The FCS Wedge

It was another chaotic week in the AGS Top 25 – there were fewer upsets this week but the few that happened shook things up quite a bit. Despite the movement behind them the top 2 stayed the same with South Dakota State the unanimous #1 followed by Montana State at #2. Furman moved up a spot to #3 – their highest ranking in the AGS Poll since 2005. Sacaramento State slid up a spot to #4 and Western Carolina moved up 2 spots to #5 for their first ever appearance in the top 5.

Other teams on the rise this week included South Dakota who moved up 4 spots to #6 after a big win over Youngstown State. North Dakota moved up 5 spots to #10 after a dominating win over previously 6th ranked NDSU. Montana shot up 8 spots to #11 after a upsetting previously 3rd ranked Idaho on the road. Austin Peay got into the top 25 for the first time this season coming in at #24.

As for teams dropping this week Idaho fell 5 spots to #8 after their previously mentioned defeat by Montana. North Dakota State plummeted 11 spots to #17 – their lowest ranking since 2010. Albany took a 9-spot tumble to #25 after being upset by New Hampshire. Eastern Washington fell out of the 25, and completely out of the poll altogether, after dropping their game at Idaho State this week.

In terms of conference representation the MVFC led the way placing 6 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the Big Sky and CAA with 4 each, the SOCON with 3, and the UAC with 2 teams in the top 25. Once again 11 conferences were represented in this week’s top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1250	50
2	–	Montana State Bobcats	1200
3	1	Furman Paladins	1104
4	1	Sac State Hornets	1020
5	2	Western Carolina Catamounts	981
6	4	South Dakota Coyotes	941
7	2	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	898
8	-5	Idaho Vandals	857
9	-1	Incarnate Word Cardinals	851
10	5	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	809
11	8	Montana Grizzlies	741
12	-1	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	637
13	-1	Holy Cross Crusaders	616
14	–	Southern Illinois Salukis	577
15	-2	North Carolina Central Eagles	538
16	1	Harvard Crimson	525
17	-11	North Dakota State Bison	476
18	3	Chattanooga Mocs	392
19	-1	William & Mary Tribe	387
20	2	Central Arkansas Bears	286
21	4	Villanova Wildcats	262
22	1	Florida A&M Panthers	171
23	-3	Youngstown State Penguins	170
24	4	Austin Peay Governors	146
25	-9	Albany Great Danes	141
ORV:
26	10	New Hampshire Wildcats	74
27	4	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	51
28	5	UC Davis Aggies	46
29	6	Lafayette Leopards	25
30	-4	Mercer Bears	18
31	NR	North Carolina A&T Aggies	15
32	6	Fordham Rams	14
33	NR	Illinois State Redbirds	13
34T	-5	Eastern Illinois Panthers	4
34T	-7	Northern Iowa Panthers	4
34T	NR	Richmond Spiders	4
37	NR	Portland State Vikings	2

Most significant win: Montana Grizzlies
Most significant loss: North Dakota State Bison

Dropped out of the poll:
Eastern Washington Eagles
Elon Phoenix
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Rhode Island Rams
Weber State Wildcats

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk7 (anygivensaturday.com)

It was sheer chaos amongst the AGS top 25 in week 5 with 9 previously top 25 ranked teams taking losses – 7 of which to teams ranked lower or not at all last week. Despite that it stayed the same at the top with South Dakota State taking the #1 spot claiming all 51 first place votes. They were once again followed by Montana State at #2. Idaho climbed up a spot to #3 setting yet another all-time high for the program in the AGS Poll.  They were followed by Furman who got back into the top 5 climbing up 2 spots to 4 and Southern Illinois who continued their season long climb rising up 4 spots to #5.

Other teams climbing this week included Tennessee-Martin who rose up 5 spots to #11. South Dakota, riding an upset road win at MVFC powerhouse NDSU, shot all the way up #12 after barely cracking the ORV section last week. Albany continued their resurgent 2023 campaign moving up 6 spots to #18 after a big win over CAA rival Villanova. Harvard was another team who used a massive upset, in their case over Holy Cross, to come from the fringes of the ORV all the way up to #19. Elon, riding their own upset win over William & Mary, came from completely out of last week’s poll up to #23 and Florida A&M cracked the AGS Top 25 for the first time since the 2019 season coming in at #25.

