FCS Football Top 25: Zach McKinnell's 2025 Week 1 Ballot

I'm honored to represent FCS Football Central on SI as one of the voters in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 again for the 2025 season.

As I have over the past few years, I will release my weekly ballot and explain my reasoning behind my selections throughout the season. I believe it's important to be transparent as a voter, giving fans insight into how I analyze teams and build my ballot week-to-week.

Below is my Week 1 ballot for the 2025 FCS football season.

25. Abilene Christian

24. Monmouth

23. Villanova

22. Incarnate Word

21. Tennessee Tech

20. Stephen F. Austin

19. ETSU

18. Southern Utah

17. Northern Arizona

16. Austin Peay

15. Jackson State

14. Rhode Island

13. Lehigh

12. UC Davis

11. Nicholls

10. Illinois State

9. North Dakota

8. Idaho

7. Montana

6. Southern Illinois

5. South Dakota

4. Tarleton State

3. Montana State

2. South Dakota State

1. North Dakota State

Honorable Mentions: New Hampshire, Gardner-Webb, UT Martin, Sacramento State, Stony Brook, Richmond

Analysis:

This is one of my least favorite weeks to be a Top 25 voter. How do you compare a blowout loss to Oregon to a blowout win over a Division II school to a solid FCS out-of-conference win? That's something voters will have to weigh this weekend. Adding that to the fact that multiple teams did not play this weekend, the picture becomes even more blurry. Remember, this is Week 1, and these ballots will become more accurate each week as we receive more data on each team throughout the season.

It's important to remember that until later in the season, I completely throw away my rankings each week and start fresh, which allows me to remove any preseason bias from my current rankings. This will become more dramatic as we approach Weeks 3-5, when everybody has at least played one FCS opponent.

North Dakota State remained at No. 1 after a dominant win over The Citadel. South Dakota State jumps to No. 2 over Montana State for now. Next week's matchup between SDSU and Montana State will determine who is the true No. 2 team in the nation. South Dakota also remained top five despite an FBS loss this weekend. We will learn much more about these teams in the coming weeks.

Tarleton State has been the most impressive in the nation over the first two weeks of the season. The Texans notched a 42-0 victory over Portland State in Week 0, following that up with an FBS upset over Army this weekend. This was enough to bump them to the No. 4 spot, and depending on next weekend's SDSU-MSU game, they could climb even further up the rankings.

I'll be honest, I don't think any team in the country has yet to earn the No. 6 spot. Southern Illinois looked dominant, but played an overmatched sub-D1 opponent; Montana didn't play this weekend, Idaho was competitive, but ultimately lost to Washington State, and Illinois State was blown out by Oklahoma. I need to see more from each of these teams to justify keeping them this high, but they are four teams, I believe, that have the ceiling to potentially solidify their spot over the next few weeks.

North Dakota was No. 25 in my preseason ballot, but finds itself inside the top 10 after Week 1. The Hawks were impressive against Kansas State, controlling parts of this game and falling on a late-game drive. I think this team upgraded at quarterback with Jerry Kaminski, and the rushing attack can be explosive. They earned this spot for now. Lehigh is also firmly in the top 15 after a ranked Week 1 win over Richmond. It was a crucial Patriot League game between two teams that made the postseason last year.

There should be no surprise with Nicholls at No. 11, who opened the season with a stunning 20-6 upset win over Incarnate Word. The Colonels also led Troy at halftime this weekend, showing that their win over UIW may not be a one-hit wonder. Austin Peay also jumped into my ballot, coming in at No. 16. The Governors defeated Middle Tennessee State by 20 points, which is one of the most impressive wins I've seen so far from an FCS program. They held MTSU to less than 175 total yards, showing the FBS upset wasn't a fluke. It's hard to judge FBS vs FCS upsets because teams don't always capitalize on the momentum, but for now, Austin Peay has earned a top 15 ranking.

Southern Utah also goes from unranked to No. 18 after an impressive debut win over Idaho State. This was an Idaho State team that almost upset UNLV last week, but the Thunderbirds scored 46 points and were absolutely dominant on the ground. I think they could be a real factor in the UAC race, which features four teams that are in my current Top 25 ballot.

I'll provide a more in-depth analysis of my ballot in the coming weeks, but we don't have a substantial amount of data right now to make a truly accurate comparison of teams. I believe being transparent in how we vote is important for every voter on the panel. Nobody's ballot is perfect, and there will always be an argument for teams to be moved around each week. However, I still plan to clearly explain why I voted the way I did each and every week throughout the season.

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