PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo and Fort Hays State come into Thursday's non-conference tilt in Hays, Kansas, both ranked nationally in this week's latest AFCA Division II Coaches Poll, presented by GoRout Gridiron and D2Football.com Media Poll that were released this week.
In this season's first weekly national Division II polls, the ThunderWolves, who are 1-0 after opening the season with a 44-25 home win last Thursday over Central Missouri, are ranked No. 5 and No. 9 respectively by the AFCA and D2Football.com, while Fort Hays State, who is 1-0 after opening the season last Thursday with an impressive 35-14 win at Angelo State, is ranked No. 25 and No. 23 respectively by the AFCA and D2Football.com.
The Pack received 645 points in this week's AFCA Coaches' Poll to sit 26 points behind No. 4 Minnesota State, who received 671 points after opening the season with a 38-14 win at Colorado Mesa and 60 points in front of No. 6 Central Washington, who earned 585 points after being idle last week. In the D2Football.com poll, the Pack sits behind No. 8 Central Washington and in front of No. 10 Western Colorado (1-0), who opened the season with a 52-21 win at West Texas A&M. In the preseason polls, the Pack was ranked sixth in the AFCA poll and 10th in the D2Football.com poll.
Meanwhile, Fort Hays State received 62 points in the AFCA poll to sit 13 points behind No. 24 Northeastern State (1-0), who earned 75 points. In the D2Football.com poll, Fort Hays State is behind No. 22 Benedict (1-0) and behind No. 24 Minnesota Duluth.
CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado are the only two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schools ranked in this week's latest national polls as Western Colorado is ranked 11th in the AFCA poll and 10th in the D2Football.com poll. In the AFCA poll, the Mountaineers earned 482 points to remain at No. 11.
The top two teams are the same in both the AFCA and D2Football.com polls as Ferris State (1-0) and Harding (0-0) are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in both polls. In addition to Ferris State and Harding, the AFCA has Kutztown (Pa.) at No. 3, Minnesota State at No. 4 and CSU Pueblo ranked fifth, while D2Football.com has Minnesota State at No. 3, Kutztown at No. 4 and Northwest Missouri (1-0) at No. 5.
CSU Pueblo will look to improve to 2-0 on the season as they travel to Hays, Kansas, for a 6 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. CT game on Thursday, Sept. 3 against Fort Hays State. The Pack has won 15 straight road games dating to a 57-49 double overtime loss at Grand Valley State on Sept. 9, 2023, and that 15 game road win streak is the longest active streak in Division II football.
