(Thursday, October 19; Sioux Center, Iowa) The Dordt Defenders held the no. 22 spot in the NAIA Football Coaches' Top 25 Rating presented by FirstDown PlayBook released earlier this week.

The Defenders totaled 83 points in the polling and are 5-1 after beating Jamestown on the road in GPAC play on Saturday, October 14.

Dordt be on the road on Saturday, October 21 to face Northwestern in another GPAC contest. Northwestern is currently 7-0 overall and rated no. 1 in the poll. Dordt will play two of the next three games on the road against teams rated at or near the top of the poll with Morningside on the schedule on November 4.

The top-five teams in the voting remain unchanged and the poll is voted on by a panel of head coaches representing each of the NAIA conferences.  The poll will be released weekly through November 12.

• | NAIA Release 

RANK	LAST TIME	SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES]	RECORD	POINTS
1	1	Northwestern (Iowa) [18]	7-0	418
2	2	Grand View (Iowa)	6-0	401
3	3	Morningside (Iowa)	7-0	387
4	4	Indiana Wesleyan	7-0	367
5	5	Marian (Ind.)	6-0	356
6	7	Carroll (Mont.)	6-0	333
7	8	Keiser (Fla.)	4-2	323
8	9	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	5-1	307
9	10	College of Idaho	6-1	289
10	12	Bethel (Tenn.)	6-1	259
11	14	Georgetown (Ky.)	4-1	256
12	10	Concordia (Mich.)	5-1	227
13	15	Evangel (Mo.)	7-0	222
14	6	Southwestern (Kan.)	6-1	202
15	19	Montana Western	5-1	175
16	16	Montana Tech	4-2	170
17	13	Saint Xavier (Ill.)	4-3	148
18	18	Benedictine (Kan.)	5-2	144
19	17	Texas Wesleyan	5-1	143
20	20	Dickinson State (N.D.)	6-1	120
21	21	St. Thomas (Fla.)	4-3	91
22	22	Dordt (Iowa)	5-1	83
23	23	Reinhardt (Ga.)	4-2	59
24	24	OUAZ (Ariz.)	5-1	48
25	NR	Friends (Kan.)	6-1	39

Dropped From Top 25: Louisiana Christian
Receiving Votes: Louisiana Christian 34; Baker (Kan.) 24