Final FCS Football Top 25
January 7, 2012 · CSM Staff
| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  |
North Dakota State | NDSU survived the FCS Playoff gauntlet and shut down SHSU’s explosive offense in the final to win the title. |
5 |
| 2 |  |
Sam Houston State | Sam Houston State was 14-0, but then they ran into NDSU in the FCS Championship and found their first loss. |
1 |
| 3 |  |
Georgia Southern | Georgia Southern had a nice run in the playoffs, knocking off ODU and Maine before falling to NDSU. |
2 |
| 4 |  |
Montana | Montana finished the regular season by beating MSU and parlayed that big win into a nice run to the semifinals. |
3 |
| 5 |  |
Montana State | MSU slipped past UNH in the second round of the playoffs, but they were not playing well at the end of the year. |
4 |
| 6 |  |
Northern Iowa | Northern Iowa had a couple close losses in the regular season, but they were dominated by Montana. |
6 |
| 7 |  |
Lehigh | Lehigh snuck past Towson in the first round of the playoffs, but NDSU put them back to reality with a 24-0 game. |
7 |
| 8 |  |
Maine | Maine had a fine year and capped it off by knocking Appalachian State out of the playoffs. GSU got them in the end. |
14 |
| 9 |  |
Towson | Towson lost a shootout to Lehigh in the second round of the FCS Playoffs to end their improbable season. |
9 |
| 10 |  |
Old Dominion | ODU topped off their amazing season with a playoff win over Norfolk State and gave GSU a pretty close game. |
10 |
| 11 |  |
Appalachian State | By ASU standards finishing 8-4 overall and bowing out of the playoffs in their first game is a bad year. |
8 |
| 12 |  |
Wofford | Wofford joined Appalachian State in losing their first game in the FCS Playoffs, but overall it was not a bad season. |
11 |
| 13 |  |
New Hampshire | New Hampshire lost a heartbreaker to Montana State in the first round of the FCS Playoffs. They’ll be back. |
12 |
| 14 |  |
Harvard |
Harvard lost their first game of the year before winning their final nine, including a 45-7 blowout over Yale. |
13 |
| 15 |  |
Central Arkansas | Central Arkansas’ big winning streak did not end until they had to go to Montana in the FCS Playoffs. |
18 |
| 16 |  |
Tennessee Tech | The OVC did not have a good experience in the playoffs, but Tennessee Tech had a nice season just to get there. | 15 |
| 17 |  |
Delaware | The Blue Hens were another possible playoff team that had to stay home. Inconsistent play will go away with age. |
16 |
| 18 |  |
Jacksonville State | Jacksonville State finished the season watching the playoffs from home, but they can build off their 2011 success. |
17 |
| 19 |  |
James Madison | James Madison snuck into the playoffs and beat EKU, but overall it was a relatively disappointing campaign. |
22 |
| 20 |  |
Stony Brook | Back in the second round, Stony Brook nearly knocked off Sam Houston State. They’ll look to make a run again. |
25 |
| 21 |  |
Illinois State | Illinois State was left out of the playoffs despite their 7-4 record in a good conference, but they’ll be ready for ’12. |
19 |
| 22 |  |
Furman | Furman was left out of the playoffs with a 6-5 mark, but they had a fine season with some big wins. |
20 |
| 23 |  |
Norfolk State | Norfolk State could not turn their fine regular season into playoff success, but getting to the playoffs was enough. |
21 |
| 24 |  |
Jackson State | JSU had a superb 2011 campaign, finishing with an 8-2 record. They will look to ride that momentum into 2012. |
24 |
| 25 |  |
North Dakota | North Dakota had a strong 2011 season and should be looking towards the future with high hopes. |
23 |
