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Football Hawks crack NAIA Coaches Poll, check in at No. 25
By Matt Green
NAIA Football Top 25 Coaches Poll
KANSAS CITY -- The Shorter football team made a return to the NAIA Football Top 25 Coaches Poll on Monday, checking in at No. 25 in the weekly national rating according to a release by the organization.
The Hawks (4-2, 2-1 Mid-South Conference) looked particularly strong in a 30-13 victory over Mid-South West Division rival Belhaven University on Saturday and with the win, stayed in the conversation for a regular season conference championship.
Shorter has climbed as high as No. 18 in the national rankings this season before a 21-14 loss to then No. 7-ranked Georgetown sent the Hawks tumbling out of the Top 25. Georgetown, still unbeaten at 6-0, is ranked No. 4 in this latest rating.
The Hawks returned to the poll one week later after a 52-34 win at Faulkner, but fell back into the receiving votes category after a 21-17 loss at home on Oct. 8 to Cumberland (Tenn.), which vaulted to No. 17 this week. Shorter's two losses this season -- both to ranked opponents -- have come by a combined 11 points.
After passing its test against Belhaven, Shorter faces another must-win on Saturday, Oct. 22 when it kicks off a three-game road trip with a visit to Williamsburg, Ky., and a showdown with three-time defending division champion University of the Cumberlands (Ky.).
The Patriots were picked as preseason favorites to win the West Division for a second straight year -- Cumberlands won the regular season conference title as a member of the East Division in 2008 and 2009 -- but dropped their first two divisional games of the season against Bethel (35-28) and Union (24-19) and currently sit at 0-2 in West Division play.
Still, Cumberlands poses a large threat to Shorter's title aspirations. Shorter is just 1-3 all-time against the Patriots and have not beaten Cumberlands since a 27-7 victory in Williamsburg in 2006. Cumberlands capitalized on four Shorter fumbles in a 21-14 win over the Hawks in Marietta last season.
Shorter is one of five Mid-South Conference programs represented in this week's poll. Aside from Georgetown, Cumberland (Tenn.) and Shorter, West Division leader Bethel appears at No. 14 while second-year program Lindsey Wilson College gathered six votes.
