2010 NAIA Football Coaches' Top 25 Poll - Regular Season No. 6
Oct. 18, 2010
Contact: Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Sports Information & Media Services, cwaller@naia.org
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the 22nd straight time, Sioux Falls (S.D.) is ranked No. 1 in the sixth regular season edition of the NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25, announced by the NAIA on Monday. The Cougars have become so familiar with the No. 1 position that they have set a record – the longest consecutive streak of top rankings since the NAIA merged into one division prior to the 1997 season. Carroll (Mont.), this week’s No. 2 team, boasted the top billing for 21 consecutive polls from the 2004 Postseason Top 25 (Jan. 17, 2005) through the Oct. 23, 2006 poll.
No. 20 Black Hills State (S.D.) earns a ranking for the first time this season and the first since it was ranked 23rd on Oct. 5, 2009. The other newcomer is No. 23 Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Rangers, who are 4-2 on the season and have won their last four games, are ranked for the first time since the Preseason Top 25 (No. 25).
Two teams fall from the Top 25 this week, No. 20 Benedictine (Kan.) and No. 21 (tie) Montana Tech. Both teams lost on Oct. 16 to unranked opponents.
Sioux Falls (7-0) captured 15 first-place votes and 416 total points this week. Since winning the 2008 National Championship, the Cougars are 36-0 and won their 36th straight game on Oct. 16 to extend college football’s (among NCAA and NAIA) longest active winning streak. The latest victory was a 28-3 triumph against then-No. 4 Morningside (Iowa). The nation’s top-rated scoring defense held Morningside to 189 yards of offense and forced four turnovers. The Cougars host Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) on Saturday.
Despite a close 42-37 win over Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Oct. 16, Carroll locks down the No. 2 spot this week with 401 total points and two first-place votes. Searching for their 11th straight Frontier Conference title, the Fighting Saints are ranked in the top-10 nationally in total defense (252.7 yapg). Carroll brings its 6-0 record into Saturday’s game against Eastern Oregon, a team that upset then-No. 21 Montana Tech on Oct. 16.
No. 3 St. Xavier (Ill.) remains for the fourth straight week. With the most wins in the NAIA at 8-0, the Cougars recorded 389 total votes and the remaining first-place vote. St. Xavier took down Malone (Ohio), 55-16 for its latest victory on Oct. 16. St. Xavier has now posted at least 45 points in all eight games this year. On Saturday, the Cougars face Iowa Wesleyan before wrapping up the regular season with a pair of top-20 opponents in Walsh (Ohio) and Saint Francis (Ind.).
No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) slides up one spot following Morningside’s loss to Sioux Falls. The Pioneers are ranked the highest since a No. 4 mention on Nov. 16, 2008. With a perfect 7-0 record, MidAmerica Nazarene grabbed 370 total points this week. The Pioneers posted a 29-7 victory over William Jewell (Mo.) on Oct. 16. MidAmerica Nazarene, who has allowed only one opponent to score more than 20 points this season, will take on Evangel (Mo.) on Saturday.
Lindenwood (Mo.) is back in the top five this week, checking in at No. 5 with 349 total points. Behind a school-record 90-19 win over Culver-Stockton (Mo.) on Oct. 16, the Lions are looking to get back to its No. 2 ranking that it held in the first four polls this season. Lindenwood is 6-1 overall and has a bye week before traveling to Benedictine (Kan.) on Oct. 30. The Lions are ranked first in national statistics in scoring offense (56.1 ppg), total offense 582.7 ypg) and passing offense (387.4 ypg).
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The seventh regular season Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll will be announced on Oct. 25. For the entire schedule of the 2010 Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, click here.
For more information on NAIA football, please click here.
