We’re previewing key games and storylines each week throughout the college football season. Our FCS coverage is the home of the Top 25 media poll, FCS National Awards and much more.
Have you heard, FCS college football has added an official fight song, with Loverboy signed as the red leather pant-wearing, bandanna-topping, big rock-sounding music supplier.
You know the chorus …
Everybody’s workin’ for the weekend
This isn’t MACtion, the FCS plays on Saturdays. And thanks to the Ivy League for filling Friday nights.
Everybody wants a new (b)romance
But shoutout to those female kickers who have played in the SWAC.
Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end
Hey, Holy Cross, you’re a six-time defending champion.
Everybody needs a second chance
Don’t worry, we’ll give you one, Rhode Island.
Oh-oh
We better start from the start, though – with a Top 10 matchup in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll to highlight the Week 7 schedule.
FCS Football Week 7 Preview & Predictions
FCS Game of the Week
No. 8 Southern Illinois (4-1, 1-0 MVFC) at No. 1 North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0)
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota (ABC North Dakota/ESPN+)
Series: NDSU leads 13-4 (last meeting: NDSU won 24-3 on Oct. 12, 2024 in Carbondale, Illinois)
Notable: NDSU has won 13 of the last 14 meetings, although the exception was SIU’s 38-14 home win on Feb. 27, 2021 that ended the Bison’s FCS-record 39-game winning streak. Both teams are +6 in turnover margin and have converted points on 24 (20 touchdowns, four field goals) of 25 trips to an opponent’s red zone. The starting quarterbacks have been elite: SIU’s DJ Williams ranks third in the FCS in total offensive yards per game (320.0) and second in total TDs (20), while NDSU’s Cole Payton is fourth in total offensive yards per game (305.8) and first in passing efficiency (222.1). The Salukis just allowed 322 rushing yards in a win over Indiana State, so leading rusher Barika Kpeenu figures to be NDSU’s first offensive option, although wide receivers Bryce Lance (TD reception in three straight games) and Raja Nelson (four TD catches) stretch the field. Behind leading tacklers Nathan Staehling and Logan Kopp, the Bison defense ranks No. 1 in the FCS in points allowed per game (9.2) and No. 2 in yards allowed per game (219.6). Linebacker Andrew Behm leads SIU with 42 tackles and Shug Walker is coming off MVFC defensive player of the week, but, oddly, none of the Salukis’ top seven tacklers has a sack. The Salukis only have an FBS loss (34-17 to Purdue); the Bison have a 15-game home winning streak since 2023.
The Pick: North Dakota State
Second-and-10
1. To date, the biggest HBCU game of the regular season is No. 16 Jackson State hosting Alabama State. Both teams are 4-1 with only an FBS loss and 2-0 atop the SWAC East Division standings. The defending conference and Celebration Bowl champion Tigers have won eight straight times inside Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium and are 21-2 there since 2021 (the .913 winning percentage is fifth-best in the FCS during that time). They’re coming off their most offensive yards (702) in a game in nearly 14 years as Jacobian Morgan led a 57-24 win over Alabama A&M. But ASU’s Andrew Body has been even better as no FCS QB has thrown more TD passes without an interception (14 to 0).
2. Fresh off his performance with an NCAA single-game record 46 consecutive completions, Western Carolina’s Taron Dickens will want a quick release against Furman and defensive end Joshua Stoneking, who has FCS highs with 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. Conversely, Paladins QB Trey Hedden may want to hold tight in the pocket to work downfield, as the Catamounts are surrendering an FCS-high 17.3 yards per completion. Furman (4-1), which has trailed in the second half of three different wins, and Western Carolina (3-3) are both 2-0 in the Southern Conference, with the victor pulling closer in the standings to Mercer (4-1, 4-0), which steps out of conference at Princeton.
