2025 NAIA football season

2025 NAIA football season
Total No. of teams	94
Regular season	August 28 – November 15, 2025
Postseason	November 22 – December 20, 2025
National Championship	Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium Fort Worth, TX December 20, 2025
← 2024 NAIA football season

The 2025 NAIA football season is the component of the 2025 college football season organized by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the United States.

The regular season began on August 28 and will culminate on November 15. ^[1]

The playoffs, known as the NAIA Football National Championship, will begin on November 22 and culminate with the championship game on December 20 at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

Membership changes

• The North Star Athletic Association disbanded prior to the start of the season; the majority of its members would subsequently end up moving to the Frontier Conference.

School	Former conference	New conference	Ref
Concordia (MI) Cardinals	Mid-States	Dropped athletics	[2]
Dakota State Trojans	North Star	Frontier	[3]
Dickinson State Blue Hawks	North Star	Frontier	[4]
Jamestown Jimmies	North Star	NSIC (NCAA D-II)	[5]
Mayville State Comets	North Star	Frontier	[3]
North American Stallions	Sooner	Dropped program	[6]
Rio Grande RedStorm	New program	Appalachian	[7]
St. Andrews Knights	Appalachian	School closed	[8]
Simpson Red Hawks	Independent	Frontier	[9]
Valley City State Vikings	North Star	Frontier	[3]

Conference standings

2025 Appalachian Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Reinhardt   2 – 0     3 – 3   Point   2 – 0     2 – 4   Pikeville   1 – 0     1 – 4   Kentucky Christian   1 – 1     2 – 3   Bluefield   0 – 1     1 – 4   Union Commonwealth   0 – 2     1 – 4   Rio Grande   0 – 2     0 – 5   $ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Frontier Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   East Division No. 6 Montana Tech   2 – 0     7 – 0   Rocky Mountain   2 – 0     2 – 4   Dakota State   2 – 1     5 – 2   Mayville State   2 – 1     5 – 3   Valley City State   1 – 2     4 – 3   Dickinson State   0 – 3     2 – 5   Montana State–Northern   0 – 2     1 – 6   West Division No. 11 Carroll (MT)   3 – 0     6 – 1   No. 20 College of Idaho   2 – 0     5 – 1   Eastern Oregon   2 – 0     3 – 3   No. 15 Montana Western   1 – 2     4 – 3   Southern Oregon   1 – 2     2 – 5   Arizona Christian   0 – 2     1 – 5   Simpson (CA)   0 – 3     0 – 7   x – Division champion/co-champions ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Great Plains Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 10 Dordt   5 – 0     5 – 0   No. 4 Morningside   5 – 0     5 – 1   Concordia (NE)   4 – 1     4 – 1   Mount Marty   3 – 2     4 – 2   Midland   3 – 2     3 – 3   Briar Cliff   3 – 3     4 – 3   Hastings   3 – 3     3 – 3   Northwestern (IA)   3 – 3     3 – 3   Dakota Wesleyan   1 – 5     2 – 5   Doane   1 – 5     1 – 5   Waldorf   0 – 7     0 – 7   $ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll
2025 Heart of America Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   North No. 1 Grand View   2 – 0     5 – 0   Peru State   1 – 0     4 – 2   No. 25 William Penn   1 – 1     5 – 1   Culver–Stockton   1 – 1     3 – 3   Clarke   1 – 1     1 – 5   St. Ambrose   0 – 1     1 – 5   Graceland   0 – 2     2 – 3   South No. 22 MidAmerica Nazarene   2 – 0     5 – 1   Baker   2 – 0     2 – 3   No. 3 Benedictine (KS)   1 – 0     5 – 1   Central Methodist   1 – 1     2 – 4   Missouri Valley   0 – 1     3 – 2   Missouri Baptist   0 – 2     1 – 4   William Woods   0 – 2     0 – 6   x – Division champion/co-champions ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Bissell Division Evangel   0 – 0     4 – 2   Bethel (KS)   0 – 0     2 – 4   Bethany (KS)   0 – 0     2 – 4   Ottawa   0 – 0     2 – 4   Tabor   0 – 0     2 – 4   Avila   0 – 0     0 – 6   Kessinger Division No. 5 Friends   0 – 0     6 – 0   No. 20 McPherson   0 – 0     6 – 0   No. 16 Southwestern (KS)   0 – 0     5 – 1   Kansas Wesleyan   0 – 0     4 – 2   Saint Mary (KS)   0 – 0     2 – 4   Sterling   0 – 0     1 – 5   x – Division champion/co-champions ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Mid-South Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 7 Lindsey Wilson   2 – 0     6 – 0   No. 9 Campbellsville   1 – 0     5 – 0   Bethel (TN)   2 – 0     3 – 2   No. 18 Georgetown (KY)   1 – 1     4 – 2   Cumberland (TN)   0 – 1     4 – 2   Faulkner   0 – 2     3 – 3   Cumberlands (KY)   0 – 2     3 – 3   $ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll
2025 Mid-States Football Association standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   Mideast League No. 14 Indiana Wesleyan   0 – 0     4 – 2   Taylor   0 – 0     3 – 3   Siena Heights   0 – 0     2 – 3   Defiance   0 – 0     2 – 4   Lawrence Tech   0 – 0     1 – 4   Madonna   0 – 0     1 – 5   Midwest League No. 11 Marian (IN)   0 – 0     5 – 1   No. 24 Saint Francis (IN)   0 – 0     5 – 1   No. 23 Olivet Nazarene   0 – 0     4 – 1   Saint Xavier   0 – 0     4 – 2   St. Francis (IL)   0 – 0     2 – 3   Judson   0 – 0     0 – 6   x – League champion/co-champions ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Sooner Athletic Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 13 OUAZ   5 – 0     5 – 0   No. 19 Texas Wesleyan   4 – 0     4 – 2   Louisiana Christian   3 – 1     4 – 3   Wayland Baptist   2 – 2     3 – 2   Langston   2 – 2     2 – 4   Arkansas Baptist   1 – 3     2 – 4   OK Panhandle State   1 – 3     2 – 4   Nelson   1 – 3     1 – 4   Texas College   0 – 5     0 – 6   $ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll	2025 Sun Conference football standings v t e Conf. Overall Team   W   L     W   L   No. 2 Keiser   2 – 0     5 – 0   No. 8 St. Thomas (FL)   2 – 0     4 – 1   Webber International   2 – 0     4 – 2   No. 17 Southeastern   1 – 1     4 – 1   Florida Memorial   1 – 1     2 – 3   Ave Maria   0 – 2     1 – 4   Warner   0 – 2     0 – 5   Thomas   0 – 2     0 – 6   $ – Conference champion ^ – NAIA playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

