CHARLOTTE - Following a conference-wide bye date last Thursday, Northwest remained positioned at No. 7 in the latest batch of NJCAA Division I Football Rankings, released Monday afternoon.

Not much movement occurred with MACCC programs in the national rankings, although Mississippi Gulf Coast jumped from No. 4 to No. 3 after a loss suffered by previous No. 3 team Snow College (Utah). Holmes and Jones College also remained paused at No. 8 and No. 12, respectively, while Itawamba continues to receive votes.

Hutchinson (Kan.) tops the rankings yet again, followed by Iowa Western at No. 2, Georgia Military College at No. 4 and fifth-ranked Snow.

Northwest (4-1, 3-0 MACCC North) will step out of division play this Thursday, traveling to Southwest Mississippi for a non-conference contest. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2019 and the first trip to the Bears since the 2018 season.

All-time, Northwest leads the series against Southwest Mississippi by a 23-13-1 margin. The Rangers have won each of the last two meetings against the Bears, with the last loss coming in 2013 in a 19-15 decision. The lone tie in the series came during the 1957 Homecoming game for Northwest, when the matchup finished in a 13-13 deadlock.

Southwest Mississippi enters the matchup at 0-5 overall. The Bears' most recent game was a 42-16 loss at Copiah-Lincoln on September 26.

Kickoff for Thursday's game is set for 6:30 P.M. at John I. Hurst Stadium in Summit. Pregame coverage begins at 6 P.M. on the Ranger TV Network, including Action News 5 Plus in the Mid-South (Channel 5.5/Action News 5 TV app), WHCQ-LD 8 (Cleveland/Mississippi Delta), WEBU-LD 22 (Oxford/Water Valley) or online via nwccrangers.com/watch.