| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Weber State | WSU (1-0) had the week off due to cancelation. Next week they host UC-Davis before another bye. | 1 |
| 2 |  | North Dakota | UND (3-0) controlled South Dakota, winning 21-10. Now the Hawks go to the road for three straight weeks. Western Illinois is first. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Villanova | 'Nova (1-0) won a toughie at Stony Brook. Next week they get a home opener against Rhode Island, for URI's season opener. | 3 |
| 4 |  | James Madison | JMU (3-0) had another tough outing, having to come from behind to beat Elon. Can the Dukes get on track vs. William & Mary? | 4 |
| 5 |  | Southern Illinois | SIU (3-1) might have had a slight let down in Youngstown, but still won. They return home for a huge match-up with UNI. | 5 |
| 6 |  | South Dakota State | SDSU (2-1) dominated Western Illinois in their home opener. Another homer with Youngstown State coming up. | 6 |
| 7 |  | Northern Iowa | UNI (2-1) just wins ugly, but that defense has been awesome. Will need to stay at that level in next week's roadie at Southern Illinois. | 7 |
| 8 |  | Jacksonville State | JSU (5-1) took control at Tennessee State early and didn't look back. They'll go to Tennessee-Martin next week. | 8 |
| 9 |  | North Dakota State | NDSU (3-1) rebounded as expected, shutting out Missouri State. They return home to play a winless and desparate Illinois State. | 9 |
| 10 |  | Kennesaw State | KSU (1-0) had the week off. Now Big South action begins with a home game with Charleston Southern. | 10 |
| 11 |  | Albany | SUNY-A (1-0) opened with an impressive, tough win at New Hampshire. Now a road game to Maine. | 11 |
| 12 |  | Sam Houston State | SHSU (1-0) had a bye. Another stiff home test coming as high-powered Nicholls visits. | 12 |
| 13 |  | Nicholls | NSU (3-0) didn't dominate Northwestern State like previous opponents. Maybe they were looking forward to SHSU a little bit. | 13 |
| 14 |  | Southeastern Louisiana | SLU (1-1) went tooth and nail with McNeese but held on late. | 15 |
| 15 |  | Eastern Washington | EWU (1-1) blew out Northern Arizona, 45-13. Now a road game back to Idaho, this time to Idaho State before the built-in bye week. | 17 |
| 16 |  | Chattanooga | UTC (2-1) had to go to overtime to beat 0-6 Citadel, but converted a 2-pointer to clinch it. They are 2-0 in SoCon. Bye coming. | 16 |
| 17 |  | Wofford | Wofford (1-1) had their game with ETSU likely cancelled, with no shared open date. Hopefully they get their game at Samford next. | 18 |
| 18 |  | Incarnate Word | UIW (2-0) handled Lamar with little issue. They'll get the next week off before a very important home game with SLU. | 21 |
| 19 |  | Delaware | UD (1-0) had a dominating 37-0 victory over previously ranked Maine. A stingy Stony Brook team visits next week. | NR |
| 20 |  | Virginia Military | VMI (2-0) is off to a great start. They just manhandled Western Carolina. They get to come home for a date with Mercer. | 25 |
| 21 |  | UC Davis | UC-D (1-0) exploded in the 4th quarter to win at Idaho. A road date at Weber State figures to be a bit tougher. | NR |
| 22 |  | Murray State | MSU (2-0) has 'raced' out to a lead in the OVC, taking down SEMO. A road win with Tennessee Tech could give more confidence. | NR |
| 23 |  | Furman | FU (2-1) comes back to top 25 with overtime win over Samford. A road game to ETSU, who's not played in two weeks, is next. | NR |
| 24 |  | Southeast Missouri State | SEMO (1-2) lost at home to Murray State and is very close to blowing their season. Home game with APSU may be de facto playoff. | 14 |
| 25 |  | New Hampshire | UNH (0-1) came up just short at home against Albany. They'll take the week off to prepare for Delaware. | 24 |
