CHICAGO – Sept. 20, 2021 – A relative lack of movement in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 reflects the presence of many strong, veteran-laden teams this season.
Still, Monday’s new national media rankings especially stood out, with the top five teams, led by No. 1 Sam Houston, unchanged following the third full week of the college football season and no new additions, while still including 22 of the 25 teams that were part of the preseason poll.
The next-best thing to the 10 FCS wins over FBS programs, which are tied for the most since 2013, was No. 3 James Madison’s 37-24 win at then-No. 9 Weber State Saturday night. The Dukes (3-0) closed most of last week’s points gap on second-ranked South Dakota State, which had an open week. Meanwhile, Weber State dropped five spots to No. 14 and Richmond three to No. 24 after a Top 25 loss to Villanova, but they were the week’s only changes of more than two spots.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.
| STATS FCS Top 25 | Record | Previous | |
| 1 | Sam Houston (31) | 2-0 | 1 |
| 2 | South Dakota State (8) | 2-0 | 2 |
| 3 | James Madison (9) | 3-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Montana (2) | 2-0 | 4 |
| 5 | North Dakota State | 3-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Eastern Washington | 3-0 | 7 |
| 7 | Southern Illinois | 2-1 | 8 |
| 8 | Delaware | 2-1 | 6 |
| 9 | Jacksonville State | 2-1 | 10 |
| 10 | North Dakota | 2-1 | 11 |
| 11 | Villanova | 3-0 | 12 |
| 12 | UC Davis | 3-0 | 14 |
| 13 | Montana State | 2-1 | 13 |
| 14 | Weber State | 1-2 | 9 |
| 15 | ETSU | 3-0 | 16 |
| 16 | Southeastern Louisiana | 2-1 | 15 |
| 17 | Northern Iowa | 2-1 | 18 |
| 18 | Missouri State | 1-1 | 17 |
| 19 | Austin Peay | 2-1 | 19 |
| 20 | Monmouth | 2-1 | 20 |
| 21 | New Hampshire | 3-0 | 23 |
| 22 | VMI | 2-1 | 22 |
| 23 | Kennesaw State | 2-1 | 24 |
| 24 | Richmond | 2-1 | 21 |
| 25 | Central Arkansas | 1-2 | 25 |
