Thanks to a convincing 40-17 victory over then-No. 20 St. Cloud State University this past Saturday and previous kingpin Grand Valley State University's 20-17 loss at Michigan Tech University earlier that afternoon, the University of Minnesota Duluth has assumed the No. 1 spot in this week's American Football Coaches Association Division II poll. It marks the first time a Bulldog club has ever been been ranked first in an AFCA II regular season poll.

The Bulldogs, who were slotted second to Grand Valley State in each of the previous eight weeks, received 24 of the 26 first-place votes while No. 2 Abilene Christian University picked up the other two. UMD and Abilene Christian are two of the six NCAA II schools with perfect 9-0 overall records.

UMD, which is 36-2 in its last 38 outings, will put its 28-game Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference winning streak on the line this Saturday (Nov. 6) when it visits the University of Minnesota Crookston.