KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Montana Western kept its grip on the nation's No. 4 ranking while Montana Tech rose two spots to No. 8 in the latest NAIA top 25 poll released Monday.
UM Western (8-1, 6-1 Frontier) came back to beat Carroll 27-14 on Saturday in a key Frontier Conference battle to hold steady in the poll. Meanwhile, Carroll (7-2, 6-1) fell nine spots to No. 24.
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Montana Tech (8-2, 5-2) can attribute its rise to last week's 54-14 romp over MSU-Northern. Elsewhere in the Frontier, Southern Oreon (8-2, 5-2) jumped two positions to No. 14 after a 49-21 rout of Eastern Oregon.
Keiser (Fla.) is still the No. 1 team in the poll, followed by No. 2 Grand View (Iowa), No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 5 St. Thomas (Fla.). View the complete poll.
Western's win over Carroll was its fifth in a row dating to a two-point defeat at Southern Oregon on Sept. 28. The Fighting Saints' loss snapped their seven-game winning streak.
Southern Oregon's victory over EOU got the Raiders back in the win column after falling to Carroll on Nov. 2.
One week remains in the Frontier Conference regular season. Montana Western now has the head-to-head tiebreaker over Carroll atop the league standings and looks to sew up the Frontier's automatic bid to the NAIA postseason with a win at Eastern Oregon.
Carroll travels to Montana Tech for another ranked showdown, while Southern Oregon hits the road to the College of Idaho. In other games, MSU-Northern will host Rocky Mountain and Arizona Christian will welcome Simpson (Calif.)
