2018 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – One
Mid-States Mideast Division teams make leaps in first regular season poll of the season
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999)
- Saint Francis (Ind.) has put together a perfect 2-0 record thus far with wins over cross-divisional opponents in the first two games.
- The Saint Francis Cougars are averaging just over 45 points per game after two contests.
- It has been a big start to the season for Evangel (Mo.) in the opening weeks. The Crusaders are a perfect 3-0 and have gone from not ranked to No. 11, the biggest jump of the week.
- Cumberlands (Ky.), Bethel (Tenn.), Montana Tech and Midland (Neb.) are also new to the poll this week. Each is still undefeated in 2018.
- Carroll (Mont.) owns the most No. 1 rankings with 57, followed by former NAIA member Sioux Falls (S.D.) (55), Georgetown (25), Marian (22) and Morningside (20).
- Morningside holds the longest active streak with 126-straight Top 25 mentions.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences.
- Each conference is given one rater for every four schools in the league.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”
2018 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Poll One (Sept. 10, 2018)
| RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Saint Francis (Ind.) [16] | 2-0 | 366 |
| 2 | 3 | Morningside (Iowa) | 2-0 | 351 |
| 3 | 4 | Southern Oregon | 2-0 | 339 |
| 4 | 5 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 2-0 | 324 |
| 5 | 7 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 2-0 | 308 |
| 6 | 15 | Marian (Ind.) | 2-0 | 289 |
| 7 | 2 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 1-1 | 274 |
| 8 | 16 | Concordia (Mich.) | 2-0 | 246 |
| 9 | 7 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 1-1 | 227 |
| 10 | 10 | Grand View (Iowa) | 1-1 | 218 |
| 11 | NR | Evangel (Mo.) | 3-0 | 217 |
| 12 | 9 | Baker (Kan.) | 1-1 | 196 |
| 13 | 14 | Langston (Okla.) | 1-0 | 189 |
| 14 | 20 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 2-1 | 165 |
| 15 | 12 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 2-1 | 151 |
| 16 | 21 | Kansas Wesleyan | 2-0 | 147 |
| 17 | NR | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 3-0 | 127 |
| 18 | 11 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 1-1 | 126 |
| 19 | NR | Bethel (Tenn.) | 2-0 | 111 |
| 20 | 13 | Dickinson State (N.D.) | 1-1 | 106 |
| 21 | 6 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 1-2 | 101 |
| 22 | 22 | Arizona Christian | 2-0 | 96 |
| 23 | NR | Montana Tech | 1-0 | 88 |
| 24 | NR | Midland (Neb.) | 2-0 | 44 |
| 25 | 17 | Sterling (Kan.) | 1-1 | 30 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Faulkner (Ala.), Tabor (Kan.), SAGU (Texas), Campbellsville (Tenn.), Dakota State (S.D.)
Others Receiving Votes: Montana Western 14, Faulkner (Ala.) 10, Webber International (Fla.) 7, St. Ambrose (Iowa) 7, Tabor (Kan.) 7, SAGU (Texas) 6, Keiser (Fla.) 5, Avila (Mo.) 5, Hastings (Neb.) 4, Siena Heights (Mich.) 3.
