2025 FCS Never Too Early Top 25 Rankings (Craig Haley)

[SFA 93]

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2025/01/fcs-top-25-rankings-early-2025-season-outlook

[Outsider1]

Not putting a whole lot of stock in this list.

[ElCid]

Kinda silly to even do this considering the number of players in the portal.

[ming01]

1 NDSU
2 USD
After that I have no idea.

[MSUBobcat]

Kinda silly to even do this considering the number of players in the portal.

100%. I like the confidence he has that MSU reloads, but we've been hit hard by graduation and transfers this year. We have a massive hole left by Tommy. His backup was 10 of 23 for 141 yards.

[Outsider1]

Yes, we lost our OC and QB, but we haven't been hit by massive transfers and we have filled in holes nicely so far. Our backup QB already proved himself worthy as a replacement and now we have an old producer back from the FBS. Our Head coach knows how to recruit and maintain programs. He has hired two good OCs in the last two years. What makes next year any different? Why in the world would we completely fall off a list?

[POD Knows]

Yes, we lost our OC and QB, but we haven't been hit by massive transfers and we have filled in holes nicely so far. Our backup QB already proved himself worthy as a replacement and now we have an old producer back from the FBS. Our Head coach knows how to recruit and maintain programs. He has hired two good OCs in the last two years. What makes next year any different? Why in the world would we completely fall off a list?Yea, didn't your backup win a playoff game? I would have ACU between 10-15 in my pre-season poll.

[Outsider1]

Yea, didn't your backup win a playoff game? I would have ACU between 10-15 in my pre-season poll.

Correct. He definitely needs more field time, but he has a great arm, can run and a better football IQ.

[Sader87]

If the Illini transfer Cal Swanson (QB) turns out to be the real deal (he was the HS Oklahoma PotY in''22) HC should be pretty formidable as we didn't lose too much from last-season.

HC lost very close games to Yale 38-31, Harvard 35-34, URI 20-17, UNH 21-20 and Lehigh 10-7 last Fall...and only trailed Syracuse 21-14 at the H before falling 42-14.

Chesney's last recruiting class and Curran's first are also considered to be top-notch as well. HC Curran's son, sort of a slot receiver who looks good, just transferred ovah from Ball St too.

[DFW HOYA]

HC should be pretty formidable as we didn't lose too much from last-season.


Good for HC.

Georgetown and Bucknell, rinse and repeat.

[ngineer]

Was nice to see Lehigh back on the list after 8 years. I agree that it’s too early to put much stock in this stuff until we see how the portal and recruitment pans out. After a huge freshman class last year, I doubt we have a freshman class more than 15. Already received a nice transfer at center from ODU. We lose both starting and backup center this year. Lehigh will be playing 12 games this year; no two week “vacation “ this year!

[NY Crusader 2010]

Lehigh should have early-2000's level expectations heading into 2025. I had the Engineers ranked #24 in my final AGS poll for 2024 but would probably peg them somewhere between 13 and 18 heading into next year. Pretty good schedule next year too, only thing missing is an FBS opponent. Both Lehigh and Holy Cross seem to be faring very well as far as keeping potential returnees (non-graduates) out of the transfer portal. Cahill is clearly building something sustainable in Bethlehem and I think Curran so far is passing the near-impossible test of trying to meet expectations post-Chesney.

[NY Crusader 2010]

If the Illini transfer Cal Swanson (QB) turns out to be the real deal (he was the HS Oklahoma PotY in''22) HC should be pretty formidable as we didn't lose too much from last-season.

HC lost very close games to Yale 38-31, Harvard 35-34, URI 20-17, UNH 21-20 and Lehigh 10-7 last Fall...and only trailed Syracuse 21-14 at the H before falling 42-14.

Chesney's last recruiting class and Curran's first are also considered to be top-notch as well. HC Curran's son, sort of a slot receiver who looks good, just transferred ovah from Ball St too.

Ty Curran coming to HC was a surprise, even to his dad. He didn't play much as a frosh on a pretty bad Ball State squad last year, but he was Scout Team POY. We could definitely use the depth at WR this year.

[Tribe4SF]

Haley talks about SDSU sustaining the biggest transfer hit of any FCS program. How many starters are they losing to the portal? Hard to believe it's more than Richmond who is losing 10.

[MSUBobcat]

Haley talks about SDSU sustaining the biggest transfer hit of any FCS program. How many starters are they losing to the portal? Hard to believe it's more than Richmond who is losing 10.

