FCS Football Top 25: Zach McKinnell's 2026 Week 2 Ballot

I'm excited to represent FCS Football Central as one of the voters in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 again for the 2026 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 voters should be transparent and justify their rankings every week. It gives fans important insights into how they analyze teams and build their ballots week-to-week.

Below is my Week 2 ballot for the 2026 FCS football season.

25. Colgate

24. Furman

23. Southern Utah

22. Campbell

21. Northern Arizona

20. Wofford

19. Yale

18. South Carolina State

17. UC Davis

16. West Florida

15. Austin Peay

14. Rhode Island

13. Lamar

12. Idaho State

11. Stephen F. Austin

10. Lehigh

9. Youngstown State

8. South Dakota

7. Tennessee Tech

6. Montana

5. Illinois State

4. North Dakota

3. Tarleton State

2. South Dakota State

1. Montana State

Honorable Mentions: Cal Poly, Richmond, Prairie View A&M, Harvard, Alabama State

Analysis:

In all transparency, I think Tier 2 of the subdivision is pure chaos right now. We only have three data points to lean on, which creates a TON of variance in these early-season ballots. How much weight should FBS wins for Tarleton State and Illinois State hold? Will North Dakota and Youngstown State look as dominant once the competition level increases? These are some of the questions that voters have to consider, but the truth is that nobody really has a definitive answer until we see it on the field.

Every voter is going to answer those questions differently. I choose to lean on a combination of resume and overall talent, but I really value what I'm seeing on film. Be prepared to see some major changes over the next three weeks, especially with some massive games on the horizon, which will really help weed out the contenders and pretenders in this chaos from No. 2-11.

Another reminder that these ballots aren't a projection of what's going to happen in five weeks. It's a snapshot of who I believe the Top 25 teams are in FCS football right now. Now that I've explained a bit about my process, let's dive into some individual teams.

Montana State should be the consensus No. 1 team in the country. The Bobcats handled business against Nevada this past weekend, picking up another FBS win for the subdivision. I think the bigger story is which team can actually emerge as the biggest contender to push the Bobcats for the title.

I know people might overreact and say that I'm too low on Montana, but this has more to do with what the other teams ahead of them have done. I think the Griz are still legit national contenders, but there have been some shaky moments throughout the first three games. I don't think this team has even reached half of what their potential can be. If they look competitive against Oregon State and then handle business against UC Davis in two weeks, I will absolutely move them right back into the Top 3.

When evaluating the full body of work over the first three weeks, I think Tarleton State and Illinois State have clearly earned spots in the Top 5. The Texans have a 19-point win over the defending SWAC champions and an FBS win over Bowling Green, plus a road win over a gritty McNeese squad. I was skeptical of the Redbirds going into the year, but this team has checked off a ton of my biggest concerns. The defense looks elite, but the longevity of this team will be determined by Gage Roy's consistency through MVFC play.

I know people are going to push back on my decision to move North Dakota into the Top 5, but I truly believe this team has all the pieces to be a real factor in the MVFC race. The offensive line continues to impress me on film, plus Jerry Kaminski looks to have taken that next step in his second season as the starter. I think they've been more consistent than Montana, and I have fewer questions about the overall roster compared to Illinois State, which gave North Dakota the slight edge in this week's ballot.

Another team that dropped a bit was Rhode Island, which picked up a solid win over Elon this weekend. Like I said about Montana, a lot of this had to do with what other teams have done, but I also have to factor in the injury questions about Devin Farrell. Tyler Budge has played fine, but the ceiling of this team is much lower without Farrell leading the offense. If he returns, then I will reevaluate this, but I can only rank them based on what I've seen on the field, which doesn't include Farrell.

Furman jumped back in my ballot after a road win over Mercer. I wasn't as high on the Bears as other voters, but this was one of the best wins among the teams in the back end of the rankings. This defense looks extremely impressive, but I still have questions about how high this team can climb due to some offensive inconsistency, which keeps them at No. 24.

I really struggled with the final two spots this week. Am I 100% sure any of these teams are Top 25 teams? No, but as I said earlier, we only have three data points, so things are going to continue to evolve quickly, especially when some of the data points come from Division II or FBS games. The teams from 20-25, plus a few honorable mentions, have a lot to prove in the coming weeks.

Colgate ended up being the final team on my ballot, just beating out Cal Poly. I gave the Raiders the edge because they played three Division I teams, unlike Cal Poly, plus their performance against Central Michigan was extremely impressive in Week 2, holding the Chippewas to only 4.4 yards per play in a 3-point loss. The Raiders started their season with two conference wins, both by 10+ points, which was enough to grab the final spot in this week's ballot. To remain in the conversation, the Raiders need to perform well against Harvard and Villanova, which are also on the Top 25 bubble after Week 2.

It's always a controversial topic when voters choose to rank Ivy League teams early in the season. Yale has been included on my ballot since the preseason, while Harvard remains among the honorable mentions. With these teams finally starting their season in Week 3, I'm excited to see how they compare to some of the other teams in the Top 25 conversation.

There weren't any other major changes in my ballot, especially with a few teams playing "money games" this past weekend. In Week 3, we have some massive games that I'm really looking forward to. Below are some notable games that have a chance to shake up some ballots next week.

South Carolina State at Furman
Youngstown State at South Dakota State
Austin Peay at West Florida
Stephen F. Austin at Prairie View A&M
Rhode Island at Stony Brook
Yale at Holy Cross
Harvard at New Hampshire

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