KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Three Frontier Conference teams are ranked, and two more received votes in the NAIA preseason football Top 25 released Monday.
The College of Idaho leads the rankings of frontier teams at No. 4 in the NAIA Top 25, behind only defending national champion Keiser (Florida), Northwestern (Iowa) and Georgetown (Kentucky). Keiser received 14 first-place votes and Northwestern the other two.
Other Frontier teams ranked in the top 25 alongside C of I include Montana Western and Montana Tech, both of which made the NAIA playoffs last year. The Bulldogs, who won the 2023 Frontier Conference championship, are ranked 11th in the preseason top 25, while the Orediggers are ranked 21st.
Southern Oregon and Carroll received votes and are essentially the 26th and 27th ranked teams, respectively. Check out the full poll.
The College of Idaho, which ended its 2023 season with a 28-21 loss to Keizer in the NAIA semifinals, was also tipped to win the Frontier Conference. Western finished second, followed by Southern Oregon, Tech and Carroll.
C of I is the only Frontier team in action this week, opening its season on Saturday with a home game against Lincoln University (Calif.).
Montana Tech begins its season on August 29 against No. 3 Georgetown and Western opens on September 7 with Eastern Oregon.
