Kutztown University will enter the NCAA Division II football playoffs as the third ranked team in the nation after the latest AFCA Division II Coaches Poll was released on Monday.
The unbeaten Golden Bears (11-0), coming off their third straight PSAC championship, are the top seed in the Super One Region for the 32-team field, which is broken up into four regions.
Kutztown will open the tournament at noon Saturday at Andre Reed Stadium against Bentley. It’s the second year in a row that the Golden Bears are the regional top seed. Bentley (7-3) is the Northeast 10 Conference champion.
The teams have two common opponents this season in Assumption and West Chester. Kutztown opened the season with a 51-14 win over Assumption and beat the Golden Rams 41-7 on Oct. 25. Bentley lost to West Chester 30-13 to open the season and beat Assumption 20-17 on Nov. 8.
Kutztown extended its Division II-best active regular season winning streak to 31 games by defeating IUP, 28-23, Saturday to win its third consecutive PSAC Championship Game.
The Golden Bears are making their eighth national tournament appearance and fifth in the last six seasons. It’s the fourth time in program history that Kutztown is the top seed in Super Region One (2010, 2021, 2024, 2025).
The other games in Super Region One in the first round are No. 2 seed Johnson C. Smith, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion, taking on Mountain East champion and unseeded Frostburg State, No. 3 seed Virginia Union from the CIAA facing unseeded California (Pa.) from the PSAC, and No. 4 seed IUP hosting Assumption.
The other regional top seeds are Albany State (Ga.), defending national champion Ferris State and Harding.
All Division II games through the semifinals will be carried live on ESPN+, with the national championship game airing on ESPN2 from McKinney, Texas, on Dec. 20.
