NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll (Nov. 4)
SEWARD, Neb. – After four-straight weeks of knocking on the door as a “receiving votes” team, Concordia University, Nebraska Football cracked the NAIA top 25 poll on Monday (Nov. 4). The Bulldogs landed at No. 23 in the latest poll, marking the program’s first national ranking since November 2017. Concordia picked up 56 points in the poll while leaping three spots from their position the previous week.
Head Coach Patrick Daberkow’s squad (7-2, 7-2 GPAC) has had to earn its way into the top 25 after beginning this season under the radar nationally. The Bulldogs began to garner more national attention on Oct. 5 when they upset then second-ranked Northwestern, 29-17. Since then, Concordia has kept on winning with victories over Doane, 45-10, Mount Marty, 31-27, and Hastings, 42-6.
As Daberkow mentioned following the win at Northwestern, “If we can stay at two losses, we’ll have the best two-loss résumé in the country.” The résumé continues to show two losses, both of which occurred in September at the hands of NAIA top 10 teams: then No. 10 Morningside and then No. 9 Dordt. After a bye this week, Concordia will have an opportunity to pick up a quality road win when it visits Midland on Saturday, Nov. 16.
Through nine games, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 340-171. At 7-2, Concordia has won at least seven of its first nine games of a season for the first time since the 2001 GPAC championship squad sat at 8-1. The 2024 team’s current averages of 37.8 points and 480.1 yards per game are on track to break school records. The program standards for a single season are 35.9 points (1951) and 412.0 yards (2023).
In the 2024 home regular season finale this past week, the Bulldogs shrugged off five turnovers and pulled away from Hastings on senior day. DJ McGarvie threw for four touchdown passes with two of them going to All-American receiver Austin Jablonski (67 and 42 yards, respectively). Jablonski became the first player in program history to record back-to-back seasons of 1,000 receiving yards. He now ranks No. 2 on the program’s all-time receiving yards list with 2,627 for his career. McGarvie and Jablonski were two of the 29 seniors honored prior to kickoff versus Hastings.
Said Kyle Sterup following the win over Hastings, “It’s an unbelievably talented group. It’s a historic group. I can’t say enough about the seniors. It’s been a great run. It’s not over of course, but there has been a lot of reflection for all of us.”
Additional information on NAIA football can be found via the NAIA football homepage HERE. The page contains links to the ARC ratings, which help determine NAIA Championship Series at-large qualifiers. Concordia is currently ranked seventh in ARC 3, which combines the GPAC and the Mid-States Football Association.