UC Davis Selected No. 5 By Division I FCS Committee’s Initial Reveal

UC Davis football has been ranked as the 5th team in the first look at the FCS' top-ten rankings for the NCAA Playoffs.

BY UC DAVIS ATHLETICS

Oct 30, 2024, 12:43 PM Updated: 12:44 pm

(UC Davis Athletics)

This story was initially published by UC Davis Athletics

DAVIS, Calif. – With one month left in the regular season, the Division I Football Championship Committee announced its initial FCS Top 10, placing UC Davis football at No. 5 as part of the committee’s lone public release of its NCAA Playoff rankings ahead of the final rankings.

The Aggies, who are ranked No. 4 in both the Stats Perform Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll, currently sit at 7-1 and own a 4-0 record in the Big Sky. They bring a seven-game winning streak with them off the bye week as they host Northern Colorado in the next game (Sat., Nov. 2).

UC Davis will then take on No. 10 Montana in Missoula, Mont., on Nov. 9 before hosting No. 2 Montana State for Senior Day on Nov. 16. The Aggies then wrap up the regular season with a trip over the Causeway to take on Sacramento State on Nov. 23.

NO. 5️⃣

UC Davis comes in as the fifth-best team in the nation as part of the Division I Football Championship Committee’s lone FCS Top 10 rankings of the season!!

📰 – https://t.co/0LEGwWC306 #GoAgs | #Shredville pic.twitter.com/9m97uXHUv0

— UC Davis Football (@UCDfootball) October 30, 2024

Davis has a KPI Ranking of No. 19, and their strength of schedule is ranked No. 32 in the nation.

The committee used results of games played through Oct. 26, and these in-season rankings serve as a snapshot as to where the committee has teams ranked heading into the final four weeks of the regular season.

The committee consider some of the following criteria (in no order) when selecting at large teams:

Each team’s won-lost record
Each team’s strength of schedule
- The won-lost record of a team will be scrutinized to determine a team’s strength of schedule; however, fewer than six Division I wins may place a team in jeopardy of not being selected.
- The committee may give more consideration to those teams that have played all Division I opponents.
Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship
Two predictive methods (Massey and ESPN)
- Click or tap here for more on the Massey ratings
Two results-based metrics (KPI and ESPN) as a tool for evaluating teams.
- KPI is a metric developed by Kevin Pauga (Kevin Pauga Index). Here’s an example of how it’s used in college basketball.

Unlike past years, the FCS Coaches Poll and FCS STATS Perform Poll ARE NOT considered.

The 2024 championship field will consist of 10 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large selections. The FCS Selection Show will air November 24 at 12:30 ET on ESPNU.

More on UC Davis football

UC Davis football junior kicker Hunter Ridley has been nearly automatic for the Aggies this season, and his performance over the previous eight games has earned him recognition for excellence through the end of October by the Fred Mitchell Award.

Ridley has been on fire since the Aggies home opener against Texas A&M-Commerce, going 3-for-3 in that game, and since then he has been a perfect 12-for-12. On the season he is 12-for-13, and his current streak gives him the second longest consecutive made kicks stretch in the nation.