Stan Becton | NCAA.com | September 13, 2021 Jacksonville State, Missouri State jump six spots in latest Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Sam Houston defeats South Dakota State 23-21 to win first FCS title Share After an exciting second week of FCS football, the new rankings are here. Here are takeaways from the latest Stats Perform FCS Top 25. Jacksonville State’s upset launches Gamecocks into top 10 Fittingly, the Gamecocks launched into the top 10 of this week’s rankings after Jacksonville State QB Zerrick Cooper launched a hail-mary to WR Damond Philyaw-Johnson to land the FCS-over-FBS upset against Florida State. Jacksonville State has now beaten an FBS team in consecutive years. On the season, the Gamecocks are now 1-1 against FBS opponents. They’ll begin the FCS portion of their schedule this week against North Alabama. WATCH: Jacksonville State stuns Florida State with 59-yard last-second touchdown Missouri State surges after a ranked win No. 17 Missouri State moved six spots in the rankings after defeating then-No. 19 Central Arkansas in the week’s lone game featuring two ranked teams. In a back-and-forth game filled with lead changes, the Bears scored the go-ahead touchdown on QB Jason Shelley’s 26-yard pass to WR Xavier Lane with 29 seconds left. Missouri State’s out-of-conference win sent a statement, demonstrated by the jump in the rankings. Up next, the Bears will look to carry momentum from the victory into the gauntlet that is the MVFC conference schedule. The top eight teams stand strong The top eight teams in this week’s rankings remain the same after Week 2. The top seven teams all won their games, holding their opponents to a combined total of 59 points. No. 8 Southern Illinois nearly pulled off the FCS-over-FBS upset, losing by eight to Kansas State. The top teams in the FCS are slowly beginning to separate themselves through two games of the season. However, these teams will truly get to show their dominance over the next few weeks as conference play picks up. Keep an eye out for the potential top-10 matchups on the horizon. RING SZN: These 6 FCS teams could be the next first-time national champion The bottom half of the rankings shuffle With No. 23 New Hampshire replacing Holy Cross as the only new entrant into this week’s rankings, the bottom half of the rankings saw some teams shuffle around. No. 21 Richmond moved up four spots, good for the third-best movement of the week. No. 22 VMI fell four spots after an FBS loss. No. 25 Central Arkansas is the only winless team in the rankings, falling from their preseason position of 14. The shuffling in the bottom half of the rankings shows the depth across the FCS. The lower-ranked teams will have to put up solid performances week in and week out to avoid losing their positioning. See the full Stats Perform FCS Top 25 rankings from Sept. 13, 2021: RANK SCHOOL RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS 1 Sam Houston (33) 2-0 1,214 1 2 South Dakota State (9) 2-0 1,190 2 3 James Madison (5) 2-0 1,158 3 4 Montana (3) 2-0 1,110 4 5 North Dakota State 2-0 1,066 5 6 Delaware 2-0 949 6 7 Eastern Washington 2-0 889 7 8 Southern Illinois 1-1 814 8 9 Weber State 1-1 771 10 10 Jacksonville State 1-1 751 16 11 North Dakota 1-1 710 9 12 Villanova 2-0 674 12 13 Montana State 1-1 664 11 14 UC Davis 2-0 661 14 15 Southeastern Louisiana 1-1 511 13 16 ETSU 2-0 497 15 17 Missouri State 1-1 377 23 18 Northern Iowa 1-1 364 21 19 Austin Peay 1-1 336 17 20 Monmouth 1-1 297 20 21 Richmond 2-0 261 25 22 VMI 1-1 146 18 23 New Hampshire 2-0 127 NR 24 Kennesaw State 1-1 121 22 25 Central Arkansas 0-2 105 19 Dropped Out: Holy Cross (24) Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Furman 90, Chattanooga 74, Rhode Island 67, Murray State 58, Alabama A&M 56, Jackson State 48, Duquesne 32, Nicholls 29, Stephen F. Austin 11, Samford 7, Merrimack 4, Sacramento State 3, Holy Cross 2 🏈LATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS 🏈 📊 POLLS: FCS Coaches | Stats Perform Top 25 | Simple Ratings System 📊 👀 HISTORY: Schools with most national titles | Winningest teams | Most unbreakable FCS records 👀 🏈 MORE: Conference standings | Season stats | HBCU Football Way-too-early 2022 FCS playoff bracket predictions It's May and the FCS playoffs aren't until November, but that doesn't matter because we predicted the 24-team 2022 FCS playoff field anyway. READ MORE 9 potential breakout FCS football teams in the 2022 season Here's a look at the potential breakout FCS teams for the 2022 season. READ MORE Colleges and conferences with the most players drafted in the 2022 NFL draft Georgia had 15 players selected in the NFL draft, eclipsing the previous modern-era record of 14 picks, which was set by Ohio State in the 2004 NFL draft and later tied by LSU in 2020. The Bulldogs have five defensive players selected in the first round from a unit that allowed a national-best 10.2 points per game last season. READ MORE