NOTES: After three teams (Morningside (Iowa), Kansas Wesleyan and Dickinson State (N.D.)) lost last week for the first time this year, there are seven undefeated teams remaining in the NAIA – last year, there were six schools that went through the regular season undefeated… The last loss for No. 1 Sioux Falls (S.D.) occurred in the 2007 title game on Dec. 15 against Carroll (Mont.)… Three weeks after hitting the Top 25 for the first time since 1997 (when NAIA Division I and II were combined), No. 12 South Dakota Mines moves up three spots… Overall, No. 1 Sioux Falls (S.D.) has been ranked in the top-five spots in the last 112 straight polls dating back to the 2001 season… Sioux Falls was ranked No. 1 for the entire 2009 season (14 polls), which marks the first time for a team to do so since Carroll in 2005… Sioux Falls has now been ranked No. 1 a total of 51 times since the 2000 season, including 34 mentions out of 47 polls since 2007… Carroll and Sioux Falls have dominated the top of the polls with either team being ranked No. 1 since the 2006 Postseason Top 25 Poll (Jan. 18, 2007) – Saint Francis (Ind.) was the last team outside of those two programs to earn the No. 1 spot back on Nov. 12, 2006 – a streak of 49 polls… Carroll has now been ranked in the top five in the last 72 straight polls dating back to Jan. 17, 2005 (2004 Postseason Top 25 Poll)… St. Francis boasts the longest consecutive stretch of being named in the Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – 136 straight mentions – the last time St. Francis was not mentioned in the Top 25 was Oct. 19, 1999… After St. Francis, Carroll is the next team in line with 123 straight Top-25 rankings, while Sioux Falls stands at 122 straight mentions… Since 2000, Carroll has been ranked No. 1 53 times, the highest amount of any program during that time span; Sioux Falls is second with 51 mentions at No. 1 followed by Georgetown (Ky.) with 14, Northwestern Oklahoma State with 11 and St. Francis with three.
2010 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – (Oct. 18)
RANK | LAST WEEK^ | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2010 RECORD* | TOTAL POINTS |
1 | 1 | University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) (15) | 7-0 | 416 |
2 | 2 | Carroll College (Mont.) (2) | 6-0 | 401 |
3 | 3 | Saint Xavier University (Ill.) (1) | 8-0 | 389 |
4 | 5 | MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) | 7-0 | 370 |
5 | 6 | Lindenwood University (Mo.) | 6-1 | 349 |
6 | 7 | McPherson College (Kan.) | 6-0 | 338 |
7 | 8 | University of Saint Francis (Ind.) | 6-0 | 323 |
8 | 4 | Morningside College (Iowa) | 6-1 | 300 |
9 | 10 | Missouri Valley College | 6-1 | 290 |
10 | 11 | Ottawa University (Kan.) | 5-1 | 268 |
11 | 12 | William Penn University (Iowa) | 7-0 | 267 |
12 | 15 | South Dakota Mines | 6-1 | 228 |
13 | 9 | Dickinson State University (N.D.) | 6-1 | 192 |
14 | 18 | Marian University (Ind.) | 5-2 | 189 |
15 | 17 | Northwestern College (Iowa) | 4-2 | 180 |
16 | 19 | McKendree University (Ill.) | 5-2 | 168 |
17 | 21 | Webber International University (Fla.) | 5-2 | 151 |
18 | 14 | Kansas Wesleyan University | 5-1 | 138 |
19 | 13 | Walsh University (Ohio) | 5-2 | 102 |
20 | RV | Black Hills State University (S.D.) | 6-1 | 100 |
21 | 23 | Langston University (Okla.) | 4-2 | 97 |
22 | 25 | Friends University (Kan.) | 5-1 | 93 |
23 | RV | Northwestern Oklahoma State University | 4-2 | 84 |
24 | 24 | Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) | 4-2 | 78 |
25 | 16 | Cumberland University (Tenn.) | 5-2 | 61 |
Others receiving votes:
Georgetown College (Ky.) 44; Midland University (Neb.) 11; University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) 4; Taylor University (Ind.) 3; Eastern Oregon University 3; Montana Tech 1; University of St. Francis (Ill.) 1; Shorter University (Ga.) 1
^ Ranking indicated in Top 25 Poll (Oct. 11, 2010)
* Record reflects the school submission of their statistics in DakStats
