Nearly two months after Montana Tech beat Carroll College 37-20, the Orediggers finally topped the Saints in the NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.
The latest poll, which was released today, has the Orediggers ranked No. 7, up one spot from the last two weeks.
Carroll College, which was No. 6 last week, lost 52-49 at Southern Oregon Saturday and fell to No. 16.
Southern Oregon jumped from No. 19 to No. 14.
Carroll and Southern are both 6-2 in conference, while the Orediggers are 7-1. Tech can basically wrap up the Frontier Conference title Saturday with a win over Montana Western at Alumni Coliseum.
A win would guarantee the Orediggers at least a tie for the title, and the Orediggers are sitting pretty in terms of tiebreakers. Head to head is the first tiebreaker. No. 2 is points allowed, and Tech has surrendered 102 fewer points that Southern Oregon.
Tech holds the head-to-head advantage over Carroll. The Orediggers, who beat Southern Oregon in Butte, close out the regular season Nov. 10 at Southern Oregon. If Tech wins Saturday, the Raiders would likely have to beat Tech by more than 100-plus points to take the crown from the Orediggers.
The Frontier Conference champion is guaranteed a spot in the NAIA playoffs.
2012 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 8 (Oct. 29)
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2012 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Marian (Ind.) (13) | 8-0 | 314 |
| 2 | 2 | Georgetown (Ky.) (1) | 8-0 | 302 |
| 3 | 3 | Missouri Valley | 8-0 | 286 |
| 4 | 4 | Morningside (Iowa) | 8-0 | 283 |
| 5 | 5 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 7-1 | 262 |
| 6 | 7 | Saint Francis (Ind.) | 6-2 | 243 |
| 7 | 8 | Montana Tech | 7-1 | 235 |
| 8 | 10 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 8-1 | 220 |
| 9 | 9 | Grand View (Iowa) | 7-2 | 217 |
| 10 | 11 | William Penn (Iowa) | 8-1 | 214 |
| 11 | 12 | St. Ambrose (Iowa) | 7-1 | 200 |
| 12 | 13 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 6-2 | 196 |
| 13 | 14 | Baker (Kan.) | 6-2 | 161 |
| 14 | 19 | Southern Oregon | 6-2 | 152 |
| 15 | 15 | Evangel (Mo.) | 7-2 | 144 |
| 16 | 6 | Carroll (Mont.) | 6-3 | 141 |
| 17 | 16 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 7-2 | 135 |
| 18 | 21 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 6-3 | 94 |
| 19 | 24 | Ottawa (Kan.) | 6-2 | 89 |
| 20 | 22 | Tabor (Kan.) | 6-2 | 87 |
| 21 | RV | Bethel (Tenn.) | 6-3 | 68 |
| 22 | 22 | Robert Morris (Ill.) | 8-1 | 59 |
| 23 | RV | Kansas Wesleyan | 6-3 | 38 |
| 24 | RV | Doane (Neb.) | 5-3 | 37 |
| 25 | 18 | Hastings (Neb.) | 6-2 | 31 |
Others receiving votes: Cumberland (Tenn.) 23; Bacone (Okla.) 10; St. Francis (Ill.) 4; Kentucky Christian 3.
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