MISSOULA — Montana and Montana State will begin the 2024 football season ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, which was announced Monday.
Third-ranked Montana is coming off a 13-2 season in which it lost to South Dakota State 23-3 in the national championship game. The Grizzlies were the 2023 Big Sky Conference champions, and coaches and media picked them to repeat as champions this fall.
Montana opens its season Aug. 31 against Missouri State inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
No. 4 Montana State went 8-4 last year and ended its season with a 35-34 overtime loss to North Dakota State in the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Bobcats were picked second in the Big Sky by both coaches and media.
Montana State plays at FBS New Mexico in one of four NCAA Division I football games to kick off the season on Aug. 24.
South Dakota State, the two-time reigning national champion, is the No. 1-ranked team in the preseason poll. The Jackrabbits received 52 of the 56 first-place votes and have now held the top ranking for 22 straight polls.
SDSU currently has a 29-game winning streak, the third-longest in FCS history.
Ranked second is North Dakota State, which has now been ranked in 188 consecutive polls. The Bison have won nine national championships, the most recent a 38-10 win over Montana State after the 2021 season.
Four other Big Sky Conference teams are ranked in the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll, including two in the top 10. Idaho, which went 9-4 last year and reached the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs, is ranked seventh, and Sacramento State, which went 8-5 last year and ended its season in the second round of the FCS playoffs, is ranked eighth.
The Vandals were picked third in the Big Sky coaches and media preseason polls, while the Hornets were picked fifth in both.
UC Davis (18th) and Weber State (22nd) are also ranked in the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll. The Aggies were 7-4 last year and were picked fourth in this year's preseason Big Sky polls by the media and coaches. The Wildcats, 6-5 last season, were picked sixth in the Big Sky coaches preseason poll and seventh in the media poll.
Eastern Washington is among teams in the "others receiving votes" category of the preseason Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll.
The Big Sky's six teams inside the top 25 ranks behind only the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which had seven teams ranked: SDSU, NDSU, No. 5 South Dakota, No. 10 Southern Illinois, No. 19 Illinois State, No. 24 North Dakota and No. 25 Youngstown State.
