Nov. 10, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Six teams remain undefeated and Carroll (Mont.) is No. 1 for the 12^th straight time in the ninth regular season NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, announced today (Nov. 10). The Fighting Saints won last Saturday, 28-7 over Eastern Oregon, and recorded their 26^th straight win dating back to last year. Carroll earned all 18 possible first-place votes and 418 total points. The Saints now prepare for the 2008 Football Championship Series, which begins Nov. 22, as their regular season is complete with an 11-0 record. The 12 straight No. 1’s for Carroll is the longest consecutive stretch since Sioux Falls (S.D.) had the lock on No. 1 for 14 straight polls dating from the end of the 2006 season through the 2007 final regular season poll.

The Top 6 stays unchanged and all teams boast a perfect record heading into the final regular season weekend. Interestingly enough, no more than four programs total have finished the regular season with an unblemished record in 13 years. The last time that more than four teams had a perfect record was the 1995 regular season.

All season long, Sioux Falls has taken the No. 2 position and this week is no different. The Cougars held 401 total points in the poll after blowing out Dordt (Iowa) 34-2 over the weekend. USF squares off with another undefeated team, No. 4 Morningside (Iowa) on Saturday (Nov. 15) in Sioux Falls, S.D. Both schools are fighting for the outright Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship.

St. Francis (Ind.) earned the No. 3 position amassing 387 points and staying 9-0 on the year. The Cougars travel to No. 18 St. Xavier (Ill.) this weekend. No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), who took down then-No. 15 Baker (Kan.) in double overtime, finished with 357 points this week. The final undefeated team, No. 6 Friends (Kan.), won on the road at then-No. 23 Bethel (Kan.) and retained its hold as the conference leader in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.

No. 24 Montana State-Northern and No. 25 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) both jumped into the Top 25 this week. MSU-Northern took down Montana Tech 35-3 and improved to 7-3 on the year. Meanwhile, Dakota Wesleyan shocked then-No. 12 Northwestern (Iowa) at home with a 17-6 victory.

There are a couple of other Top 25 games on the schedule this weekend. No. 12 Missouri Valley is at No. 7 Lindenwood (Mo.) as both teams look up at conference leader MidAmerica Nazarene. No. 23 Ohio Dominican visits No. 13 Malone (Ohio) and one national record is in jeopardy of being broken. ODU quarterback Cris Reisert, who set two NAIA career passing records last week, needs 317 yards to break the all-time national total offense yards total of 13,979.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and independents. The 10^th and final regular season Top 25 poll will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 16 by 1 p.m. CST. The official field for the 2008 Football Championship Series, along with the pairings, will be announced by 5 p.m. CST on Nov. 16.

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NOTES: With a 11-0 record, Carroll (Mont.) is tied with Minnesota Duluth, a NCAA Division II school, with the most wins in all of NAIA and NCAA college football…Cris Reisert of Ohio Dominican is on pace to set yet another NAIA national career record – he needs 317 to set the all-time total offense yards mark – last week, he broke the all-time passing touchdowns and passing yards records… Minot State (N.D.) and Bethel (Kan.) both dropped out of the poll this week – at No. 25 last week, MSU lost by a touchdown at home to No. 20 Dickinson State (N.D.) while No. 23 Bethel lost at home to No. 6 Friends (Kan.) 41-7… With its current 26-game winning streak, Carroll is looking at a ways to go to catch the all-time national record set by Texas A&I in the mid-70s (42 games)… Since 2004 when Ohio Dominican started varsity football, the Panthers have been ranked in 33 of a possible 62 polls – those 33 polls happen to be the last 33 straight weeks… Since 2000, Carroll has been No. 1 a total of 52 times, the highest amount of any program during that time span; Sioux Falls is second with 28 mentions at No. 1 followed by Georgetown (Ky.) with 14, Northwestern Oklahoma State with 11 and Saint Francis (Ind.) with three… The last time a team other than Carroll and Sioux Falls has been No. 1 was Saint Francis on Nov. 12, 2006… Carroll has now been ranked in the Top 5 in the last 49 straight polls dating back to November of 2004… St. Francis boasts the longest consecutive stretch of being named in the Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – now standing at 115 straight mentions… The last time USF was not mentioned in the Top 25 was Oct. 19, 1999… Carroll (Mont.) is the next team in line with 102 straight Top 25 rankings while Sioux Falls (S.D.) stands at 101 straight mentions.

2008 NAIA Football Top 25 Coaches’ Poll – (Nov. 10)

Others receiving votes:

William Penn University (Iowa) 24; Jamestown College (N.D.) 15; University of St. Francis (Ill.) 5; Minot State University (N.D.) 1; Black Hills State University (S.D.) 1; McKendree University (Ill.) 1

* Records as submitted by schools and raters