3. CAA Football co-leader Elon (4-2, 2-0) is one of the teams you didn’t see coming, but if the Phoenix are going to make a serious title run, then winning a home matchup against No. 18 Villanova (3-2, 2-1) appears pivotal. In dropping their last two meetings against ’Nova in 2021 and ’23, the Phoenix didn’t even score and were under 20 minutes of game clock each time. They were off to a 2-6 start last season before closing with four straight wins, and they’ve now beaten eight of their last nine FCS opponents, with Tony Trisciani becoming the winningest coach of their Division I era (since 1999).
4. The health of West Georgia QB Davin Wydner is the big issue as the No. 21 Wolves (5-1, 2-1) will try to rebound from their first loss when they host No. 19 Abilene Christian (3-3, 2-0), the defending United Athletic Conference champion. Wydner, who’s had his hand in 13 TDs this season, was sidelined during the third quarter of the Austin Peay loss, and the Wolves went without points on their final five possessions – something that hadn’t happened in a game since their season opener.
The NCAA FCS playoff selection committee will release in-season Top 10 rankings during “CFB Live” (ESPN networks) on Oct. 15 and Nov. 5. Here is Craig Haley’s projection for the Top 10 to date.5. The NFL stigma is FCS players are always a second too slow or an inch too short. It can work to their advantage, however, as the top nine players in all-purpose yards per game are all listed below 6 feet, and they’re undeniably quick. The smallest just happens to be No. 1 in per-game average: Penn 5-7 senior Julien Stokes at 195.0 APY. He’s returned a kickoff or punt for 60+ yards in each of the Quakers’ three games.
6. The most versatile award just may go to Montana’s Michael Wortham, who’s second on the all-purpose yardage list with 176.6 per game. He’s caught 25 passes, carried the ball 23 times, returned 11 kickoffs and three punts, and completed his two pass attempts, while scoring five touchdowns and passing for one. The Eastern Washington transfer led the FCS in kickoff return yards (1,093) last season.
7. Lamar lost its only FCS playoff game at Northern Iowa in 2018. That’s the last time the No. 20 Cardinals dropped a game when they led or were tied after three quarters, as the Southland Conference program is an FCS-best 23-0 in that scenario over the last seven seasons. Nicholls was tied with Lamar after three quarters last Saturday, and that meant bad news for the Colonels, who fell 24-17 on Kyndon Fuselier’s 88-yard punt return with 3:36 left.
8. Playoffs? In October? Yeah, it doesn’t just begin in November as some conference games start to act like eliminators. With unbeaten Tennessee Tech (5-0, 2-0) threating to run away with the OVC-Big South title now that last year’s three playoff qualifiers – Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State and UT Martin – are basically (maybe surely) out of the mix, a game such as Eastern Illinois (3-2, 2-0) hosting Gardner-Webb (3-2, 1-0) on Saturday takes on that type of distinction. For the OVC-Big South to have multiple playoff teams again, it may need the GWU-EIU winner or Lindenwood (3-3, 2-0), which is in its first year of playoff eligibility, to claim a surprising title and have Tennessee Tech keep winning but go into the postseason via an at-large bid.
Graphic by Graham Bell.9. Third-ranked Tarleton State (6-0) and No. 16 Austin Peay (4-2) have FBS wins and are thriving this season, but success hasn’t quite followed the other two FCS teams that beat the upper tier of Division I for the first time. Bryant (2-4) had a sub-FCS win after beating UMass, but it’s since lost to three CAA opponents. NEC member LIU (1-5) doesn’t even have a win since topping Eastern Michigan. The Sharks are trying to regroup during an open week, while Bryant hosts Brown (2-1) Friday night, just one week after the Ivy League team stunned CAA preseason favorite Rhode Island.
10. San Diego was the voted the preseason favorite, No. 24 Presbyterian has the national ranking, and Butler and Dayton sit atop the standings. But Drake seemed to deliver a message in its 41-0 shutout of Valparaiso in a Pioneer Football League opener last week that, oh yeah, the Bulldogs are the two-time defending champions. The deep title race fills the schedule with big games, including Drake (2-2, 1-0) at San Diego (3-3, 1-1) and Presbyterian (5-0, 1-0) at Butler (4-2, 2-0) this week. New Drake coach Joe Woodley must like the game film against San Diego the last two seasons – the Bulldogs scored the winning points on the final play each time.
