WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team moved up one place to No. 5 in this week's NCAA Division II national rankings when the American Football Coaches Association poll was unveiled Monday.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking recognized by the NCAA throughout the season.
 
Slippery Rock, which is one of just eight undefeated teams remaining in Division II, has climbed 10 total spots this fall since opening the year ranked No. 15 in the preseason national poll. The latest rise in the rankings comes after SRU posted a 42-14 win over Clarion Saturday to improve to 9-0 while locking up a fifth straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division title.
 
This week's road game at Edinboro will mark the 49th consecutive game SRU will play as a ranked team. The Rock have appeared in every top 25 poll since the final rankings of the 2018 season were released Dec. 17, 2018.
 
The single-digit ranking marks the fourth consecutive year that SRU has reached a single-digit ranking and the seventh time in the last eight seasons in which The Rock were ranked with a single-digit ranking. The No. 5 ranking is the highest for the program since SRU opened the 2021 season at No. 5. Prior to that, SRU had not been ranked in the top five since the 1999 season when SRU reached its highest ranking ever at No. 2.
 
Colorado School of Mines held steady at No. 1 this week, followed by Pittsburg State at No. 2 for the third week in a row. Grand Valley State stayed at No. 3 and Harding stayed at No. 4. Slippery Rock narrowly clipped Benedict to move into the top five this week with Benedict dropping one spot to No. 6. Colorado Mines earned 26 first place votes, while Pittsburg State, Grand Valley and SRU all earned one first place vote.
 
Slippery Rock remains the highest ranked team from Super Region One at No. 5 and is one of only two teams from Super Region One to be ranked in the top 25 this week. Tiffin from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference moved up two spots to No. 17 as the only other team from the region to crack the rankings.
 
Four additional teams from Super Region One are mentioned this week in the "Others Receiving Votes" section with Shepherd from the PSAC East, Charleston and Fairmont State from the Mountain East and New Haven from the Northeast 10 all earning votes.
 
Slippery Rock will look to move to 10-0 for just the second time in program history with a noon kickoff Saturday on the road at Edinboro. No matter what happens in this week's games, The Rock will visit Kutztown Nov. 11 for the PSAC Championship after the Golden Bears also locked up the PSAC East last week.
 
A look at the updated AFCA national poll can be found below.
 
2023 AFCA DIVISION II NATIONAL POLL – OCT. 30

Rank	School (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Colorado School of Mines (26)	9-0	720	1
2	Pittsburg St. (Kan.) (1)	9-0	694	2
3	Grand Valley St. (Mich.) (1)	7-1	662	3
4	Harding (Ark.)	9-0	637	4
5	SLIPPERY ROCK (1) *	9-0	582	6
6	Benedict (S.C.)	9-0	573	5
7	Ferris St. (Mich.)	6-2	534	8
8	Indianapolis (Ind.)	8-0	503	10
9	Davenport (Mich.)	8-0	484	11
10	Minnesota St.	8-1	437	13
11	Central Missouri	8-1	406	15
12	Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)	8-1	399	14
13	Bemidji St. (Minn.)	7-1	353	16t
14	Delta St. (Miss.)	7-1	322	16t
15	Western Colorado	8-1	321	9
16	Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.)	8-1	291	7
17	Tiffin (Ohio) *	9-0	282	19
18	Texas-Permian Basin	8-1	228	22
19	Virginia Union	8-1	210	23
20	Valdosta St. (Ga.)	8-1	207	24
21	Augustana (S.D.)	8-1	183	12
22	Virginia St.	8-1	86	NR
23	Missouri Western St.	7-2	69	NR
24	Central Washington	7-2	54	NR
25	Mars Hill (N.C.)	7-1	43	NR

 
Dropped Out: West Florida (18), Shepherd (W.Va.) (20)*, Truman St. (Mo.) (21), Minnesota-Duluth (25)
 
Others Receiving Votes: West Florida, 33; Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 30; Minnesota-Duluth, 24; Shepherd (W.Va.), 19*; Henderson St. (Ark.), 10; Colorado St.-Pueblo, 8; Angelo St. (Tex.), 7; Southern Arkansas, 5; Truman St. (Mo.), 4; Charleston (W.Va.), 2*; Fairmont St. (W.Va.), 2*; New Haven (Conn.), 1*.

* NCAA Super Region One teams



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