FCS Nation Radio Releases Week 2 Top 25 Poll

Week 1 Gave Us Receipts. Now the Rankings Start Moving.

FCS Nation Top 25 – Week 2 (2026)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 7, 2026

1. Montana State

2. South Dakota State

3. Montana

4. Tarleton State

5. UC Davis

6. North Dakota

7. Youngstown State

8. Illinois State

9. Lehigh

10. Rhode Island

11. Tennessee Tech

12. South Dakota

13. Idaho State

14. Austin Peay

15. Stephen F. Austin

16. Yale

17. Lamar

18. South Carolina State

19. Alabama State

20. William & Mary

21. West Florida

22. Cal Poly

23. Wofford

24. Northern Arizona

25. Campbell

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Week 1 gave us exactly what preseason rankings eventually have to face: actual evidence. Some teams handled business. Some took their shot against the FBS. A few gave us results that were impossible to ignore.

And then there’s Idaho State.

The Bengals make the biggest move in this week’s FCS Nation Top 25, jumping three spots from No. 16 to No. 13 after going into Logan and knocking off FBS Utah State, 29-17. Idaho State forced four turnovers and held the Aggies scoreless in the fourth quarter to earn its first win over an FBS opponent since 2017.

That’ll move you up a ballot.

The top of the rankings, however, remains remarkably stable.

Montana State remains No. 1 after a 51-24 win over Butler pushed the defending national champions’ winning streak to a program-record 16 games.

South Dakota State stays at No. 2 despite a 34-18 loss at Northwestern. There’s a difference between losing to an FCS opponent and taking your shot against the Big Ten, and one FBS road loss wasn’t enough for us to erase everything that has South Dakota State sitting near the top of the subdivision.

At No. 3, Montana did exactly what a top three team is supposed to do.

After needing to fight through Southern Utah in Week 0, the Grizzlies removed a lot of the drama this time around, handling Drake 45-10 in Missoula and moving to 2-0.

No. 4 Tarleton State might have an argument for one of the best wins anywhere in the Top 5.

The Texans went on the road and defeated FBS Bowling Green, 20-13, giving Tarleton consecutive victories over FBS opponents dating back to last season. They remain at No. 4, but the résumé is getting increasingly difficult to argue with.

UC Davis stays at No. 5 after pulling away from San Diego for a 49-17 victory behind five touchdown passes from Treynor Cleeland.

North Dakota remains No. 6, and the Fighting Hawks continue to score points in bunches. UND hung 62 on St. Thomas after scoring six first-half touchdowns for the second consecutive week, with Jerry Kaminski throwing a career-high five touchdowns before halftime.

Youngstown State, Illinois State, Lehigh, Rhode Island, Tennessee Tech and South Dakota round out an unchanged Top 12.

Not all of them had identical weekends. Youngstown State fell 45-13 at Kentucky and Rhode Island dropped a 38-14 decision at Temple, but both losses came against FBS competition.

Meanwhile, Illinois State rolled Western Illinois 41-10, Lehigh improved to 2-0 with a dominant 45-14 win at Georgetown, Tennessee Tech handled Chattanooga 24-9 and South Dakota moved to 2-0 with a 38-23 road victory over Northern Colorado.

Then comes the aforementioned Idaho State jump to No. 13. That move pushes Austin Peay down one spot to No. 14 after the Governors battled Vanderbilt but ultimately fell 28-9 in Nashville.

Stephen F. Austin stays at No. 15 after making its own statement. The Lumberjacks scored the final 37 points in a 44-7 win over East Texas A&M and are now 2-0. Yale moves from No. 14 to No. 16 largely because Idaho State forced its way ahead. That’s one of the strange realities of early-season rankings for Ivy League programs: while everyone else is building a résumé, Yale is still waiting to begin its season. Lamar remains No. 17.

And then there’s South Carolina State at No. 18.

The Bulldogs may not move this week, but make no mistake: South Carolina State looks the part.

One week after putting 87 points on Savannah State, the defending HBCU national champions went to Miami Gardens and beat Florida A&M 31-13 in the Orange Blossom Classic. SC State responded to an early FAMU field goal with a 58-yard Mason Pickett-Hicks touchdown run and never relinquished control. Two weeks. Two very different types of wins.

And both have been impressive.

Alabama State remains No. 19, while William & Mary holds at No. 20. Then we get to one of the best stories in the entire FCS.

Welcome to the Top 25, West Florida.

The Argonauts enter the poll at No. 21, and at this point it would have been harder to justify keeping them out.

West Florida’s first game as an FCS program produced a 34-31 win over ranked Southern Illinois. Apparently that wasn’t enough of an introduction.

In Week 1, the Argos went to Central Arkansas and dismantled the Bears 42-14. West Florida led 28-7 at halftime, forced three turnovers and turned those takeaways into 21 points. The result moves UWF to 2-0 and sends Central Arkansas out of this week’s FCS Nation Top 25. Two games into life at the FCS level, West Florida already owns two wins over established subdivision programs. That gets our attention.

Cal Poly remains No. 22 after improving to 2-0, although Division II Central Washington made the Mustangs work for a 24-17 victory.

Wofford stays at No. 23 after surviving Gardner-Webb 17-13 and moving to 2-0. Northern Arizona remains No. 24 after falling 35-7 at Arizona. The Lumberjacks struggled offensively but forced three Wildcat turnovers, and an FBS loss alone wasn’t enough to knock them out of the poll. And the final spot belongs to another newcomer.

Campbell is in.

The Camels enter at No. 25 after putting together one of the more interesting opening résumés in the country.

Week 0 brought a 49-37 road win over ETSU.

Then Campbell followed it by taking down ranked Western Carolina, 28-19, in a weather-delayed game that spilled into Sunday. The Camels produced 528 yards of offense and, perhaps even more impressively, held a Western Carolina team that had just scored 45 points in its opener to one rushing yard.

That result knocks Western Carolina out of the Top 25 and puts Campbell into it. ETSU did respond to its opening loss with a convincing 48-14 win over Tusculum, but the Bucs remain outside the poll for now.

And that might be the best illustration of where we are after two weeks. There are already more teams making legitimate cases than there are spots available.

Idaho State has an FBS win.

West Florida is 2-0 against established FCS competition in its first two games at this level.

Campbell has beaten ETSU and Western Carolina.

South Carolina State has followed an 87-point explosion with a convincing rivalry win.

Tarleton just beat another FBS program.

And still, the top five hasn't moved. That doesn’t mean the rankings are settled. Quite the opposite. Week 0 gave us something to evaluate. Week 1 gave us receipts. Now the résumé-building really starts.

Welcome to Week 2.