South Dakota State, CSU Bakersfield move into NWCA Div. I Coaches Poll Top 25 for first time this year

Manheim, Pa. – Two teams entered the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll for the first time this season as the poll was released on Tuesday.

South Dakota State (12-5) and CSU Bakersfield (10-3) made their first appearances in the poll this season. The Jackrabbits have won 11 straight duals, while the Roadrunners are fresh off a 21-20 criteria victory over Oregon State and are in the driver’s seat to win the Pac-12 championship.

South Dakota State joins No. 4 Oklahoma State (10-2), No. 7 Oklahoma (9-4) and No. 16 Iowa State (9-5) as the fourth Big 12 team in the Top 25.

Several ranked teams fell in the past week, causing some movement in the bottom half of the poll. Purdue (8-5) re-entered the Top 25 after dropping out last week. A win over then-No. 20 Indiana moved the Boilermakers in at No. 23.

Virginia Tech (13-2), bolstered by the return of Zach Epperly at 174 and Jared Haught at 197 pounds, jumped two spots to No. 8 after two dominant weekend victories. This sets up a showdown on Friday with third-ranked N.C. State (21-0) with the winner in command to claim the ACC regular season championship.

Pittsburgh (9-5) fell four spots to No. 21 after an 18-12 loss to West Virginia in a matchup of former EWL rivals.

Rank	Team (First)	Record	Points	Conference	Previous
1	Penn State (12)	13-0	300	Big Ten	1
2	Iowa	15-0	288	Big Ten	2
3	N.C. State	21-0	276	ACC	3
4	Oklahoma State	10-2	264	Big 12	4
5	Missouri	12-1	251	MAC	5
6	Lehigh	12-1	239	EIWA	6
7	Oklahoma	9-4	217	Big 12	7
8	Virginia Tech	13-2	216	ACC	10
9	Michigan	12-2	205	Big Ten	8
10	Ohio State	9-3	203	Big Ten	9
11	Nebraska	9-5	177	Big Ten	11
12	Illinois	12-5	164	Big Ten	13
13	North Carolina	10-3	149	ACC	14
14	Rutgers	13-5	144	Big Ten	12
15	Cornell	4-5	129	EIWA	15
16	Iowa State	9-5	105	Big 12	16
17	Kent State	13-3	99	MAC	17
18	Minnesota	9-7	90	Big Ten	21
19	Virginia	6-5	80	ACC	18
20	Central Michigan	8-4	66	MAC	23
21	Pittsburgh	9-5	58	ACC	17
22	Ohio	10-3	40	MAC	24
23	Purdue	8-5	29	Big Ten	NR
24	South Dakota State	12-5	25	Big 12	NR
25	CSU Bakersfield	10-3	23	Pac-12	NR

 
Dropped Out: No. 20 Indiana, No. 22 Stanford, No. 25 Chattanooga
Others Receiving Votes: Indiana 16, Oregon State 14, Appalachian State 11, Arizona State 11, Stanford 10, Wisconsin 1