HELENA, Mont. – The Frontier Conference has announced the results of its 2025 Football Preseason Coaches' Poll. Carroll College was selected fourth by the league's coaches in the annual preseason poll.

After finishing one game removed of a Frontier title last season, the Fighting Saints ('24: 7-3, 6-2) were selected to finish fourth in the West Division of the new-look Frontier Conference by the league's coaches. 

The league's annual preseason poll has proven to be a wildly inaccurate guess in recent years, with none of the preseason favorites able to get the job done. Last year, College of Idaho sat atop the preseason rankings before ultimately finishing fifth in the final standings. Dating back to the 2021 season, no Frontier Conference Champion was selected higher than second in the Preseason Poll (CC '22; UMW '24).

This summer, the league officially expanded to 14 total teams for the Fall with the addition of five new programs – Dakota State (S.D.), Dickinson State (N.D.), Mayville State (N.D.), Simpson (Calif.), and Valley City State (N.D.). With the expanded conference footprint, the league is now split into two divisions - East & West. 

Carroll remains in the West division alongside Montana Western, while MSU-Northern, Montana Tech, and Rocky Mountain College all head to the East division to compete with the Dakota institutions.

The full Frontier Conference West Division is comprised of Carroll, Montana Western, College of Idaho, Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, Arizona Christian, and Simpson.

Montana Western ('24: 10-2, 7-1), who won the previous two Frontier Conference regular-season titles, claimed the top spot in the West Division with five first-place votes and 35 points. Southern Oregon ('24: 8-3, 5-3) placed second in the West Division poll with 30 points and one first-place vote.

College of Idaho ('24: 7-4, 5-3) scored 26 points for third place in the poll, while Carroll picked up the final first-place vote and collected 23 points for fourth.  Eastern Oregon was fifth with 16 points, followed by Arizona Christian with 11 points, and Simpson seventh with six points.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams in their own division. First place is worth seven (7) points, second place is worth six (6) points, third place is worth five (5) points, and so on to the last place with one (1) point.

The Frontier Conference will have two weeks of mandatory cross-over contests (East vs. West) on Sept. 20 and Sept. 27 where each team will play one road contest and one home contest during their cross-over span. 

Carroll, however, will play a full four game slate of non-conference games against East Division opponents (Aug. 30 - MSU-N; Sept. 6 - MT: Sept. 13 - DiSU: Sept. 27 - RMC).

The division contests will start on Oct. 4, with each team playing a total of six contests in their own division. Carroll begins the Division slate with an 8 p.m. road contest at Arizona Christian.

The expanded Frontier Conference will have two automatic bids for the NAIA Football Championships Series (FCS), which begins on Nov. 22.  Both the East and West division winners will receive an automatic bid, while at-large spots remain a possibility for the rest of the league. 

Below is the complete 2025 Frontier Conference Football Coaches' West Division Preseason Poll:
 

2025 Frontier Conference Football Preseason Coaches' Poll – West Division
Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Total Points
1	Montana Western (5)	35
2	Southern Oregon (1)	30
3	College of Idaho	26
4	Carroll (Mont.) (1)	23
5	Eastern Oregon	16
6	Arizona Christian	11
7	Simpson (Calif.)	6