Per Hero Sports, (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fbs-transfers-bzbz/) SDSU is losing a massive 21 players to FBS, with 16 following Rogers to Wazzou, but gained 5 back. (https://herosports.com/2025-fbs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/) I can't say exactly how many are starters, but 10 are juniors or seniors. One would assume that all were heavy contributors, or expected to be next year, given that they went to P4 programs or Wazzou.

They also lost a junior OL to Tarleton State, but gained a QB from St. Thomas (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/).

[Tribe4SF]

Per Hero Sports, (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fbs-transfers-bzbz/) SDSU is losing a massive 21 players to FBS, with 16 following Rogers to Wazzou, but gained 5 back. (https://herosports.com/2025-fbs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/) I can't say exactly how many are starters, but 10 are juniors or seniors. One would assume that all were heavy contributors, or expected to be next year, given that they went to P4 programs or Wazzou.

They also lost a junior OL to Tarleton State, but gained a QB from St. Thomas (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/).

Wow! Not sure how he puts them in the top 10 knowing all that.

[Professor Chaos]

Wow! Not sure how he puts them in the top 10 knowing all that.
Not really... there was a monstrous gap between SDSU and the #11 team in the FCS last year. That gap will be closer this year but nowhere near closed IMO. SDSU will reload with incoming transfers just like they were pillaged with outgoing transfers. They're bringing back plenty of talent as well despite their losses. Their ceiling is still that they're right back up at or near the top of the FCS next year and I think their floor isn't much worse than the top 10 still.

[Outsider1]

Not really... there was a monstrous gap between SDSU and the #11 team in the FCS last year. That gap will be closer this year but nowhere near closed IMO. SDSU will reload with incoming transfers just like they were pillaged with outgoing transfers. They're bringing back plenty of talent as well despite their losses. Their ceiling is still that they're right back up at or near the top of the FCS next year and I think their floor isn't much worse than the top 10 still.

That gap is a reality.

[SiouxFallsRabbits]

Per Hero Sports, (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fbs-transfers-bzbz/) SDSU is losing a massive 21 players to FBS, with 16 following Rogers to Wazzou, but gained 5 back. (https://herosports.com/2025-fbs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/) I can't say exactly how many are starters, but 10 are juniors or seniors. One would assume that all were heavy contributors, or expected to be next year, given that they went to P4 programs or Wazzou.

They also lost a junior OL to Tarleton State, but gained a QB from St. Thomas (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/).
We’ve gained 10 through the portal so far. With today being the drop/add date for spring semester it should be quiet until the spring portal opens up. Reports were that 20-25 transfers or new recruits were needed to fill out the roster.

[ncspiderfan]

Per Hero Sports, (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fbs-transfers-bzbz/) SDSU is losing a massive 21 players to FBS, with 16 following Rogers to Wazzou, but gained 5 back. (https://herosports.com/2025-fbs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/) I can't say exactly how many are starters, but 10 are juniors or seniors. One would assume that all were heavy contributors, or expected to be next year, given that they went to P4 programs or Wazzou.

They also lost a junior OL to Tarleton State, but gained a QB from St. Thomas (https://herosports.com/2025-fcs-to-fcs-transfers-bzbz/).

Spider's losses which I think were about 10 plus one to draft were all starters and 8 grads that were starters. Pretty much the starting line ups plus kicker and punter. I do not know about a few RS Jrs that may have graduated and not be coming back as yet that were two deep. They get three or four back from season ending injuries and maybe a couple more starters, that is it.

The Spiders were not top 4 team, but they do have for the most part a total rebuild coming. Only start each year with about 85 anyway so having half a recruiting class transfer is brutal. I feel the pain SDSU fans.

I have no idea how he put Spiders in top 25 but hope he knows more about it than I do.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Lehigh should have early-2000's level expectations heading into 2025. I had the Engineers ranked #24 in my final AGS poll for 2024 but would probably peg them somewhere between 13 and 18 heading into next year. Pretty good schedule next year too, only thing missing is an FBS opponent. Both Lehigh and Holy Cross seem to be faring very well as far as keeping potential returnees (non-graduates) out of the transfer portal. Cahill is clearly building something sustainable in Bethlehem and I think Curran so far is passing the near-impossible test of trying to meet expectations post-Chesney.