FCS Longest Active Winning StreaksOverall10 – Tennessee Tech9 – NDSU, Presbyterian6 – Lehigh, Tarleton StHome32 – SDSU18 – Villanova15 – NDSU11 – Rhode Island, South DakotaRoad5 – Harvard4 – Presbyterian3 – NDSU, Tarleton St, Tennessee Tech
— Opta FCS Football (@OptaAnalystFCS) October 5, 2025FCS Football Top 25 Schedule – Week 7
All times ET and on Saturday unless noted; Predicted winner in boldface
Last week’s record: 16-3 (.842); Season record: 96-26 (.787)
No. 1 North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0 MVFC): No. 8 Southern Illinois (4-1, 1-0), 3:30 p.m. (ABC ND/ESPN+)
No. 2 South Dakota State (5-0, 1-0 MVFC): Northern Iowa (2-3, 0-1), 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 3 Tarleton State (6-0, 2-0 UAC): at Utah Tech (1-5, 0-2), 8 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 4 Montana (5-0, 2-0 Big Sky): Cal Poly (3-3, 1-1), 4 p.m. (Scripps/ESPN+)
No. 5 Montana State (4-2, 2-0 Big Sky): Idaho State (4-2, 2-0), 3 p.m. (Scripps/ESPN+)
No. 6 UC Davis (4-1, 2-0 Big Sky): No. 14 Northern Arizona (4-1, 2-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN/CW Sac)
No. 7 Lehigh (6-0, 2-0 Patriot): at Columbia (1-2, 0-1 Ivy), noon (ESPN+)
No. 8 Southern Illinois (4-1, 1-0 MVFC):at No. 1 North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0), 3:30 p.m. (ABC ND/ESPN+)
No. 9 Illinois State (3-2, 0-1 MVFC): at Murray State (3-2, 0-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 10 Tennessee Tech (5-0, 2-0 OVC-Big South): at Charleston Southern (1-5, 0-2), 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 11 Idaho (2-3, 0-1 Big Sky): Northern Colorado (2-3, 0-1), 5 p.m. (SWX/ESPN+)
No. 12 Monmouth (4-1, 1-0 CAA): at Towson (3-3, 1-1), 2 p.m. (FloCollege/MNMT)
No. 13 North Dakota (3-2, 1-0 MVFC): Youngstown State (3-2, 0-1), 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 14 Northern Arizona (4-2, 1-1 Big Sky): at No. 6 UC Davis (4-1, 2-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN+/CW Sac)
No. 15 Jackson State (4-1, 2-0 SWAC): Alabama State (4-2, 2-0), 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
No. 16 Austin Peay (4-2, 2-1 UAC): at Eastern Kentucky (4-2, 2-1), 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 17 Rhode Island (4-2, 2-0 CAA): New Hampshire (4-2, 2-0), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
No. 18 Villanova (3-2, 2-1 CAA):at Elon (4-2, 2-0), 2 p.m. (FloCollege/My48)
No. 19 Abilene Christian (3-3, 2-0 UAC): at No. 21 West Georgia (5-1, 2-1), 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 20 Lamar (4-1, 1-0 Southland): at East Texas A&M (1-4, 1-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 21 West Georgia (5-1, 2-1 UAC): No. 19 Abilene Christian (3-3, 2-0), 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 22 Harvard (3-0, 1-0 Ivy): Cornell (0-3, 0-1), 7 p.m. Friday (ESPNU)
No. 23 South Dakota (3-3, 1-1 MVFC): at Indiana State (2-3, 0-1), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 24 Presbyterian (5-0, 1-0 Pioneer): at Butler (4-2, 2-0), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
No. 25 Mercer (4-1, 4-0 SoCon): at Princeton (2-1, 1-0 Ivy), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Top photo, from left, via North Dakota State, Furman and Jackson State Athletics.
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FCS Football Week 7 Preview & Predictions: Salukis vs. Bison, Alabama St vs. Jackson St and All the Weekend Warriors Opta Analyst.
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