August 18, 2026
HELENA, Mont. – Defending Frontier Conference West Division champion College of Idaho was selected as the favorite to repeat in the 2026 Frontier Conference West Division Football Coaches’ Preseason Poll.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team in the preseason poll.
The Yotes collected 36 points and six first-place votes to claim the top spot in the preseason balloting. College of Idaho is coming off an 11-2 campaign in 2025, finishing a perfect 6-0 in Frontier West Division play and earning the division's automatic berth in the NAIA Football Championship Series.
CI advanced to the NAIA FCS semifinals before falling to Keiser (Fla.). The Yotes finished No. 4 in the final NAIA Football Top 25 national poll.
Carroll (Mont.) was picked second with 30 points. The Fighting Saints finished runner-up to College of Idaho in last year's West Division standings, going 5-1 in division play and 9-3 overall. Carroll also advanced to the NAIA Football Championship Series, falling to Frontier East Division’s champion Montana Tech in the second round.
CC was ranked No. 13 in the final NAIA poll last season.
Montana Western was selected third in the preseason poll with 27 points and received one first-place vote. The Bulldogs finished third in the West last season with a 4-2 division record and 7-3 overall mark. Montana Western closed its 2025 season on a three-game winning streak, finishing at No. 18 ranking in the final NAIA football poll.
Southern Oregon was picked fourth with 20 points, followed by Eastern Oregon fifth with 17 points, Arizona Christian sixth with 11 points, and Simpson (Calif.) seventh with six points.
The NAIA Football season gets underway on Thursday, Aug. 28 with Carroll hosting Frontier East’s MSU-Northern.
College of Idaho travels to Eastern Oregon, while Southern Oregon visits Simpson in their season opening game on Saturday, Aug. 29. Those contests will be counted as non-conference games.
Montana Western and Arizona Christian won’t open their football season until Saturday, Sept. 5. The Bulldogs travel to MSU-Northern, while the Firestorms heads to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.
The winner of West Division will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA Football Championship Series, which is scheduled to start on Saturday, Nov. 21.
| 2026 Frontier Conference Football WEST DIVISION Coaches’ Preseason Poll |
| RANK |
SCHOOL |
POINTS
(FIRST PLACE VOTES) |
| 1 |
|
36
(6) |
| 2 |
|
30 |
| 3 |
|
27
(1) |
| 4 |
|
20 |
| 5 |
|
17 |
| 6 |
|
11 |
| 7 |
|
6 |