The 2020 NAIA football rankings reports the poll results conducted during the 2020 NAIA football season. Each season, one poll evaluates the various National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football teams and ranks them. Coaches from each of the football conferences are members of a selection panel, with conferences receiving one vote for every 4 member teams. Sometimes referred to as the football ratings or the NAIA Coaches' Poll , the poll is generally conducted once during the preseason and after each week of play during the regular season.
Once the regular season is completed, the NAIA will conduct a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll will be taken after completion of the series of playoff games, collectively referred to as the 2020 NAIA Football National Championship.
The Top 25 was determined by compiling points for each vote. A team received 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 (counting zero for ballots with no votes for a team) were disregarded. To obtain the final tally, each team's ranking was recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that includes the team. [1]
As an example, if there were 17 voting panelists, and one team is a unanimous choice for the highest ranking, then that team would receive 25 points * 15 ballots (disregard 2 ballots) + 17 points (one for each ballot cast) = 392 points.
Teams that received only one point in the ballot were not considered “receiving votes.”
Due to the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, modifications to the playing season and associated polls and release dates were made. Some teams were able to compete and complete their seasons in the fall of 2020; however, a large portion of the NAIA season was delayed and played in the spring of 2021.
No spring or preseason polls were released for the 2020 season; the first poll was released after the spring playing season was underway.
Following is a complete schedule of 2020 poll release dates. [2]
| 2020 Poll Release Dates | |
|---|---|
| Spring | None |
| Preseason | None |
| Poll 1 | February 22, 2021 |
| Poll 2 | March 22, 2021 |
| Poll 3 | March 29, 2021 |
| Poll 4 | April 5, 2021 |
| Poll 5 | April 11, 2021 |
| Postseason | May 17, 2021 |
| No change in ranking | ||
| Increase in ranking | ||
| Decrease in ranking | ||
| Not ranked previous week | ||
| NAIA National Champion | ||
(#-#) | Win–loss record | |
Italics | Number of first place votes | |
(т) | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
A 16-team tournament is being contested to determine the winner of the 2020 NAIA Football National Championship. Teams were selected to the field of participants through a two-tiered selection process.
First, any conference champion ranked in the final regular-season Coaches' Poll received an automatic bid into the tourney field. This was a modification (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) to the normal requirement that a champion needed to finish in the top 20 positions to receive an automatic invitation.
After the automatic bids were granted, any open positions in the field were filled with at-large invitations. These at-large entries were granted to the highest ranked teams who were not conference champions, with some ranked teams omitted due to lack of playing a minimum number of conference games.
In 2020, there were 12 NAIA conferences (or divisions within large conferences) who had champions that were part of the selection process for the automatic invitations. The 12 eligible conferences for the 2020 season were:
Based on the Poll 5 (April 11) Coaches' Poll, the following teams (12 champions and 4 at-large teams) made up the 2020 playoff field:
| Rank | Team | Conference/Division [8] | Invitation Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morningside (IA) | Great Plains | Automatic - 1 |
| 2 | Grand View (IA) | Heart of America / North | Automatic - 2 |
| 3 | Lindsey Wilson (KY) | Mid-South / Bluegrass | Automatic - 3 |
| 4 | Keiser (FL) | Mid-South / Sun | Automatic - 4 |
| 5 | Concordia (MI) | Mid-States / Mideast | Automatic - 5 |
| 6 | Northwestern (IA) | Great Plains | At-large - 1 |
| 7 | Baker (KS) | Heart of America / South | Automatic - 6 |
| 8 | Reinhardt (GA) | Mid-South / Appalachian | Automatic - 7 |
| 9 | Marian (IN) | Mid-States / Mideast | At-large - 2 |
| 10 | Dickinson State (ND) | North Star | Automatic - 8 |
| 11 | Olivet Nazarene (IL) | Mid-States / Midwest | Automatic - 9 |
| 12 | Arizona Christian | Sooner | Automatic - 10 |
| 13 | Bethel (KS) | Kansas Collegiate | Automatic - 11 |
| 14 | Georgetown (KY) | Mid-South / Bluegrass | At-large - 3 |
| 15 | College of Idaho | Frontier | (Not enough games) |
| 16 | Benedictine (KS) | Heart of America / South | (Not enough games) |
| 17 | Saint Francis (IN) | Mid-States / Mideast | (Not enough games) |
| 18 | Dordt (IA) | Great Plains | At-large - 4 |
| 19 | Avila (MO) | Kansas Collegiate | (No bids available) |
| 20 | Roosevelt (IL) | Mid-States / Midwest | (No bids available) |
| 21 | Eastern Oregon | Frontier | (Did not qualify) |
| 22 | Carroll (MT) | Frontier | Automatic - 12 |
| 23 | Ottawa (AZ) | Sooner | (Did not qualify) |
| 24 | Southwestern (KS) | Kansas Collegiate | (Did not qualify) |
| 25 | Kansas Wesleyan | Kansas Collegiate | (Did not qualify) |
After the tournament participants were determined, the top 8 seeds were granted first round home games. The lone exception was #5 Concordia (MI), who played an away game due to restrictions in Michigan caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Opponents were generally determined based on the oft-used tournament protocol that pairs highest seeds with lowest seeds: #1 vs. the lowest seeded entry (usually #16), #2 vs. the second-lowest seeded entry (usually #15), #3 vs. the third-lowest seeded entry (usually #14), etc. This alignment was then tweaked, for geographic and travel considerations, by the tournament selection officials to determine the announced first-round pairings.
