BALDWIN CITY, Kansas – After a perfect 4-0 start to the season, the Baker University football team held onto its number two ranking in this week’s NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 poll, announced on Monday.
The Wildcats will next take on number fourteen ranked Benedictine in a showdown of the final two undefeated teams in the Heart of America Athletic Conference this Saturday, September 23 at 1 p.m. in Atchison, Kansas.
Baker enters the contest with a 21-game winning streak against the Heart, the last time BU fell to a Heart team was to Benedictine in Atchison, Kansas on September 26, 2015, by a score of 35-31.
Also ranked in the Top 25 this week from the Heart includes number eight Grand View and number 22 MidAmerica Nazarene University.
The Baker defense enters Saturday ranked number two in the NAIA in sacks with 16 and the offense is number two in the country in total points scored with 212.
They also feature the number one ranked scoring kicker in the nation in Clarence Clark with 35 points, he is also the NAIA’s all-time leading scorer with 577 career points.
Freshman JD Woods leads the country in offensive scoring with 60 points and is the nations leading rusher with 536 yards. Baker has rushed for 1,039 total yards, ranking number five in the NAIA.
Benedictine comes into the game as the nations leading rushing team with 1,212 yards and has scored 206 total points, ranking third nationally. Ejay Johnson is the Ravens leading rusher with 492 yards, ranking second only to Woods.
2017 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 2 (Sept. 18, 2017)
| RANK | LAST TIME^ | SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) | 2017 RECORD | TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Saint Francis (Ind.) (16) | 3-0 | 366 |
| 2 | 2 | Baker (Kan.) | 4-0 | 352 |
| 3 | 3 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 2-0 | 335 |
| 4 | 4 | Morningside (Iowa) | 4-0 | 327 |
| 5 | 5 | Montana Tech | 3-0 | 310 |
| 6 | 6 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 3-0 | 295 |
| 7 | 7 | Doane (Neb.) | 3-0 | 278 |
| 8 | 9 | Grand View (Iowa) | 3-1 | 251 |
| 9 | 8 | Marian (Ind.) | 1-1 | 248 |
| 10 | 10 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 3-0 | 237 |
| 11 | 13 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 3-0 | 223 |
| 12 | 12 | Arizona Christian | 3-0 | 216 |
| 13 | 14 | Southern Oregon | 3-0 | 210 |
| 14 | 16 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 4-0 | 183 |
| 15 | 15 | Langston (Okla.) | 2-0 | 176 |
| 16 | 16 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 2-0 | 165 |
| 17 | 18 | Tabor (Kan.) | 1-1 | 123 |
| 18 | 20 | Sterling (Kan.) | 2-1 | 103 |
| 19 | 24 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 3-0 | 101 |
| 20 | 21 | Dickinson State (N.D.) | 2-1 | 88 |
| 21 | RV | Cumberland (Tenn.) | 4-0 | 81 |
| 22 | 19 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 3-1 | 48 |
| 23 | 11 | Eastern Oregon | 1-2 | 47 |
| 24 | 25 | Kansas Wesleyan | 2-1 | 37 |
| T25 | RV | Concordia (Mich.) | 3-0 | 35 |
| T25 | RV | Hastings (Neb.) | 3-0 | 35 |
Dropped from the Top 25: Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) (No. 22); St. Ambrose (Iowa) (No. 23)
Others Receiving Votes: St. Ambrose (Iowa) 21; Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 18; Midland (Neb.) 8; Peru State (Neb.) 6.
Because I have never seen a single game of football before, this doesn't interest me very much. However people who do will find this very useful.
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