After a stunning 23-21 loss to Highland on Saturday, the Butler football team dropped out of the NJCAA Top 10 for the first time since 2002. The Grizzlies fell from fourth to 12th in the national weekly poll, which was released Tuesday.
The loss ended a number of streaks for Butler, including:
- A 46-game home winning streak against conference opponents during the regular season.
- A 24-game winning streak against conference opponents during the regular season, which is the second-longest streak in school history.
- 145 consecutive polls of being ranked in the NJCAA Top 10.
The last time Butler was ranked out of the top 10 was on Sept. 24, 2002, when the Grizzlies were ranked 12th. While the Top 10 ranking streak has been snapped, the current No. 12 ranking means that Butler has been ranked in the NJCAA polls for 147 straight polls.
Butler (4-1 overall, 3-1 KJCCC) received 59 votes in this week's poll and remains the top KJCCC school in the poll, with Garden City and Dodge City ranked 14th and 15th, respectively.
The Grizzlies were not the only major shakeup in this week's poll, as previous No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast lost its first game on the year and plummeted to 10th. Navarro (Texas) takes over the top spot, with Iowa Western, East Mississippi, Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) and Georgia Military rounding out the top five.
Butler is off this week, but will travel to face No. 14 Garden City (3-1 overall, 1-1 KJCCC) on Saturday, Oct. 5 for a 7 p.m. contest. While the Grizzlies are off, Garden hits the road to take on Fort Scott (0-5 overall, 0-4 KJCCC) this Saturday at 1 p.m.
| NJCAA Football Top 20 National Poll | September 24, 2013 | |||||
| Rank | College | Record | Points | 1st place votes |
Previous Rank |
| 1. | Navarro, Texas |
4-0 | 138 | 6 | 2 |
| 2. | Iowa Western |
5-0 | 135 | 3 | 3 |
| 3. | East Mississippi |
4-0 | 127 | 0 | 5 |
| 4. | Copiah-Lincoln, Miss. | 4-0 | 119 | 0 | 6 |
| 5. | Georgia Military |
5-0 | 110 | 0 | 7 |
| 6. | Nassau, N.Y. | 4-0 | 96 | 0 | 8 |
| 7. | Itawamba, Miss. |
4-0 | 92 | 0 | 9 |
| 8. | Tyler, Texas |
4-0 | 89 | 0 | 10 |
| 9. | Jones County, Miss. |
4-0 | 87 | 0 | 14 |
| 10. | Mississippi Gulf Coast |
3-1 | 83 | 0 | 1 |
| 11. | Arizona Western |
4-1 | 61 | 0 | 12 |
| 12. | Butler |
4-1 | 59 | 0 | 4 |
| 13. | Scottsdale, Ariz. |
4-1 | 57 | 0 | 16 |
| 14. | Garden City |
3-1 | 52 | 0 | 13 |
| 15. | Dodge City |
4-1 | 35 | 0 | 17 |
| 16. | Louisburg, N.C. |
4-0 | 34 | 0 | 20 |
| 17. | Mesa, Ariz. |
4-1 | 33 | 0 | 19 |
| 18. | ASA, N.Y. | 1-1 | 16 | 0 | 18 |
| 19. | Rochester C&TC, Minn. |
4-0 | 11 | 0 | NR |
| 20. | Hinds, Miss. |
2-2 | 10 | 0 | 11 |
Other schools receiving votes: New Mexico Military Institute (4-1); Hutchinson, Kan. (2-2); Dean, Mass. (4-0); Central Lakes-Brainerd, Minn. (3-1).
