DAVIS, Calif. – With one month left in the regular season, the Division I Football Championship Committee announced its initial FCS Top 10, placing UC Davis football at No. 5 as part of the committee's lone public release of its NCAA Playoff rankings ahead of the final rankings.
The Aggies, who are ranked No. 4 in both the Stats Perform Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll, currently sit at 7-1 and own a 4-0 record in the Big Sky. They bring a seven-game winning streak with them off the bye week as they host Northern Colorado in the next game (Sat., Nov. 2).
UC Davis will then take on No. 10 Montana in Missoula, Mont., on Nov. 9 before hosting No. 2 Montana State for Senior Day on Nov. 16. The Aggies then wrap up the regular season with a trip over the Causeway to take on Sacramento State on Nov. 23.
Davis has a KPI Ranking of No. 19, and their strength of schedule is ranked No. 32 in the nation.
The committee used results of games played through Oct. 26, and these in-season rankings serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.
The committee consider some of the following criteria (in no order) when selecting at large teams:
- Each team's won-lost record
- Each team's strength of schedule
- The won-lost record of a team will be scrutinized to determine a team's strength of schedule; however, fewer than six Division I wins may place a team in jeopardy of not being selected.
- The committee may give more consideration to those teams that have played all Division I opponents.
- Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship
- Two predictive methods (Massey and ESPN)
- Two results-based metrics (KPI and ESPN) as a tool for evaluating teams.
Unlike past years, the FCS Coaches Poll and FCS STATS Perform Poll
ARE NOT considered.
The 2024 championship field will consist of 10 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections. The FCS Selection Show will air November 24 at 12:30 ET on ESPNU.
