The race for the 69th NAIA football national championship is underway after the organization released its playoff bracket on Sunday.
The NAIA playoffs -- err, Football Championship Series, as they call it -- begins Saturday with four first-round games. No. 13 seed Baker (Kan.) will host 20th-seeded Pikeville (Ky.), who went 0-4 in non-conference play but reached the field after winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference.
No. 14 seed Dickinson State (N.D.) will face No. 19 seed Kansas Wesleyan, who rallied to win the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference after firing head coach Matt Myers in October.
No. 15 seed Southwestern (Kan.) will host No. 18 Saint Francis (Ind.), and No. 16 Friends (Kan.) hosts No. 17 seed OUAZ; both visitors reached the playoffs through the traditional path, going 8-3 and 8-1 respectively.
Second round matchups have not been set. Those games will take place at campus sites on Nov. 30. The top 12 seeds were given byes.
Defending champion Keiser enters the tournament as the top seed, while 2022 champion and 2023 runner-up Northwestern is seeded 11th. Texas Wesleyan, who booked a 10-0 regular season under first-year head coach Brad Sherrod, will compete for the national title for the first time in the program's short history.
1. Keiser (Fla.)
2. Grand View (Iowa)
3. Indiana Wesleyan
4. Montana Western
5. St. Thomas (Fla.)
6. Morningside (Iowa)
7. Montana Tech
8. Texas Wesleyan
9. Benedictine (Kan.)
10. Georgetown (Ky.)
11. Northwestern (Iowa)
12. MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
The national title game will be held Dec. 21 in Durham, N.C.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.