The Slippery Rock University football team moved up three places to No. 18 in the American Football Coaches Association Division II national rankings.
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking that is used by the NCAA throughout the season.
Slippery Rock (2-0) was ranked 25th in the preseason poll that was released in mid-August and has climbed seven spots after two weeks of action, first reaching No. 21 after the season-opening victory over New Haven and now climbing to No. 18 after the 34-9 win over East Stroudsburg last Saturday night.
The Rock find themselves ranked higher than any other Super Region 1 team for the second week in a row.
Mountain East Conference powerhouses Shepherd and Concord also rose in this week’s poll and remain the only other Super Region 1 teams to be ranked in the top 25. Shepherd climbed from 25th up to No. 20 this week after defeating Charleston and Concord moved up one place to No. 21 after posting a victory over Fairmont State.
Super Region 1 also has six teams listed in the “others receiving votes” section of this week’s poll, including fellow Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schools Bloomsburg and Gannon. The rest of the Super Region teams listed this week are Virginia Union, LIU-Post, Bowie State and Stonehill.
Slippery Rock used a dominant performance on the ground Saturday night to run away from East Stroudsburg in the NCAA Division II Showcase Game of the Week that was televised by the American Sports Network. The Rock tallied 414 rushing yards and put up 577 yards of total offense in the 34-9 win. It marked the first time since the 2008 season that East Stroudsburg’s high scoring offense was held below 10 points.
The victory was the 11th straight for Slippery Rock on its home field as The Rock has not lost at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium since the final game of the 2012 season. They will go for the 12th straight home win Saturday night when Millersville (0-2) visits for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
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