North Dakota State, Montana State lead FCS football committee's top 10

We're less than a month away from FCS playoff selection Sunday — 25 days to be exact — and the Division I Football Championship Committee has revealed its in-season top 10 rankings of the FCS teams. The rankings were announced Wednesday, Oct. 30 shortly after 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2's College Football Live broadcast.

The committee used results of games played through Oct. 26, and these in-season rankings serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.

The committee consider some of the following criteria (in no order) when selecting at large teams:

• Each team’s won-lost record
• Each team's strength of schedule
  • The won-lost record of a team will be scrutinized to determine a team’s strength of schedule; however, fewer than six Division I wins may place a team in jeopardy of not being selected.
  • The committee may give more consideration to those teams that have played all Division I opponents.
• Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship
• Two predictive methods (Massey and ESPN)
  • Click or tap here for more on the Massey ratings
• Two results-based metrics (KPI and ESPN) as a tool for evaluating teams.
  • KPI is a metric developed by Kevin Pauga (Kevin Pauga Index). Here's an example of how it's used in college basketball.

Unlike past years, the FCS Coaches Poll and FCS STATS Perform Poll ARE NOT considered.

The committee's top 10 rankings give insight into which teams are in contention for the first-round byes given to the eight seeded teams in the FCS playoff bracket. For the first time in 2024, teams seeded Nos. 9-16 will also be seeded, increasing the importance of the last two teams ranked in the committee's rankings. Click or tap here for more on this year's FCS Championship.

That said, see the top 10 rankings below along with a breakdown of each team.

1. North Dakota State
2. Montana State
3. South Dakota State
4. South Dakota
5. UC Davis
6. Southeast Missouri State
7. Idaho
8. Mercer
9. UIW
10. Montana

What to know about the top-10 teams

No. 1 North Dakota State

No. 2 Montana State

No. 3 South Dakota State

No. 4 South Dakota

No. 5 UC Davis

No. 6 Southeast Missouri State

No. 7 Idaho

No. 8 Mercer

No. 9 UIW

No. 10 Montana

The ESPN predictive and results-based metrics are not currently publicly posted, but are compiled and sent weekly to the FCS Committee. The posted factor in last year's results and don't match the accurate rankings that committee receives weekly that don't include last year's results. The Strength of Schedule listed on the Massey site is accurate and only from the current season.