FCS CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

Pioneer

#24 overall#13 in FCSRR50 +8.2Upper strength +11.811 teamsTop 25 teams 0

The weekly grind · 2026

No Scholarships, No Excuses

The Pioneer Football League is the only non-scholarship FCS conference. Programs like Dayton, San Diego, Drake, and Marist compete without offering athletic scholarships — the same model as the Ivy League, but with FCS playoff eligibility. The conference proves that the scholarship-and-playoff model is not the only way to run competitive football at the FCS level, and that walk-on-heavy rosters can win postseason games.

FCS11 teamsRace: FCS PlayoffLeader: St. Thomas (MN)

Pioneer · 2026 season

Three things to watch

The Model

What the Pioneer Proves Every Year

The Pioneer Football League proves every season that non-scholarship football can be genuinely competitive at the FCS level. Programs like Dayton, San Diego, Drake, and Marist develop players who chose academics, who weren't recruited by scholarship programs, who are at these schools for reasons beyond football — and who still compete for national championships. The Pioneer is the FCS answer to the Ivy League model, with postseason eligibility added.

Conference standings · Pioneer · 2026

Standings

# Team Conf Overall Pwr Last 5
1Dayton4-17-1+11.9
2St. Thomas (MN)4-17-2+13.3
3Butler4-17-2+13.1
4Valparaiso3-24-4+7.7
5Marist3-24-5+8.4
6San Diego3-34-5+9.3
7Presbyterian3-34-5+6.8
8Drake3-33-6+7.7
9Davidson1-43-6+0.7
10Morehead State1-42-7+2.4
11Stetson0-51-8+2.6

Conference record determines standing. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average. Last 5 = most recent game results.

Projected standings · Pioneer · 2026

Win projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. Avg = expected wins; W-L = most-likely record.

# Team W-L Pwr Avg ≥8≥7≥6≥5≥4≥3≥2≥1
Favorites
1St. Thomas (MN)5-3+5.75.121439688897✓✓
2Butler5-3+5.54.82113261849699✓
Challengers
3Dayton5-3+4.35.021336658797✓✓
4Marist4-4+0.84.3151943719098✓
5San Diego4-4+1.74.241741709098✓
6Valparaiso4-4+0.13.931233608496✓
The field
7Drake4-4+0.03.931233608496✓
8Presbyterian4-4−0.93.931232608496✓
9Stetson3-5−5.03.1141538678998
Rebuilding
10Morehead State3-5−5.23.1141539678998
11Davidson3-5−7.02.82928568397

Conference power · FCS

Where we stand

# Conference Avg power Record Top team
1MVFC
+12.4
0-5South Dakota State
2Big Sky
+10.9
2-5Montana State
3UAC
+10.8
1-1Tarleton State
4Southern
+10.4
1-2Tennessee Tech
5SWAC
+10.0
0-1Alabama A&M
6Southland
+9.8
—Stephen F. Austin
7OVC
+9.7
0-1Gardner-Webb
8Ivy
+9.6
0-1Harvard
9MEAC
+9.4
—South Carolina State
10Coastal Athletic
+9.2
0-1UAlbany
11Patriot
+8.8
0-1Lehigh
12NEC
+8.2
0-1Central Connecticut
13PioneerYou are here
+8.2
—St. Thomas (MN)

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = Pioneer's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

The Pioneer Football League is the only non-scholarship FCS conference. Programs like Dayton, San Diego, Drake, and Marist compete without offering athletic scholarships — the same model as the Ivy League, but with FCS playoff eligibility. The conference proves that the scholarship-and-playoff model is not the only way to run competitive football at the FCS level, and that walk-on-heavy rosters can win postseason games.

Conference Snapshot

RR50+8.2
Upper Strength+11.8
Median Power+8.2
Resume Pulse31.6
Avg ATS49.2%
Wins vs Market-0.06
Top-to-Middle Gap5.6
Combined Record46-51

`RR50`, `Upper Strength`, and `Median Power` are shown on the same public power scale as the rest of the site: points on a neutral field versus the average all-level NCAA team. Very small affiliations are gently regressed toward their subdivision baseline so a one-team outlier does not hijack the entire conference board.

Pioneer Team Board

The league stack, sorted by predictive strength. Power is shown as neutral-field points versus the all-level average team, while resume is shown on a 0-100 season score.

Rank Team Record Power Resume ATS Wins vs Market Recent Form
#148 St. Thomas (MN) 7-2 +13.3 51 4-3 +0.51 3-1 over the last 4 (L5 W6 W8 W9)
#151 Butler 7-2 +13.1 63 5-2 +0.79 3-1 over the last 4 (W6 L7 W8 W9)
#169 Dayton 7-1 +11.9 62 3-3 +1.19 4-0 over the last 4 (W6 W7 W8 W9)
#202 San Diego 4-5 +9.3 21 4-5 -0.08 2-2 over the last 4 (L6 W7 L8 W9)
#213 Marist 4-5 +8.4 39 6-2 -0.81 1-3 over the last 4 (L6 W7 L8 L9)
#222 Valparaiso 4-4 +7.7 42 5-2 +0.62 3-1 over the last 4 (W5 W6 L7 W8)
#223 Drake 3-6 +7.7 21 3-5 -1.19 1-3 over the last 4 (L6 L7 L8 W9)
#238 Presbyterian 4-5 +6.8 10 2-6 +0.17 2-2 over the last 4 (W6 W7 L8 L9)
#264 Stetson 1-8 +2.6 18 3-5 -1.38 0-4 over the last 4 (L6 L7 L8 L9)
#267 Morehead State 2-7 +2.4 9 2-5 -0.96 1-3 over the last 4 (L6 L7 W8 L9)
#284 Davidson 3-6 +0.7 12 3-4 +0.45 1-3 over the last 4 (L5 L6 W7 L9)