Elizabeth City State Ranked #21 in First AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll
Elizabeth City State Ranked #21 in First AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll
August 21, 2007
WACO, TEX.-- Defending national champion Grand Valley State
opens the season at No. 1 in the 2007 preseason American Football
Coaches Association Division II Coaches' Poll.
Grand Valley State received 25 of a possible 28 first place votes
and will look to win their fifth national title in six years in
2007. Last year's runner-up, Northwest Missouri State, received two
first place votes and begins the season where it finished last
year, at No. 2. North Dakota slides in at No. 3 and received the
final first place vote. No. 4 North Alabama begins defense of its
Gulf South Conference title on Sept. 8 versus Tusculum while No. 5
Chadron State opens its season against No. 25 Washburn this coming
Saturday.
Valdosta State opens the season at the same spot it did last year,
at No. 6. Pittsburg State enters this year's poll at No. 7 after
finishing 15th last season, while Shepherd starts exactly where it
left last year, at No. 8. No. 9 Bloomsburg will look to get a step
further in the playoffs in 2007 after losing in the semifinals last
season. No. 10 South Dakota looks to supplant preseason favorite
North Dakota as the top team in the North Central Conference.
Abilene Christian begins 2007 at No. 11 after finishing 10th in
2006. No. 12 Delta State will look to improve on their semifinal
appearance and No. 3 ranking from last season. No. 13
Nebraska-Omaha starts its season on September 1 against instate
rival Nebraska-Kearney. No. 14 Northwood and No. 15 Carson-Newman
will look to improve on identical 8-3 records from last season.
Newberry starts defense of its South Atlantic Conference title as
the 16th ranked team in the Division II Coaches' Poll. West Chester
finished last season at No. 24 with a 9-4 record, but begins 2007
at No. 17. Southeastern Oklahoma State was unranked at the end of
the 2006 season, but starts this year at No. 18. No. 19 Bemidji
State is the preseason favorite in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate
Conference while No. 20 Albany State is once again the favorite in
the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Elizabeth City State and California start 2007
tied at No. 21. Midwestern State is looking to improve on their
10-3 mark from a year ago and starts the season at No. 23, while
conference rival West Texas A&M comes in at one spot below at
No. 24. Washburn was unranked at the end of the 2006 season, but
begins this year in the final spot of the Coaches' Top 25 poll.
Conference Breakdown: The Lone Star Conference (Abilene Christian,
Southeastern Oklahoma State, Midwestern State, West Texas A&M)
has the most representatives in the preseason AFCA Division II
Coaches' Poll with four. Other conferences represented include:
Gulf South-3 (North Alabama, Valdosta State, Delta State); MIAA-3
(Northwest Missouri State, Pittsburg State, Washburn); North
Central-3 (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha);
Pennsylvania State Athletic-3 (Bloomsburg, West Chester, California
(Pa.)); Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic-2 (Grand Valley State,
Northwood); South Atlantic-2 (Carson-Newman, Newberry); Central
Intercollegiate Athletic Association-1 (Elizabeth City State);
Northern Sun Intercollegiate-1 (Bemidji State); Rocky Mountain
Athletic-1 (Chadron State); Southern Intercollegiate-1 (Albany
State); West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic-1 (Shepherd).
The Poll
The AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll follows the same format as the
Division I-A and Division III polls. A Division II Board of Coaches
made up of 28 AFCA-member head coaches from NCAA Division II
schools around the country will vote each Sunday for the top 25
teams in the division. All Division II football-playing conferences
are represented on the voting board, as well as independent
schools. The poll will be released on Tuesdays during the regular
season, see the results at www.afca.com.
Poll Points
Forty-three schools spent at least one week ranked in the 2006 AFCA
Coaches' Poll ... Thirteen schools were ranked in the Top 25 all 14
weeks the poll was released in 2006 (Grand Valley St., Northwest
Missouri St., North Alabama, North Dakota, Valdosta St.,
Bloomsburg, Pittsburg St., West Texas A&M, Nebraska-Omaha,
South Dakota, Shepherd, Winona St., Northwood) ... Eventual 2006
national champion Grand Valley State was ranked No. 1 at the
beginning of the 2006 season ... Since the AFCA Division II
Coaches' Top 25 debuted in 2000, Grand Valley State has been ranked
No. 1 for 56 weeks, including their top ranking in this year's
preseason poll ... The other six schools which have appeared No. 1
in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Top 25 poll are Northwest Missouri
State (12 weeks), Valdosta State (nine), Delta State (seven),
Pittsburg State (four), Saginaw Valley State (three) and North
Dakota (one) ... Pittsburg State is the only school to have
appeared in every Top 25 poll since it was first released in 2000.
