KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 2023 Football Preseason Top-25 ranking, which featured the Northwestern College football team at No. 1 to begin the campaign.
The Red Raiders find themselves in the top-5 for the 25th straight poll and marks the first poll, since 1999, that Northwestern has been ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Northwestern has made it to the NAIA Football Championship Series (FCS) Semifinals for back-to-back seasons prior to 2022 for the first time since the program achieved four straight semifinal appearances from 1982 to 1985; then breaking through and winning the program’s third national title last season.
The top-5 includes two Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) squads in Northwestern (No. 1) and Morningside (No. 4), followed by a third Iowa school in Grand View (No. 3). 2022 National runner-up, the Seahawks from Keiser University (Fla.) check in at No. 2, with Indiana Wesleyan rounding out the top-5 at No. 5.
Head coach Matt McCarty returns key pieces all over the field heading into the season, including starting quarterback and Second Team All-Conference performer Jalyn Gramstad (Jr., Lester, Iowa), running backs Konner McQuillan (Sr., Leavenworth, Kan.) and Logan Meyer (Jr., Alvord, Iowa), linebackers Ben Kingery (Jr., Casey, Iowa) and Ben Egli (So., Fort Dodge, Iowa), and kicker Eli Stader (Sr., Cedar Grove, Wis.).
Northwestern takes their 13-game winning streak into 2023 with a trip to Seward, Nebraska to battle the Bulldogs of Concordia (Neb.) on Saturday, September 2.
GPAC IN THE TOP-25
No. 1 Northwestern Red Raiders
No. 4 Morningside Mustangs
No. 25 Dordt Defenders
Full Top 25
1 Northwestern (Iowa) [17] 13-1 418
2 Keiser (Fla.) [1] 10-4 383
3 Grand View (Iowa) 13-1 379
4 Morningside (Iowa) 11-1 375
5 Indiana Wesleyan 11-2 340
6 Marian (Ind.) 9-2 335
7 Benedictine (Kan.) 11-2 317
8 Bethel (Tenn.) 13-1 311
9 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 10-2 294
10 Reinhardt (Ga.) 8-2 286
11 Southwestern (Kan.) 9-2 238
12 College of Idaho 8-2 237
13 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 9-3 231
14 St. Thomas (Fla.) 9-2 209
15 Carroll (Mont.) 8-3 144
16 Montana Tech 7-3 130
17 OUAZ (Ariz.) 7-2 125
18 Avila (Mo.) 10-2 122
19 Dickinson State (N.D.) 8-3 118
20 Kansas Wesleyan 8-3 115
21 Texas Wesleyan 9-2 113
22 Georgetown (Ky.) 7-3 113
23 Bethel (Kan.) 9-1 75
24 St. Francis (Ill.) 7-3 70
25 Dordt (Iowa) 7-3 33
