WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team climbed one place to No. 9 in the NCAA Division II national poll released Monday by the American Football Coaches Association.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking that is used by the NCAA throughout the season.
 
Slippery Rock has been ranked no lower than No. 12 this season, opening the year at No. 11 in the preseason poll, dropping one spot to No. 12 after the first week of action and moving up one place in each of the last three weeks.
 
The No. 9 ranking ties with the 10th week of last season for the highest regular season ranking for Slippery Rock since the 1999 season when the team finished No. 2. The Rock ended up No. 7 in the final rankings last fall after the playoffs, but only reached as high as No. 9 for one week during the regular season.
 
The only team ranked in the top 12 last week to lose was No. 7 Ferris State, which dropped a 39-31 decision to No. 5 Ashland. That loss bumped Ferris down to No. 13 this week to account for the only change in the top 12.
 
Super Region One now has four teams ranked in the top 15 and added a fifth team to the national rankings this week with Slippery Rock's next opponent, California (Pa.), jumping into the poll at No. 24. It marks the first time the Vulcans have been in the national rankings since late in the 2014 season and also gives the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division three teams ranked in the national poll this week.
 
The four Super Region One teams that have been listed in each weekly poll so far this season remained in the same order this week. Defending regional champion Shepherd sits at No. 4 after posting a 38-17 win over Notre Dame (Ohio). Indiana (Pa.) moved up one spot to No. 8 with a 56-28 win at Edinboro. Slippery Rock moved up one spot to No. 9 after a 34-13 win over Gannon and Assumption climbed to No. 15 with a 55-23 victory over Merrimack.
 
Just two other Super Region One teams are mentioned this week in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll. LIU Post is the sixth team mentioned this week, followed by Winston-Salem State as the seventh team. A total of 15 teams received at least one vote this week.
 
The PSAC, and more specifically the PSAC West, is represented by three of the seven teams from Super Region One that are mentioned in this week's poll, with SRU, Indiana and California. The Northeast-10 has two representatives with Assumption and LIU Post. The Mountain East Conference (Shepherd) and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (Winston-Salem State) each have one representative.
 
Slippery Rock improved to 4-0 and opened PSAC West play at 1-0 with a 34-13 home win over Gannon last Saturday night. The Rock took the lead less than three minutes into the game and never trailed the rest of the way, shutting Gannon out for the final 30 minutes and holding the Golden Knights to just 74 yards of total offense in the second half.
 
The Rock got another strong showing from quarterback Don King III, who completed 33-of-49 passes for 370 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He has thrown for 781 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions the last two weeks.
 
King III connected with seven different receivers that recorded at least 20 yards, headlined by Marcus Johnson with nine catches for 123 yards and one touchdown and Cornelius Raye with nine catches for 88 yards. He also hit Brian McNally for a pair of touchdowns, the first two of the tight end's collegiate career.
 
Shamar Greene led the ground game with 115 yards on 21 carries (5.5 yards per carry) and Dontez Rash scored his second rushing touchdown in the last two weeks.
 
The defense finished with five sacks, seven tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hurries and two interceptions. Anthony Zappone was named PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Week after leading the team with 12 tackles, one sack, one pass breakup and one interception. Joe Phillips added 1.5 sacks and Cody Conway and Mike Kope each had one sack. Marcus Martin had a half-sack and four QB hurries. Alfon Cook recorded one interception and Titus Howard had three pass breakups.
 
Slippery Rock has faced arguably the toughest schedule in Super Region One to open the year and will next have to play its fourth team in five weeks that posted a winning record last fall. The Rock opened the year with games against a pair of teams that went 7-4 last year and played for their respective conference titles (New Haven and West Chester) and then hosted previously unbeaten Gannon last week. SRU will now face its toughest test of the first half of the season with a road trip to No. 24 California, which went 8-3 last year and has opened the year 3-0 this fall with all three wins coming in dominant fashion. The Vulcans' lowest point production in three games was a 59-17 win at Seton Hill last week.
 
Kickoff from Adamson Stadium in California is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Complete games notes and coverage information will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com Wednesday.
 
This week's AFCA Division II poll can be seen below.


2016 AFCA Division II National Poll - Week 4
Sept. 26, 2016

Rank	Team (1st Place Votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1.	Northwest Missouri St. (30)	4-0	750	1
2.	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	4-0	713	2
3.	West Georgia	4-0	658	3
4.	Shepherd (W.Va.)	4-0	637	4
5.	Ashland (Ohio)	4-0	622	5
6.	Texas A&M-Commerce	3-0	586	6
7.	Henderson St. (Ark.)	4-0	563	8
8.	Indiana (Pa.)	3-0	533	9
9.	SLIPPERY ROCK	4-0	511	10
10.	Midwestern St. (Texas)	3-0	458	11
11.	Tuskegee (Ala.)	4-0	424	12
12.	Sioux Falls (S.D.)	4-0	386	14
13.	Ferris St. (Mich.)	3-1	374	7
14.	Azusa Pacific (Calif.)	4-0	365	15
15.	Assumption (Mass.)	4-0	325	17
16.	Florida Tech	4-0	302	19
17.	Colorado Mesa	4-0	289	18
18.	North Alabama	2-1	261	20
19.	Minnesota St.	3-1	178	21
20.	Harding (Ark.)	4-0	172	25
21.	North Carolina-Pembroke	4-0	123	NR
22.	Central Missouri	3-1	116	13
23.	Emporia St. (Kan.)	3-1	97	NR
24.	California (Pa.)	3-0	71	NR
25.	Augustana (S.D.)	3-1	48	16

Dropped Out: Bemidji St. (Minn.) (22), Colorado School of Mines (23), Humboldt St. (Calif.) (24).

Others Receiving Votes: Bemidji St. (Minn.), 40; Southwest Baptist (Mo.), 37; Valdosta St. (Ga.), 32; West Texas A&M, 32; Wayne St. (Mich.), 20; LIU-Post (N.Y.), 8; Winston-Salem St. (N.C.), 6; Minnesota-Duluth, 3; Humboldt St. (Calif.), 2; McKendree (Ill.), 2; Pittsburg St. (Kan.), 2; Colorado School of Mines, 1; Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 1; Ouachita Baptist (Ark.), 1; Western St. (Colo.), 1.