KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA released its Football GoRout Top 25 Postseason Poll on Monday, and for the first time in 20 seasons the University of Pikeville found itself in it.
 
The Bears were ranked 22nd in the country on Monday.
 
UPike finished with a 6-6 record after claiming the automatic bid into the NAIA postseason tournament. It knocked off Baker (Kan.) 42-35 in the opening round, advancing to the second round where it met No. 1 Keiser (Fla.). There, the Bears fell 56-21.
 
Baker was No. 17 in Monday's postseason poll, while Keiser, the eventual national runner-up, was No. 2.
 
Monday marked the third time in program history that the Bears were in the postseason poll. The others were as follows:
 

• In 2004, the Bears were ranked 23^rd after an 8-3 season in only their fourth year of varsity football
• In 2005, Pikeville was 15^th following its first-ever postseason trip and a 7-3 campaign

 
UPike won six of its final eight games in 2024, finishing 11^th in the country in scoring with an average of 41.5 points per game, while its 71 touchdowns landed it tied for ninth in the nation.
 
The Bears were led by quarterback Lee Kirkland, a graduate student from Bluffton, S.C. He was second in the nation in passing yards per game with an average of 330.2, and his 40 passing touchdowns was good for third in the country.
 
Freshman tailback Amon Williams finished ninth in the nation with an average of 115.5 yards per game.
 
Grand View (Iowa) won the national title and was picked first. Keiser was next, with Morningside (Iowa) and Benedictine (Kan.) tied for third and Montana Western rounding out the Top 5.
 
UPike was the only Appalachian Athletics Conference team to appear in the postseason poll or among the teams receiving votes.