NAIA SPRING FOOTBALL TOP 25 COACHES' POLL

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

APRIL 30, 2007

CONTACT: Steve Wilson, NAIA Manager of Sports Information & Media Services

913.791.0044 | swilson@naia.org | 913.791.9555 (fax)

 

2007 NAIA Spring Football Top 25

Defending Champion Sioux Falls (S.D.) Closes Spring as NAIA No. 1

 

OLATHE, Kan. – Defending NAIA Football National Champion Sioux Falls (S.D.) earned 15 first-place votes to edge out its championship game competitor, Saint Francis (Ind.), in the first-ever NAIA Spring Football Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.

 

Saint Francis was the only other institution to grab first-place consideration, pulling two votes away from Sioux Falls, while Missouri Valley remained in the No. 3 position where it ended in the post-season poll conducted in early January at the AFCA convention in San Antonio, Texas.

 

Carroll (Mont.) moved into the No. 4 spot while Saint Xavier (Ill.) is No. 5, and the second half of the Top 10 begins with Bethel (Tenn.), who moved up one spot from the post-season rating to No. 6. Falling a spot to No. 7 was Northwestern (Iowa), and the Top 10 rounds out with Georgetown (Ky.), St. Ambrose (Iowa) and Morningside (Iowa), all of which were NAIA Championship Series playoff participants in the 2006 season.

 

Only two teams that ended 2006 outside the Top 25 were pushed into the Spring Rating, as McKendree (Ill.) sits at No. 17 and Langston (Okla.), a newcomer this season to the Central States Football League, enters the poll at No. 22.

 

Editor’s Note: The 2007 NAIA Spring Football Top 25 is not intended to replace the preseason rating scheduled for mid-August. The poll is offered as a pre-summer preview of the NAIA and how it’s raters – 17  coaches from affiliated conferences and independent institutions – are predicting teams will look at the beginning of the 2007 season.

 

RANK

2006

POSTSEASON

SCHOOL

1ST PLACE VOTES

2006 RECORD

POINTS

1

1

Sioux Falls (S.D.)

15

14-0

420

2

2

St. Francis (Ind.)

2

13-1

410

3

3

Missouri Valley

 

13-1

386

4

5

Carroll (Mont.)

 

11-2

356

5

4

Saint Xavier (Ill.)

 

10-3

350

6

7

Bethel (Tenn.)

 

10-3

332

7

6

Northwestern (Iowa)

 

11-2

327

8

10

Georgetown (Ky.)

 

9-2

297

9

9

St. Ambrose (Iowa)

 

10-1

267

10

8

Morningside (Iowa)

 

9-3

256

11

12

Black Hills State (S.D.)

 

8-3

243

12

11

Montana State-Northern

 

9-3

227

13

16

Walsh (Ohio)

 

9-3

193

14

13

Friends (Kan.)

 

9-2

192

15

14

Jamestown (N.D.)

 

8-3

154

16

17

Ohio Dominican

 

7-3

153

17

NR

McKendree (Ill.)

 

5-4

133

18

22

MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)

 

7-3

113

19

18

Benedictine (Kan.)

 

8-3

111

20

20

Kansas Wesleyan

 

8-2

93

21

15

Bethel (Kan.)

 

9-2

92

22

NR

Langston (Okla.)

 

5-4

70

23

19

Malone (Ohio)

 

7-4

66

24

21

Northwestern Oklahoma

 

6-4

55

25

24

Virginia-Wise

 

8-3

54

 

Others Receiving Votes: Cumberlands (Ky.), 49; Montana Tech, 43; Azusa Pacific (Calif.), 19; Nebraska Wesleyan, 17; Quincy (Ill.), 9; Belhaven (Miss.), 8; Dickinson State (N.D.), 7; Shorter (Ga.), 6; Sterling (Kan.), 6; Southern Nazarene (Okla.), 5; Graceland (Iowa), 4; Webber International (Fla.), 3; Lambuth (Tenn.), 1.