2010 NAIA Football Coaches' Top 25 Poll - Regular Season No. 9
Nov. 8, 2010
Contact: Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Sports Information & Media Services, cwaller@naia.org
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sioux Falls (S.D.) maintains the No. 1 position with its 38-game winning streak intact, announced in the ninth regular season edition of the NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25. The next five teams after Sioux Falls all hold their spots, No. 2 Carroll (Mont.), No. 3 Saint Xavier (Ill.), No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), No. 5 Lindenwood (Mo.) and No. 6 McPherson (Kan.). The rest of the poll shows a lot of movement with 18 of the next 19 schools shifting around from last week.
The final Top 25 will be announced on Sunday by 1 p.m. CST and posted on www.NAIA.org. The official pairings for the NAIA Football Championship Series will be announced live by Victory Sports Network as a video-streaming broadcast. The free broadcast begins at 1:30 p.m. CST on Sunday and can be accessed by clicking here, or going to www.victorysportsnetwork.com.
The only newcomer is No. 25 Kansas Wesleyan. The Coyotes out-lasted then-No. 25 Friends (Kan.), 36-33 on Nov. 6.The loss by Friends (Kan.) forced a shift downward. The Falcons fell out of the Top 25 after being ranked for the previous four polls.
With 416 total points and 15 first-place votes, Sioux Falls is ranked first for the 25th straight poll. Since 2000, the Cougars have boasted the No. 1 ranking on 54 occasions, which is the most of any team during that span. Sioux Falls takes its nation-best 38-game winning streak (among all divisions in the NAIA and NCAA), into a home game against Concordia (Neb.) on Saturday. The Cougars, who are 9-0 this year, have sewed up the Great Plains Athletic Conference championship. Sioux Falls is just four wins away from tying the NAIA record of 42 straight wins set by Texas A&I.
Carroll has become familiar with the No. 2 position. The Fighting Saints have been ranked second for the last seven polls. This week, Carroll tallied 402 total points and two first-place nods. Carroll, who has already clinched its’ 11th straight Frontier Conference Championship, hosts Montana State-Northern in the regular season finale on Saturday.
Similar to Carroll, St. Xavier has locked up the third spot for the last seven weeks. The Cougars gathered 388 total points and the remaining first-place vote. They took an impressive 30-6 win over then-No. 7 Saint Francis (Ind.) on Nov. 6 and held USF to its lowest point total in 11 years. St. Xavier holds the most wins in the NAIA this year (11-0) and has now notched the double-digit win total in four of the past five seasons. The Cougars will await the Football Championship Series announcement on Sunday and celebrate their Mid-States Football Association Mideast division title.
As one of five undefeated programs, No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene stands with a 10-0 record. The Pioneers recorded 370 total points this week. On Nov. 6, MidAmerica Nazarene took a 37-7 win over then-No. 9 Missouri Valley and forced the Vikings down five spots in the poll. The Pioneers will rest this weekend prior to the Football Championship Series starting on Nov. 20.
No. 5 Lindenwood checks in with 351 total points. The Lions have been sitting at the fifth spot the last four weeks. Lindenwood moved to 8-1 with a 77-33 dominance of Graceland (Iowa) on Nov. 6. The Lions will cap off the regular season with a road game against William Jewell (Mo.) on Saturday.
The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and Mid-States Football Association Mideast (MSFA-ME) division both claim four schools each in the Top 25. The GPAC places Sioux Falls, No. 7 Morningside (Iowa), No. 15 Northwestern (Iowa) and No. 19 Midland (Neb.). St. Xavier, No. 10 St. Francis (Ind.), No. 11 Marian (Ind.) and No. 20 Walsh (Ohio) all hail from the MSFA-ME.
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. For the entire schedule of the 2010 Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, click here.
For more information on NAIA football, please click here.
NOTES: Since 2000, Sioux Falls has been ranked at the No. 1 position on 54 occasions, the most of any team during that time -- Carroll is next with 53 mentions at No. 1, Georgetown (Ky.) is third with 14, Northwestern Oklahoma State with 11 and St. Francis with three… There are five undefeated teams remaining in the NAIA with one week remaining in the regular season – last year, there were six schools that went through the regular season undefeated… No. 1 Sioux Falls (S.D.) holds the record for consecutive No. 1 rankings at 25 straight polls (since 1997 when both divisions merged) … The last loss for No. 1 Sioux Falls occurred in the 2007 title game on Dec. 15 against Carroll (Mont.)… Overall, No. 1 Sioux Falls has been ranked in the top-five spots in the last 115 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 54 times since the 2000 season, including 37 mentions out of 50 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 52 polls… Carroll has now been ranked in the top five in the last 75 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 – 139 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 126 straight Top-25 rankings, while Sioux Falls stands at 125 straight mentions.
2010 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – (Nov. 8)
RANK | LAST WEEK^ | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2010 RECORD* | TOTAL POINTS |
1 | 1 | University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) (15) | 9-0 | 416 |
2 | 2 | Carroll College (Mont.) (2) | 9-0 | 402 |
3 | 3 | Saint Xavier University (Ill.) (1) | 11-0 | 388 |
4 | 4 | MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) | 10-0 | 370 |
5 | 5 | Lindenwood University (Mo.) | 8-1 | 351 |
6 | 6 | McPherson College (Kan.) | 9-0 | 341 |
7 | 8 | Morningside College (Iowa) | 8-1 | 322 |
8 | 10 | Ottawa University (Kan.) | 8-1 | 295 |
9 | 11 | Dickinson State University (N.D.) | 9-1 | 275 |
10 | 7 | University of Saint Francis (Ind.) | 8-1 | 272 |
11 | 12 | Marian University (Ind.) | 8-2 | 252 |
12 | 13 | McKendree University (Ill.) | 7-2 | 238 |
13 | 14 | William Penn University (Iowa) | 9-1 | 219 |
14 | 9 | Missouri Valley College | 7-2 | 212 |
15 | 15 | Northwestern College (Iowa) | 7-2 | 209 |
16 | 17 | Northwestern Oklahoma State University | 7-2 | 187 |
17 | 18 | Cumberland University (Tenn.) | 8-2 | 166 |
18 | 19 | Georgetown College (Ky.) | 7-2 | 156 |
19 | 20 | Midland University (Neb.) | 8-2 | 124 |
20 | 21 | Walsh University (Ohio) | 7-3 | 97 |
T21 | 23 | University of St. Francis (Ill.) | 7-3 | 83 |
T21 | 22 | Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) | 6-3 | 83 |
23 | 24 | Langston University (Okla.) | 6-3 | 61 |
24 | 16 | South Dakota Mines & Technology | 7-3 | 54 |
25 | RV | Kansas Wesleyan University | 6-3 | 29 |
Others receiving votes:
University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) 21; Benedictine College (Kan.) 5; Webber International University (Fla.) 4; Campbellsville University (Ky.) 3; Minot State University (N.D.) 1; Friends University (Kan.) 1; Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) 1; Black Hills State University (S.D.) 1; Sterling College (Kan.) 1; Grand View University (Iowa) 1
^ Ranking indicated in Top 25 Poll (Nov. 1, 2010)
* Record reflects the school submission of their statistics in DakStats
