THREE TEAMS IN DIVISION II COACHES' POLL REACH 10-WIN PLATEAU

WACO, TEXAS--There are only six undefeated teams left in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll, and three of those teams have reached the 10-win plateau, No. 2 Chadron State, No. 4 West Texas A&M and No. 6 California (Pa.).

No. 1 Grand Valley State is only one game behind those three teams with a 9-0 record. The Lakers edged past Saginaw Valley State, 21-10. Chadron State is still No. 2 after its dominating 50-17 win over Western State. No. 3 Nebraska-Omaha moved its record to 9-0 after a 41-14 win over South Dakota. No. 4 West Texas A&M blanked Central Oklahoma, 31-0, to reach its 10-0 mark, while No. 5 Northwest Missouri State clinched the MIAA championship with a 24-7 win over Emporia State.

California (Pa.) drops one spot to No. 6 despite its 30-14 win over then-No. 11 West Chester. No. 7 North Dakota, No. 8 Valdosta State, No. 9 Delta State and No. 10 North Alabama all stay in their respective positions this week. The Fighting Sioux are 8-1 after a 59-14 win over St. Cloud State, while Valdosta State reached the same record with a 63-28 blowout of Arkansas-Monticello. Delta State beat West Alabama, 20-9, and North Alabama handed West Georgia a 65-17 loss.

South Atlantic Conference foes Carson-Newman and Catawba both jumped one spot each to 11th and 12th, respectively. The Eagles defeated Wingate, 58-27, while Catawba beat Brevard, 56-21. Tarleton State jumped three spots to No. 13 after a 38-10 win over Angelo State. Tuskegee still sits at No. 14 despite blanking Clark Atlanta, 51-0. No. 15 Shepherd beat West Virginia State, 42-7, and clinched its fourth-straight West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.

No. 16 Central Washington moved its record to 8-1 with a 17-10 win over Minnesota State-Mankato, while No. 17 Abilene Christian sits 8-2 after a 59-31 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. No. 18 Indiana (Pa.) blanked its second opponent in 2007 when the Crimson Hawks beat Shippensburg, 30-0. Midwestern State jumped two to No. 19 after its 63-7 win over Eastern New Mexico while West Chester fell nine spots to No. 20 after its loss to California (Pa.).

Mesa State climbed up a notch to No. 21 after blanking Colorado School of Mines, 18-0, as did Newberry, who moved from No. 23 to No. 22 after a 24-0 shutout of Lenoir-Rhyne. No. 23 Winona State survived a shootout, 49-46, over Southwest Minnesota State. No. 24 Virginia Union earned a spot in the CIAA Championship game after a 34-17 win over Fayetteville State. Hillsdale makes its first-ever appearance in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll at No. 25. The Chargers are 8-2 after a 45-7 win over Findlay.

Conference Breakdown: Lone Star-4 (West Texas A&M, Tarleton St., Abilene Christian, Midwestern St.); Gulf South-3 (Valdosta St., Delta St., North Alabama); North Central-3 (Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, Central Washington); Pennsylvania State Athletic-3 (California (Pa.), West Chester, Indiana (Pa.)); South Atlantic-3 (Carson-Newman, Catawba, Newberry); Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic-2 (Grand Valley St., Hillsdale); Rocky Mountain Athletic-2 (Chadron St., Mesa St.); CIAA-1 (Virginia Union); MIAA-1 (Northwest Missouri St.); Northern Sun Intercollegiate-1 (Winona St.); Southern Intercollegiate Athletic-1 (Tuskegee); West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic-1 (Shepherd).

Head-to-Head

There are three games featuring teams ranked in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll that highlight this weekend's action.

In the first match-up, No. 3 Nebraska-Omaha travels to No. 16 Central Washington. With a win, the Mavericks will take the North Central Conference title outright, but a Central Washington win would cause a possible three-way tie between those two teams and North Dakota, if the Fighting Sioux can earn a win against South Dakota.

The second Top 25 match-up also has conference title implications as No. 13 Tarleton State plays host to No. 4 West Texas A&M. The Buffs can win the Lone Star Conference championship outright with a win. A Tarleton State win could cause a three-way tie between the Texans, the Buffs and No. 17 Abilene Christian, if the Wildcats beat No. 19 Midwestern State, which is the third Top 25 match-up this week.

Poll Points

Pittsburg State fell out of the Division II Coaches' Poll for the first time since the poll's inception on August 28, 2000, snapping a streak of 106 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 ... Shepherd runningback Dervon Wallace earned WVIAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after he piled up a school-record 311 yards on 27 carries in less than three quarters of work in the Rams' 42-7 victory over West Virginia State. Wallace became the school's all-time leader in points scored (398), touchdowns (66), and rushing touchdowns (64) ... With its 31-0 win over Central Oklahoma, West Texas A&M is 10-0 for the first time in school history.