WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team received votes and was listed just outside the top 25 in the NCAA Division II national rankings when the American Football Coaches Association released its preseason national poll Tuesday.
 
Slippery Rock is the fifth team listed outside the preseason top 25 after garnering 56 points to be one of 30 total teams to pick up votes in the preseason poll. The Rock have been at least listed in the receiving votes category of every AFCA Division II national poll since Oct. 8, 2018, a streak that extends more than 2,870 days.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the "official" national ranking used throughout the regular season. The Rock were ranked No. 25 in the D2football.com media poll that was also announced this week (available HERE).
 
Defending national champion Ferris State earned all 31 first place votes to sit atop the AFCA preseason poll. The rest of the top five includes Harding, Kutztown, Pittsburg State and Minnesota State.
 
Kutztown leads all teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and Super Region One with a No. 3 ranking in the preseason poll. Virginia Union of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association comes in at No. 14, followed by Frostburg State of the Mountain East Conference at No. 17, Johnson C. Smith of the CIAA at No. 23 and Indiana (Pa.) of the PSAC at No. 25 to give Super Region One five teams listed in the top 25.
 
Slippery Rock (56 pts) joins fellow PSAC schools California (53) and East Stroudsburg (4) in the others receiving votes section. Super Region One schools Assumption (29), Bentley (27) and Charleston (13) round out the 11 total Super Region schools mentioned in the preseason poll.
 
The Rock will have no time to adjust to a new season before facing stiff competition and will square off with a top 12 ranked opponent next Thursday night when No. 12 Minnesota Duluth visits Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Aug. 27 for a 6 p.m. kickoff. It will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs. That game will be one of the highlighted games on the "Week Zero" schedule in Division II, along with No. 1 Ferris State traveling to No. 4 Pittsburg State on the opening day of the season.
 
After a week off, SRU will then hit the road for a Sept. 12 night game at East Stroudsburg. The tough schedule then includes a trip to California (Pa.) two weeks later as SRU will face three teams listed in the preseason poll in its first four games.
 
A look at the AFCA preseason national poll can be found below. This week's D2football.com poll is available HERE.
 
AFCA DIVISION II PRESEASON RANKINGS
Aug. 18, 2026

Rank	Team (1st Votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Ferris St. (31)	16-0	775	1
2	Harding	15-1	738	2
3	Kutztown *	14-1	684	3
4	Pittsburg State	10-3	647	6
5	Minnesota State	10-4	587	8
6	Colorado St.-Pueblo	10-2	581	11
7	Central Washington	10-2	478	13
8	Northwest Missouri State	9-3	470	17
t9	Grand Valley State	7-3	451	NR
t9	UIndy	11-2	451	10
11	Western Colorado	10-3	379	12
12	Minnesota Duluth ^	10-2	372	16
13	Ashland	10-3	328	15
14	Virginia Union *	9-3	318	21
15	Newberry	12-2	276	4
16	Findlay	10-2	250	19
17	Frostburg State *	11-3	228	14
18	UT Permian Basin	11-3	197	5
19	Wingate	9-3	183	NR
20	Augustana (S.D.)	9-2	181	25
21	Albany State	12-2	172	7
22	Western Oregon	8-3	165	NR
23	Johnson C. Smith *	10-2	159	18
24	Ouachita Baptist	7-4	146	NR
25	Indiana (Pa.) *^	7-4	97	NR

     
Others Receiving Votes: Valdosta St., 86; Chadron St., 83; Central Oklahoma, 64; North Greenville, 61; SLIPPERY ROCK 56*; California (Pa.), 53*^; Northwood, 50; Delta St., 33; Michigan Tech, 31; Assumption, 29*; Bentley, 27*; Benedict, 25; Lenoir-Rhyne, 21; Colorado Mines, 18; Northeastern St., 16; Southern Arkansas, 14; Charleston, 13*; Fort Hays St., 13; Truman St., 13; West Texas A&M, 10; UNC Pembroke, 8; Central Missouri, 7; Edward Waters, 7; Henderson St., 6; Angelo St., 4; East Stroudsburg, 4*^; Nebraska-Kearney, 4; Upper Iowa, 3; Davenport, 2; Carson-Newman, 1.
 
* NCAA Super Region One school
^ SRU opponent in 2026




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