WACO, Texas – With no changes to the top 10, the Slippery Rock University football team stayed No. 9 in this week's Division II national rankings when the American Football Coaches Association announced its weekly poll Monday.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking recognized by the NCAA throughout the season.
 
Slippery Rock has been ranked in every AFCA national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season and has spent at least one week ranked inside the top 10 in each of the last five seasons. SRU has been ranked No. 9 for each of the last three weeks after opening the year at No. 11.
 
The Rock are one of two teams from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference to be ranked in the top 10 this week with Kutztown holding its spot at No. 8. Three more teams from Super Region One are ranked this week, marking the first time this season that five teams from the region have been in the top 25. Charleston from the Mountain East Conference moved up three spots to No. 16 this week. PSAC West rival Indiana (Pa.) moved up four places to No. 21 and Findlay from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference broke into the rankings for the first time this season at No. 23.
 
Slippery Rock kept its spot in the top 10 after a 28-23 win over Edinboro Saturday night in a game that was a tale of two halves. The Rock jumped out to a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter before Edinboro closed the game with 23 unanswered points. SRU was able to seal the victory and hold off the rally by putting together an 88-yard drive that erased the final 9:18 off the clock before kneeling out the win.
 
The top 10 teams in the poll remain unchanged this week. Defending national champion Harding is the runaway No. 1 team after posting a 66-0 win over No. 17 Henderson State last week. The Bison have allowed 10 total points through four games while averaging 61.75 points per game on the way to extending their current winning streak to 23 consecutive games. Grand Valley State is No. 2, followed by Valdosta State, Colorado School of Mines and Ferris State rounding out the top five.
 
Three other teams from Super Region One are listed in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll this week. Frostburg State of the MEC leads that group with 22 points in the poll, while Assumption and New Haven from the Northeast 10 Conference each earned one point.
 
The biggest game in Division II this week will happen in the PSAC West as No. 9 Slippery Rock travels to No. 21 Indiana (Pa.) for the only Division II game between two ranked opponents this week. The game, which is also Homecoming for IUP, is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. Saturday.  
 
A look at the updated AFCA national poll can be found below.
 
SRU also held steady at No. 10 in this week's D2football.com media poll, which can be viewed HERE.
 
AFCA DIVISION II NATIONAL POLL – SEPT. 30

Rank	School (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Harding (Ark.) (29)	4-0	725	1
2	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	4-0	695	2
3	Valdosta St. (Ga.)	4-0	656	3
4	Colorado School of Mines	4-0	641	4
5	Ferris St. (Mich.)	3-1	586	5
6	Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.)	4-0	570	6
7	Minnesota St.	5-0	545	7
8	Kutztown (Pa.) *	4	506	8
9	SLIPPERY ROCK *	4-0	489	9
10	Pittsburg St. (Kan.)	3-1	470	10
11	Central Washington	3-1	401	13
12	Central Missouri	3-1	399	12
13	Western Colorado	4-0	376	14
14	Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)	4-0	350	16
15	West Alabama	4-0	319	17
16	Charleston (W.Va.) *	4-0	265	19
17	Central Oklahoma	4-0	246	23
18t.	Colorado St.-Pueblo	4-1	238	22
18t.	Emporia St. (Kan.)	4-1	238	11
20	Delta St. (Miss.)	3-1	150	24
21	Indiana (Pa.) *^	4-0	132	25
22	Indianapolis (Ind.)	3-1	117	15
23	Findlay (Ohio) *	4-0	73	NR
24	Johnson C. Smith (N.C.)	5-0	51	NR
25	Carson-Newman (Tenn.)	4-0	43	NR

 
Dropped Out: Augustana (S.D.) (18), Henderson St. (Ark.) (20), West Florida (21)
 
Others Receiving Votes: Bemidji St. (Minn.), 30; Frostburg St. (Md.), 22*; West Florida, 20; Henderson St. (Ark.), 18; Davenport (Mich.), 14; Augustana (S.D.), 12; Clark Atlanta (Ga.), 11; Virginia Union, 6; Southern Arkansas, 5; Texas A&M-Kingsville, 3; Angelo St. (Tex.), 1; Assumption (Mass.), 1*; New Haven (Conn.), 1*^.

* NCAA Super Region One Schools
^ SRU Opponents in 2024




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