Football
11/3/2025 9:01:00 PM
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INDIANAPOLIS — The 2025 Great American Conference champion Harding Bisons have secured the top spot in the first official NCAA Division II Super Region 4 football rankings, the organization announced Monday. The undefeated Bisons (9-0 overall, 9-0 in-region) lead the 10-team ranking, positioning themselves for a first-round home game in the upcoming 32-team playoffs.
The rankings are crucial for determining the eight teams that will advance from Super Region 4, which draws from the Great American Conference (GAC), the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), and the Lone Star Conference (LSC).
As the GAC champion, Harding has already secured one of the four automatic bids awarded to the conference champions within the region. However, the No. 1 regional ranking holds significant weight, as the top four seeded teams will host first-round playoff matchups.
Following Harding are: Central Washington (8-0, 8-0) at No. 2, Northwest Missouri State (8-1, 8-1) at No. 3, and CSU Pueblo (8-1, 8-1) at No. 4. These teams currently project as the four seeded hosts.
The committee also ranked Pittsburg State (7-2, 6-1) at No. 5 and Western Colorado (8-1, 8-1) at No. 6, who are currently inside the field of eight, which will be rounded out by four at-large selections in addition to the four automatic qualifiers. Chadron State (7-1, 7-1) and Western Oregon (6-1, 6-1) sit at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively. UT Permian Basin (7-2, 7-2) and GAC rival Southern Arkansas (6-3, 6-3) close out the top 10.
The Bisons, who won the 2023 national championship, play at Southern Nazarene on Saturday and at Arkansas Tech next Saturday.
The four unseeded teams in the final bracket will be matched up against the four seeded teams, with the committee prioritizing geographic proximity—generally within 600 miles—to limit air travel, and avoiding first-round matchups between teams from the same conference where possible.
The NCAA will release a second set of rankings on Nov. 10. The final 32-team playoff bracket, including all seeds and pairings, is scheduled to be announced on Sunday, Nov. 16.