MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Losses by defending national champion and 2nd-ranked UW-Whitewater, No. 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 4 Wheaton opened up spots for the highest-ever D3football.com Top 25 rankings for North Central, Wabash, Muhlenberg, Millsaps and Cortland State.

Winners of nine-straight games dating back to last season by an average of 31.5 ppg, Millsaps enters this week's poll at No. 5 after an idle weekend of competition. The Majors are 7-0 on the year and 5-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play as they make their climb up the Top 25 polls in hopes of a second playoff berth in three years.

Despite previous reports that Millsaps had achieved its highest ranking in school history a few weeks back, legendary head coach Harper Davis confirmed that the Majors were ranked as high as No. 3 during his tenure from 1964-88. The NCAA Statistic Service Bulletin on Sept. 23, 1981 had the Majors ranked No. 8 after a 3-0 start, the previous highest known ranking before Monday's D3football.com Poll.

Millsaps will face its toughest test this weekend, traveling to 14th-ranked Trinity University (7-0, 4-0 SCAC) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff on www.atwsportscast.com. The Tigers have not lost a league game inside the confines of E.M. Stevens Field since a 17-7 defeat to Centre College on Oct. 21, 1995 – a streak of 36 straight home SCAC wins.