| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Sam Houston State | Sam Houston State could not quite pull off the upset at Baylor, but they played well enough to stay on top. | 1 |
| 2 |  | North Dakota State | NDSU took last week off and will host Prairie View A&M on Saturday, but a big trip to UNI is after that. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Montana State | Montana State got a big win over a very good Stephen F. Austin team. The Bobcats start Big Sky play against UNC. | 4 |
| 4 |  | James Madison | There is no shame in losing to West Virginia. James Madison will start winning again at Rhode Island. | 3 |
| 5 |  | Eastern Washington | The Eagles finally went home for a week, but they didn't play anybody. This week they head to Weber State. | 5 |
| 6 |  | Youngstown State | Albany gave Youngstown State more of a game than they had hoped for. YSU better step up for UNI on Saturday. | 8 |
| 7 |  | Old Dominion | ODU keeps looking better every week, crushing Campbell most recently. CAA play begins with New Hampshire. | 12 |
| 8 |  | Northern Iowa | UNI was poised to beat Iowa this year, but they could not stop Mark Weisman. Go figure. | 7 |
| 9 |  | Towson | Towson got a tough conference win against W&M. They'll go back out of conference and take on St. Francis (PA). | 11 |
| 10 |  | Wofford | With a win over Western Carolina, Wofford joins Samford and Citadel as the undefeated SoCon teams. | 13 |
| 11 |  | Georgia Southern | Georgia Southern had a week to think about their loss to The Citadel. This week they host a tough Elon squad. | 9 |
| 12 |  | Appalachian State | It remains to be seen if losing to Citadel is really a quality loss or not. ASU has another tough game in Chattanooga. | 6 |
| 13 |  | Jacksonville State | The Ohio Valley Conference title could be on the line early with JSU heading to Eastern Kentucky this weekend. | 10 |
| 14 |  | Illinois State | Illinois State beat Eastern Illinois in a thrilling overtime shootout, but questions remain about their defense. | 15 |
| 15 |  | Lehigh | Lehigh let Princeton get back into the game, but held on for a 17-14 win. A trip to Liberty will be difficult. | 14 |
| 16 |  | Montana | Montana followed up their quality showing in Boone, NC with a nice win against a decent Liberty squad. | 18 |
| 17 |  | New Hampshire | New Hampshire had no trouble with Central Connecticut State and a fun game at ODU will shape the CAA title race. | 16 |
| 18 |  | Eastern Kentucky | Eastern Kentucky got a decent win at Coastal Carolina, but the big test is this weekend against Jacksonville State. | 17 |
| 19 |  | Citadel | The Citadel followed a close home win over Georgia Southern with a great road win over ASU. Watch out NC State. | NR |
| 20 |  | Stony Brook | Miguel Maysonet had his Walter Payton highlight moment in Stony Brook's 28-17 loss at Syracuse. | 20 |
| 21 |  | Bethune-Cookman | Bethune-Cookman held their own against Miami (FL) for a little while. Tennessee State will be a good game. | 19 |
| 22 |  | Harvard | Harvard got their season off to a quality start with a 28-13 victory over San Diego. This week they head to Brown. | 22 |
| 23 |  | Central Arkansas | Central Arkansas got a nice tuneup for their big showdown against Sam Houston State on the purple turf. | 23 |
| 24 |  | Delaware | Delaware's defense held Bucknell to a mere field goal on Saturday en route to a 19-3 victory. | 24 |
| 25 |  | Maine | Maine dominated Bryant on the ground and are emerging as a contender in the Colonial Athletic Association. | NR |
Week 3 FCS Football Top 25 Rankings
Sat, 09/15/2012
