| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | North Dakota State | NDSU survived the FCS Playoff gauntlet and shut down SHSU's explosive offense in the final to win the title. | 5 |
| 2 |  | Sam Houston State | Sam Houston State was 14-0, but then they ran into NDSU in the FCS Championship and found their first loss. | 1 |
| 3 |  | Georgia Southern | Georgia Southern had a nice run in the playoffs, knocking off ODU and Maine before falling to NDSU. | 2 |
| 4 |  | Montana | Montana finished the regular season by beating MSU and parlayed that big win into a nice run to the semifinals. | 3 |
| 5 |  | Montana State | MSU slipped past UNH in the second round of the playoffs, but they were not playing well at the end of the year. | 4 |
| 6 |  | Northern Iowa | Northern Iowa had a couple close losses in the regular season, but they were dominated by Montana. | 6 |
| 7 |  | Lehigh | Lehigh snuck past Towson in the first round of the playoffs, but NDSU put them back to reality with a 24-0 game. | 7 |
| 8 |  | Maine | Maine had a fine year and capped it off by knocking Appalachian State out of the playoffs. GSU got them in the end. | 14 |
| 9 |  | Towson | Towson lost a shootout to Lehigh in the second round of the FCS Playoffs to end their improbable season. | 9 |
| 10 |  | Old Dominion | ODU topped off their amazing season with a playoff win over Norfolk State and gave GSU a pretty close game. | 10 |
| 11 |  | Appalachian State | By ASU standards finishing 8-4 overall and bowing out of the playoffs in their first game is a bad year. | 8 |
| 12 |  | Wofford | Wofford joined Appalachian State in losing their first game in the FCS Playoffs, but overall it was not a bad season. | 11 |
| 13 |  | New Hampshire | New Hampshire lost a heartbreaker to Montana State in the first round of the FCS Playoffs. They'll be back. | 12 |
| 14 |  | Harvard | Harvard lost their first game of the year before winning their final nine, including a 45-7 blowout over Yale. | 13 |
| 15 |  | Central Arkansas | Central Arkansas' big winning streak did not end until they had to go to Montana in the FCS Playoffs. | 18 |
| 16 |  | Tennessee Tech | The OVC did not have a good experience in the playoffs, but Tennessee Tech had a nice season just to get there. | 15 |
| 17 |  | Delaware | The Blue Hens were another possible playoff team that had to stay home. Inconsistent play will go away with age. | 16 |
| 18 |  | Jacksonville State | Jacksonville State finished the season watching the playoffs from home, but they can build off their 2011 success. | 17 |
| 19 |  | James Madison | James Madison snuck into the playoffs and beat EKU, but overall it was a relatively disappointing campaign. | 22 |
| 20 |  | Stony Brook | Back in the second round, Stony Brook nearly knocked off Sam Houston State. They'll look to make a run again. | 25 |
| 21 |  | Illinois State | Illinois State was left out of the playoffs despite their 7-4 record in a good conference, but they'll be ready for '12. | 19 |
| 22 |  | Furman | Furman was left out of the playoffs with a 6-5 mark, but they had a fine season with some big wins. | 20 |
| 23 |  | Norfolk State | Norfolk State could not turn their fine regular season into playoff success, but getting to the playoffs was enough. | 21 |
| 24 |  | Jackson State | JSU had a superb 2011 campaign, finishing with an 8-2 record. They will look to ride that momentum into 2012. | 24 |
| 25 |  | North Dakota | North Dakota had a strong 2011 season and should be looking towards the future with high hopes. | 23 |
Final FCS Football Top 25
Sat, 01/07/2012
