Kansas City, Missouri — Northwestern College moved up to sixth in the final installment of the NAIA Football Coaches’ poll released Sunday by the national office.
Ranked seventh in the previous four polls, Northwestern climbed one spot to sixth and totaled 333 points in the final edition of the coaches ranking. The Raiders went 8-1 last fall, finishing with eight straight victories, and qualified for the NAIA Football Championship Series that begins April 17.
Northwestern is one of three teams from the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) that appear in the April 11 coaches poll, joining Morningside (1) and Dordt (18). Both of those teams also qualified for the post season.
The top five teams are unchanged from the last week’s coaches poll; Morningside – 1, Grand View – 2, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) – 3, Keiser (Fla.)- 4 and Concordia (Mich.) – 5.
2020-21 NAIA Football FirstDown PlayBook Top 25 Poll – Final Poll (April 11)
1 Morningside (Iowa) [17] 8-0 418
2 Grand View (Iowa) [1] 6-0 401
3 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 7-0 387
4 Keiser (Fla.) 7-0 359
5 Concordia (Mich.) 5-0 354
6 Northwestern (Iowa) 8-1 333
7 Baker (Kan.) 6-0 314
8 Reinhardt (Ga.) 8-0 307
9 Marian (Ind.) 5-1 295
10 Dickinson State (N.D.) 9-0 268
11 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 8-0 264
12 Arizona Christian 9-1 220
13 Bethel (Kan.) 9-1 207
14 Georgetown (Ky.) 6-1 201
15 College of Idaho 3-1 185
16 Benedictine (Kan.) 8-2 170
17 Saint Francis (Ind.) 2-2 163
18 Dordt (Iowa) 8-2 158
19 Avila (Mo.) 8-1 147
20 Roosevelt (Ill.) 6-1 104
20 Eastern Oregon 3-1 104
22 Carroll (Mont.) 3-1 67
23 Ottawa (Ariz.) 4-1 57
24 Southwestern (Kan.) 6-2 49
25 Kansas Wesleyan 8-2 36
Dropped Out: Valley City State (N.D.)
Receiving Votes: Valley City State (N.D.) 19, Southeastern (Fla.) 13, Faulkner (Ala.) 9, and St. Ambrose (Iowa) 4
