After being voted one of the nation's Top 20 most improved teams in all of college football, Campbellsville University will open 2010 ranked No. 25 in the CollegeFanz.com rankings, released Monday.

Campbellsville looks to return nearly an entire football team from last year's 7-4 season, which was plagued with injuries and young talent.

"The ranking is a great sign of our program's growth over the past few seasons," said CU head coach Perry Thomas, who is entering his third season. "We now must push forward and get into the playoffs."

That pushing forward approach is part of this year's motto: "Over the Top."

When Thomas came to Campbellsville following the 2007 season, he selected the theme "Restore the Roar" to the program, which had just finished 0-10. Thomas' team came in and went 3-8, losing many close games. In 2009, his motivating edge was "Leave No Doubt" that Campbellsville was on the rise. The team's best finish since 2003 with a 7-4 record.

That kind of turn around caught the attention of California-based sports information company Somis Sports. The company named Thomas' Tigers the No. 20 most improved team of all levels of college football, and the No. 6 most improved team in the NAIA.

Jason Dannelly of CollegeFanz.com took note of CU when it defeated No. 10 Shorter College on the road during the Game of the Week last October. He spoke with Thomas in a special online audio interview in May. Click here to listen.

Dannelly, along with members of the College Fanz NAIA Football Game of the Week broadcast team, select the weekly CollegeFanz rankings.

"Finding the top teams in the country is not too difficult," said Dannelly. "Rating all 93 teams in the country is the tough part. It's very tough to predict how some of these teams will do early in the season. Thankfully the rest of the College Fanz team was able to help out and pitch in their hours of research for this rating."

Grabbing the top spot in the ranking are the back-to-back defending NAIA National Champions, the University of Sioux Falls Cougars, who have been rated in the College FanzNAIA ranking's top spot since winning the 2008 NAIA National Title. The only other Mid-South Conference opponent in the Top 25 is 2009 MSC East champion University of the Cumberlands, ranked No. 7.

College Fanz will announce its NAIA Top 72 Players list next week as build up to the release of the College Fanz NAIA Preview 2010 Magazine. The seventh annual College Fanz NAIA Football Preview magazine is on sale for $14.95 at http://naia.collegefanz.com/magazineBill.php.

Here is the complete ranking from College Fanz:

1. University of Sioux Falls (S.D.)

2. Lindenwood University (Mo.)

3. Carroll College (Mont.)

4. Saint Xavier University (Ill.)

5. Morningside College (S.D.)

6. MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)

7. University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)

8. University of Saint Francis (Ind.)

9. McKendree University (Ill.)

10. Missouri Valley (Mo.)

11. Minot State University (N.D.)

12. Walsh University (Ohio)

13. Hastings College (Neb.)

14. Friends University (Kan.)

15. Ottawa University (Kan.)

16. McPherson College (Kan.)

17. Northwestern Oklahoma State University

18. Grand View University (Iowa)

19. Dickinson State University (N.D.)

20. Northwestern College (Iowa)

21. Lambuth University (Tenn.)

22. Langston University (Okla.)

23. Taylor University (Ind.)

24. Eastern Oregon

25. Campbellsville University (Ky.)