The teams falling this week were headlined by North Dakota State who fell 5 spots to #8 after their previously mentioned loss to South Dakota. Holy Cross and William & Mary fell 8 and 6 spots to #13 and #14, respectively, due to their aforementioned losses. Villanova, New Hampshire, Youngstown State, and Fordham all dropped out of the top 25 after taking week 5 losses.

In terms of conference representation the Big Sky led the way placing 7 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the MVFC with 5, the CAA with 4, and the SOCON with 3 teams in the top 25. A season high 10 conferences were represented in this week’s top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1275	51
2	–	Montana State Bobcats	1215
3	1	Idaho Vandals	1172
4	2	Furman Paladins	1081
5	4	Southern Illinois Salukis	1049
6	1	Sac State Hornets	1011
7	3	Incarnate Word Cardinals	911
8	-5	North Dakota State Bison	878
9	3	Western Carolina Catamounts	836
10	1	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	809
11	5	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	620
12	26	South Dakota Coyotes	606
13	-8	Holy Cross Crusaders	578
14	-6	William & Mary Tribe	488
15	2	North Carolina Central Eagles	445
16	-3	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	436
17	1	Weber State Wildcats	415
18	6	Albany Great Danes	390
19	18	Harvard Crimson	321
20	3	Chattanooga Mocs	303
21	1	UC Davis Aggies	284
22	-2	Eastern Washington Eagles	175
23	NR	Elon Phoenix	161
24	1	Montana Grizzlies	151
25	1	Florida A&M Panthers	143
ORV:
26	3	Eastern Illinois Panthers	126
27	–	Central Arkansas Bears	119
28	-13	Villanova Wildcats	104
29	-1	Mercer Bears	95
30	3	Austin Peay Governors	84
31	3	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	57
32	3	Northern Iowa Panthers	52
33	-19	New Hampshire Wildcats	51
34	-4	Rhode Island Rams	47
35	-3	Illinois State Redbirds	41
36	2	Tarleton Texans	15
37	-18	Youngstown State Penguins	14
38	-7	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	10
39	NR	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	6
40	-19	Fordham Rams	1

Most significant win: South Dakota Coyotes
Most significant loss: North Dakota State Bison

Dropped out of the poll:
Richmond Spiders
Samford Bulldogs

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk5 (anygivensaturday.com)

After a relatively quiet first few weeks of the 2023 season week 4 saw a multitude of upsets that really shook up the AGS Top 25. Things stayed the same at the top with South Dakota State retaining the #1 spot garnering all 51 first place votes. They were followed by Montana State at #2 who moved up a spot following a dominating win over Big Sky Weber State. North Dakota State dropped a spot to #3 and Idaho moved up 2 spots to #4 – their highest ranking ever in the AGS Poll. Holy Cross dropped a spot to round out the top 5.

Other teams moving up this week included Delaware who shot up 9 spots after a big win over CAA rival New Hampshire. Villanova was another CAA team making a big leap moving up to #15 for their first appearance this season in the AGS Top 25. Tennessee-Martin took advantage of some turmoil in front of them to move up 7 spots to #16. Eastern Washington and Fordham each made their first appearance in the AGS Top 25 this year coming in at #20 and #21, respectively. Chattanooga also got back into the top 25 coming in at #23.

Those dropping this week were headlined by a trio of Big Sky teams; Weber State dropped 6 spots to #18, UC Davis dropped 7 spots to #22, and Montana plummeted 12 spots to #25 after each took surprising losses in league play this past Saturday. With all the new teams making their way into the top 25 there had to be just as many who left it – those teams dropping out of the top 25 this week included Mercer, Rhode Island, Southeast Missouri State, and Samford.

