Belton,
TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team finished second
in the country in the final D3football.com Top 25 Poll
of the 2012 season. The Cru totaled 587 points and edged out national
runner-up St. Thomas (MN) by two points to match the highest final
national ranking in school history. UMHB also finished the 2004 season
ranked second in the country by D3football.com after
falling to Linfield College in the Stagg Bowl that year. National
champion Mount Union was a unanimous selection at #1, taking all 25
first-place votes and 625 total points in the poll. St. Thomas (585
points), Wisconsin-Oshkosh (547 points) and Linfield College
(517 points) rounded out the top five in the D3football.com Poll.
UMHB posted five wins over teams ranked the final poll this season. Wesley College finished 6th in the nation with a 10-2 record
and both of those losses coming against the Cru. Franklin College was ranked 20th with a 9-3 record, including a 63-17 loss to UMHB in the second round of the playoffs, and Louisiana College was ranked 23rd with a 9-3 mark that included
two losses to the Cru.
UMHB
went 13-1 overall this season and won its tenth American Southwest
Conference Championship with a 7-0 league mark. The Cru tied the
school and ASC record with 13 overall wins and set a new program record
with 13 consecutive victories. UMHB advanced to the Semifinals of the
NCAA Division III National Championship before falling to Mount Union
48-35.
The
D3football.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports
Information Directors and media members, and is published weekly
during the regular season.
