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The OUAZ football team is among the best in the nation to start the season.
The Spirit is ranked No. 16 in the NAIA Football GoRout Top 25 preseason poll, making it the top-ranked team in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The defending SAC champions polled ahead of conference foe Louisiana Christian, which is ranked 22nd.
OUAZ is coming off an 8-1 season in which it failed to make the NAIA playoffs for the second consecutive year. A second-game loss at Texas Wesleyan proved to be the difference.
No. 1 Keiser (Florida), the defending NAIA champs, grabbed 14 of the 16 first-place votes in the NAIA poll. Second-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) received the other two first-place votes. The rest of the top five is Georgetown (Kentucky), College of Idaho and Grand View (Iowa).
In the Sooner Athletic Conference, four-time champion OUAZ was again picked to win the league by its coaches during a virtual SAC media day.
OUAZ earned 61 total points in the conference’s preseason poll and collected six of the nine first-place votes. Right behind the Spirit is Louisiana Christian, with Texas Wesleyan in third.
The Spirit kick off the season at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 when Texas Wesleyan pays a visit to Spirit Field for a rematch of last year’s Spirit loss.
Five of the team’s nine games will be at home, including senior night on Saturday, Nov. 2 against Langston.
The NAIA playoffs feature five rounds this year, beginning Saturday, Nov. 23. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 21 in Durham, North Carolina.
Coach Mike Nesbitt is going into his seventh season with OUAZ. The only coach in school history has compiled a 43-12 record during his stint and is hoping to lead the school to its first playoff victory in school history this year.
Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Jason Jason Stone joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2019, after a distinguished three decade media career that included stops at the Arizona Republic, iHeart Media/Clear Channel and Beckett Sports Card magazine. He remembers when airports sold newspapers.
Community: He is a big supporter of the Valley's original sports team: The Phoenix Suns.
Education: Northern Arizona University with a BS in broadcast journalism and a minor in sports coaching.
Random Fact: The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln.
Hobbies: Surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry.
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