MISSOULA — Montana State is the No. 2 team and Montana No. 10 in the FCS playoff committee's in-season top 10 rankings, which were released Wednesday.
North Dakota State is the No. 1 team in the rankings.
The rankings reflect teams' performance to date and do not project results for the rest of the regular season. Ten teams will automatically qualify for the FCS playoffs by virtue of winning their conference championships, and another 14 will earn at-large bids from the playoff committee. The top 16 teams will be seeded in the bracket, which will be revealed Nov. 24 during a broadcast on ESPNU. The playoffs begin Nov. 30 with eight first-round games hosted by teams seeded ninth through 16th. The top eight seeds will receive first-round byes and host games in the second round.
Montana State (8-0 overall, 4-0 Big Sky) leads four Big Sky Conference teams in the in-season top 10. UC Davis (7-1, 4-0) is slotted fifth and Idaho (6-3, 3-2) is seventh. Montana (6-2, 3-1) at No. 10 is the reigning Big Sky champion and national runner-up. The Grizzlies lost to South Dakota State in last year's FCS championship game.
The two-time defending champion Jackrabbits are third in the FCS playoff committee's initial rankings, followed by South Dakota in fourth.
No. 6 Southeast Missouri, No. 8 Mercer and No. 9 Incarnate Word are also ranked.
Just four weeks remain in the Big Sky's regular season. Montana State visits Eastern Washington this week, while Montana travels to Cal Poly.
The schedule heats up in the coming weeks, with Montana hosting UC Davis on Nov. 9 in a nationally televised game on ESPN2, Montana State playing at Davis on Nov. 16 and Montana and Montana State meeting in Bozeman for the annual Brawl of the Wild on Nov. 23.
