AFCA Coaches Poll 2023

[Fightingscot82]

We'll keep this thread going throughout the season, so please don't create a new thread for each week. For those new to the board, the AFCA Coaches Poll is "the" coaches poll for D2. There is a committee of D2 head coaches coordinated by the AFCA, the college football coaches professional association. The preseason poll is as follows:

1	Ferris St. (Mich.) (29)	14-1	725	1	Aug. 31 vs. Mercyhurst (Pa.)	Tony Annese
2	Colorado School of Mines	13-3	642	2	Aug. 31 vs. No. 3 Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	Pete Sterbick
3	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	12-1	641	3	Aug. 31 at No. 2 Colorado School of Mines	Scott Wooster
4	Pittsburg St. (Kan.)	12-1	633	5	Aug. 31 vs. Washburn (Kan.)	Brian Wright
5	Angelo St. (Tex.)	12-1	590	7	Aug. 31 at West Alabama	Jeff Girsch
6	Northwest Missouri St.	10-3	560	8	Aug. 31 at Missouri Southern	Rich Wright
7	West Florida	12-2	482	4	Sept. 1 vs. Kentucky Wesleyan	Kaleb Nobles
8	Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)	11-1	455	10	Aug. 31 at Southwestern Oklahoma St.	Todd Knight
9	Minnesota St.	10-3	450	14	Aug. 31 at Sioux Falls (S.D.)	Todd Hoffner
10	Delta St. (Miss.)	11-2	438	9	Aug. 31 at Missouri S&T	Todd Cooley
11	Bemidji St. (Minn.)	10-3	420	24	Aug. 31 vs. Northern St. (S.D.)	Brent Bolte
12	Ashland (Ohio)	10-2	387	13	Aug. 31 at No. 16 Indiana (Pa.)	Doug Geiser
13	Shepherd (W.Va.)	13-2	359	6	Sept. 2 vs. Southern Connecticut St.	Ernie McCook
14	Harding (Ark.)	9-2	305	22	Aug. 31 at Southern Nazarene (Okla.)	Paul Simmons
15	Slippery Rock (Pa.)	10-3	304	16	Sept. 2 vs. Wayne St. (Mich.)	Shawn Lutz
16	Indiana (Pa.)	10-2	300	11	Aug. 31 vs. No. 12 Ashland (Ohio)	Paul Tortorella
17	Benedict (S.C.) (1)	11-1	232	12	Sept. 2 vs. Shaw (N.C.)	Chennis Berry
18	Virginia Union	9-2	200	18	Sept. 3 vs. Morehouse (Ga.)	Alvin Parker
19	Emporia St. (Kan.)	9-3	187	NR	Aug. 31 vs. Lincoln (Mo.)	Garin Higgins
20	Indianapolis (Ind.)	9-2	149	17	Sept. 2 vs. Hillsdale (Mich.)	Chris Keevers
21	Wingate (N.C.)	11-3	147	15	Aug. 31 vs. Albany St. (Ga.)	Joe Reich
22	West Georgia	8-2	146	19	Aug. 31 vs. Limestone (S.C.)	David Dean
23	Assumption (Mass.)	8-3	132	NR	Sept. 2 vs. Kutztown (Pa.)	Andy McKenzie
24	Newberry (S.C.)	9-2	131	21	Sept. 2 at Shippensburg (Pa.)	Todd Knight
25	Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.)	8-3	129	NR	Sept. 2 vs. St. Augustine’s (N.C.)	Mike Jacobs

Others Receiving Votes: Notre Dame (Ohio), 99; Davenport (Mich.), 69; Colorado St.-Pueblo, 56; Bowie St. (Md.), 53; Truman St. (Mo.), 31; Central Washington, 30; Limestone (S.C.), 30; Winona St. (Minn.), 23; Wayne St. (Neb.), 18; Henderson St. (Ark.), 17; Fayetteville St. (N.C.), 16; Tuskegee (Ala.), 16; Morehouse (Ga.), 13; Findlay (Ohio), 12; Fort Valley St. (Ga.), 11; Ohio Dominican, 10; Tiffin (Ohio), 10; California (Pa.), 9; Washburn (Kan.), 9; Charleston (W.Va.), 8; Millersville (Pa.), 8; Mars Hill (N.C.), 6; Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), 6; Texas A&M-Kingsville, 6; Western Colorado, 6; Kutztown (Pa.), 5; Wayne St. (Mich.), 5; Winston-Salem St. (N.C.), 5; Gannon (Pa.), 4; Central Oklahoma, 3; Central St. (Ohio), 2; New Haven (Conn.), 2; Sioux Falls (S.D.), 2; Southern Arkansas, 2; Bluefield St. (W.Va.), 1; Minnesota-Duluth, 1; Nebraska-Kearney, 1; West Alabama, 1.

[CUlater]

some really great week 1 matchups here highlighted by 2 VS 3. Obviously have the Ashland (12) VS IUP (16) in there but I would also expect Minnesota St and Sioux Falls to be a big game. All Thursday night action. should be fun.

Interesting to see Millerville in the mix grabbing some votes?

[EastStroud13]

7/16 teams either ranked or receiving votes is a pretty solid ratio. Wonder how long it's been since Millersville got any votes... Or even more votes than Kutztown.

[Fightingscot82]

Nothing against Millersville, but there are some programs receiving votes that have no business receiving votes. Central State was 3-7 last year and Bluefield State was 4-4 in their first year of D2 ball.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Nothing against Millersville, but there are some programs receiving votes that have no business receiving votes. Central State was 3-7 last year and Bluefield State was 4-4 in their first year of D2 ball.

The popularity contest ends soon enough. Like any other poll, there are biases in this one, too -- especially this time of year.

The beauty of D2 football is you can only hide for so long.

[Ship69]

The popularity contest ends soon enough. Like any other poll, there are biases in this one, too -- especially this time of year.

The beauty of D2 football is you can only hide for so long.

That would be a nice opening win for IUP if they pull it off. We might also find out a little about what type of year it will be for Kutztown and Ship during the first week as well.

[IUPNation]

How does IUP get ranked lower than Slimey Pebble? Who did Dr. Evil and Mini Me bribe?

[TheBigCat2192]

The people voting for Millersville may be looking at a pre-season guide from 2003 rather than 2023. On the more legitimate side of things Ktown could possibly jump into the back half of the top 25 if they can pick up a win against Assumption. All things considered we’ve got a nice top-15 matchup as an early big game for SR1 plus three potentially important matchups for later regional rankings between New Haven (ARV, 1) and Frostburg (no votes but finished 8-3 last year), an in-state showdown between Notre Dame and ODU, and KU v Assumption. Not a bad way to start the season.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

How does IUP get ranked lower than Slimey Pebble? Who did Dr. Evil and Mini Me bribe?

I wouldn't sweat it. IUP has four games before they should even think about SRU. Playing up there at night at the end of September is going to be quite the spectacle -- especially since IUP has won the past two meetings. That will be the (all day) tailgate party of the year at SRU. It will be quite the circus come 6 p.m.

In reality, SR1 having (4) teams inside the Top 16 is quite laughable to the rest of the country. Probably to most of us, too.

If you're really in to preseason polls, I'd take the West coaches' poll more seriously. IUP got (6) first place votes to SRU's (2) first place votes. Coaches cannot vote for their own team.

And, if you're really a believer in these polls, well, I guess that makes IUP a home dog come Aug. 31.

I'd have probably slotted IUP a couple slots ahead of both SRU and Ashland. Ashland may be a really good .500 team by Week 6. Their schedule is insane early on. Playing road games at IUP and Ferris State to start the season ... that's some ballsy scheduling.