Blinn Buccaneers Claim No. 1 Ranking in NJCAA / JC Football.com Top 20

COLORADO SPRINGS - The first NJCAA / JC Football.com Poll of 2008 regular season has been released with the Buccaneers of Blinn College (Texas) taking the No. 1 spot. Blinn received 139 total poll points and six of seven first place votes. Blinn is followed by 2007 co-national champion Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Navarro College. Snow College (Utah) and Jones County Junior College (Miss.) round out the top five.

Pre-season favorite Butler Community College (Kan.) slips to No. 6 in the poll after a 1-1 start.

Blinn picked up its second win of the season last night with a 46-0 victory over Abilene Christian University JV. In their first contest on Aug. 28, the Buccaneers defeated pre-season No. 1 ranked Butler 23-20. Blinn was crowned NJCAA champions in 2006.

Mississippi Gulf Coast defeated Northwest Mississippi Community College 39-14 last week and then took down pre-season No. 20 Itawamba Community College 36-0. With the two wins, the Bulldogs now own the longest active winning streak in the nation with 14-straight victories dating back to last season.

Navarro College (Texas) undoubtedly had the toughest two contests to start the season. On Aug. 30 they defeated then 19 th ranked Coffeyville Community College (Kan.) on the road 19-10 . The Bulldogs then returned home and defeated pre-season No. 5 Georgia Military College 25-13. This week doesn't get any easier for Navarro as they next host No. 18 Kilgore College (Texas) on Sept. 20.

The Snow Badgers got off to a great start by defeating Western States Football League foe Mesa Community College (Ariz.) on the road 24-19. The win moves the Badgers to 2-0 as they defeated Air Force Prep 56-17 on Aug. 29. This is the fifth consecutive season Snow has began the regular season ranked in the top 10.

Jones County has dismantled two fellow Mississippi football teams to begin their 2008 campaign. The Bobcats took down pre-season No. 20 Itawamba 38-7 in week one and then edged East Mississippi Community College 23-19 on Sept. 6. Bobcat running back Daniel Borne rushed for 119 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns in the win over East Mississippi. He now has five touchdowns on the young season.

Early Surprise to the Season

A big congratulation is extended from everyone in the NJCAA football community to Arkansas Baptist College. The Bison, who went 0- 9 last year in their first year of NJCAA football, are 2-0 this year after defeating Highland Community College (Kan.) 21-17 on Aug. 30 and then defeated long-time NJCAA power Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College 21-6 this past Saturday. For their efforts the Bison picked up one vote in this week's poll. ABC faces one of the toughest schedules in the country this season with 10 th ranked Georgia Military on the docket this week and No. 1 Blinn College (Texas) on Sept. 20.