 Furman 36.19 4 3 6 6 SOUTHLAND 24.12
7 Villanova 35.63 6 1 11 7 IVY LEAGUE 23.19
8 Weber State 35.39 5 2 12 8 PATRIOT 21.16
9 Northern Iowa 34.85 4 3 8 9 BIG SOUTH 20.80
10 Dartmouth 34.21 5 0 10 10 NORTHEAST 16.60
11 Towson 34.11 4 3 20 11 MID-EASTERN 13.26
12 Central Arkansas 33.95 5 2 5 12 SOUTHWESTERN 13.24
13 Southern Illinois 33.20 3 4 30 13 PIONEER 12.95
14 Elon 32.82 3 4 17
15 Tennessee-Martin 32.76 5 2 7
16 Wofford 32.05 4 2 19
17 Youngstown State 31.97 4 3 13
18 UC Davis 31.89 4 4 9
19 Sam Houston State 31.80 5 3 29
20 New Hampshire 31.52 4 3 14
21 Columbia 31.46 2 3 38
22 Montana State 30.06 5 2 25
23 McNeese 29.51 4 4 34
24 Austin Peay 29.35 4 3 15
25 North Dakota 29.26 4 3 26
26 Illinois State 29.22 5 2 21
27 Southeast Missouri State 28.87 4 3 33
28 Southeastern Louisiana 28.58 3 3 22
29 Albany 28.22 5 3 24
30 Incarnate Word 27.77 5 2 45
31 The Citadel 27.67 4 4 53
32 Yale 27.61 4 1 23
33 South Dakota 27.59 3 4 18
34 Delaware 27.30 4 3 41
35 Stony Brook 26.91 4 3 27
36 Abilene Christian 26.71 4 4 36
37 Campbell 26.39 5 1 63
38 Idaho State 26.34 3 4 28
39 Central Connecticut State 26.14 6 1 43
40 Monmouth 25.94 5 2 39
41 Samford 25.80 3 4 32
42 Fordham 25.66 3 5 35
43 North Carolina A&T 25.48 4 1 49
44 Jacksonville State 25.30 5 3 37
45 Harvard 25.23 4 1 54
46 Holy Cross 24.98 3 4 31
47 Nicholls 24.88 4 3 46
48 Eastern Kentucky 24.66 4 3 59
49 William & Mary 24.39 2 5 52
50 Richmond 24.28 3 4 44
51 East Tennessee State 24.18 2 5 40
52 Davidson 23.89 5 2 67
53 Mercer 23.88 3 4 55
54 Maine 23.67 2 5 48
55 Princeton 23.57 5 0 58
56 Lehigh 23.39 3 3 75
57 Georgetown 23.33 5 2 42
58 Kennesaw State 23.31 6 1 47
59 Murray State 23.06 4 4 57
60 Chattanooga 23.01 4 3 51
61 Eastern Washington 22.35 3 4 56
62 San Diego 22.25 4 2 50
63 Idaho 21.99 3 5 81
64 Cal Poly 21.88 2 5 68
65 Virginia Military 21.67 4 4 65
66 Rhode Island 21.57 1 6 66
67 Southern 21.12 4 3 60
68 Dayton 20.90 4 2 62
69 Northern Arizona 20.71 3 4 61
70 Indiana State 20.61 3 4 70
71 Portland State 20.45 5 3 69
72 Lamar 20.39 4 4 76
73 Duquesne 20.30 4 2 71
74 Florida A&M 20.10 5 1 82
75 Eastern Illinois 19.85 0 8 72
76 Lafayette 18.31 0 7 86
77 Houston Baptist 18.16 4 4 79
78 Alcorn State 18.10 5 2 83
79 Grambling State 18.03 2 4 84
80 Gardner-Webb 17.88 3 4 77
81 Tennessee State 17.84 2 6 88
82 Missouri State 17.79 1 5 85
83 St. Francis 17.77 4 3 89
84 South Carolina State 17.67 4 2 80
85 Prairie View A&M 17.43 3 4 87
86 Alabama State 16.41 3 3 90
87 Southern Utah 16.38 1 7 91
88 Tennessee Tech 16.28 4 3 93
89 Cornell 16.20 1 4 73
90 Penn 16.15 2 3 64
91 North Alabama 15.93 2 5 74
92 Bethune-Cookman 15.81 6 1 92
93 Charleston Southern 15.78 2 5 97
94 Stetson 15.56 5 1 118
95 Bucknell 15.45 1 6 78
96 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 15.36 5 2 94
97 Northern Colorado 15.15 1 7 96
98 Western Illinois 14.86 0 7 95
99 Colgate 14.77 1 7 99
100 Morehead State 13.80 4 3 102
101 Sacred Heart 13.63 3 4 98
102 North Carolina Central 13.12 2 5 100
103 Stephen F. Austin 13.08 1 6 101
104 Merrimack 12.78 3 4 107
105 Presbyterian 12.31 0 7 108
106 Robert Morris 12.29 3 4 104
107 Hampton 12.15 3 4 109
108 Bryant 11.95 2 6 105
109 Western Carolina 11.78 1 6 103
110 Norfolk State 11.49 2 6 110
111 Drake 11.13 3 3 113
112 Marist 10.76 1 5 106
113 Northwestern State 10.64 0 7 119
114 Jacksonville 10.52 2 5 112
115 Alabama A&M 10.35 4 3 111
116 Mississippi Valley State 10.07 1 6 114
117 Morgan State 9.80 1 6 116
118 Brown 9.71 1 4 115
119 Long Island 9.18 0 6 117
120 Wagner 7.96 1 6 120
121 Delaware State 7.32 1 6 121
122 Butler 5.82 1 6 123
123 Jackson State 5.63 2 5 124
124 Howard 5.44 1 6 122
125 Texas Southern 3.11 0 7 125
126 Valparaiso 0.75 0 7 126