2011 (Preseason #13) and 2012 (Preseason #16) are more recent examples of the type of equity I expect Lehigh to enter 2025 with. That said, the dynamics (motivations) are far different than they were then so we'll see how it all plays out. I certainly don't see an undefeated season as the league will be too tough and the OOC is sneaky tricky; the 3 Ivy League games in a row are going to be brutal. Coaching continuity/acumen and depth is what has me very optimistic. Cahill had a modest resume coming in but he definitely knew how to assemble a staff. There are likely few if any other FCS programs whose OC and DC were former head coaches. Lehigh was one of the most prepared teams in FCS all year, they crushed teams in the first half.

Since you mentioned the early 2000s I had to look up Lehigh's rankings....

Preseason/Postseason TSN (media) rankings were: '98 Unranked ended #7, '99 #20 ended #14, '00 Unranked ended #8, '01 #10 ended #5, '02 #6 ended Unranked (8-4), '03 Unranked ended #23, '04 #23 ended #15, '05 #14 ended Unranked (8-3).

[ngineer]

2011 (Preseason #13) and 2012 (Preseason #16) are more recent examples of the type of equity I expect Lehigh to enter 2025 with. That said, the dynamics (motivations) are far different than they were then so we'll see how it all plays out. I certainly don't see an undefeated season as the league will be too tough and the OOC is sneaky tricky; the 3 Ivy League games in a row are going to be brutal. Coaching continuity/acumen and depth is what has me very optimistic. Cahill had a modest resume coming in but he definitely knew how to assemble a staff. There are likely few if any other FCS programs whose OC and DC were former head coaches. Lehigh was one of the most prepared teams in FCS all year, they crushed teams in the first half.

Since you mentioned the early 2000s I had to look up Lehigh's rankings....

Preseason/Postseason TSN (media) rankings were: '98 Unranked ended #7, '99 #20 ended #14, '00 Unranked ended #8, '01 #10 ended #5, '02 #6 ended Unranked (8-4), '03 Unranked ended #23, '04 #23 ended #15, '05 #14 ended Unranked (8-3).

Agreed. I doubt we will ever see a stretch like we had from 1998-02. In today's world, being able to keep a cohesive coaching staff, especially, with such a huge first-year class like we had last year is very important. This year's schedule will be 'tricky' as well. At present, we are looked at as 'favorites' in most of our scheduled games, but there are very few 'breathers or gimmees' on the schedule. A PL championship should be the goal and at least 9 wins on a 12 game schedule. Yet, this will still be a young team, and it will be a challenge for Cahill and crew to not let the teams heads get swelled heading into this year. Team banquet will be next weekend and I am looking forward to a great event, as well as get the pulse for the coming season.

[Redbird 4th & short]

ISUr at #6 is very optimistic. The good ? Our offense has most of our 2 deep back, just need to shore up our OL from somewhere .. within or portal. The bad ... defensively, it should have been a better year after we got some of our early injured players back the for latter half of season. But we lose some big time playmakers in 2025 .. so I don't see how our defense gets back to previous Spack levels in 2025, unless it is thru portal.

But offensively, it looks really good for 2025. This may have Haley fooled into thinking 6th, because Spack is known for defenses. Anywa, our dual threat QB Rittenhouse is back after 1st year as starter, plus our backups. Our backfield will be very loaded with everyone back incl injured all america Mason Blakemore-King who was out for season after 1 carry in opener - supposedly coming back. PLus Wenkers Wright who stepped up for 1,120 yards .. 5th in MVFC, 6th in YPG. Plus promsiing true FR Matt Lawson. And our entire along with our WR group that continues to develop. Offense was hurting early with 3 key injuries to preseason AAs .. 2 for entire season, the 3rd being WR Sobkowicz who was platooning his way back to health.

Defensively .. I just don't see it right now. Spack''s history suggested our 2024 defense should have been very good - it was not close most of season. Key injuries to several studs early (camp or Iowa game) gave us excuses and hope for the 2nd half of season. But while it got better, it was still easily exposed some games .. especially playoffs. Our last reg season game, we held UNDs offense in check as good or better than anyone else they played .. all 3 Dakotas and Iowa St. But then in playoffs, our bend dont' break defense ... sorta worked with the help of lot of forced TOs against SEMO, but gradually collapsed against UCD.

Just not seeing 6th in FCS with our defense and special teams. Weve been horrendous on special teams for several years now. Always near last in MVFC in most Spec Teams stats. Spack could surprise us on defense, he's rebuilt it many times before ... just dont see it without some key portal transfers in April.