KANSAS CITY — Texas Wesleyan, boasting a 10-1 record in 2024, starts the 2025 NAIA football season ranked No. 10 in the Netting Professionals NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll with 291 points.
The Rams, favored to win the Sooner Athletic Conference, play at Crowley ISD Stadium, the site of the 2025 NAIA Football Championship Game. They won't see their home field until Oct. 4, opening with four straight road games, including a matchup against first-year FCS program UT-Rio Grande Valley.
Quarterback Carson Rogers returns after throwing for 2,857 yards and 25 touchdowns last season, with eight starters back on offense and defense. Texas Wesleyan kicks off Thursday at Lindsey Wilson at 6 p.m. CT.
Grand View (Iowa) tops the poll as the unanimous No. 1 with 420 points, aiming to defend its 14-0 national championship from 2024.
The season begins Thursday and continues Saturday, featuring 10 games on the Urban Edge Network in the NAIA-UEN Kickoff Weekend series.
Six games involve ranked teams, including No. 11 Montana Tech hosting No. 5 Montana Western on Thursday night and No. 3 Morningside (Iowa) at No. 4 Benedictine (Kan.) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
- Grand View (Iowa), 14-0, 420 points
- Keiser (Fla.), 12-1, 406 points
- Morningside (Iowa), 12-2, 385 points
- Benedictine (Kan.), 11-3, 382 points
- Montana Western, 10-2, 363 points
- Indiana Wesleyan, 11-2, 343 points
- Northwestern (Iowa), 9-3, 327 points
- St. Thomas (Fla.), 9-2, 307 points
- Georgetown (Ky.), 9-3, 299 points
- Texas Wesleyan, 10-1, 291 points
- Montana Tech, 9-3, 283 points
- Friends (Kan.), 11-2, 273 points
- Dickinson State (N.D.), 10-2, 215 points
- Southwestern (Kan.), 11-2, 213 points
- MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), 9-2, 212 points
- Baker (Kan.), 9-2, 204 points
- Southeastern (Fla.), 7-2, 199 points
- OUAZ (Ariz.), 8-2, 171 points
- Dordt (Iowa), 8-2, 158 points
- Campbellsville (Ky.), 9-2, 134 points
- Concordia (Neb.), 8-2, 132 points
- Southern Oregon, 8-3, 129 points
- Marian (Ind.), 8-2, 118 points
- Saint Francis (Ind.), 8-4, 106 points
- Carroll (Mont.), 7-3, 83 points
Others receiving votes: Taylor (Ind.) 67, Pikeville (Ky.) 65, Evangel (Mo.) 35, Reinhardt (Ga.) 20, College of Idaho 20, Cumberland (Tenn.) 15, Kansas Wesleyan 12, Bethel (Tenn.) 7, St. Francis (Ill.) 4, Cumberlands (Ky.) 2.
Ratings Methodology
- The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and unaffiliated groupings.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team's rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes".
