SEARCY – A successful season for the 2010 Harding football team will be one filled with upsets, according to the GSC Football Pre-Season Coaches' Poll. The conference's coaches selected Harding 10th of 11 teams for the upcoming season.

“The GSC coaches poll is a strong indication to me that this year the conference is as wide open as it been since I have been coaching in the league,” says Harding head coach Ronnie Huckeba. “There are a number of teams that have an opportunity to surprise this year.  It is going to be a very exciting season!”

Harding finished with a 5-6 overall record and a 3-5 mark in conference play last season, good for an eighth-place tie.

Defending Conference Champion North Alabama was selected by the league's coaches to remain the kings of the GSC football jungle.  West Alabama is expected to continue to ride its 2009 momentum into 2010, while usual suspects Valdosta State, Delta State and Arkansas Tech are also top contenders.

The GSC-TV Live Game of the Week package is back for the sixth consecutive season, featuring a nine-game schedule led eight Thursday night battles.  Highlighting this year's regional television package includes the “Boomtown Classic,” which pits Southern Arkansas versus Arkansas-Monticello at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado, Arkansas on Saturday, November 6th.  The GSC remained a part of the NCAA Production telecast schedule on CBS College Sports Network when Delta State hosts Arkansas Tech on Thursday, September 9th.

Defending GSC Champion North Alabama was selected to repeat, after finishing first in the Coaches' Poll for the first time since 2006.  UNA garnered 97 total points behind eight first-place votes, one second-place nod and one for third-place.

In-state rival West Alabama is the Lions' top challenger after the Tigers recorded their highest Pre-Season ranking since 1976.  UWA earned 84 total points led by two first-place votes and four second-place nods.  West Alabama previously entered as the top ranked team in 1976 and 1972.  Third-place Valdosta State finished three votes shy of UWA, notching the final first-place nod en route to 81 points.  Delta State is ranked fourth (72 points), followed by Arkansas Tech (62) and Ouachita Baptist (51).  OBU tied its previous best ranking after also claiming the sixth spot in 2003.

Just one point separates seventh and eighth place with Henderson State inching out in-state rival Arkansas-Monticello, 47 to 46.  Completing the poll was Southern Arkansas (26), Harding (24) and West Georgia (19).