FCS Football: Power Ranking FCS Conferences Ahead of 2025 Season

Timothy Rosario | Jan 27, 2025

Samantha Laurey / Argus Leader / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this analysis, we will look at how the FCS conferences stack up against each other after the 2024 season. We have compiled power rating numbers from the Massey, Sagarin, and ESPN's SP+ ratings.

These tools are predictive ratings, which are a good way to measure a team's overall strength. To make this useful, we measured conference strength with teams in each conference starting in the 2025 season. Delaware was removed from the CAA, Missouri State was removed from the MVFC, and Richmond was moved from the CAA to the Patriot League.

The power rating of each team in each conference was averaged to give the conference an overall measure. Then the lowest conference was made to be 0, which means a rating of "15" indicates that the average team in that conference is 15 points better than the average teams in the worst FCS conference.

Conference	Rating
Missouri Valley	21.8
Big Sky	19.0
UAC	14.3
Ivy League	13.9
SoCon	13.6
CAA	12.7
Big South-OVC	12.0
Southland	10.6
Patriot League	9.6
MEAC	6.3
NEC	3.4
SWAC	2.9
Pioneer	0.0

Analysis

According to the data, there is a pretty clear tier structure of FCS conferences entering next season.

Tier 1: MVFC, Big Sky
Tier 2: UAC, Ivy League, SoCon, CAA, Big South-OVC
Tier 3: Southland, Patriot League
Tier 4: MEAC
Tier 5: SWAC, NEC
Tier 6: Pioneer League

The teams at the top of the MVFC are clearly still way ahead of the rest of the subdivision. The conference features three of the four semifinal teams from last season, headlined by North Dakota State and South Dakota State, who have won 12 of the past 14 national championships.

The Big Sky ranks better than the MVFC throughout the middle of the conference (No. 4-8), but the problem for the conference is another championship opportunity has been missed. It has been 14 seasons since the Big Sky has won the national championship, but what will it take for a program to breakthrough? That's the biggest question for the conference moving into 2025, where multiple top programs face major question marks entering the season.

Another big takeaway is the rise of the UAC, which had five teams finish in the Top 40 last season. As long as the UAC can survive the ever-changing landscape of realignment, the future of this conference is extremely bright. Every program outside of Utah Tech finished in the Top 80 of the FCS last season.

One notable result is that the Ivy League ranked No. 4 among FCS conferences and will participate in the FCS Playoffs next season. While the conference does not have a true national title contender, they do have multiple teams who could compete for an appearance in the quarterfinals. The profile of the conference is very similar to the SoCon, CAA, and UAC.

After last season, the SoCon remains one of the most frustrating conferences to analyze. The conference ranked ahead of the CAA and Big South-OVC but only received one bid to the FCS Playoffs compared to the seven bids for the CAA and Big South-OVC. Unfortunately, the SoCon being a more competitive conference hurt the at-large resumes of some key contenders. At the same time, the lack of depth allowed the CAA's top teams to win 8-10 games due to the unbalanced scheduling. The SoCon failed to capitalize on opportunities in out-of-conference games, holding the conference back from getting 3-4 bids every season.

The next five conferences suffer from the same ailment, which separates them from the top of the FCS. The Southland, Patriot League, MEAC, and SWAC all have teams that rank in the Top 30 nationally, but the bottom of these conferences are some of the worst teams in the subdivision. This hinders the top teams from having the same impact as other conferences, impacting strength of schedule and strength of record measures. Incarnate Word (No. 8), Richmond (No. 15), Jackson State (No. 17), and North Carolina Central (No. 23) are some of the bright spots in each of these conferences.

As an interesting exercise, we projected what last season's playoff field would look like if the committee only used the combined power rating and conference affiliations for next season.

Big Sky (5): Montana State (AQ), UC Davis, Montana, Idaho, Northern Arizona
Big South-OVC (2): SEMO (AQ), UT Martin
CAA (2): Rhode Island (AQ), Villanova
Ivy (2): Harvard (AQ), Yale
MVFC (4): North Dakota State (AQ), South Dakota State, South Dakota, Illinois State
NEC (1): Central Connecticut State (AQ)
Patriot (1): Richmond (AQ)
Pioneer (1): Drake (AQ)
SoCon (2): Mercer (AQ), Chattanooga
Southland (2): Incarnate Word (AQ), Stephen F. Austin
UAC (2): Abilene Christian (AQ), Tarleton State

First Four Out:
North Dakota (MVFC)
North Carolina Central (MEAC)
Western Carolina (SoCon)
Southern Utah (UAC)

More FCS Football News

FCS Football: Top 25 Teams Of The Frisco Era
FCS Football: Highest-Graded Defensive Players In 2024
FCS Football: Highest-Graded Offensive Players In 2024
2024 FCS Football Central All-American Team
2024 FCS Football Central Freshman All-American Team

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