First Football Poll Shuffles Six Teams
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The six Heart of America Athletic Conference football teams that started the season with a spot in the NAIA Football Coaches' Top 25 Poll maintained a spot in the rankings, but the deck was shuffled when the first regular season poll was released on Monday afternoon.
An unbeaten start to the season vaulted Baker (3-0) to the top of the pack, grabbing the #6 spot in the rankings. The Wildcats play the second of back-to-back home games this Saturday, September 12 against Graceland (2-1) with kickoff at Liston Stadium set for 6:00 p.m.
Grand View continued to hold a place in the top 10, but dropped four spots to #10 after following up its season-opening loss to Baker with consecutive wins. The Vikings (2-1) hit the road this weekend to take on Avila (0-3) at the Zarda Multisport Complex at 1:00 p.m.
Seeing one of the biggest jump among the league's ranked teams was William Penn, which vaulted seven places to #12 after a 2-1 start that included wins over both Missouri Valley and MidAmerica Nazarene. The Statesmen (2-1) return home on Saturday to take on Central Methodist (1-2) at 6:00 p.m.
One place behind William Penn is four-time defending league champion Missouri Valley, which also slipped four spots from the preseason poll to #13. Fresh off an overtime victory over Benedictine last Saturday, the Vikings (2-1) return home to take on Peru State (2-1) at 1:30 p.m.
The final two places go to a pair of teams squaring off this Saturday in a televised game at the Olathe District Activities Center at 11:00 a.m. Benedictine (2-1) matched the seven-place improvement of William Penn to leap to #18 in the poll, while MNU (1-2) dropped to #21 after back-to-back overtime losses.
Marian (Ind.) is the unanimous top-ranked team in the poll after receiving all 15 first place votes as one of 13 undefeated team in the poll. Morningside (Iowa) holds the #2 spot, while Lindsey Wilson (Ky.), Southern Oregon and Faulkner (Ala.) round out the top five.
| Rank | Last Poll | School (1st Place Votes) | Record | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Marian (Ind.) (15) | 2-0 | 340 |
| 2 | 3 | Morningside (Iowa) | 2-0 | 327 |
| 3 | 7 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 2-0 | 312 |
| 4 | 1 | Southern Oregon | 1-1 | 276 |
| 5 | 10 | Faulkner (Ala.) | 2-0 | 274 |
| 6 | 15 | Baker | 3-0 | 272 |
| 7 | T4 | Carroll (Mont.) | 1-1 | 268 |
| 8 | T4 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 2-1 | 257 |
| 9 | 12 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 2-0 | 246 |
| 10 | 6 | Grand View | 2-1 | 223 |
| 11 | 20 | Robert Morris (Ill.) | 2-0 | 197 |
| 12 | 19 | William Penn (Iowa) | 2-1 | 183 |
| 13 | 9 | Missouri Valley | 2-1 | 180 |
| 14 | 22 | Doane (Neb.) | 2-0 | 164 |
| 15 | NR | Montana Tech | 2-0 | 155 |
| 16 | 17 | Valley City State (N.D.) | 2-1 | 120 |
| 17 | RV | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 2-0 | 90 |
| 18 | 25 | Benedictine | 2-1 | 88 |
| 19 | RV | Montana Western | 2-0 | 86 |
| 20 | 24 | Webber International (Fla.) | 2-1 | 81 |
| 21 | 8 | MidAmerica Nazarene | 1-2 | 74 |
| 22 | NR | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 3-0 | 61 |
| 23 | 18 | Langston (Okla.) | 1-1 | 60 |
| T24 | 22 | Tabor (Kan.) | 1-1 | 54 |
| T24 | RV | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 2-0 | 54 |
Others receiving votes: Ottawa (Kan.) 40, Georgetown (Ky.) 35, Siena Heights (Mich.) 11, Eastern Oregon 9, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 6, Kansas Wesleyan 3.