MISSOULA — By virtue of No. 1 North Dakota State's dominant win over then-No. 2 South Dakota State, both Montana and Montana State moved up in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll.
The latest edition of the rankings, which are voted on by a national panel of media members, was released Monday and reflected the Bison's 38-7 win over the Jackrabbits. SDSU was without starting quarterback Chase Mason in the game, but voters still considered it a statement win for NDSU. The reigning national champion Bison received all 56 first-place votes in the poll. View the complete rankings.
Tarleton State climbed one spot to No. 2, followed by Montana at No. 3. Montana State is now tied for fourth with South Dakota State.
Like NDSU, the Texans (9-0) and Grizzlies (8-0) are undefeated following last week's wins over Eastern Kentucky and Sacramento State, respectively.
The Bobcats (6-2) have won six consecutive games after beginning the season with back-to-back losses, the second coming in double overtime to South Dakota State. Saturday's loss to NDSU was the first of the season for the Jackrabbits.
The rest of the top 10 in the poll remained the same from last week: No. 6 UC Davis, No. 7 Lehigh, No. 8 North Dakota, No. 9 Tennessee Tech and No. 10 Monmouth.
The Big Sky Conference features four teams in the top 25 — Northern Arizona is 19th — after beginning the season with six teams in the rankings. Sac State and Idaho have fallen out of the poll, leaving just Montana, Montana State, UC Davis and Northern Arizona in the rankings.
The Griz, Cats and Aggies are each undefeated in the conference with 4-0 records in league play. NAU is 2-2 in the Big Sky.
All 12 teams in the Big Sky have played four conference games with the back half of the schedule beginning Friday. Here's this week's Big Sky schedule:
Idaho at No. 19 Northern Arizona, 8:30 p.m. Friday
No. 4 Montana State at Northern Colorado, 12 p.m. Saturday
No. 3 Montana at Weber State, 1 p.m. Saturday
Idaho State at No. 6 UC Davis, 2 p.m. Saturday
Sacramento State at Eastern Washington, 2 p.m. Saturday
Portland State at Cal Poly, 3 p.m. Saturday
