2026 FCS Football Conference Preseason Polls

It's time for football media days, which means the upcoming college football season is rapidly approaching. We are less than 30 days away from kickoff, which is headlined by some massive FCS non-conference matchups in Week 0.

Each conference has released a preseason predicted order of finish, voted on by the league's head coaches, SIDs, and various other selected voters.

There are a few conferences that have not had their media day event for 2026. Those conferences will be added as they announce their predicted order of finish and preseason player of the year selections.

Below is the predicted order of finish for each FCS conference.

Big Sky

Coaches Poll:
1. Montana State (143, 11 first-place votes)
2. Montana (130)
3. UC Davis (121, 2)
4. Northern Arizona (108)
5. Idaho State (99)
6. Southern Utah (82)
7. Idaho (77)
8. Eastern Washington (70)
9. Weber State (48)
10. Northern Colorado (47)
11. Cal Poly (46)
12. Portland State (24)
13. Utah Tech (19)

Media Poll:
1. Montana State (490, 35 first-place votes)
2. Montana (448, 1)
3. UC Davis (421, 2)
4. Idaho State (349)
5. Northern Arizona (339)
6. Idaho (283)
7. Southern Utah (273)
8. Eastern Washington (246)
9. Cal Poly (168)
10. Weber State (155)
11. Northern Colorado (153)
12. Portland State (68)
13. Utah Tech (65)

Preseason Offensive MVP: Eli Gillman (Montana, RB)
Preseason Defensive MVP: Caden Dowler (Montana State, S)

CAA

1. Rhode Island (144, 12 first-place votes)
2. Monmouth (119)
3. Elon (115)
4. New Hampshire (106)
5. Stony Brook (105, 1)
6. Towson (93)
7. Maine (88)
8. Campbell (56)
9. Bryant (50)
10. Sacred Heart (49)
11. UAlbany (35)
12. North Carolina A&T (28)
13. Hampton (26)

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Devin Farrell (Rhode Island, QB)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Jaeden Jones (Monmouth, S)

MEAC

1. South Carolina State (49, 5 first-place votes)
2. North Carolina Central (42, 1)
3. Delaware State (40, 2)
4. Morgan State (25)
5. Norfolk State (18, 1)
6. Howard (15)

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Chance Peterson (North Carolina Central, WR)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Jordan Franklin (South Carolina State, LB)

MVFC

1. South Dakota State (312, 28 first-place votes)
2. Illinois State (256, 3)
3. Youngstown State (235)
4. North Dakota (211, 2)
5. South Dakota (196, 2)
6. Southern Illinois (186, 1)
7. Northern Iowa (99)
8. Indiana State (80)
9. Murray State (45)

OVC

1. UT Martin (47, 6 first-place votes)
2. SEMO (38, 1)
3. Lindenwood (37, 1)
4. Gardner-Webb (30)
5. Charleston Southern (26)
6. Western Illinois (23)
7. Eastern Illinois (14)
8. Tennessee State (9)

Pioneer League

1. San Diego (90, 5 first-place votes)
2. Drake (88, 5)
3. St. Thomas (87, 1)
4. Dayton (69)
5. Butler (67)
6. Marist (52)
7. Presbyterian (47)
8. Morehead State (38)
9. Davidson (33)
10. Stetson (22)
11. Valparaiso (12)

SoCon

1. Mercer (76, 6 first-place votes)
2. Tennessee Tech (70, 3)
3. ETSU (61, 1)
4. Western Carolina (58)
5. Chattanooga (48)
6. Furman (46)
7. Wofford (36)
8. Samford (23)
9. The Citadel (22)
10. VMI (10)

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Brayden Smith (Mercer, WR)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Joshua Stoneking (Furman, DL)

Southland

The Southland Conference made the decision not to release a preseason predicted order of finish or Preseason All-Conference Team.

SWAC

East:
1. Alabama State (131, 16 first-place votes)
2. Jackson State (122, 7)
3. Bethune-Cookman (71)
4. Florida A&M (70)
5. Alabama A&M (66, 1)
6. Mississippi Valley State (29)

West:
1. Prairie View A&M (130, 19 first-place votes)
2. Grambling State (93, 2)
3. Alcorn State (90, 1)
4. Texas Southern (79, 1)
5. Southern (65, 1)
6. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (32)

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Andrew Body (Alabama State, QB)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Kam Sallis (Jackson State, S)

UAC

T1. Abilene Christian (65, 3 first-place votes)
T1. Tarleton State (65, 3)
3. Austin Peay (62, 2)
4. Eastern Kentucky (48)
5. Central Arkansas (43)
6. West Georgia (39)
7. North Alabama (37)
8. West Florida (33)

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Chris Parson (Austin Peay, QB)
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Kaden Smith (Eastern Kentucky, LB)

Follow FCS Football Central on social media for ongoing coverage of FCS football, including on X, Facebook, and YouTube.

Add us as a preferred source on Google