MISSOULA — Montana State maintained its No. 3 ranking and Montana rose three spots to No. 11 in the latest Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, which was released Monday.
The Bobcats, who routed then-No. 7 Idaho 38-7 last week, garnered 10 first-place votes and 1,320 total points, closing some of the gap on No. 2-ranked North Dakota State. The Bison received eight first-place votes and 1,337 total points.
South Dakota State remains the top-ranked team in the poll, receiving 38 of 56 first-place votes and totaling 1,374 points. The Jackrabbits play at NDSU at 6 p.m. (MT) Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
South Dakota is fourth in the poll and Villanova is fifth, as the top five went unchanged from a week ago.
Montana was ranked 14th last week, but the Grizzlies rallied from a first-half deficit to earn a 31-20 win over then-No. 24 Northern Arizona.
Also ranked from the Big Sky Conference are No. 6 UC Davis (unchanged from last week) and No. 13 Idaho. The Vandals were previously ranked seventh but tumbled six places after their loss at Montana State.
Sacramento State, Weber State and Northern Arizona all fell out of the top 25 after being ranked 18th, 20th and 24th, respectively, last week. View the complete poll.
