Photo by: Jeremy Enlow
ACU ranked No. 4 in AFCA poll
8/15/2011 3:28:00 PM | Football
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats will enter the 2011 college football season ranked as the No. 4 team in the nation, according to the American Football Coaches' Association, which released its NCAA Division II pre-season poll on Monday.
The Wildcats' No. 4 ranking is their highest-ever pre-season ranking under seventh-year head coach Chris Thomsen, who is 43-18 overall in six seasons at ACU. The Wildcats are coming off a perfect 11-0 regular season and the program's second Lone Star Conference championship in the last three seasons.
Prior to 2008, ACU had recorded only one perfect regular season in program history (10-0 in 1950), but ACU has put together perfect regular-season records in 2008 (10-0) and 2010 (11-0) under Thomsen. ACU, in fact, is 29-3 in the regular season in the last three seasons with all of those losses coming in 2009.
Defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth is ranked No. 1 in the country after collecting 28 of a possible 29 first-place votes and 724 points. Delta State – last year's national runner-up – checks in at No. 2 with 657 points, while perennial national powerhouse Northwest Missouri State is at No. 3 with one first-place vote and 624 points.
ACU comes in at No. 4 with 607 points, while Grand Valley State rounds out the top five with 579 points. ACU will take on North Alabama in Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 17, as part of the Lone Star Football Festival, and the Lions check in at No. 6 in the pre-season poll.
Texas A&M-Kingsville – which will play West Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium on Sept. 17 – is ranked No. 7 in the pre-season poll, while the Buffaloes check in at No. 19.
ACU was ranked No. 8 in the final poll of the 2010 season after finishing 11-1. The Wildcats have now been ranked in 64 straight AFCA polls dating back to the Sept. 26, 2006, poll.
The Wildcats will open the 2011 season on the road for the fourth time in the last five seasons when they travel to Stephenville on Thursday, Sept. 1, to take on Tarleton State in a Lone Star Conference game.
ACU Football: Sam Hicks Prepares for Canadian Football League Debut
Tuesday, June 09
ACU Baseball: Rick McCarty Press Conference | May 11, 2026
Tuesday, May 12
ACU Baseball: Senior Day Ceremony | May 9, 2026
Saturday, May 09
ACU Softball: Jo Koons Press Conference | May 4, 2026
Monday, May 04
