football
Jon Holtz, Sports Communications
The Rock football team will open the 2024 season ranked 11th in the national Division II rankings after the AFCA released the national preseason poll on Monday.
SRU Season Preview / Notes
WACO, Texas – The Slippery Rock University football team will enter the 2024 season ranked No. 11 in the NCAA Division II national rankings, according to the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll released Monday.
The AFCA poll is generally considered the official Division II national rankings recognized by the NCAA throughout the season. The preseason poll is considered the first week’s rankings prior to the 2024 season, with the first official weekly poll to be announced after the opening weekend.
This is the 10th consecutive year that Slippery Rock has been ranked in the preseason national poll. The Rock was one of only 12 teams in Division II ranked in every poll of the 2023 season and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the final rankings. SRU has been ranked in every AFCA national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season.
Reigning national champion Harding is the preseason No. 1 seed, 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 ranked in the preseason top 25. Kutztown leads 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 in the top 25, another eight teams from the region are included in the “Others Receive 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 named 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 on Sept. 7 before traveling to Shepherd on Sept. 14. SRU also has road games scheduled at Indiana (Pa.) on Oct. 5 and California (Pa.) on Oct. 19.
The Rock are coming off a 12-2 season that saw them win the PSAC West title for the fifth consecutive year and make the NCAA playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. SRU enters the year with the second-longest playoff streak in Division II and is aiming to make the national playoffs for the sixth consecutive year and ninth time in the last 11 seasons.
Information on single game and season tickets as well as parking options for the 2024 season can be found HERE.
2024 AFCA DIVISION II NATIONAL PRE-SEASON POLL – AUGUST 12
| Rank | School (1st votes) | 2023 WL | Pt. | Ranking 2023 |
| 1 | Harding (Arkansas) (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 Mining | 14-1 | 564 | 2 |
| 6 | Pittsburg St. (Can.) | 11-2 | 540 | 5 |
| 7 | Valdosta St. (Georgia) | 12-2 | 516 | 8 |
| 8 | Central Washington | 9-4 | 418 | 17 |
| 9 | Lenoir-Rhyne (North Carolina) | 13-2 | 416 | 4 |
| 10 | Kutztown (Pennsylvania) * | 12-3 | 413 | 7 |
| 11 | SMOOTH ROCK * | 12-2 | 384 | 10 |
| 12 | West Florida | 8-4 | 330 | 23 |
| 13 | Minnesota St. | 9-3 | 232 | 21 |
| 14 | Augustana (SD) | 11-2 | 231 | 13 |
| 15 | Western Colorado | 10-2 | 230 | 15 |
| 16 | Indianapolis (Indiana) | 9-2 | 216 | 22 |
| 17 | Minnesota-Duluth | 9-2 | 214 | 25 |
| 18 | Delta St. (Miss.) | 10-2 | 212 | 11 |
| 19 | Ouachita Baptist Church (Arkansas) | 9-2 | 209 | NO |
| 20 | Virginia Union | 10-2 | 183 | 20 |
| 21 | Texas Permian Basin | 10-2 | 169 | 18 |
| 22 | Northwest Missouri St. | 7-4 | 167 | NO |
| 23 | Charleston (West Virginia) * | 10-2 | 102 | 19 |
| 24 | Angelo St. (Tex.) | 7-3 | 89 | NO |
| 25 | Bemidji St. (Minnesota) | 9-3 | 70 | 16 |
Other vote recipients: Benedict (SC), 64; Henderson St. (Ark.), 56; Virginia St., 54; Tiffin (Ohio), 34*; South Arkansas, 24; Ashland (Ohio), 21*; Davenport (Mich.), 21; Wingate (NC), 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 (Pennsylvania), 1*^.
* Super Region One Schools
^ SRU opponents in 2024
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