Eastern Oregon University Athletics

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – The Eastern Oregon University football team was ranked No. 24 in the College Fanz Sports Network 2010 Pre-Season NAIA Football Top 25 poll Monday.

College Fanz Sports Network, the world's largest online college sports community launched by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, released their preseason National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football Top 25 rankings.

The rankings were compiled by veteran NAIA analyst and College Fanz director of college relations Jason Dannelly, along with members of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week broadcast team.

"Finding the top teams in the country is not too difficult," Dannelly said. "Rating all 93 teams in the country is the tough part. It's very tough to predict how some of these teams will do early in the season. Thankfully the rest of the College Fanz team was able to help out and pitch in their hours of research for this rating."

Grabbing the top spot in the ranking are the back-to-back defending NAIA National Champions, the University of Sioux Falls Cougars, who have been rated in the College Fanz NAIA ranking's top spot since winning the 2008 NAIA National Title. The Cougars have a veteran wide receiver core led by one of the NAIA's best in Jon Ryan. Defensively the Cougars looked to be strong again but will have to replace seven key starters from last year's top defense in the NAIA.

At the number two position are the Lindenwood University Lions who gave the University of Sioux Falls everything they could handle in last year's national championship game. The Lions’ return some of the NAIA's best offensive players in quarterback Philip Staback, running back Denodus O'Bryant and wide receiver Matt Bramow.

Carroll College, winners of 5 national titles in the last decade, checks in at the third spot in the rankings. The Saints boast one of the NAIA's top tight ends in Bubba Bartlett along with five other players who will land in the "College Fanz NAIA Top 72 Players" list to be announced next week.

The Eastern Oregon University football team was ranked No. 21 in NAIA Spring Football Coaches’ Top 25 poll Monday. The Mountaineers ended the 2009 season at No. 22 after finishing the year 7-4 overall and 7-3 in the Frontier Conference. EOU spent eight weeks in the nation’s top 25 last season and climbed to No. 19. Eastern grabbed 83 votes from around the country.

College Fanz Launched September 7, 2007, 28 years to the day that Bill Rasmussen's ESPN dream went on the air for the first time, College Fanz Sports Network is the world's largest online college sports community with students, alumni, and other fans of college sports.

College Fanz boasts over 22,000 web pages devoted to more than 1,450 colleges and universities competing in over 225,000 NCAA and NAIA athletic events. Live and on-demand broadcasts of selected college sports events enhance the constantly-evolving content offered on College Fanz. Additional information is available at http://www.collegefanz.com/.

Here is the complete ranking from College Fanz:

1. University of Sioux Falls (S.D.)

2. Lindenwood University (Mo.)

3. Carroll College (Mont.)

4. Saint Xavier University (Ill.)

5. Morningside College (S.D.)

6. MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)

7. University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)

8. University of Saint Francis (Ind.)

9. McKendree University (Ill.)

10. Missouri Valley (Mo.)

11. Minot State University (N.D.)

12. Walsh University (Ohio)

13. Hastings College (Neb.)

14. Friends University (Kan.)

15. Ottawa University (Kan.)

16. McPherson College (Kan.)

17. Northwestern Oklahoma State University

18. Grand View University (Iowa)

19. Dickinson State University (N.D.)

20. Northwestern College (Iowa)

21. Lambuth University (Tenn.)

22. Langston University (Okla.)

23. Taylor University (Ind.)

24. Eastern Oregon

25. Campbellsville University (Ky.)