Grand Forks, N.D. -- The North Dakota football team found itself ranked in the Top 10 of a national poll for the first time in the program's Divisoin I history on Monday as the FCS coaches pegged the Fighting Hawks at No. 10 in their poll.UND also moved up four spots to No. 12 in the STATS FCS Top 25 poll, which is also its highest perch in that ranking.
Winners of eight in a row thanks to a 23-13 win at Northern Colorado, UND (8-2, 7-0 BSC) will play for at least a share of the Big Sky title on Saturday in what will be the team's final regular season game vs. Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks (5-4, 4-2 BSC) will be UND's second-consecutive opponent that will bring a four-game winning streak into the Alerus Center.
The eight wins are the most for UND since the 2011 team shared the Great West title and finished 8-3 during its final season in that league. The Fighting Hawks also finshed 4-0 in league road games marking the first time the program achieved that feat since the 2007 season.
Kickoff vs. NAU is set for 1:05 p.m. CT.
| STATS FCS Top 25 Poll |
| Rk. |
School (1st-place votes) |
Record |
Pts. |
PR |
| 1. |
Sam Houston State (113) |
9-0 |
3940 |
1 |
| 2. |
Jacksonville State (19) |
8-1 |
3781 |
2 |
| 3. |
Eastern Washington (19) |
8-1 |
3728 |
3 |
| 4. |
North Dakota State (4) |
8-1 |
3618 |
4 |
| 5. |
Citadel (7) |
9-0 |
3432 |
5 |
| 6. |
James Madison |
8-1 |
3334
|
7 |
| 7. |
Chattanooga |
8-1 |
2981 |
9 |
| 8. |
Richmond |
7-2 |
2774 |
6 |
| 9. |
Villanova |
7-2 |
2609 |
10 |
| 10. |
North Carolina A&T |
8-1 |
2377 |
11 |
| 11. |
South Dakota State |
6-3 |
2371 |
13 |
| 12. |
North Dakota |
8-2 |
2112 |
16 |
| 13. |
Central Arkansas |
8-1 |
2051 |
17 |
| 14. |
Charleston Southern |
5-3 |
1785 |
8 |
| 15. |
Coastal Carolina |
7-2 |
1505 |
18 |
|
16.
|
Cal Poly |
6-3 |
1445 |
14 |
|
17.
|
Youngstown State |
6-3 |
1368 |
15 |
|
18.
|
Montana |
6-3 |
1350 |
19 |
|
19.
|
Western Illinois |
6-3 |
1228 |
12 |
|
20.
|
Grambling State |
6-1 |
1061 |
21 |
|
21.
|
New Hampshire |
6-3 |
866 |
22 |
|
22.
|
Samford |
6-3 |
855 |
20 |
|
23.
|
Lehigh |
8-2 |
688 |
24 |
|
24.
|
Harvard |
7-1 |
649 |
23 |
|
25.
|
Liberty |
6-3 |
153 |
NR |
| Others receiving votes: Wofford (127), North Carolina Central (123), Saint Francis U (47), Northern Arizona (42), UT Martin (39), Illinois State (38), UNI (37), San Diego (34), Stony Brook (25), Maine (18), Eastern Illinois (14), Tennessee State (10), Nicholls (10), Fordham (6), Kennesaw State (6), Southern Utah (4), Princeton (3), Duquesne (2), Southern University (2), Weber State (1), Dayton (1). |
| FCS Coaches Top 25 Poll |
| Rk. |
School (1st-place votes) |
Record |
Pts. |
PR |
| 1. |
Sam Houston State |
9-0 |
644 |
1 |
| 2. |
Jacksonville State |
8-1 |
612 |
2 |
| 3. |
Eastern Washington |
8-1 |
599 |
3 |
| 4. |
North Dakota State |
8-1 |
578 |
4 |
| 5. |
James Madison |
8-1 |
549 |
5 |
| 6. |
The Citadel |
9-0 |
515 |
7 |
| 7. |
Chattanooga |
8-1 |
488 |
8 |
| 8. |
Richmond |
7-2 |
449 |
6 |
| 9. |
North Carolina A&T |
8-1 |
430 |
10 |
| 10. |
North Dakota |
8-2 |
409 |
11 |
| 11. |
Villanova |
7-2 |
389 |
12 |
| 12. |
South Dakota State |
6-3 |
356 |
15 |
| 13. |
Central Arkansas |
8-1 |
349 |
17 |
| 14. |
Charleston Southern |
5-3 |
265 |
9 |
| 15. |
Youngstown State |
6-3 |
247 |
13 |
|
16.
|
Grambling State |
7-1 |
244 |
19 |
|
17.
|
Montana |
6-3 |
217 |
20 |
|
18.
|
Lehigh |
8-2 |
177 |
21 |
|
19.
|
Western Illnois |
6-3 |
176 |
14 |
|
20.
|
Cal Poly |
6-3 |
170 |
16 |
|
21.
|
Samford |
6-3 |
161 |
18 |
|
22.
|
Harvard |
7-1 |
134 |
22 |
|
23.
|
New Hampshire |
6-3 |
103 |
23 |
|
24.
|
Liberty |
6-3 |
52 |
NR |
|
25.
|
North Carolina Central |
7-2 |
32 |
NR |
| Others receiving votes: Wofford (23), Northern Arizona (16), Kennesaw State (12), Illinois State (10), San Diego (10), Tennessee State (7), Saint Francis (Pa.) (6), UT Martin (6), Southern Utah (4), Gardner- Webb (2), Maine (2), Northern Iowa (2), South Dakota (2), Southeastern Louisiana (2) and Weber State (1). |
-- UND --
