Five Missouri Valley Football Conference teams are ranked in the Top 25 of the 2021 FCS AFCA Preseason Poll.   North Dakota State (3), South Dakota State (4), North Dakota (7), Southern Illinois (10) and UNI (16) represent the MVFC in the initial poll of the season.   Missouri State and Youngstown State each received votes.

   WACO, TEX.– Just three months after claiming their first national title, Sam Houston is the preseason No. 1 team in the AFCA FCS Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. The Bearkats won a great national championship game, 23-21, over South Dakota State on May 16 and are now three weeks away from opening their title defense against Northern Arizona. Sam Houston received 18 first-place votes while No. 2 James Madison received nine. North Dakota State checks in at No. 3 while spring national runner-up South Dakota State is No. 4 and received the final first-place vote. Delaware rounds out the Top 5. 

   There is only one Top 25 matchup in the first full weekend of games as No. 18 Chattanooga plays host to No. 25 Austin Peay. The Mocs went 3-2 in the spring while Austin Peay played a mixed schedule of fall and spring games and finished with a 4-5 mark. Of the preseason Top 25 teams, No. 8 Jacksonville State is the first to play as the Gamecocks will face UAB on Wednesday, September 1. 

 

Rank	School (1st votes)	Pts.	Prev.	Season Opener	Head Coach
1	Sam Houston (18)	682	1	Sept. 2 Northern Arizona	K.C. Keeler
2	James Madison (9)	667	3	Sept. 4 vs. Morehead St.	Curt Cignetti
3	North Dakota St.	633	5	Sept. 4 vs. Albany	Matt Entz
4	South Dakota St. (1)	620	2	Sept. 3 at Colorado St.	John Stiegelmeier
5	Delaware	567	4	Sept. 2 at Maine	Danny Rocco
6	Weber St.	552	8	Sept. 2 at Utah	Jay Hill
7	North Dakota	475	6	Sept. 4 at Idaho St.	Bubba Schweigert
8	Jacksonville St.	437	7	Sept. 1 vs. UAB	John Grass
9	Montana	436	NR	Sept. 4 at Washington	Bobby Hauck
10	Southern Illinois	418	9	Sept. 2 at Southeast Missouri	Nick Hill
11	Montana St.	383	NR	Sept. 4 at Wyoming	Brent Vigen
12	Monmouth (N.J.)	382	10	Sept. 4 at Middle Tennessee	Kevin Callahan
13	Central Arkansas	363	NR	Sept. 4 at Arkansas St.	Nathan Brown
14	Eastern Washington	287	11	Sept. 2 at UNLV	Aaron Best
15	Villanova	284	18	Sept. 4 at Lehigh	Mark Ferrante
16	Northern Iowa	268	NR	Sept. 4 at Iowa St.	Mark Farley
17	SE Louisiana	267	21	Sept. 4 vs. North Alabama	Frank Scelfo
18	Chattanooga	204	NR	Sept. 2 vs. No. 25 Austin Peay	Rusty Wright
19	VMI	167	12	Sept. 4 vs. Davidson	Scott Wachenheim
20	Kennesaw St.	165	15	Sept. 2 vs. Reinhardt	Brian Bohannon
21	UC Davis	135	16	Sept. 2 at Tulsa	Dan Hawkins
22	Richmond	104	14	Sept. 4 vs. Howard	Russ Huesman
23	Nicholls	88	23	Sept. 4 at Memphis	Tim Rebowe
24	North Carolina A&T	75	NR	Sept. 4 at Furman	Sam Washington
25	Austin Peay	65	NR	Sept. 2 at No. 18 Chattanooga	Scotty Walden

Others Receiving Votes: Murray St., 62; Missouri St., 39; Sacramento St., 39; New Hampshire, 31; Alabama A&M, 29; Samford, 18; Holy Cross, 16; Southern, 15; Alcorn St., 14; Florida A&M, 13; Stephen F. Austin, 11; East Tennessee St., 10; Jackson St., 10; Morehead St., 9; Princeton, 9; South Carolina St., 9; Furman, 7; Charleston Southern, 6; Youngstown St., 6; Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 5; Harvard, 4; Rhode Island, 4; Davidson, 3; Yale, 3; Sacred Heart, 2; Eastern Kentucky, 1; Norfolk St., 1.