PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo enters Saturday's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener at home against Colorado School of Mines ranked in the Top 10 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 second weekly national Division II polls, the ThunderWolves, who are 2-0 after picking up a 35-17 win last Thursday at then 25th-ranked Fort Hays State, are ranked No. 5 and No. 7 respectively by the AFCA and D2Football.com.
The Pack received 647 points in this week's AFCA Coaches' Poll to sit 19 points behind No. 4 Minnesota State (2-0), who received 666 points after picking up a 48-7 home win over Mary and 21 points in front of No. 6 Grand Valley State, who moved to 2-0 on the season with a 56-14 home win last weekend over West Texas A&M. In the D2Football.com poll, the Pack jumped two spots to No. 7 and is just behind No. 6 Grand Valley State and in front of No. 8 Western Colorado (2-0). In the preseason polls, the Pack was ranked sixth in the AFCA poll and 10th in the D2Football.com poll.
CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado are the only two RMAC schools ranked in this week's latest national polls as Western Colorado is ranked No. 8 in both the AFCA and D2Football.com polls. In addition, Black Hills State (2-0) was one of 29 schools to earn votes in this week's AFCA poll as the Yellowjackets earned five points after its 44-31 home win last Saturday over Dakota State.
The top two teams are the same in both the AFCA and D2Football.com polls as Ferris State (2-0) and Harding (1-0) are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in both polls. In addition to Ferris State and Harding, the AFCA has Kutztown (Pa.) (1-0) 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 to remain undefeated on the season this coming Saturday, Sept. 12 as the ThunderWolves open RMAC play with a 2 p.m. contest in the ThunderBowl against Colorado School of Mines (0-1-1). The Pack enters the game having won 11 straight regular season games dating to last season's 36-35 home setback to Fort Hays State and 25 consecutive conference games dating to the 2023 season, which is the longest active conference win streak in Division II football.
