Football
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Keiser (Fla.) starts off the year at the top of the NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 Ratings, gathering 14 of the 16 first place votes. The reigning champions are followed by Northwestern (Iowa) with two first place votes and in second place. Georgetown (Ky.) is third, trailed by College of Idaho and Grand View (Iowa.).
For the first time since the 2019 season, the Braves are in the 2024 Preseason NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 Poll, receiving two votes. In 2019, OU entered the preseason poll at no. 22. In 2023, Ottawa was crowned champions of the KCAC Bissell Division, qualified for their first NAIA Football Championship Series since 2014, earned the most wins since 2018, and had its first 1,000 rusher since 2015. Ottawa finished the season with an overall record of 6-6 and a KCAC Bissell Division mark of 4-1.
Poll Methodology:
- The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences. Each conference is given one rater for every four schools in the league or division.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second-place, 23 for third-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team’s rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”
| RANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | POINTS |
| 1 | 3 | Keiser (Fla.) [14] | 349 |
| 2 | 1 | Northwestern (Iowa) [2] | 337 |
| 3 | 4 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 310 |
| 4 | 10 | College of Idaho | 308 |
| 5 | 2 | Grand View (Iowa) | 291 |
| 6 | 6 | Indiana Wesleyan | 274 |
| 7 | 5 | Marian (Ind.) | 253 |
| 8 | 7 | Bethel (Tenn.) | 245 |
| 9 | 10 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) | 242 |
| 10 | 10 | Morningside (Iowa) | 236 |
| 11 | 8 | Montana Western | 227 |
| 12 | 15 | St. Thomas (Fla.) | 179 |
| 13 | 14 | Dordt (Iowa) | 171 |
| 14 | 9 | Evangel (Mo.) | 159 |
| 15 | 16 | Dickinson State (N.D.) | 149 |
| 16 | 13 | OUAZ (Ariz.) | 125 |
| 17 | 20 | Baker (Kan.) | 107 |
| 18 | 18 | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 101 |
| 19 | 25 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 95 |
| 20 | 19 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 88 |
| 21 | 17 | Montana Tech | 82 |
| 22 | 21 | Louisiana Christian | 44 |
| 23 | 22 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 32 |
| 24 | 23 | Friends (Kan.) | 28 |
| 24 | NR | Kansas Wesleyan | 28 |
Receiving Votes: Southern Oregon 26; Carroll (Mont.) 21; Concordia (Mich.) 13; Ottawa (Kan.) 2; Pikeville (Ky.) 2