Postseason

Teams

See also: List of NAIA national football championship series appearances by team

Automatic bids (13) Automatic bids Conference School Record Appearance Last Appalachian Frontier East Division West Division Great Plains Heart of America North Division South Division KCAC Bissell Division Kessinger Division Mid-South Mid-States Mideast League Midwest League Sooner Sun

At-large bids (7) At-large bids School Conference Record Appearance Last

Bracket

First Round November 22 Campus sites

Second Round November 29 Campus sites

Quarterfinals December 6 Campus sites

Semifinals December 13 Campus sites

Championship December 20 Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium Fort Worth, Texas

Rankings

Main article: 2025 NAIA football rankings

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2025, and will include any changes announced after a team's last regularly scheduled games but before its playoff games.

School	Outgoing coach	Date	Reason	Replacement	Previous position
Saint Francis (IN)	Kevin Donley	December 2, 2024	Retired [10]	Adam Sherman	Saint Francis (IN) offensive coordinator (2024)
Graceland	Patrick Ross	July 31, 2025	Resigned (named as team's general manager) [11]	Phil Staback	Graceland offensive coordinator (2024)

See also

• 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season
• 2025 NCAA Division I FCS football season
• 2025 NCAA Division II football season
• 2025 NCAA Division III football season
• 2025 U Sports football season
• 2025 NAIA flag football season

References

1. "NAIA Football Scoreboard". NAIA.com. NAIA. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
2. Cunningham, Darren (June 14, 2024). "Concordia University Ann Arbor discontinuing athletics after 2024-25 academic year". WXYZ. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
3. "Frontier Conference Expands to 11 Full-time Members". Frontier Conference (Press release). May 21, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
4. "Frontier Adding Dickinson State as Newest Conference Member". Frontier Conference (Press release). December 12, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
5. "NSIC Extends Invitation to the University of Jamestown". Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (Press release). November 21, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
6. "North American University Discontinues Stallion Football Program" (Press release). North American Stallions Athletics. February 10, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
7. Dannelly, Jason (April 23, 2024). "University of Rio Grande Adding Football in Fall '25". victorysportsnetwork.co. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
8. "St. Andrews University to Cease Operations — A Heartbreaking Goodbye". St. Andrews University (North Carolina). April 25, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
9. "Simpson University Football Joins Frontier Conference, Ushering in a New Era of Simpson Athletics" (Press release). Simpson University Athletics. May 30, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
10. "Kevin Donley ends run as University of Saint Francis football coach" (Press release). Saint Francis Cougars Athletics. May 22, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
11. "Graceland Announces Football Leadership Transition: Phil Staback Promoted to Head Coach" (Press release). Graceland Yellowjackets Athletics. July 31, 2025. Retrieved September 2, 2025.