NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State has earned its third HBCU Division I football championship for the 2011 season, as the Spartans came out on top of the American Sports Wire Black College Football final top 10 poll.

NSU received 22 of 27 first-place votes by American Sports Wire, which has announced a winner every year since 1990. Grambling (8-4) was second and received the other five first-place votes.

This is the third HBCU poll that NSU has finished atop for 2011. The Spartans also won the Boxtorow and HSRN Division I titles following their 9-3 season this past fall, which included the school's first-ever MEAC title.

Final American Sports Wire BCF Poll
1. Norfolk State (22)                 
2. Grambling (5)
3. Alabama A&M
4. South Carolina State
5. Bethune-Cookman
6. Jackson State
7. Alabama State
8. Hampton
9. Florida A&M
10. Arkansas-Pine Bluff