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 third 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 and are all occupied by the 10 remaining undefeated teams in Division II. Defending champion Ferris State earned all 29 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. All of the top 10 are currently 8-0 on the year.
 
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 joined by East Stroudsburg at No. 24 to give the PSAC three teams in the top 25 this week. Virginia Union of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association moved up one spot to No. 19 and Virginia State from the CIAA moved up two spots to No. 22. West Liberty from the Mountain East Conference also makes its top 25 debut at No. 23 this week to give Super Region One six teams in the top 25 for the first time this season.
 
Slippery Rock's opening opponent Minnesota Duluth moved up one spot this week to No. 20 and PSAC West rival Indiana (Pa.) is still receiving votes.
 
The Rock have already locked up the PSAC West title and will host the conference championship game Nov. 14. SRU will look to complete an unbeaten regular season with a road game to Clarion this Saturday for a noon kickoff and a home game Nov. 7 against Edinboro at 4 p.m.
 
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. 26, 2026

Rank	Team (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Ferris St. (29)	8-0	749	1
2	Harding	8-0	719	2
3	Kutztown *	8-0	681	3
4	CSU Pueblo	8-0	649	4
5	Minnesota St.	8-0	639	5
6	Western Colorado	8-0	584	6
7	SLIPPERY ROCK *	8-0	569	7
8	Emporia St.	8-0	540	8
9	Davenport	8-0	505	9
10	Northwood	8-0	470	10
11	Northwest Missouri St.	6-1	437	11
12	Central Washington	6-2	420	13
13	Findlay	7-1	388	14
14	Carson-Newman	7-1	346	15
15	Michigan Tech	6-2	322	12
16	North Greenville	7-1	280	18
17	Valdosta St.	5-1	271	17
18	Henderson St.	7-1	246	19
19	Virginia Union *	7-1	212	20
20	Minnesota-Duluth ^	6-2	182	21
21	Benedict	7-1	161	23
22	Virginia St. *	7-1	114	24
23	West Liberty *	7-1	67	NR
24	East Stroudsburg *^	7-1	60	NR
25	Grand Valley St.	5-3	39	16

Dropped Out: Wayne St. (Neb.) (22), West Alabama (25)
 
Others Receiving Votes: Augustana (S.D.), 36; Wayne St. (Neb.), 16; Midwestern St., 11; Colorado Mines, 8; Northeastern St., 5; Ouachita Baptist, 5; Central Missouri, 4; Indiana (Pa.), 4*^; UNC Pembroke, 4; Northern St., 3; Washburn, 2; West Alabama, 2.

* NCAA Super Region One school
^ SRU opponent in 2026




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