Ferris State Football Picked As Nation's #4 Preseason Team By Lindy's Sports
Big Rapids, Mich. - The first preseason national poll heading into the 2024 campaign has been announced and the Ferris State University Bulldogs have been selected as the nation's preseason #4 team by Lindy's Sports.
The annual college football national preview magazine picked FSU fourth overall entering this fall's slate as the publication recently hit the newsstands across the country.
This year's selection marks the ninth-straight year in which Ferris State has been picked as one of the nation's top five preseason squads by at least one source.
Lindy's Sports, which is billed as the nation's leading football authority, highlighted the top 25 teams in the country based on expert opinions and also featured a preseason All-America team. Overall, the top five teams nationally in the magazine's preseason listing included defending national champion Harding (#1), Central Missouri (#2), Pittsburg State (#3), FSU (#4) and Valdosta State (#5). The top four choices are all from the highly-competitive Super Region Three.
FSU was one of only two schools from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) found in the preseason top 25 along with seventh-ranked rival Grand Valley State. A total of five of the nation's top 10 preseason squads and nine of the top 25 hailed from Super Region Three.
Lindy's Sports also tabbed Bulldog junior offensive lineman Bryce George (Detroit/Edison) to the Preseason All-America First Team and fellow junior offensive lineman Lawrence Hattar (Livonia/Churchill) to the preseason second-team.
Additionally, the magazine also chose its five biggest games of the year with the Bulldogs featured to play in two of them. FSU visits preseason third-ranked Pittsburg State in a season-opening showdown on Aug. 31 and the annual Anchor-Bone Classic between FSU and GVSU, slated for Oct. 26 in Allendale, is again featured as one of the country's marquee matchups this fall.
The Bulldogs will begin their 115th season of varsity competition this coming fall with their sights set on making a 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The Bulldogs have made five national semifinal appearances along with three trips to the national championship game and back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022 during the stretch.
Over the past three seasons of action, the Bulldogs own a 36-4 overall record and FSU has reached the NCAA Division II Playoffs nine consecutive years and counting. Ferris State has also reached the NCAA Division II National Semifinals five times in the past seven seasons of action and ranks as the country's winningest program over the past nine full seasons in D2 Football. FSU 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 opens the 2024 season at Pittsburg State on Aug. 31 with the home opener set for Saturday, Sept. 7, versus Lake Erie at Top Taggart Field.
Below is the Lindy's Sports D2 Preseason Top 25 National Rankings:
1. Harding
2. Central Missouri
3. Pittsburg State
4. Ferris State
5. Valdosta State
6. Colorado Mines
7. Grand Valley State
8. Central Washington
9. Kutztown
10. Slippery Rock
11. Minnesota State
12. Lenoir-Rhyne
13. West Florida
14. Virginia Union
15. Indianapolis
16. Western Colorado
17. Ouachita Baptist
18. Augustana
19. Texas-Permian Basin
20. Minnesota Duluth
21. Charleston (W.Va.)
22. Henderson State
23. Northwest Missouri State
24. Delta State
25. Benedict