In terms of conference representation the Big Sky led the way placing 7 teams in the top 25. They were followed by the CAA and MVFC with 5 each, the SOCON with 3, and the Patriot League with 2 teams in the top 25. Once again 8 conferences were represented in this week’s top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1275	51
2	1	Montana State Bobcats	1189
3	-1	North Dakota State Bison	1187
4	2	Idaho Vandals	1096
5	-1	Holy Cross Crusaders	1054
6	1	Furman Paladins	1009
7	-2	Sac State Hornets	928
8	–	William & Mary Tribe	909
9	2	Southern Illinois Salukis	876
10	–	Incarnate Word Cardinals	854
11	9	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	691
12	5	Western Carolina Catamounts	659
13	1	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	658
14	-5	New Hampshire Wildcats	564
15	13	Villanova Wildcats	439
16	7	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	431
17	4	North Carolina Central Eagles	375
18	-6	Weber State Wildcats	373
19	3	Youngstown State Penguins	316
20	9	Eastern Washington Eagles	289
21	6	Fordham Rams	186
22	-7	UC Davis Aggies	182
23	15	Chattanooga Mocs	149
24	1	Albany Great Danes	138
25	-12	Montana Grizzlies	135
ORV:
26	–	Florida A&M Panthers	122
27	6	Central Arkansas Bears	82
28	-9	Mercer Bears	71
29	10	Eastern Illinois Panthers	65
30	-12	Rhode Island Rams	58
31	-15	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	45
32	4	Illinois State Redbirds	44
33	NR	Austin Peay Governors	29
34	NR	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	28
35	-4	Northern Iowa Panthers	19
36	-12	Samford Bulldogs	10
37	NR	Harvard Crimson	9
38T	1	South Dakota Coyotes	8
38T	NR	Tarleton Texans	8
40	NR	Richmond Spiders	7

Most significant win: Idaho Vandals
Most significant loss: Montana Grizzlies

Dropped out of the poll:
Abilene Christian Wildcats
Campbell Fighting Camels
Princeton Tigers
Southeastern Louisiana Lions
Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks
Yale Bulldogs

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk4 (anygivensaturday.com)

It was a quiet week in the AGS Top 25 this week with only one loss from last week’s top 25 not coming from an FBS team or a higher ranked FCS team. As they have all season South Dakota State maintained it’s grip on the top spot picking up all but 2 of the 44 first place votes. They were once again followed North Dakota State, Montana State, and Holy Cross, in that order, from #2-#4. Sacramento State used a big win over Pac-12 Stanford to move up 3 spots to #5.

There wasn’t much else for teams on the rise this week as the only other team moving up more than 2 spots was Western Carolina who continued their strong start to the season moving up 4 spots to #17 following a win over Eastern Kentucky. Albany cracked the top 25 for the first time since the spring 2021 season coming in at #25.

The only team to drop more than 2 spots from last week’s top 25 was Southeastern Louisiana who plummeted completely out of the top 25 following an 0-3 start to their 2023 campaign. That snapped a 45 poll streak of top 25 appearances for the Lions that started in week 11 of the 2019 season.

In terms of conference representation the Big Sky led the way again placing 6 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the MVFC and CAA with 5 each, the SOCON with 4, and the OVC with 2 teams in the top 25. Once again 8 conference were represented in this week’s top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1098	42
2	–	North Dakota State Bison	1032	2
3	–	Montana State Bobcats	998
4	–	Holy Cross Crusaders	939
5	3	Sac State Hornets	896
6	-1	Idaho Vandals	866
7	-1	Furman Paladins	833
8	-1	William & Mary Tribe	762
9	–	New Hampshire Wildcats	713
10	–	Incarnate Word Cardinals	703
11	2	Southern Illinois Salukis	686
12	-1	Weber State Wildcats	606
13	-1	Montana Grizzlies	499
14	–	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	475
15	1	UC Davis Aggies	455
16	-1	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	394
17	4	Western Carolina Catamounts	366
18	2	Rhode Island Rams	364
19	-1	Mercer Bears	326
20	2	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	259
21	-2	North Carolina Central Eagles	190
22	2	Youngstown State Penguins	181
23	2	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	151
24	-1	Samford Bulldogs	59
25	2	Albany Great Danes	58
ORV:
26	7	Florida A&M Panthers	47
27	-1	Fordham Rams	46
28	1	Villanova Wildcats	44
29T	8	Campbell Fighting Camels	36
29T	NR	Eastern Washington Eagles	36
31	-1	Northern Iowa Panthers	33
32	-15	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	24
33	-2	Central Arkansas Bears	21
34	3	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	19
35	4	Abilene Christian Wildcats	17
36	-4	Illinois State Redbirds	12
37	-1	Yale Bulldogs	9
38	NR	Chattanooga Mocs	8
39T	NR	Eastern Illinois Panthers	7
39T	NR	Princeton Tigers	7
39T	NR	South Dakota Coyotes	7

