KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas Wesleyan received the No. 12 ranking in the Preseason edition of the NAIA Football FirstDown Playbook Top 25 poll released by the National Office.
The Coyotes are coming off a 10-2 season in 2021, reaching the quarterfinals of the NAIA Football Championship Series, where they lost to eventual National Champion and Preseason No. 1 ranked Morningside.
The Coyotes will return six offensive starters and 11 players with starting experience on the defensive side of the ball in 2022, for new head coach Matt Myers. Myers is in his seventh overall season coaching with the Coyotes, previously serving as an assistant before being named head coach in December.
Wesleyan was picked second by conference coaches and first by media covering the conference during the KCAC’s Football Media day held late last month.
Wesleyan opens its 2022 campaign on September 3, hosting Friends University at Gene Bissell Field at the Graves Family Sports Complex, with a 7 p.m. scheduled kickoff.
Tickets are on sale now for KWU home football contests. Purchase now online at kwucoyotes.com/tickets.
Reigning National Champions Morningside (Iowa) earned all 19 first-place votes to begin the 2022 campaign. The Mustangs have eyes on a fourth red banner in five years with the return of NAIA Player of the Year Joe Dolincheck. The Top 13 teams are the same from the postseason poll last winter and the lone movement in the Top Five is Northwestern (Iowa) leapfrogging Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).
Poll Methodology
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences.
Each conference is given one rater for every four schools in the league.
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second-place and so on through the list.
The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”
For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.
| RANK | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | CONFERENCE | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Morningside (Iowa) [19] | Great Plains | 14-0 | 418 |
| 2 | Grand View (Iowa) | Heart – North | 14-1 | 402 |
| 3 | Northwestern (Iowa) | Great Plains | 12-2 | 377 |
| 4 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | Mid South | 12-1 | 373 |
| 5 | Marian (Ind.) | Mid-States East | 9-3 | 356 |
| 6 | Concordia (Mich.) | Mid-States East | 9-2 | 327 |
| 7 | Keiser (Fla.) | The Sun | 9-3 | 312 |
| 8 | Southwestern (Kan.) | Kansas Collegiate | 9-2 | 307 |
| 9 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | Appalachian | 9-3 | 288 |
| 10 | Ottawa (Ariz.) | Sooner | 8-2 | 254 |
| 11 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | Mid-States West | 7-4 | 239 |
| 12 | Kansas Wesleyan | KCAC | 10-2 | 234 |
| 13 | Baker (Kan.) | Heart – South | 9-2 | 225 |
| 14 | Indiana Wesleyan | Mid-States East | 7-3 | 222 |
| 15 | Georgetown (Ky.) | Mid South | 8-2 | 199 |
| 16 | Dickinson State (N.D.) | North Star | 8-3 | 178 |
| 17 | Montana Western | Frontier | 8-4 | 176 |
| 18 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | Heart – South | 9-3 | 116 |
| 19 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | Frontier | 7-3 | 98 |
| 20 | Arizona Christian | Sooner | 8-2 | 83 |
| 21 | Dordt (Iowa) | Great Plains | 7-3 | 73 |
| 22 | Culver-Stockton (Mo.) | Heart – North | 8-3 | 68 |
| 23 | Bethel (Kan.) | Kansas Collegiate | 9-2 | 50 |
| 24 | Faulkner (Ala.) | Mid South | 8-2 | 46 |
| 25 | St. Francis (Ill.) | Mid-States West | 6-3 | 30 |
Receiving Votes: Carroll (Mont.) 29; Benedictine (Kan.) 23; Valley City State (N.D.) 21; Southeastern (Fla.) 20; College of Idaho 16; Texas Wesleyan 13; St. Thomas (Fla.) 6; Bethel (Tenn.) 3; Concordia (Neb.) 3
