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There’s a team up north, dressed in green and yellow, whose name has hardly been mentioned since the beginning of the 2026 FCS football season.
You know, the team formerly known as FCS Dynasty.
There’s already a new bully on the block – Montana State. The state still has a team that resides high in the national rankings – the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. There’s even a couple teams with the Bison nickname – you go, Bucknell and Howard.
With most FCS teams getting an earlier start to their schedule this season, top performances abounding, upsets and even more FBS wins than last season, the FCS is doing just fine with the excitement factor as it moves forward without, shhhh, no need to mention, the dynasty that moved on.
Unless you want to talk about North Dakota State because it’s playing Sacramento State this week. The Bi-zon are playing the other new FBS program this week, and the Sac State president is sure to say something to keep FCS fans interested.
FCS Football Week 3 Preview & Predictions
FCS Game of the Week: Youngstown State at SDSU
The first game on the Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule doesn’t get much bigger than No. 2 South Dakota State trying to solve quarterback Beau Brungard of No. 9 Youngstown State. The 2025 Walter Payton Award recipient accounted for 405 yards (including 130 rushing) and four touchdowns in last year’s game, when the Jackrabbits overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit to win 35-30 at YSU.
The first game of the MVFC conference schedule doesn’t get much bigger than No. 2 South Dakota State trying to solve QB Beau Brungard of No. 9 Youngstown State.Kendra Sheehan previews the Week 3 Stats Perform FCS Game of the Week. pic.twitter.com/Ouao2SXGDJ
— Opta FCS Football (@OptaAnalystFCS) September 15, 2026The MVFC’s five teams in the Top 10 of this week’s Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll matched the conference high. The Opta projection model gives SDSU a 62.4% chance of beating YSU.
Second-and-10
1. SDSU winning the Youngstown State showdown has major ramifications on the national picture because No. 1 Montana State (3-0) has only strengthened the forecast of winning back-to-back national titles. SDSU is no longer second in TRACR, Opta’s net efficiency metric that considers how good a team is at every play relative to the strength of its opponent, and the gap from the Bobcats to the new No. 2, Lehigh, is mammoth – 36.0 to 24.1, where the next-largest gap between any two FCS teams is 2.5. The two-time defending Big Sky champs also are No. 1 in both offensive TRACR and defensive TRACR and have the highest probability of winning out (57.2%) to what would be a perfect regular season.
2. Given three Top 5 teams have wins over FBS opponents this season, could it be No. 3 Montana’s turn against Oregon State? The Grizzlies (3-0) won their most recent FBS game in 2021 and it was against a Pac-12 team – 13-7 over a nationally ranked Washington squad – but, of course, the conference is much different five years later. Two of the last three Jerry Rice Award recipients are in the matchup. Montana running back Eli Gillman (2023) has scored nine touchdowns in the first three games. Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson (2025), the Mercer transfer, has passed for an FBS-high 394.5 yards per game in an 0-2 start against strong competition (Houston and Texas Tech).
3. Lehigh senior Luke Yoder has begun the season by doing something both Youngstown State QB Beau Brungard and former Southern Utah RB Joshua Dye did to end their 2025 campaign – rush for three or more touchdowns in three straight games. But no FCS player has done that in four straight games since Towson’s Terrance West in 2011, and Yoder will seek to accomplish it when the No. 7 Mountain Hawks (3-0) host Dartmouth.
4. The Ivy League kicks off its 10-game regular season on Saturday and rarely has to play catch-up against opponents. The league has posted a winning record in its opening weekend in 14 of its last 15 seasons for a combined 76-44 (.633) record. Yale and Harvard qualified for the 2025 FCS playoffs in the league’s first season of postseason eligibility in 80 years and are both nationally ranked as they open on the road against Holy Cross and New Hampshire, respectively. Columbia is the only Ancient Eight team to be opening at home, facing Lafayette.
The Ivy League will switch its 10-game season across 11 weeks with one designated bye beginning next year.2027 Ivy League Football ScheduleWeek 1 – Sept. 11Week 2 – Sept. 18Week 3 – Sept. 25Week 4 – Oct. 2Week 5 – Oct. 9Week 6 – Oct. 16 Week 7 – Bye WeekWeek 8 – Oct. 30… pic.twitter.com/LD6MkmeWVd
— Opta FCS Football (@OptaAnalystFCS) September 14, 20265. In a strong season atop HBCU football, last year’s Celebration Bowl participants are in terrific nonconference matchups. South Carolina State, the Celebration Bowl champ, puts not only a 3-0 record and No. 18 national ranking on the line, but also an 11-game winning streak which is second-longest to Montana State’s 17 at Furman (2-1), which made a case for the Top 25 by winning at two-time defending Southern Conference champ Mercer. Prairie View A&M (1-2) continues along its tough early schedule against No. 12 Stephen F. Austin (3-0), the defending Southland champ which is coming off being Stats Perform FCS National Team of the Week.
6. No. 17 West Florida (2-0) seeks to continue its outstanding debut on the FCS level when it hosts co-No. 14 Austin Peay (2-1) in a United Athletic Conference game. The Argonauts have twice as many rushes (80) as pass attempts (40), but dual-threat QB Ty’ray Davis has maximized the throws with five touchdown passes among his 34 attempts and 21 completions, with each going to a different receiver. The defense knows how to catch passes as well with four interceptions, including A’Khoury Lyde returning a pick-six in each win.
