Football
Jon Holtz, Athletic Communication
The Rock football team will open the 2024 season ranked No. 11 in the Division II national rankings after the AFCA released the preseason national poll Monday.
SRU Season Preview / Notes
WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team will enter the 2024 season ranked 11th in the NCAA Division II national rankings according to the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll that was announced Monday.
The AFCA poll is widely regarded as the official Division II national ranking recognized by the NCAA throughout the season. The preseason poll will stand as the week one rankings heading into the 2024 season with the first official weekly poll set to be announced after the opening weekend of action.
This marks the 10th straight year that Slippery Rock has been included in the preseason national poll. The Rock were one of just 12 teams in Division II to be ranked in every poll during the 2023 season and finished the year at No. 10 in the final rankings. SRU has been ranked in every AFCA national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season.
Defending national champion Harding is the preseason No. 1, followed by Central Missouri, Ferris State, Grand Valley State and Colorado School of Mines rounding out the top five.
A total of three teams from Super Region One, including two teams from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, are listed in the preseason top 25. Kutztown leads the way at No. 10, followed by Slippery Rock at No. 11 and Charleston (W.Va.) of the Mountain East Conference at No. 23.
In addition to the three Super Region One teams listed in the top 25, another eight teams from the region are included in the “Others Receiving Votes” section of the poll. Those teams include Tiffin, Ashland, and Findlay from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, New Haven from the Northeast 10 Conference and California (Pa.), Shepherd, East Stroudsburg and Indiana (Pa.) from the PSAC.
Slippery Rock’s 2024 schedule includes four games against teams mentioned in the preseason poll, including three in the first five weeks of the season. The Rock will open the year at home against New Haven Sept. 7 before traveling to Shepherd Sept. 14. SRU is also scheduled to play road games at Indiana (Pa.) Oct. 5 and at California (Pa.) Oct. 19.
The Rock are coming off a 12-2 season that included a fifth straight PSAC West title and a fifth straight trip to the NCAA Playoffs. SRU enters the year tied for the second-longest active playoff streak in Division II and will be aiming to make the national playoff field for the sixth straight year and the ninth time in the last 11 seasons.
Single-game and season ticket and parking information for the 2024 season is available HERE.
2024 AFCA DIVISION II PRESEASON NATIONAL POLL – AUG. 12
| Rank | School (1st votes) | 2023 W-L | Pts. | 2023 Rank |
| 1 | Harding (Ark.) (25) | 15-0 | 672 | 1 |
| 2 | Central Missouri | 11-2 | 620 | 6 |
| 3 | Ferris St. (Mich.) (1) | 8-3 | 590 | 9 |
| 4 | Grand Valley St. (Mich.) (1) | 11-2 | 566 | 3 |
| 5 | Colorado School of Mines | 14-1 | 564 | 2 |
| 6 | Pittsburg St. (Kan.) | 11-2 | 540 | 5 |
| 7 | Valdosta St. (Ga.) | 12-2 | 516 | 8 |
| 8 | Central Washington | 9-4 | 418 | 17 |
| 9 | Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) | 13-2 | 416 | 4 |
| 10 | Kutztown (Pa.) * | 12-3 | 413 | 7 |
| 11 | SLIPPERY ROCK * | 12-2 | 384 | 10 |
| 12 | West Florida | 8-4 | 330 | 23 |
| 13 | Minnesota St. | 9-3 | 232 | 21 |
| 14 | Augustana (S.D.) | 11-2 | 231 | 13 |
| 15 | Western Colorado | 10-2 | 230 | 15 |
| 16 | Indianapolis (Ind.) | 9-2 | 216 | 22 |
| 17 | Minnesota-Duluth | 9-2 | 214 | 25 |
| 18 | Delta St. (Miss.) | 10-2 | 212 | 11 |
| 19 | Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) | 9-2 | 209 | NR |
| 20 | Virginia Union | 10-2 | 183 | 20 |
| 21 | Texas-Permian Basin | 10-2 | 169 | 18 |
| 22 | Northwest Missouri St. | 7-4 | 167 | NR |
| 23 | Charleston (W.Va.) * | 10-2 | 102 | 19 |
| 24 | Angelo St. (Tex.) | 7-3 | 89 | NR |
| 25 | Bemidji St. (Minn.) | 9-3 | 70 | 16 |
Others Receiving Votes: Benedict (S.C.), 64; Henderson St. (Ark.), 56; Virginia St., 54; Tiffin (Ohio), 34*; Southern Arkansas, 24; Ashland (Ohio), 21*; Davenport (Mich.), 21; Wingate (N.C.), 20; Emporia St. (Kan.), 18; Colorado St.-Pueblo, 17; Albany St. (Ga.), 15; Findlay (Ohio), 14*; Texas A&M-Kingsville, 12; California (Pa.), 11*^; Oklahoma Baptist, 11; Shepherd (W.Va.), 8*^; New Haven (Conn.), 7*^; Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 6; Wayne St. (Neb.), 3; East Stroudsburg (Pa.), 2; Truman St. (Mo.), 2; Fort Valley St. (Ga.), 1; Indiana (Pa.), 1*^.
* Super Region One Schools
^ SRU Opponents in 2024
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