LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall football team has achieved its highest-ever national ranking in the history of both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and D3football.com national polls. The Diplomats are ranked 16th in the country this week by D3football.com and 18th in the nation by the AFCA after defeating then-No. 3 Johns Hopkins by a 29-28 score in overtime to secure the program's first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to this most recent ranking, Franklin & Marshall was placed as high as No. 21 in the nation according to the AFCA during the 2018 season, the same season in which D3football.com had the Diplomats as high as No. 24 in the national polls.

F&M (9-1, 6-0 CC) is riding an eight-game winning streak into the postseason which is the team's longest since it last achieved a national ranking between the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The Diplomats finished the regular season undefeated on the road where they tied the program record for most consecutive road wins (8) dating back to the 2024 season. F&M's undefeated record in the Centennial Conference was just the second time in program history that feat was accomplished. They also accomplished that milestone during the 1987 season. The conference title was the 15th in program history, with seven in the Middle Atlantic Conference and eight in the Centennial Conference.

With a bye in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after earning the No. 9 ranking according to the NCAA Power Index (NPI), the Diplomats will host Eastern next Saturday, November 29 at noon inside Shadek Stadium in its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.