Morningside will enter the 2017 football season as the fourth ranked team in the nation.

Morningside  is ranked fourth in the nation in the NAIA Football Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 Poll released on August 7.

The Mustangs, who were ranked sixth in the NAIA Spring Top 25 Poll, come off a 2016 season where they posted a 10-2 record and won a sixth consecutive Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship. The Mustangs made their 13th consecutive postseason appearance in the NAIA Football Championship Series, where they lost 42-35 in the quarterfinals against eventual NAIA National Champion University of Saint Francis.

Morningside has been ranked in the NAIA Top 25 for 126 consecutive polls for the nation’s longest active streak of Top 25 rankings. The Mustangs also have the nation’s longest active streak with their 13 consecutive NAIA Championship Series appearances.

Morningside is one of three teams from the GPAC in the NAIA Preseason Top 25. Aside from Morningside, Doane University is ranked 11th and Dakota Wesleyan University is 17th.

Morningside has a 134-27 record for a .832 winning percentage since the start of the 2004 season.

The Mustangs will open the 2017 season against the University of St. Francis on Saturday, Aug. 26, in Joliet, Ill.

Click here for the complete NAIA Preseason Top 25.