SRU Season Preview / Notes

WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team will enter the 2021 season ranked fifth in the officially recognized NCAA Division II national rankings after the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll was released Wednesday.
 
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking recognized by the NCAA throughout the season. The preseason poll announced Wednesday will stand as the week one rankings heading into the 2021 season with the first official weekly poll set to be announced Monday, Sept. 6 after the opening weekend of action.
 
This marks the seventh straight year that Slippery Rock has been included in the preseason national poll and the fifth year in the last six that The Rock will be ranked inside the top 10 nationally at some point during the season.
 
Defending national champion West Florida was picked at No. 1 in the preseason poll, edging Minnesota State for the top spot. Ferris State was picked third, with Northwest Missouri State edging SRU for the fourth spot and The Rock rounding out the top five.
 
The No. 5 ranking is an improvement of one place over the final 2019 rankings for Slippery Rock after SRU was listed at No. 6 following the 2019 season.
 
Slippery Rock is one four teams from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference to make the top 25, giving the PSAC the most teams listed of any conference. The Rock are the only PSAC team in the top 10 with Shepherd ranking 15th, followed by Indiana (Pa.) at No. 17 and Kutztown at No. 20.
 
Notre Dame (Ohio) was ranked ninth, while Tiffin is No. 19 to give Super Region One a total of six teams in the preseason top 25.
 
Another eight Super Region One teams were included in the "Others Receiving Votes" section of the poll with Ashland, West Chester, Bentley, Ohio Dominican, Findlay, Cal U (Pa.), Assumption and Hillsdale all picking up votes. Slippery Rock's week one opponent, Wayne State (Mich.), also received votes in the preseason poll.
 
Slippery Rock is coming off a 13-1 season in 2019 that saw The Rock post the second best record in all of Division II. SRU reached and hosted a national semifinal game after winning the PSAC West title for the second year in a row and claiming both the PSAC and Super Region One titles.
 
The Rock will open the 2021 season on the road at Wayne State in Detroit Thursday evening, Sept. 2 with a 6 p.m. kickoff.
 

2021 AFCA Preseason Poll (Aug. 16)

Rank	Team (1st place votes)	2019 W-L	Pts.	Prev.
1	West Florida (26)	13-2	698	1
2	Minnesota St. (2)	14-1	673	2
3	Ferris St. (Mich.)	12-1	630	3
4	Northwest Missouri St. (1)	12-2	575	7
5	SLIPPERY ROCK	13-1	544	6
t6.	Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.)	13-1	540	4
t6.	Valdosta St. (Ga.)	10-1	540	5
8	Texas A&M-Commerce	10-3	520	11
9	Notre Dame (Ohio)	12-2	501	10
10	Colorado School of Mines	12-1	423	8
11	Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)	11-1	387	14
12	Colorado St.-Pueblo	11-2	327	12
13	Central Missouri	11-2	323	13
14	Indianapolis (Ind.)	9-2	261	17
15	Shepherd (W.Va.)	10-3	256	22
16	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	8-3	231	NR
17	Indiana (Pa.)	10-2	220	21
18	Bowie St. (Md.)	11-1	210	18
19	Tiffin (Ohio)	9-2	188	23
20	Kutztown (Pa.)	11-2	144	16
21	Lindenwood (Mo.)	9-4	134	25
22	Harding (Ark.)	10-2	120	15
23	Minnesota-Duluth	8-3	100	NR
t24.	Carson-Newman (Tenn.)	9-3	95	20
t24.	Wingate (N.C.)	10-2	95	16

Others Receiving Votes: Fort Hays St., 90; Tusculum (Tenn.), 52; Angelo St. (Texas), 49; Augustana (S.D.), 42; Ashland (Ohio), 38; West Chester (Pa.), 38; Delta St. (Miss.), 35; West Texas A&M, 26; Midwestern St. (Texas), 25; Bentley (Mass.), 24; Henderson St. (Ark.), 24; Sioux Falls (S.D.), 23; UT-Permian Basin (Texas), 23; Ohio Dominican, 20; Findlay (Ohio), 18; West Alabama, 18; California (Pa.), 17; Charleston (W.Va.), 16; Central Washington, 15; Miles (Ala.), 15; Truman St. (Mo.), 15; Oklahoma Baptist, 14; Assumption (Mass.), 9; Pittsburg St. (Kan.), 8; Wayne St. (Mich.), 8; Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), 6; Virginia Union, 6; Chadron St. (Neb.), 4; Nebraska-Kearney, 4; Fayetteville St. (N.C.), 2; West Georgia, 2; Hillsdale (Mich.), 1; Missouri Western, 1; Virginia St., 1; Western Oregon, 1.



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