The first round tournament match-ups, finalized and announced on Sunday, April 11 [9] , were:
| Rank | Visitor | Rank | Home | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #22 | Carroll (MT) | at | #1 | Morningside (IA) |
| #18 | Dordt (IA) | at | #2 | Grand View (IA) |
| #13 | Bethel (KS) | at | #3 | Lindsey Wilson (KY) |
| #12 | Arizona Christian | at | #4 | Keiser (FL) |
| #5 | Concordia (MI) | at | #14 | Georgetown (KY) |
| #10 | Dickinson State (ND) | at | #6 | Northwestern (IA) |
| #11 | Olivet Nazarene (IL) | at | #7 | Baker (KS) |
| #9 | Marian (IN) | at | #8 | Reinhardt (GA) |
Since the inception of the Coaches' Poll in 1999, the #1 ranking in the various weekly polls has been held by only a select group of teams. Through Poll 5 of the 2020 season, the teams and the number of times they have held the #1 weekly ranking are shown below. The number of times a team has been ranked #1 in the postseason poll (the national champion) is shown in parentheses.
There has been only one tie for the leading vote-getter in a weekly poll. In 2015, Southern Oregon was tied with Marian (IN) in the preseason poll.
In 1999, the results of a postseason poll, if one was conducted, are not known. Therefore, an additional poll has been presumed, and the #1 postseason ranking has been credited to the postseason tournament champion, the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.
| Team | Total #1 Rankings |
|---|---|
| Carroll (MT) | 57 (6) |
| Sioux Falls (SD) | 55 (3) |
| Morningside (IA) | 45 (2) |
| Georgetown (KY) | 25 (2) |
| Marian (IN) | 24 (2) |
| Saint Francis (IN) | 21 (2) |
| Saint Xavier (IL) | 14 (1) |
| Northwestern Oklahoma State | 12 (1) |
| Southern Oregon | 5 (1) |
| Grand View (IA) | 4 (1) |
| Lindsey Wilson (KY) | 4 |
| Azusa Pacific (CA) | 3 |
| Cumberlands (KY) | 2 |
One human poll made up the 2012 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2012 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2011 NAIA football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a 16-team playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2011 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2010 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a 16-team playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2010 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2009 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a 16-team playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2009 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2008 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a 16-team playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2008 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2007 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a 16-team playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2007 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2005 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2005 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2004 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2004 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll makes up the 2013 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. When the regular season is complete, the NAIA plans to sponsor a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll will be taken after completion of the 2013 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll makes up the 2014 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. When the regular season is complete, the NAIA plans to sponsor a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll will be taken after completion of the 2014 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll makes up the 2015 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. When the regular season is complete, the NAIA plans to sponsor a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll will be taken after completion of the 2015 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 2000 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2000 NAIA Football National Championship.
One human poll made up the 1999 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. It is not known whether a final poll was taken after completion of the 1999 NAIA Football National Championship, won by Northwestern Oklahoma State.
One human poll made up the 2016 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. When the regular season was complete, the NAIA conducted a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was taken after completion of the 2016 NAIA Football National Championship.
The 2016 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 19 and December 17 of 2016. The tournament concluded on December 17 with a single game, played as the 61st Annual NAIA Football National Championship Presented by Waste Pro. Waste Pro became the newest title game sponsor in an announcement made October 31, 2015. The game featured two teams that had never before won a national championship, the undefeated #2 Baker Wildcats facing the once-beaten #4 Saint Francis Cougars.
One human poll made up the 2017 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. When the regular season was complete, the NAIA conducted a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was taken after completion of the 2017 NAIA Football National Championship.
The 2017 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 18 and December 16 of 2017. The tournament will conclude on December 16 with a single game, played as the 62nd Annual NAIA Football National Championship. The game featured two undefeated teams that met in the semifinal round of the 2016 tournament, including the defending national champions, the #1-ranked Saint Francis Cougars. Their opponent was the #2-ranked Reinhardt Eagles, in only the 5th year of the program's existence. In the end, it was Saint Francis that prevailed by a final score of 24–13. This was only the 5th time a team has managed back-to-back championships in the history of NAIA football.
The 2018 NAIA football rankings reports the poll results conducted during the 2018 NAIA football season. Each season, one poll evaluates the various National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football teams and ranks them. Coaches from each of the football conferences are members of a selection panel, with conferences receiving one vote for every 4 member teams. Sometimes referred to as the football ratings or the NAIA Coaches' Poll, the poll is generally conducted once during the preseason and after each week of play during the regular season.
The 2018 NAIA Football National Championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 17 and December 15 of 2018. The tournament concluded on December 15 with a single game, played as the 63rd Annual NAIA Football National Championship.
The 2019 NAIA football rankings reports the poll results conducted during the 2019 NAIA football season. Each season, one poll evaluates the various National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football teams and ranks them. Coaches from each of the football conferences are members of a selection panel, with conferences receiving one vote for every 4 member teams. Sometimes referred to as the football ratings or the NAIA Coaches' Poll, the poll is generally conducted once during the preseason and after each week of play during the regular season.