Most significant win: Sac State Hornets
Most significant loss: Southeastern Louisiana Lions

Dropped out of the poll:
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs
Richmond Spiders
Tarleton Texans

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk3 (anygivensaturday.com)

The week 2 results across the FCS shuffled up the AGS Top 25 quite a bit with the subdivision picking up its first 3 FBS wins of the season and a few upsets sprinkled in there. South Dakota State survived a stiff test from Montana State to remain at #1 picking up 46 of 48 first place votes. They were once again followed by North Dakota State and Montana State at #2 and #3, respectively. Holy Cross moved up a spot to #4 to get to their highest ever ranking in the AGS Poll and Idaho used a dominating win over FBS Nevada to move up 3 spots to #5 – their first ever appearance in the top 5 of the AGS Polll.

Other teams moving up this week included Weber State who moved up 4 spots to #12 after an impressive road win over UNI. Southern Illinois shot up 9 spots to #13 after defeating FBS Northern Illinois. After their stunning (and convincing) win over previously 7th ranked Samford, Western Carolina shot up all the way to #21 after not appearing in the AGS Poll at all last week. It is the Catamounts first top 25 appearance since the 2017 season. Tennessee-Martin also made their first appearance in the AGS Top 25 this season rounding it out at #25.

Teams moving in the opposite direction this week were headlined by a trio of schools who were hammered by their FBS opponents this week – UC Davis, Southeastern Louisiana, and Delaware all fell 4 spots to #16, #17, and #22. respectively, after those convincing losses. Previously mentioned Samford plummeted 16 spots all the way down to #23 after their loss to WCU. Northern Iowa and Elon fell out of the top 25 after 0-2 starts to their respective 2023 campaigns.

In terms of conference representation the Big Sky led the way placing 6 teams into the AGS Top 25. They were followed by the MVFC with 5, the CAA and SOCON with 4 each, and the Southland and OVC who each put 2 teams into the top 25. Once again 8 conference were represented in this week’s AGS Top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1198	46
2	–	North Dakota State Bison	1126	2
3	–	Montana State Bobcats	1088
4	1	Holy Cross Crusaders	984
5	3	Idaho Vandals	972
6	-2	Furman Paladins	955
7	-1	William & Mary Tribe	912
8	2	Sac State Hornets	786
9	2	New Hampshire Wildcats	726
10	-1	Incarnate Word Cardinals	717
11	4	Weber State Wildcats	705
12	2	Montana Grizzlies	587
13	9	Southern Illinois Salukis	556
14	3	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	536
15	1	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	530
16	-4	UC Davis Aggies	518
17	-4	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	444
18	1	Mercer Bears	311
19	2	North Carolina Central Eagles	276
20	3	Rhode Island Rams	257
21	NR	Western Carolina Catamounts	251
22	-4	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	222
23	-16	Samford Bulldogs	190
24	–	Youngstown State Penguins	111
25	4	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	78
ORV:
26	12	Fordham Rams	73
27T	-1	Albany Great Danes	66
27T	4	Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs	66
29	3	Villanova Wildcats	65
30	-10	Northern Iowa Panthers	48
31	-3	Central Arkansas Bears	44
32	2	Illinois State Redbirds	33
33	-6	Florida A&M Panthers	29
34	NR	Tarleton Texans	26
35	-1	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	22
36	-6	Yale Bulldogs	21
37T	NR	Campbell Fighting Camels	13
37T	-4	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	13
39T	NR	Abilene Christian Wildcats	9
39T	-3	Richmond Spiders	9

