For most FCS teams there is just one October game left, which is a wild thing to think about. The season is well into its latter half and the Week 8 slate further separated the wills and the will nots for 2025. Although there wasn’t a ton of surprises over the weekend, there were some telling results that made the postseason picture all the more clear. What can be gleaned from the latest round of FCS games?
Youngstown State Is Playoff-Bound, SIU Is Not
Youngstown State picked up one of the signature
wins of the weekend, beating #10 Illinois State on the road 40-35. The Penguins are now 4-3 on the year with a fairly favorable schedule remaining (save for the NDSU game on November 1). YSU should find itself in the rankings when they come out on Monday and has set itself up nicely to make a push for an at-large bid to the postseason. One of their Missouri Valley mates, though, seems as though it’s watching its playoff hopes slip away. Southern Illinois got ran through by North Dakota on Saturday to the tune of 38-19. That’s two straight losses for the Salukis who still have games against South Dakota, Illinois State and Youngstown State. It’s hard to see them getting through those contests without any losses and they can ill afford anymore.
Tennessee Tech Will Get a Top Eight Seed
Another week, another Tennessee Tech win that came in staggering fashion. The Golden Eagles remain unbeaten at 7-0 thanks to a lopsided 52-28 win over Lindenwood and now the talks of TTU running the table are really starting to heat up. That offense is by far the best in the Big South-OVC and they should be favored in all of their remaining games. If Bobby Wilder’s group does indeed end this season 12-0, they will have to be considered for one of the top eight seeds and a bye week when the playoffs come around. The Playoff Committee released its first set of in-season rankings last week and had the Golden Eagles at #10 but if they keep winning games and doing so like they have been, they’ll climb that list by December.
UIW Is the Biggest Disappointment of 2025
To say Incarnate Word has fallen far this year is an understatement. The Cardinals, who entered the season ranked inside the Top 5 of most FCS polls, just lost their fourth game in the last five tries over the weekend and this one was as ugly as any so far. UIW, despite holding a 42-28 lead late in the quarter at home, gave up 24 points at the end to East Texas A&M and ended up losing its third Southland game of the year. The Cardinals have not been able to put it together in really any facet this season and they are 2-5 right now because of it. A team that had real national championship aspirations back in August will surely not even make the playoffs this year and there are some tough questions that should lie ahead for this program when it enters what will be another long offseason.
The Big Sky is a Three-Bid League this Year
It’s been a long time since the Big Sky Conference has sent less than four teams to the playoffs but it looks as though that could happen this year. The teams at the top… Montana, Montana State and UC Davis… are all essentially locks for the postseason but, outside of them, it doesn’t look like anyone else might have the resume to get in. Idaho dropped another one to Eastern Washington while Sac State barely got by Northern Colorado. Weber State sits at 3-4 after winning against lowly Portland State. The only team that might break free from that middle pack is Northern Arizona but they’ve also lost two straight. As odd of a sight as it would be, the Big Sky may not be as well-represented in the playoffs as they usually are if its teams keep eating themselves alive.
