JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has placed four teams in the Week Zero Stats Perform Top-25 Poll, it was announced Monday.
Tarleton State (1-0) retained its ranking at No. 5 after a convincing 49-30 win over Prairie View A&M Saturday night. Tylan Hines barreled through the Panther defense with 184 yards on the ground on 25 attempts and two scores for the Texans while the offense as a whole put up 505 yards in the team’s season-opener.
Austin Peay (1-0) moved up to No. 15 after a 35-17 win over Gardner-Webb last Thursday night. The Govs were led by UAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Chris Parson with 339 total yards of offense (308 pass, 31 rush) while the Govs defense got to GWU’s quarterback three times in the game.
Abilene Christian (0-1) jumped down a few slots to No. 20 after a heartbreaking 21-14 loss to then-No. 21 Lamar. The offense put up 358 yards of offense in the season-opening game while the defense was led by Dillon Williams and
Javeon Wilcox with 13 and 12 tackles, respectively.
West Florida (1-0) stunned the college football world when they took the 34-31 win over then No. 16 Southern Illinois in the program’s Division I debut and comes in at No. 25 in the poll. After getting up by as much as 18 in the third quarter, the Argos faced a big challenge in keeping the Salukis at bay. With SIU driving in the final minute of the game, David Law-Mortimer sealed the Argos victory with the game-winning interception.
Central Arkansas (1-0) moved up and is receiving votes this week after a 36-24 win over then No. 24 UT Martin.
Requests for interviews should be directed to:
Claire Johnson, Senior Director, Strategic Communications & Content
Unisun Sports /
claire.johnson@asunsports.org
About the United Athletic Conference
The United Athletic Conference (UAC) was established in 2023 as a single-sport football conference through a partnership between the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) and the former Western Athletic Conference. In 2026, the ASUN and UAC formed Unisun Sports to further strengthen the conference, which now features eight football-playing member institutions: Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) and the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.).