Seven league teams are ranked the AFCA Coaches poll and six are ranked in the Stats Perform poll this week.  The league has had seven or more teams ranked in the same week 30 times in its history, including all six polls this season.



SDSU (1) and NDSU (2) hold the top two positions, marking the 25th time in Conference history the MVFC went 1-2 in a poll.  The league has four of the Top 6 in the AFCA Coaches poll.  Notably, four MVFC teams have been ranked in the Top 10 the same week 40 times in MVFC history.  



Eight of the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s 11 programs rank in the Top 30 of the Massey FCS Ratings, which includes four MVFC teams in the top 7.  Southern Illinois has the toughest rated non-league schedule, according to Massey, as SIU’s strength of schedule is No. 3.  South Dakota State is next-best in the MVFC, at No. 7 for SOS.  Five MVFC teams have SOS ratings in the Top 20.

MVFC schools are 21-7 against FCS opponents this year, with three of those seven losses coming to ranked FCS non-league teams.  The 21-7 mark against peer FCS programs is the best of any FCS league.

Three Conference games this week feature ranked MVFC teams playing one another.  In Conference history, there have been 233 games in which two league teams ranked in the top 25 played one another. Of those 233 games, 66 times the meeting involved teams that were both ranked in the Top 10 at the same time. Nineteen meetings have occurred in the playoffs. The home team is 131-100 in those games; the higher-ranked team is 147-85. Those figures include two neutral-site games, and one game in which the teams were both No. 25.

League play began on Sept. 28 with four MVFC games; while Indiana State (at YSU); South Dakota State (at UNI) and UNI (vs. SDSU) open 2024 MVFC play this Saturday.  SDSU has won its MVFC opener five-straight seasons; while UNI’s 26-13 record in MVFC openers is second-best to NDSU (13-4 after this past weekend).