Tue, Jul 27, 2021

ST. LOUIS – Defending Pioneer Football League champion Davidson College is the choice to win the league’s 2021 title in the league’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll, voted by each of the league’s head coaches.

The PFL will present its 2021 Preseason All-PFL Teams, Wednesday.

Davidson, which won its first PFL title last season, received eight of the 11 first-place votes and received both a second-place and third-place vote. San Diego, the preseason pick each of the past nine preseason coaches’ polls, received the three remaining first-place votes and was picked second on each of the other seven ballots.

Davidson received 97 of the maximum 100 points possible, with coaches unable to vote for their own team, with San Diego close behind at 93 points – making those two teams the clear frontrunners. Drake and Dayton round out the top four with 67 and 62 points, respectively.

Presbyterian, which will make its first run at the league title this season, got 59 points and a fifth-place nod from the league’s head coaches. Valparaiso (55 points) and Morehead State (51) followed in sixth and seventh place.

St. Thomas was picked to finish eighth (36 points) in its first PFL season. Marist and Stetson followed in a tie for ninth place (35 points each) with Butler (15) rounding out the 11-team poll.

The upcoming 2021 season marks the 29th year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The league will feature 11 teams each playing an eight-game schedule to determine the league champion and recipient of the automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Championship.

The 2021 schedule gets underway Thursday, Sept. 2 when Drake hosts West Virginia Wesleyan and the rest of the league gets underway Saturday, Sept. 4. The 2021 PFL race starts in Week 4 (Sept. 14) with a full five-game slate of league outings.

– PFL –

COURTESY PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE MEDIA RELATIONS