WACO, Texas - Defending national champion North Dakota State will begin the 2022 season as the No. 1 team in the AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 poll, which was released Monday, Aug. 15.

North Dakota State went 14-1 overall and won its ninth national title in 11 seasons last year. The Bison earned 24 of 25 possible first-place votes in the poll.

Montana, a national quarterfinalist last year, is No. 2 in the preseason poll followed by South Dakota State, which received one first-place vote. National runner-up Montana State starts the year No. 4 followed by Villanova at No. 5.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference has five ranked teams including No. 8 Missouri State, No. 9 Southern Illinois and No. 21 Northern Iowa.

2022 Preseason AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25

	Team (First-Place Votes)	2021 W-L	Pts	Final 2021
1.	North Dakota St. (24)	14-1	624	1
2.	Montana	10-3	567	6
3.	South Dakota St. (1)	11-4	566	5
4.	Montana St.	12-3	560	2
5.	Villanova	10-3	493	8
6.	Kennesaw St.	11-2	453	10
7.	Sacramento St.	9-3	452	11
8.	Missouri St.	8-4	405	14
9.	Southern Illinois	8-5	379	17
10.	Stephen F. Austin	8-4	362	18
11.	East Tennessee St.	11-2	352	7
12.	Eastern Washington	10-3	337	9
13.	Chattanooga	6-5	294	NR
14.	Incarnate Word	10-3	277	13
15.	Tennessee-Martin	10-3	257	12
16.	Southeastern Louisiana	9-4	254	15
17.	Jackson St.	11-2	245	19
18.	Holy Cross	10-3	184	22
19.	Delaware	5-6	172	NR
20.	Weber St.	6-5	141	NR
21.	Northern Iowa	6-6	119	25
22.	UC Davis	8-4	101	16
23.	Mercer	7-3	78	NR
24t.	Rhode Island	7-4	66	NR
24t.	Richmond	6-5	66	NR

Others receiving votes: South Dakota 49, Florida A&M 44, Harvard 38, South Carolina St. 38, Princeton 29, Central Arkansas 23, Eastern Kentucky 18, Dartmouth 17, Nicholls 8, Furman 6, North Carolina A&T 6, William & Mary 6, Murray St. 5, Davidson 3, Fordham 3, Southeast Missouri St. 3, North Dakota 2, Utah Tech 2, Austin Peay 1, Elon 1.