KANSAS CITY, Mo. – With three weeks remaining in the regular season the NAIA has officially shifted the weekly football from a Coaches' Top 25, the National Selection Committee (NSC) Poll.

Benedictine (8-1) coming off its second shutout of the season on Saturday, 67-0 over William Woods, opens the NSC Poll selection period at No. 3 behind the final two remaining undefeated programs. 

St. Thomas (Fla.) at 8-0 earned the No. 1 spot, followed by previous NAIA Coaches' No. 1 College of Idaho at No. 2. Rounding out the top five in this week's NSC poll is No. 4 Montana Tech and No. 5 Morningside (Iowa). Grand View moved to No. 8 in the NSC Poll after moving back up to as much as No. 3 in the Coaches' Poll last week.

Three of the top five-ranked programs are also the top-ranked team out of the four ARC Standings. St. Thomas is ranked first in the East ARC, College of Idaho is ranked first in the West ARC, Benedictine is ranked first in the Midwest ARC and Morningside is ranked first in the North ARC. Montana Tech is in the West ARC with College of Idaho and is ranked second in that arc.

A total of 20 programs will earn berths into the 2026 NAIA Football Championship Series on Nov. 15 when the field is announced following the conclusion of the regular season on Nov. 14.

Like the other NCS Polls, a note from the NAIA was included in the announcement. It reads: A team's ranking in the NAIA National Selection Committee (NSC) Poll does not guarantee qualification or selection to the NAIA Football Championship Series. 

The complete STADIONIC NAIA Football Selection Committee Poll is available at https://www.naia.org/sports/football/polls/. To read more about each of the ranked programs, visit https://www.naia.org/news/football/st-thomas-fla-tops-first-stadionic-naia-football-national-selection-committee-poll/.

Benedictine continues its season with two more games on the road. First up, a trip to Marshall, Mo., for a meeting with Missouri Valley University. The Vikings are coming off their first loss in Heart South place this past Saturday, falling to MNU 30-28 in Olathe. After their Halloween trip to Missouri Valley, the Ravens will close out the regular season with a trip to St. Louis to take on Missouri Baptist University before heading into their bye week during the weekend of the season on Nov. 14.

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