Final FCS Football Power Rankings

January 12, 2020 · Jason Groomes
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings – Final
 
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 55.58 16 0 1 1 MISSOURI VALLEY 32.71
2 James Madison 53.06 14 2 2 2 COLONIAL 31.52
3 Montana 44.19 10 4 3 3 BIG SKY 28.18
4 Weber State 42.83 11 4 5 4 OHIO VALLEY 26.79
5 South Dakota State 40.40 8 5 4 5 SOUTHERN 26.03
6 Montana State 39.95 11 4 14 6 BIG SOUTH 25.96
7 Austin Peay 39.00 11 4 11 7 SOUTHLAND 25.39
8 Northern Iowa 38.00 10 5 17 8 IVY LEAGUE 24.65
9 Monmouth 37.85 11 3 6 9 PATRIOT 23.13
10 Illinois State 37.63 10 5 28 10 NORTHEAST 20.37
11 Central Arkansas 37.38 9 4 7 11 MID-EASTERN 16.31
12 Sacramento State 37.30 9 4 8 12 SOUTHWESTERN 15.36
13 Wofford 36.63 8 4 9 13 PIONEER 15.17
14 Towson 35.81 7 5 10
15 Kennesaw State 35.32 11 3 22
16 Dartmouth 35.24 9 1 12
17 Albany 34.98 9 5 21
18 Villanova 34.08 9 4 15
19 Nicholls 33.80 9 5 26
20 Southeastern Louisiana 33.33 8 5 16
21 Furman 33.17 8 5 13
22 Southern Illinois 32.90 7 5 23
23 UC-Davis 32.80 5 7 20
24 Yale 32.42 9 1 19
25 New Hampshire 32.23 6 5 18
26 Southeast Missouri State 31.65 9 4 24
27 Youngstown State 31.19 6 6 31
28 Tennessee-Martin 31.11 7 5 30
29 McNeese 30.86 7 5 25
30 North Dakota 30.84 7 5 27
31 Princeton 30.29 8 2 32
32 Sam Houston State 30.05 7 5 29
33 North Carolina A&T 29.65 9 3 41
34 San Diego 29.15 9 3 33
35 Elon 29.13 5 6 36
36 The Citadel 29.13 6 6 35
37 Eastern Kentucky 28.94 7 5 37
38 Maine 28.86 6 6 38
39 Holy Cross 28.69 7 6 42
40 Jacksonville State 28.12 6 6 39
41 South Dakota 28.00 5 7 44
42 William & Mary 27.53 5 7 40
43 Richmond 27.43 5 7 43
44 Central Connecticut State 27.03 11 2 34
45 Eastern Washington 26.85 7 5 45
46 Delaware 26.70 5 7 46
47 Chattanooga 26.01 6 6 47
48 Stony Brook 25.53 5 7 49
49 Harvard 25.19 4 6 48
50 Campbell 24.71 6 5 50
51 Indiana State 24.50 5 7 52
52 Abilene Christian 24.22 5 7 51
53 Alcorn State 23.86 9 4 53
54 Florida A&M 23.40 9 2 64
55 Samford 23.32 5 7 54
56 Dayton 23.31 8 3 55
57 South Carolina State 23.27 8 3 58
58 Lafayette 23.21 4 8 56
59 Charleston Southern 23.05 6 6 60
60 Murray State 23.01 4 8 61
61 Grambling State 22.97 6 5 59
62 Cal Poly 22.92 3 8 57
63 Idaho 22.87 5 7 66
64 Southern 22.73 8 5 67
65 Georgetown 22.69 5 6 62
66 North Alabama 22.66 4 7 65
67 Lehigh 22.51 4 7 63
68 Colgate 22.17 4 8 68
69 St. Francis 21.83 6 6 72
70 Cornell 21.82 4 6 69
71 East Tennessee State 21.69 3 9 74
72 Davidson 21.49 8 4 70
73 Fordham 21.47 4 8 71
74 Sacred Heart 21.31 7 5 73
75 Tennessee Tech 21.16 6 6 75
76 Mercer 21.09 4 8 76
77 Portland State 20.70 5 7 81
78 Penn 20.65 5 5 79
79 Incarnate Word 20.49 5 7 78
80 Virginia Military 20.35 5 7 77
81 Rhode Island 20.33 2 10 82
82 Northern Arizona 20.27 4 8 84
83 Idaho State 20.00 3 9 80
84 Duquesne 19.78 6 5 83
85 Bucknell 19.51 3 8 85
86 Gardner-Webb 19.28 3 9 86
87 Columbia 19.19 3 7 87
88 Houston Baptist 19.18 5 7 88
89 Tennessee State 18.96 3 9 89
90 Eastern Illinois 18.89 1 11 90
91 Southern Utah 18.86 3 9 92
92 Lamar 18.55 4 8 91
93 Bethune-Cookman 18.33 7 4 93
94 Prairie View A&M 18.20 6 5 95
95 Missouri State 17.74 1 10 94
96 Western Illinois 17.49 1 11 96
97 Robert Morris 17.00 7 5 97
98 Northwestern State 16.72 3 9 99
99 Alabama State 16.35 5 6 98
100 Northern Colorado 16.29 2 10 100
101 Norfolk State 16.29 5 7 102
102 Stephen F. Austin 16.03 3 9 101
103 Drake 15.41 6 5 103
104 Presbyterian 15.12 2 10 104
105 Bryant 14.96 4 8 105
106 Alabama A&M 14.85 7 5 106
107 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14.79 6 5 107
108 Brown 14.10 2 8 108
109 Stetson 13.99 7 4 109
110 Marist 13.93 4 7 110
111 Hampton 13.90 5 7 112
112 Morehead State 13.53 5 7 111
113 North Carolina Central 13.27 4 8 113
114 Merrimack 12.50 6 5 115
115 Jacksonville 12.43 3 9 116
116 Western Carolina 12.31 3 9 114
117 Morgan State 11.90 3 9 117
118 Long Island 11.02 0 10 118
119 Delaware State 10.72 2 10 119
120 Wagner 10.26 1 11 120
121 Jackson State 9.47 4 8 122
122 Mississippi Valley State 9.30 2 9 121
123 Butler 7.69 3 9 123
124 Howard 5.63 2 10 124
125 Valparaiso 4.44 1 11 125
126 Texas Southern 3.42 0 11 126