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Carroll College climbs into NAIA top 25, Montana Western falls out

Montana Tech ranked 23rd
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For the first time since 2016, the Carroll College football team is ranked in the NAIA top 25 poll.

The Fighting Saints have defeated three ranked teams this season -- the latest a 30-19 win over then-No. 17 Montana Tech -- to debut at No. 22 in this week's rankings, which were released Monday. Frontier Conference teams College of Idaho (sixth) and Montana Tech (23rd) were also ranked this week, while Montana Western fell from the top 25 into the "receiving votes" category.

Carroll was last ranked in September of 2016 when it was No. 21 in the poll, according to the Saints' sports information department. They're 6-3 this season, tied with Tech and Western for second in the Frontier Conference standings.

College of Idaho is still unbeaten at 9-0 and is the highest-ranked Frontier team in the poll, holding steady at No. 6 this week after rallying for a come-from-behind win against Montana Western. Tech, which is 6-3, slipped from 17th to 23rd this week.

The regular season concludes this weekend, with College of Idaho (9-0 overall, 9-0 conference) hosting Montana State-Northern (1-9, 0-9). Carroll (6-3, 6-3) traveling to Eastern Oregon (3-7, 3-6), Tech (6-3, 6-3) hosting Rocky Mountain College (3-7, 2-7) and Western (6-3, 6-3) hosting Southern Oregon (4-6, 4-5). College of Idaho is guaranteed a trip to the upcoming NAIA playoffs via its conference title, while Carroll, Tech and Western are all long-shot playoff selections with three losses.

For updated Frontier Conference standings, please click here.

Only 16 teams qualify for the NAIA playoffs -- last year 11 qualified via conference or division titles, while five earned at-large bids. No team ranked higher than No. 18 in the latest NAIA coaches' poll has more than two losses this season. The top five positions in the poll remained unchanged: Morningside (Iowa) received all 17 first-place votes, with Marian (Ind.), Kansas Wesleyan, Grand View (Iowa) and Northwestern (Iowa) following.

The poll is voted on by a panel of head coaches representing the conferences, with 25 points being awarded each first-place vote, 24 for each second-place vote and so on.

The ninth edition of the 2019 NAIA football coaches' poll can be found below.

2019 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Poll 9 (November 11)

RANKLAST WEEKSCHOOL [IST PLACE VOTES]RECORDFINAL POINTS
11Morningside (Iowa) [17]9-0392
22Marian (Ind.)8-0369
33Kansas Wesleyan10-0357
44Grand View (Iowa)10-0352
55Northwestern (Iowa)9-0328
66College of Idaho9-0322
77Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)9-0310
88Cumberlands (Ky.)9-0287
910Keiser (Fla.)9-0269
1011Saint Xavier (Ill.)7-2258
1113Saint Francis (Ind.)7-2234
1214Concordia (Mich.)7-2224
1315Reinhardt (Ga.)8-2201
1416Southeastern (Fla.)8-1193
1518Baker (Kan.)8-2185
1619Ottawa (Ariz.) (AZ)8-1165
179Evangel (Mo.)8-2148
1820Dickinson State (N.D.)8-2131
1821Siena Heights (Mich.)7-2131
2012Benedictine (Kan.)7-3114
2122Langston (Okla.)7-2102
22NRCarroll (Mont.)6-353
2317Montana Tech6-347
24NRDordt (Iowa)7-334
25NRBethel (Kan.)8-232

Dropped Out: Sterling (Kan.), Indiana Wesleyan and Montana Western

Receiving Votes: Sterling (Kan.) 20, Indiana Wesleyan 16, Montana Western 12 and Waldorf (Iowa) 9