CHICAGO Two-time defending Football Championship Subdivision champion South Dakota State sits atop the 2024 Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25, which was announced Monday.
The Jackrabbits garnered 52 of the 56 first-place votes and tallied 1,396 points after completing a perfect 15-0 season in 2023 and running the programs overall winning streak to 29 games.
SDSU is scheduled to face six teams in the preseason poll during the upcoming season, starting with the Sept. 7 home opener against No. 14 Incarnate Word. Five Missouri Valley Football Conference opponents are ranked, including No. 2 North Dakota State and fifth-ranked South Dakota.
NDSU received three first-place votes, while third-place Montana State of the Big Sky Conference received the other first-place vote. Montana, which the Jackrabbits defeated 23-3 in the 2023 national title game, rounded out the top five.
Other MVFC rivals in the poll include No. 10 Southern Illinois, No. 19 Illinois State, 24th-ranked North Dakota and No. 25 Youngstown State. Illinois State is the lone ranked MVFC squad not on the Jackrabbits schedule this season. Northern Iowa is receiving votes.
The Jackrabbits have now appeared in the top 25 of 160 consecutive Stats Perform polls dating back to October 2012, including holding the No. 1 ranking for each of the last 22 surveys since midway through the 2022 season.
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