WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team climbed two spots to No. 11 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 have soared all the way up to No. 11 after three 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. The two spot improvement this week comes after SRU earned a convincing 59-35 road win at East Stroudsburg Saturday night when the Warriors were receiving votes.
 
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 AFCA poll is widely regarded as the "official" national ranking used throughout the regular season. The Rock also held steady at No. 14 in the D2football.com media poll that was also announced Monday (available HERE).
 
None of the top eight spots changed hands this week with defending national champion Ferris State earning all 31 first place votes to stay at No. 1. Harding, Kutztown, Minnesota State and Colorado State Pueblo round out the top five.
 
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. 11. Fellow PSAC West rival Indiana (Pa.) jumped two spots to No. 12 this week, while Frostburg State of the Mountain East Conference held steady at No. 23 to give the region just four teams ranked in the top 25 for the second week in a row.
 
California (Pa.), Virginia Union of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Shepherd and Concord of the MEC were listed in the "others receiving votes" section of this week's poll to give the region eight total teams mentioned in the poll, down from 11 last week.
 
Slippery Rock's opening opponent Minnesota Duluth has bounced back from the double overtime loss at The Rock with a pair of strong wins and has climbed up to No. 14 in this week's poll.
 
The Rock will hit the road this week for the second of three straight road games in September with a visit to Millersville Saturday for a noon kickoff before opening PSAC Western Division action Sept. 26 on the road at California (Pa.).
 
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
Sept.14, 2026

Rank	Team (1st votes)	W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	Ferris St. (31)	3-0	775	1
2	Harding	2-0	744	2
3	Kutztown*	2-0	705	3
4	Minnesota St.	3-0	668	4
5	CSU Pueblo	3-0	653	5
6	Grand Valley St.	3-0	629	6
7	Northwest Missouri St.	2-0	589	7
8	Western Colorado	3-0	546	8
9	Findlay	2-0	505	10
10	Western Oregon	2-0	463	12
11	SLIPPERY ROCK *	2-0	438	13
12	Indiana (Pa.) *^	2-0	402	14
13	Valdosta St.	3-0	374	16
14	Minnesota-Duluth ^	2-1	342	15
15	Northeastern St.	3-0	295	18
16	Central Washington	0-2	281	9
17	Emporia St.	3-0	258	24
18	West Alabama	3-0	210	NR
19	Benedict	2-0	206	21
20	Augustana (S.D.)	2-1	162	22
21	Newberry	1-1	125	11
22	Carson-Newman	3-0	122	NR
23	Frostburg St. *	1-1	109	23
24	Davenport	3-0	107	NR
25t.	Michigan Tech	2-1	45	20
25t.	Northwood	2-0	45	NR

Dropped Out: UIndy (17), Ashland (19), Pittsburg St. (25)
 
Others Receiving Votes: Lenoir-Rhyne, 43; UT Permian Basin, 37; Northern St., 35; California (Pa.), 29*^; Henderson St., 24; Ashland, 18; Fort Hays St., 18; UIndy, 18; North Greenville, 14; Virginia Union, 11*; Shepherd, 10*; Black Hills St., 6; Central Oklahoma, 5; Wayne St. (Neb.), 3; Central Missouri, 2; Walsh, 2; Colorado Mesa, 1; Concord, 1*.

* NCAA Super Region One school
^ SRU opponent in 2026




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