Rankings through games played Saturday, September 19, 2026.
A week ago, the story was simple: Virginia and James Madison were unbeaten and clearly the two best teams in the region, Virginia Tech and Maryland were both 2-0 and headed for a showdown, and everyone below them was sorting out the FCS pecking order. Then Saturday happened. Virginia lost. Maryland lost. William & Mary, ranked No. 21, got run off its own field by a team that hadn’t won a game yet. Morgan State ended a 17-year losing streak in the ugliest, most satisfying way possible. And Georgetown lost a football game on a last-second field goal for a program that, three weeks ago, hadn’t even finished its opener because of lightning.
Sixteen Division I programs call the DMV home. Here’s where all sixteen stand now.
1. Virginia Tech (3-0)
James Franklin’s first true test as Virginia Tech’s coach was a road trip to a ranked-caliber Big Ten program, and the Hokies didn’t just pass it — they controlled it from the opening snap. Virginia Tech scored touchdowns on five of its first six possessions, built a 35-14 lead by the fourth quarter, and held off a Maryland rally to win 35-26 in College Park, snapping the Terrapins’ 20-game nonconference winning streak in the process. Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, Jeffrey Overton Jr. scored twice, and Virginia Tech did it on the road against a team that had outscored its first two opponents 100-14. Combined with blowout wins over VMI and Old Dominion, this is the best three-game start — and the best single win — anyone in the region has produced this season. Next up: at Boston College.
2. James Madison (3-0)
Billy Napier’s Dukes are the only other unbeaten team left standing, and they got here methodically: an escape against Liberty, a record-setting demolition of Wagner, and now a 26-13 win over San Diego State in which Camden Coleman threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns, and JMU’s early lead held up wire to wire. That’s a true road win over a Pac-12 program, not a signature win on the level of Virginia Tech’s, but it’s still three results with zero red flags. JMU has outscored its three opponents by a combined 51 points and hasn’t trailed in the fourth quarter of any of them. The résumé gap between JMU and Virginia Tech right now is thin — win quality, not record, is the difference.
3. Virginia (2-1)
What ended Saturday was Virginia’s unbeaten season, and it happened on a big stage. Michael Hawkins Jr. accounted for 313 yards and five total touchdowns as West Virginia beat No. 25 Virginia 38-27 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic, the Mountaineers’ first win over the Cavaliers since 1981. Virginia led at multiple points and made it a game into the fourth quarter, but WVU’s 3-0 start under Rich Rodriguez is now the more impressive résumé between the two. This isn’t a disqualifying loss — it’s a loss to a legitimately good team that outplayed Virginia on a neutral field — but it does mean Tony Elliott’s team enters Delaware week having proven less than it looked like it had a week ago.
4. Maryland (2-1)
Malik Washington had arguably the best individual passing performance by anyone in the region this season — 359 yards, three touchdowns — and it still wasn’t enough. Virginia Tech’s fast start put Maryland in an early hole, and two missed two-point conversions in the fourth quarter kept the Terrapins from ever making it a one-possession game. The loss snapped Maryland’s 20-game nonconference winning streak and exposed a defense that let Virginia Tech score on its first five of six possessions. Still, this was Maryland’s first real test of the season, and it lost to the best team in the region by nine while its quarterback torched a good defense for 359 yards. UCLA visits SECU Stadium next.
5. Richmond (3-1)
The Spiders’ response to getting run off the field 73-0 by NC State was about as good as it gets: a nail-biting, last-second 24-21 win over Georgetown that kept their Patriot League record perfect. Ashten Snelsire and the offense had to survive a fourth-quarter comeback bid from the Hoyas before escaping at home, but a win is a win, and Richmond’s only real blemish this season is the one game that was never a fair fight in the first place. At 2-0 in conference and 3-1 overall, Russ Huesman’s team is quietly building the best résumé of anyone in the region outside the top four.
6. Liberty (2-1)
A week after needing a late touchdown to survive Gardner-Webb, Liberty put together its most complete performance of the Jamey Chadwell era: a 51-15 demolition of Ball State that was the largest margin of victory under Chadwell and ended a stretch of six straight one-score games. Deshawn Purdie was sharp and efficient (13-of-20, 211 yards, three touchdowns), and Liberty led 23-7 at half before pulling away entirely in the third quarter. Beating an FBS opponent by 36 points is a real answer to the two shaky performances that opened the season. Liberty travels to Coastal Carolina next.
7. Morgan State (3-1)
This was the best story of the weekend anywhere in the region. Morgan State hadn’t beaten Towson since 2009 — 17 years, eight straight losses in the series — and had never done it at Johnny Unitas Stadium in program history. Saturday night, the Bears built a 24-6 halftime lead, survived a Towson rally that cut the margin to two scores, and then put it away when Keith Jenkins Jr. fielded a bouncing kickoff and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. Morgan State is 3-1, has won three straight, and just delivered its head coach the personally significant win of his tenure. Damon Wilson’s program looks like the best story in the region right now.
