VCSU ranked 12th in final NAIA poll

Valley City State is ranked 12th and is assured of an at-large berth into the NAIA football playoffs.

The Vikings closed out their regular season on Saturday with a 25-13 win over Robert Morris (Ill.) to improve to 9-1 on the season.

The Vikings moved up three spots from No. 15 in the poll. They have not been in the NAIA playoffs since 2001.

The final weekend of regular-season games will be played on Saturday, with the playoffs beginning Nov. 19. The Vikings will either play at No. 2 Carroll, Mont. (9-1) or No. 6 Morningside, Iowa (8-1), depending how the final weekend of games play out. The Vikings opened the season with a 35-17 loss to Morningside way back in August.

The playoff pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon.

The rankings have a new No. 1 for the first time in two months after previously top-ranked St. Xavier, Ill. (9-1) lost to new No. 1 Marian, Ind. (10-0) 27-9 on Saturday. Jamestown College is up next for the now No. 5 Cougars. The Jimmies (3-6) did not play last week.

The complete top 25 poll can be found on Page B3.

— Dave Selvig

Tags: sports, football, dac, naia