By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- For the second consecutive week, the Willamette University football team was ranked #22 when the NCAA Division III Coaches Poll was released by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) on Monday, Nov. 2. The Bearcats are 6-2 overall, 3-1 in the Northwest Conference.

AFCA COACHES POLL

After having an off week to end the month of October, the Bearcats will return to action this weekend. Willamette will travel to Tacoma, Wash., to play the University of Puget Sound in NWC action. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (PST).

There will be a Live Audio Webcast of the game made available through Willamette Athletics and Full Access Sports. The webcast is FREE and will feature play-by-play announcer Mike Allegre and commentator Craig Spivey. It will begin at approximately 12:45 p.m. (PST).

Mount Union College (Ohio) was ranked #1 with an 8-0 record, 39 of 40 first place votes and 999 points in the poll. The #2 team was the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 8-0, which received the final first place vote and 961 points.

Wesley College (Del.), 8-0, followed at #3 with 910 points, while St. John's University (Minn.), 8-0, was #4 at 874 points. Central College (Iowa) improved to 9-0 with a 17-0 victory over Buena Vista University (Iowa), and was at #5 with 822 points. The top five teams held the same positions in last week's poll.

Last week's 6th-ranked team, Washington and Jefferson College (Pa.), now 7-1, fell to #15 this week after losing to last week's #13 team, Thomas More College (Ky.), 14-7. Linfield College, 8-0, advanced one spot to replace W&J at #6 with 802 points. Case Western Reserve University (Ohio), 8-0, also move up one position to #7 with 718 points.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Monmouth University (Illinois) at #8 with 684 points, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) at #9 with 652 points, and Thomas More at #10 with 637 points. Monmouth is 9-0, while Mary Hardin-Baylor is 7-1 and Thomas More is 8-0.