WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team held steady at No. 8 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 soared all the way up to No. 8 after five weeks. SRU jumped into the poll at No. 18 after opening the season with an upset win over then 12th ranked Minnesota Duluth in week zero before leaping five spots to No. 13 after an idle week. SRU then jumped five more places over the next three weeks with consecutive road wins at East Stroudsburg, Millersville and California (Pa.) and stayed at No. 8 this week after a home win over Gannon.
 
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. 9 in the D2football.com media poll that was announced Monday (available HERE).
 
The top eight spots in the poll remain unchanged this week with defending champion Ferris State still earning all 31 first-place votes to sit at No. 1 ahead of Harding, Kutztown, Colorado State Pueblo, Minnesota State, Grand Valley State, Western Colorado and Slippery Rock. The only change in the top 10 this week was No. 9 Emporia State moving up one spot and No. 10 Indiana (Pa.) dropping one place.
 
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. 8. Fellow PSAC West rival Indiana (Pa.) dropped one spot to No. 10 this week. Those three PSAC teams are the only teams from Super Region One in the top 25 this week.
 
The region has five teams listed in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll this week, including Virginia Union, Virginia State and Johnson C. Smith of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Shepherd from the PSAC East and West Liberty from the Mountain East Conference.
 
Slippery Rock's opening opponent Minnesota Duluth is also listed in the others receiving votes section of the poll this week.
 
The Rock will play their second straight home night game this week when Seton Hill visits Saturday night for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
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. 5, 2026

Rank	Team (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Ferris St. (31)	5-0	775	1
2	Harding	5-0	744	2
3	Kutztown *	5-0	704	3
4	CSU Pueblo	6-0	672	4
5	Minnesota St.	6-0	651	5
6	Grand Valley St.	5-0	628	6
7	Western Colorado	6-0	572	7
8	SLIPPERY ROCK *	5-0	554	8
9	Emporia St.	5-0	499	10
10	Indiana (Pa.) *^	5-0	476	9
11	Davenport	5-0	464	11
12	Northwood	5-0	385	14
13	Central Washington	3-2	378	12
14	Northwest Missouri St.	3-1	376	13
15	North Greenville	5-0	325	17
16	Findlay	4-1	308	16
17	Henderson St.	5-0	273	19
18	Valdosta St.	4-1	243	18
19	Michigan Tech	4-1	213	20
20	Mars Hill	5-0	190	21t
21	Carson-Newman	5-1	146	23
22	West Alabama	5-1	124	24
23	UT Permian Basin	4-1	117	NR
24	Central Missouri	4-1	59	NR
25	Northern St.	5-1	42	NR

Dropped Out: Newberry (15), Northeastern St. (21t), Walsh (25)
 
Others Receiving Votes: Virginia Union, 40*; Benedict, 24; Minnesota-Duluth, 24^; Northeastern St., 14; Shepherd, 14*; Wayne St. (Neb.), 10; West Liberty, 9*; Virginia St., 7*; Newberry, 4; Midwestern St., 3; Tiffin, 3; Johnson C. Smith, 2*; East Central, 1; Edward Waters, 1; South Dakota Mines, 1.

* NCAA Super Region One school
^ SRU opponent in 2026




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