WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team held steady at No. 7 in this week's NCAA Division II national rankings when the American Football Coaches Association released its updated national poll Monday.
 
The Rock began the year outside the top 25 but jumped into the rankings after a season-opening win over then 12th ranked Minnesota Duluth. SRU climbed into the top 10 one month into the season and enters this week at No. 7 for the second week in a row.   
 
SRU has been ranked or at least listed in the receiving votes category of every AFCA Division II national poll since Oct. 8, 2018. The Rock have been ranked in the top 10 for at least one week in each of the last seven straight seasons and in 10 of the last 11 seasons.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the "official" national ranking used throughout the regular season. The Rock also stayed put at No. 8 in the D2football.com media poll that was announced Monday (available HERE). SRU was listed at No. 1 when the NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings came out Sunday (more info HERE).
 
The top 10 spots in the AFCA poll remain unchanged this week with defending champion Ferris State still earning all 30 first-place votes to sit at No. 1 ahead of Harding, Kutztown, Colorado State Pueblo and Minnesota State.
 
The rest of the top 10 includes Western Colorado at No. 6, Slippery Rock at No. 7, Emporia State at No. 8, Davenport at No. 9 and Northwood at No. 10.
 
Kutztown leads all teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and Super Region One with a No. 3 ranking. Slippery Rock is the next highest ranked team from the region at No. 7. Kutztown and SRU are the only two teams from the PSAC in this week's top 25. Virginia Union of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association moved up four spots to No. 20 and Virginia State from the CIAA moved into the rankings at No. 24 to give Super Region One four teams in the top 25.
 
The region also has five teams listed in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll this week, including Indiana (Pa.), Johnson C. Smith of the CIAA, Shepherd and East Stroudsburg from the PSAC East and West Liberty from the Mountain East Conference.
 
Slippery Rock's opening opponent Minnesota Duluth moved up two spots this week to No. 21.
 
The Rock return home this week for the annual Homecoming game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lock Haven.
 
A look at the updated AFCA national poll can be found below. This week's D2football.com poll is available HERE.
 
AFCA DIVISION II NATIONAL RANKINGS
Oct. 19, 2026

Rank	Team (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Ferris St. (30)	7-0	750	1
2	Harding	7-0	719	2
3	Kutztown *	7-0	679	3
4	CSU Pueblo	7-0	657	4
5	Minnesota St.	7-0	630	5
6	Western Colorado	7-0	582	6
7	SLIPPERY ROCK *	7-0	573	7
8	Emporia St.	7-0	537	8
9	Davenport	7-0	505	9
10	Northwood	7-0	469	10
11	Northwest Missouri St.	5-1	417	12
12	Michigan Tech	6-1	408	14
13	Central Washington	5-2	400	11
14	Findlay	6-1	350	16
15	Carson-Newman	7-1	297	18
16	Grand Valley St.	5-2	286	13
17	Valdosta St.	4-1	263	17
18	North Greenville	6-1	209	22
19	Henderson St.	6-1	197	15
20	Virginia Union *	6-1	164	24
21	Minnesota-Duluth ^	5-2	146	23
22	Wayne St. (Neb.)	6-1	116	25
23	Benedict	6-1	87	NR
24	Virginia St. *	7-1	74	NR
25	West Alabama	5-2	51	21

Dropped Out: Indiana (Pa.) (19)*^, UT Permian Basin (20)
 
Others Receiving Votes: Indiana (Pa.), 39*^; East Central, 31; Johnson C. Smith, 19^; West Liberty, 16^; East Stroudsburg, 14*^; Augustana (S.D.), 13; Central Missouri, 13; UT Permian Basin, 12; Colorado Mines, 8; Midwestern St., 7; Northeastern St., 6; Ouachita Baptist, 4; Shepherd, 2*.

* NCAA Super Region One school
^ SRU opponent in 2026




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