| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior |
| 1 |  | Jacksonville State | The Gamecocks (4-1) enjoy a bye week before getting back to OVC play next Saturday at Tennessee Tech. | 1 |
| 2 |  | North Dakota State | Amazing is the only word to describe the Bison (4-1). NDSU beats UNI, 31-28, on a touchdown with 35 seconds left. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Coastal Carolina | The Chanticleers (6-0) top Presbyterian 24-17 as the game ends with the Blue Hose on Coastal's 10. CCU is idle this week. | 3 |
| 4 |  | James Madison | JMU (6-0) beats Towson, 51-30. The Dukes are averaging more than 48 points a game. They visit Elon next weekend. | 4 |
| 5 |  | Illinois State | Illinois State (4-1) tops Youngstown State, 24-23. Its only loss has come against Iowa, a pretty fair FBS team. | 5 |
| 6 |  | Chattanooga | The Mocs (4-1) register an impressive 31-3 victory over Furman. Jacob Huesman tops 10,000 career yards in total offense. | 6 |
| 7 |  | Northern Iowa | The Panthers are the best 2-3 team in the nation. But the losses have taken away their margin for error. WIU is next. | 7 |
| 8 |  | Eastern Washington | The Eagles (3-2) rally for an improbable OT victory, 42-41, over Cal-Poly. They were down 15 points in the 4th quarter. | 8 |
| 9 |  | Sam Houston State | SHSU (3-2) might be starting to get its act together. It humbles Incarnate Word, 59-7. Abilene Christian is next. | 9 |
| 10 |  | South Dakota State | The Jackrabbits (4-1) pick up a key conference victory over Indiana State, 24-7. They visit Youngstown State next week. | 11 |
| 11 |  | Youngstown State | The Penguins are 3-2. For those counting, YSU makes it five MVFC teams in the College Sports Madness top 11! | 10 |
| 12 |  | Montana | Montana (3-3) lose 24-21 in overtime to Weber State for the first time in 28 years in Missoula. | 12 |
| 13 |  | Fordham | Fordham (5-1) holds on against Penn, 48-45. The Rams did have a 25-point lead in this one. | 13 |
| 14 |  | Montana State | Montana State (3-2) top Sacramento State, 35-13. They visit Portland State next week. | 14 |
| 15 |  | Eastern Kentucky | The Colonels (3-2) take care of Tennessee Tech, 48-17, on Thursday night. They visit Southeast Missouri on Saturday. | 17 |
| 16 |  | McNeese State | The Cowboys (5-0) win a huge conference game against rival SELA, 21-7. They can't avoid at letdown next week at UCA. | 18 |
| 17 |  | Harvard | While everyone else falls, Harvard (4-0) keeps winning, 40-3, over Cornell. | 21 |
| 18 |  | Liberty | The road-weary Flames (3-3) fall to Gardner-Webb, 34-20, after falling behind 20-0. Their 4th straight road game is at Monmouth. | 16 |
| 19 |  | Samford | The Bulldogs (3-2) trounce VMI, 49-13. The Citadel is next as Samford has a chance to get a winning streak going. | 19 |
| 20 |  | Richmond | The Spiders (4-1) top Elon, 27-14, in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates. | NR |
| 21 |  | New Hampshire | The Wildcats (3-2) enjoyed a bye week as they prepare for a key conference game next Saturday at William & Mary. | 22 |
| 22 |  | Portland State | Portland State (4-1) rolls over FBS member North Texas, 66-7. Montana State is next up. | 25 |
| 23 |  | Indiana State | The Sycamores (3-2) bow to South Dakota State. Their next four games are: S. Illinois, NDSU, Illinois St. and No. Iowa. | 20 |
| 24 |  | Western Illinois | We'll see how good the Leaathernecks (3-2) are in the coming weeks. Next up: Northern Iowa. | NR |
| 25 |  | North Dakota | North Dakota (4-2) falls to Idaho State, 37-31. A surging Weber State team is up next. | 23 |
