Each week, we will break down the FCS national poll vote by FanBuzz CFB writer Brian McLaughlin, an annual participant in the poll of note — the STATS/Perform national poll.
This week didn't have a ton of movement, but there was a swap North Dakota State to No. 1 and South Dakota State to No. 2 based on the fact the Bison beat a typically strong program in Eastern Washington. But like every season, these two rivals will face off and settle it on the field this fall.
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Montana State looked very strong, too. And that effort bumped down William & Mary and Furman, two programs that are on the rise in 2023.
All of the shifts from the early August preseason vote are indicated below.
The truth is, early season losses to FBS teams really shouldn't harm an FCS team too much, and it doesn't damage a program's chances of making the postseason playoff bracket, either. So here is the second vote in 2023.
THIS WEEK'S FCS NATIONAL POLL VOTE
| RK | BMAC'S WK 1 VOTE | WEEK 1 RESULTS | PRES |
| 1 | NDSU | BEAT East. Wash. 35-10 | 2 |
| 2 | SDSU | BEAT D2 West. Oregon 45-7 | 1 |
| 3 | Montana St | BEAT Utah Tech 63-20 | 5 |
| 4 | Wm & Mary | BEAT Campbell 34-24 | 3 |
| 5 | Furman | BEAT Tenn Tech 45-10 | 4 |
| 6 | Samford | BEAT D2 Shorter 69-14 | 6 |
| 7 | UC Davis | BEAT Tex A&M-Commerce 48-10 | 7 |
| 8 | Sac St | BEAT Nicholls 38-24 | 8 |
| 9 | Weber St. | BEAT D2 Cent. Wash 35-10 | 9 |
| 10 | UIW | lost to FBS UTEP 28-14 | 10 |
| 11 | Montana | BEAT Butler 35-20 | 11 |
| 12 | New Hamp | BEAT Stonehill 51-17 | 12 |
| 13 | Idaho | BEAT Lamar 42-17 | 14 |
| 14 | Holy Cross | BEAT Merrimack 42-20 | 15 |
| 15 | SE La. | lost to P5 Miss. St. 48-7 | 13 |
| 16 | Delaware | BEAT Stony Brook 37-13 | 19 |
| 17 | SEMO | lost to P5 Kansas 45-0 | 16 |
| 18 | Mercer | lost to P5 Ole Miss 73-7 | 17 |
| 19 | SIU | BEAT Austin Peay 49-23 | NR |
| 20 | UNI | lost to P5 Iowa St. 30-9 | 20 |
| 21 | Villanova | BEAT Lehigh 38-10 | NR |
| 22 | Yale | DNP | 22 |
| 23 | FAMU | BEAT Jackson State 28-10 | 23 |
| 24 | N.C. Cent | BEAT D2 Winston Salem 47-21 | 24 |
| 25 | Southern Utah | lost to P5 Ariz St 24-21 | 25 |
NOTE: FanBuzz national Group of Five college football editor Brian McLaughlin has had a vote in the STATS-Perform FCS National Poll and end-of-year awards since 2016. He submitted his initial preseason FCS poll on Aug. 7 and his initial/preseason vote is noted above to show any changes that happened based on this past week's Week One results.