8. Norfolk State (2-2)
Michael Vick’s second season keeps getting better. A week after getting blown out by Virginia, Norfolk State scored 32 unanswered points to beat Hampton 42-21 in the 61st Battle of the Bay, breaking a two-game losing streak in the rivalry and moving to 2-2 — already a better record than all of last season. Jason Wonodi returned two punts for touchdowns and set three program records, and Marco Peery made a school-record five field goals. It was also personally significant for Vick: his first win over Hampton, and his first win of any kind against a Division I opponent. This program is trending in a real direction.
9. Old Dominion (1-2)
ODU led East Carolina 17-10 at halftime and looked like it had finally found its footing after the Virginia Tech loss — and then it slipped away. Quinn Henicle was intercepted on a third-and-18 in the third quarter and the ball went the other way for a touchdown, tying the game, and East Carolina added a fourth-quarter field goal to escape Norfolk with a 20-17 win. That’s now back-to-back losses in games ODU had won for stretches, and a 1-2 record that undersells how competitive this team has actually been against both an ACC opponent and a fellow Group of Five program. The margin for error keeps shrinking, though — this was a game ODU needed.
10. Navy (1-1)
The Midshipmen had a bye week, so nothing changes here — they’re still nursing the sting of the FAU loss and still looking for answers on a defense that couldn’t get a stop when it mattered most. UAB is next, on September 25.
11. William & Mary (2-2)
This was the shock of the weekend. No. 21 William & Mary hosted Fordham — a team that came in 0-3 — for Family Weekend at Zable Stadium and got run out of its own building, 52-27. Fordham built a 21-0 lead before the second quarter was even over and led 31-7 in the third before the Tribe made it respectable late. A ranked team losing by 25 points at home to a winless opponent is the kind of result that erases three weeks of good work in one Saturday. Mike London’s team now heads to Duke with real questions to answer, not the Patriot League-contender case it looked like it was building a week ago.
12. Howard (1-2)
Howard was on a bye this week, so the record doesn’t change. Ted White’s Bison are 1-2, with Week 1’s 28-21 loss to Richmond and the signature win over Alabama A&M still the high point of his first season. The Bison are off until a Friday night trip to Rutgers on September 25.
13. Georgetown (0-2)
For a team with almost no season behind it — one official game played before this weekend, thanks to the lightning-shortened no-contest against Lafayette — Georgetown showed real signs of life in a 24-21 road loss at Richmond, its second Patriot League game of the year after the Lehigh loss. The Hoyas led into the fourth quarter before a late Richmond touchdown and a final field goal decided it, dropping Georgetown to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in league play. That’s a competitive showing against a team that just won its third game of the season, and a clear step up from the 45-14 loss to Lehigh that opened the counted portion of Georgetown’s schedule. Still winless, but no longer a mystery: this is a team that can play with the middle of the Patriot League.
14. Hampton (1-3)
Van Malone’s Pirates led early against Norfolk State on the strength of a 21-yard Amari Pryear touchdown run, and then the rivalry got away from them fast — 32 unanswered points, a pair of Jason Wonodi punt-return touchdowns, and a 42-21 final that extended Hampton’s run of real trouble against real competition. The Pirates are 1-3, with the lone win coming against a non-Division I opponent, and have now been outscored 135-24 in three games against actual Division I competition. Campbell visits Darling Stadium for Family Weekend on September 26 — a chance to find the program’s first quality result of the Malone era.
15. Towson (0-4)
The low point of the season, in a rivalry Towson had owned for 17 straight years. Morgan State beat the Tigers 41-26 at Johnny Unitas Stadium to win the Battle for Greater Baltimore for the first time since 2009, capped by a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown that turned a two-score Towson rally back into a laugher. Pete Shinnick’s program is 0-4, has now lost its signature rivalry game along with two FBS paycheck blowouts, and has no real positive result to point to a month into the season.
16. VMI (0-4)
The most encouraging loss of anyone’s season. VMI led, trailed, and fought Davidson to overtime before a Christos Tzoumakas field goal and a defensive stop sealed a 27-24 Davidson win — Davidson’s first over VMI since 1972. It’s still a loss, and the Keydets are still winless, but a one-score overtime game against a solid FCS opponent is a different level of competitive than the first three weeks suggested. Ashley Ingram’s team travels to Samford next in its Southern Conference opener.
What to watch this weekend: Virginia Tech travels to Boston College looking to make it four straight under Franklin; Maryland hosts UCLA looking to answer questions about a defense that just gave up 35 to a team it should’ve been able to slow down. James Madison and Old Dominion both have one more week before their September 26 meeting in Norfolk — still the best game left on the region’s non-conference calendar. Morgan State, fresh off the biggest win of its season, is on a bye and will have two weeks to enjoy it before heading to Villanova.
Sports & Whatever 
Leave a comment