Most significant win: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Most significant loss: Samford Bulldogs

Dropped out of the poll:
Elon Phoenix
Missouri State Bears
North Alabama Lions
Princeton Tigers

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk2 (anygivensaturday.com)

As the 2023 season kicked off we saw 9 teams in the preseason AGS Top 25 take losses in week 1 but only 2 of those were against FCS opponents so things stayed fairly steady with a few notable exceptions. The top 5 was unchanged from the preseason poll with South Dakota State taking the top spot getting 47 of 49 first place votes. They were once again followed by North Dakota State, Montana State, Furman, and Holy Cross in that order to round out the top 5.

Teams climbing this week were led by UC Davis and Delaware who each moved up 4 spots to #12 and #18, respectively, after dominating week 1 road wins over Texas A&M-Commerce and Stony Brook. Southern Illinois got back into the top 25 moving up to #22 after beating Austin Peay in their opener. Youngstown State made their first appearance in the AGS Top 25 since 2019 coming in at #24.

As for teams dropping this week the most notable who stayed in the top 25 was Southeast Missouri State who fell 3 spots to #16 after getting trounced by FBS Kansas State. Richmond, after being stunned at home by Morgan State, fell out of the top 25 as did Chattanooga, who fell completely out of the poll, after dropping their season opener to North Alabama.

In terms of conference representation, the Big Sky and the MVFC led the way each placing 6 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the CAA with 5, the SOCON with 3, and the Southland with 2 teams in the top 25. 8 conferences were represented in this week’s top 25.

Full results below:

Rank	Change	Team	Total Points	First Place Votes
1	–	South Dakota State Jackrabbits	1223	47
2	–	North Dakota State Bison	1149	2
3	–	Montana State Bobcats	1129
4	–	Furman Paladins	1039
5	–	Holy Cross Crusaders	973
6	–	William & Mary Tribe	923
7	–	Samford Bulldogs	897
8	2	Idaho Vandals	804
9	-1	Incarnate Word Cardinals	771
10	-1	Sac State Hornets	767
11	–	New Hampshire Wildcats	724
12	4	UC Davis Aggies	593
13	-1	Southeastern Louisiana Lions	584
14	–	Montana Grizzlies	549
15	–	Weber State Wildcats	543
16	-3	Southeast Missouri State Redhawks	522
17	–	North Dakota Fighting Hawks	514
18	4	Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens	347
19	–	Mercer Bears	291
20	–	Northern Iowa Panthers	278
21	–	North Carolina Central Eagles	245
22	4	Southern Illinois Salukis	242
23	–	Rhode Island Rams	179
24	5	Youngstown State Penguins	116
25	–	Elon Phoenix	95
ORV:
26	NR	Albany Great Danes	75
27	7	Florida A&M Panthers	59
28	7	Central Arkansas Bears	39
29	3	Tennesee-Martin Skyhawks	32
30	6	Yale Bulldogs	26
31	–	Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs	25
32	NR	Villanova Wildcats	24
33	7	Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks	22
34T	-7	Eastern Kentucky Colonels	19
34T	NR	Illinois State Redbirds	19
36	-18	Richmond Spiders	18
37	NR	North Alabama Lions	16
38	-10	Fordham Rams	15
39	-9	Missouri State Bears	13
40	-2	Princeton Tigers	10

Most significant win: Florida A&M Rattlers/Southern Illinois Salukis
Most significant loss: Richmond Spiders

Dropped out of the poll:
Austin Peay Governors
Chattanooga Mocs
Jackson State Tigers
St. Francis Red Flash

Join the discussion here: AGS Poll Results 2023 Wk1 (anygivensaturday.com)