Preseason Poll is Out

[cneagle99]

For whatever they are worth, the poll is out:


2026 SAC Football Preseason Coaches’ Poll

Pl.	School (First Place Votes)	Points
1.	Wingate (2)	72
2.	Newberry (5)	67
3.	Lenoir-Rhyne (2)	64
4.	Carson-Newman (1)	59
5.	Emory & Henry	56
6.	Catawba	46
7.	Anderson	31
8.	Mars Hill	27
9.	UVA Wise	16
10.	Tusculum	12

[pm2011]

Super strange that half the league coaches believes Newberry should win, but based off of where the other 5 placed them... their preseason poll has them at #2. Numbers are weird and fun, lol

[Eagle74]

I have to agree with the #1 preseason ranking of Wingate. The Bulldogs look to have a strong and well balanced team this year.

[canadarican]

For whatever they are worth, the poll is out:

I'd say they are worth 2 cents but the government got rid of pennies lol. Nothing more than basically last years standings lol.

[LRBear]

LR is too high. I believe they'll finish around 5th or 6th place this season. LR is definitely in a rebuild and does not seem to have the talent they have had over the past near decade. I do not see them finishing close to the top of the SAC this season.

[E&H Wasps]

Hard to rank D2 anymore with all the transfer portal chaos.

[canadarican]

Hard to rank D2 anymore with all the transfer portal chaos.

Agree. As of this morning, only 2 of 10 SAC schools even have rosters posted.

[BearFan1]

I am surely hoping that LR Coaching Staff has something up their sleeves that not many other people know about. Whether it is talent, game plans or fabulous Bear Club pregame Meal Menus, some real work needs to be done if we want that beautiful knew studium full every Saturday.

[cneagle99]

Agree. As of this morning, only 2 of 10 SAC schools even have rosters posted.

We are spoiled. CN Sports Information is top notch and easily the best in the league.

[Eagle74]

Agree. As of this morning, only 2 of 10 SAC schools even have rosters posted.

So aggravating when school's SIs drag their feet on posting their rosters, especially being less than 3 weeks out from the season starting.

[LT93bunny]

LR is too high. I believe they'll finish around 5th or 6th place this season. LR is definitely in a rebuild and does not seem to have the talent they have had over the past near decade. I do not see them finishing close to the top of the SAC this season.

I totally agree. They could actually start out 0-3. They have a gauntlet to start the season.

[FootballCoach]

So aggravating when school's SIs drag their feet on posting their rosters, especially being less than 3 weeks out from the season starting.

I don't think they drag their feet. I think they wait until they have photos from media day which is usually one of the last few days of fall camp. They wait for one of the last day's of camp so that they don't have a bunch of guys in the team photo who quit during camp. D1's have 100% of their roster all summer so they do media day earlier. They also have a lot less attrition.

[canadarican]

E&H, Mars Hill, and Lenoir-Rhyne now have rosters up. So that's half the league.

It's annoying yes, but I don't envy these guys. Like FootballCoach said, you got guys quitting and leaving mid-camp, and loads of other reasons. It's a mess.

[BEARS]

I think there’s probably also a strategic reason. Like why let the opp know who’s on your team unless you absolutely have to.

[Eagle74]

Probably right.