Montana Tech Orediggers Rise To 15th In National Football Rankings

Boom, boom. After dispatching the then #3 ranked Georgetown Tigers a couple of Saturdays ago in their home opener and fresh off a road win over archrival Carroll College, the Montana Tech Orediggers have moved up in the national rankings. The following is a release from the Montana Tech Athletic Department:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The first NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 rating of the regular season dropped today, and the Orediggers of Montana Tech have jumped from 21^st in the preseason poll to 15^th.

After a pair of impressive wins over quality opponents, the Orediggers have climbed up to No.15 in the country, joining three other Frontier Conference teams in the Top 25. The College of Idaho is currently ranked No. 3, Montana Western is up to No. 9, and Southern Oregon enters the poll at No. 23. Dickinson State (who will rejoin the Frontier Conference as a full-time member next year) currently sits at No. 16.

Keiser (Fla.) remains the leader in the first regular season NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 Ratings, gathering all but two first-place votes. Northwestern (Iowa) follow behind in second and were awarded the other two first-place votes. College of Idaho moves into third place, Grand View (Iowa) bumps up to fourth, and Indiana Wesleyan joins the Top Five. Texas Wesleyan leaps from not being ranked or receiving votes in the preseason rating to 19th.

Rating Methodology:

The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences. Each conference is given one rater for every four schools in the league or division.
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second-place, 23 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."

POSITION	LAST TIME	INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Keiser (Fla.) [14]	2-0	349
2	2	Northwestern (Iowa) [2]	1-0	337
3	4	College of Idaho	2-0	315
4	5	Grand View (Iowa)	1-0	305
5	6	Indiana Wesleyan	2-0	298
6	7	Marian (Ind.)	1-0	275
7	8	Bethel (Tenn.)	2-0	261
8	9	Saint Xavier (Ill.)	1-0	256
9	11	Montana Western	1-0	236
10	12	St. Thomas (Fla.)	1-0	215
11	3	Georgetown (Ky.)	1-1	205
12	19	Benedictine (Kan.)	2-0	179
12	13	Dordt (Iowa)	1-0	179
14	10	Morningside (Iowa)	1-1	167
15	21	Montana Tech	2-0	156
16	14	Evangel (Mo.)	2-0	144
16	15	Dickinson State (N.D.)	2-0	144
18	17	Baker (Kan.)	1-0	115
19	NR	Texas Wesleyan	2-0	80
20	23	MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)	1-0	71
21	24	Friends (Kan.)	2-0	65
22	19	Reinhardt (Ga.)	1-1	52
23	RV	Southern Oregon	1-0	49
24	16	OUAZ (Ariz.)	0-1	34
25	20	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	1-1	26

Dropped From Top 25: Louisiana Christian, Kansas Wesleyan
Receiving Votes: Southwestern (Kan.) 9, St. Francis (Ill.) 9, Kansas Wesleyan 5

The Orediggers have a bye-week this weekend. They will be back in action on September 21st, when they travel to LeGrande, Oregon, to battle the Mounties of Eastern Oregon.

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