7. Another UAC program, North Alabama, will play on campus for the first time in program history when it christens Bank Independent Stadium against Alcorn State. After the Lions played their first 77 seasons off-campus at historic Braly Stadium in Florence, their beautiful new digs will entertain 10,000. Coach Brent Dearmon’s squad appears much-improved from his combined 8-27 first three seasons, gaining a 95-yard TD pass (Destin Wade to Xavier Johnson) and a defense-led win over Samford followed by credible losses at Arkansas (31-13) and Southeastern Louisiana (30-25).
8. The answer is … Floyd Chalk. If you’ve been wondering who Southern Utah would roll out as another potential national rushing leader – Targhee Lamson led in per-game average in 2024 followed by Joshua Dye last year – it’s Chalk, who transferred in with 1,932 career yards at Grambling State and San Jose State. He’s already sitting second in the FCS with 142.3 rushing yards per game (although it’s sizeable gap from Tarleton State’s Tylan Hines at 191.7).
9. The Ohio Valley Conference title appears up for grabs. All eight teams have losing records through three games, and this week’s schedule is rugged again, including preseason favorite UT Martin visiting Memphis, Eastern Illinois taking on No. 5 Illinois State in the 114th Mid-America Classic and a Southeast Missouri squad finally playing its first home game (Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb are doing the same) against Central Arkansas, which already won at UT Martin. Lindenwood, playoff-eligible for the first time, is on a bye, already with a jump in the standings by defeating CSU.
10. Villanova’s 41 straight appearances in the Top 25 have become precarious during a 1-2 start in which the win was a 17-16 escape at Bucknell. The Wildcats had the lowest turnover average in the FCS (0.47; seven in 15 games) during last season’s national semifinal run, but they’re just two shy of that season total in three games. Plus, their vaunted run game is off to a sluggish start with a per-game average (106.3) that’s the lowest since 2005. The offense could still get on track and the schedule sets up for a boost record-wise. Colgate appears to be the toughest opponent over the next four before the Wildcats host two-time defending Patriot League champ Lehigh on Oct. 24.
FCS Football Week 3 – Top 25 Schedule
All games ET Saturday; Predicted winner in boldface
Last Week’s Record: 16-4 (.800); Season Record: 53-13 (.803)
No. 1 Montana State (3-0, 1-0 Big Sky): vs. Central Connecticut State (0-2), 3 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 2 South Dakota State (2-1): vs. No. 9 Youngstown State (2-1), 7 p.m. (Midco Sports/ESPN+) No. 3 Montana (3-0, 1-0 Big Sky): at Oregon State (0-2), 11 p.m. (USA) No. 4 Tarleton State (3-0): vs. Merrimack (1-2), 7 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 5 Illinois State (3-0): vs. Eastern Illinois (1-2), 3 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 6 North Dakota (3-0): at Nebraska (0-2), 7:15 p.m. (BTN) No. 7 Lehigh (3-0, 3-0 Patriot): vs. Dartmouth (0-0), noon (ESPN+) No. 8 Rhode Island (2-1, 1-0 CAA): at Stony Brook (1-2, 0-0), 2:30 p.m. (FloSports) No. 9 Youngstown State (2-1): at No. 2 South Dakota State (2-1), 7 p.m. (Midco Sports/ESPN+) No. 10 South Dakota (3-0): at Boise State (1-1), 10 p.m. (CBSSN) No. 11 UC Davis (2-1, 1-0 Big Sky): vs. San Diego (0-2), 8 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 12 Stephen F. Austin (3-0, 2-0 Southland): at Prairie View A&M (1-2), 8 p.m. (SWAC TV) No. 13 Tennessee Tech (3-0, 1-0 Southern): No game No. 14 (tie) Austin Peay (2-1): at No. 17 West Florida (2-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 14 (tie) Lamar (2-1): No game No. 16 Idaho State (3-0): No game No. 17 West Florida (2-0, 1-0 UAC): vs. No. 14 (tie) Austin Peay (2-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 18 South Carolina State (3-0): at Furman (2-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 19 Yale (0-0): at Holy Cross (0-3), 2 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 20 Northern Arizona (2-1, 1-0 Big Sky): at Utah Tech (0-3, 0-1 Big Sky), 8 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 21 William & Mary (2-1, 1-1 Patriot): vs. Fordham (0-3, 0-1), 6 p.m. (ESPN+) No. 22 Villanova (1-2, 1-1 Patriot): at LIU (0-3), noon (RyzSN) No. 23 Mercer (2-1, 0-1 Southern): at Georgia Tech (0-2), noon (ACC Network) No. 24 Southern Illinois (2-1): at Illinois (1-1), 2 p.m. (Peacock) No. 25 Harvard (0-0): at New Hampshire (1-2, 0-1 CAA), 1 p.m. (FloSports)Top photo, from left, via Dave Eggen/Inertia, Prairie View A&M, Montana and Yale Athletics. For more FCS football coverage, follow at X, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
FCS Football Week 3 Preview & Predictions: What’s Next in a Season With Everything? Opta Analyst.
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