Aug. 13, 2024
American Football Coaches Association. The Bulldogs are ranked third in the preseason
coaches poll.
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. —
The Ferris State University football squad has been chosen as the nation’s preseason
No. 3 team by the American Football Coaches Association, the latest organization ranking
the Bulldogs among the nation’s very best.
The AFCA unveiled its 2204 Division II Coaches Preseason Poll, presented by HUDL,
on Monday with the Bulldogs ranking third overall with 590 total points and a first-place
vote.
The Bulldogs were No. 4 ranked team earlier this summer in a preseason national poll
by Lindy’s Sports.
Defending national champion Harding University, of Arkansas, was picked first overall
in the AFCA preseason poll with 672 total points and 25 of a possible 27 first place
mentions. University of Central Missouri was second with 620 points followed by Ferris
State, Grand Valley State University, with 566 points, and Colorado School of Mines,
with 564 points, in the top five.
The Bulldogs’ opening week opponent, Pittsburg State University, located in Kansas,
was listed sixth nationally by the AFCA. Overall, five of the nation’s preseason top
six teams in the preseason poll hail from Super Region Three, including Ferris State.
Ferris State and GVSU are the lone Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
schools found in the nation’s preseason top 25. Davenport University was listed among
others receiving votes just outside the rankings with 21 points.
Ferris State will begin its 12th season on the field this fall under head coach and
two-time D2Football.com National Coach of the Year Tony Annese and is expected to
contend for its nation-leading 10th-straight NCAA Division II playoff appearance.
Ferris State has made the D2 National Semifinals five times in the past seven seasons
of on-field action, including three trips to the D2 National Championship game.
The Bulldogs return a strong nucleus from last season and enter the 2024 campaign
picked to win the GLIAC in the league’s preseason coaches poll unveiled last week.
Over the past three seasons of action, the Bulldogs own a 36-4 overall record and
Ferris State has reached the NCAA Division II Playoffs nine consecutive years and
counting.
Ferris State also ranks as the country’s winningest program over the past nine full
seasons in D2 Football and is 63-6 over the last four seasons of on-field action,
including back-to-back NCAA D2 National Championships in 2021 and 2022.
Ferris State also holds the GLIAC’s best mark and the best overall record of all collegiate
programs in Michigan at 123-20 (.860) overall since the arrival of Tony Annese as
head coach in 2012.
Ferris State will begin the season with a national showdown at preseason Pittsburg
State on Saturday, Aug. 31, in Pittsburg, Kan. The home opener is set for Saturday,
Sept. 7, versus Lake Erie at Top Taggart Field.
Both season and single-game tickets are now on sale for all six home contests are
on sale now and can be purchased online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com/Tickets.
