Photo by: Mark Reis
ACU picked to finish seventh in league's preseason poll
7/19/2018 9:06:00 AM | Football
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HOUSTON – The ACU Wildcats have been picked to finish seventh in the 2018 Southland Conference football standings, according to the preseason poll, which was released Thursday at the league's annual Media Day festivities.
ACU was 2-9 overall (2-7 in the league) last year in head coach Adam Dorrel's first season as the Wildcats' head coach. The Wildcats return sophomore quarterback Luke Anthony (11 touchdown passes) and the team's leading rusher in Tracy James (638 yards in 2017), and will also welcome back wide receiver D.J. Fuller, who caught 51 passes in 2016 but missed last season to work out academic issues.
Defensively the Wildcats return tackles Dante Hibbert and Makoni Pole, linebacker Jeremiah Chambers (moving from outside linebacker to middle linebacker to replace Sam Denmark) and perhaps the league's best safety rotation in Bolu Onifade, Brandon Richmond, Erik Huhn and Jamar Mack.
Sam Houston State – which won league titles in four of the previous seven seasons – has been picked by both the coaches' and the sports information directors from the conference to re-claim the league championship in 2018.
This year's single pre-season poll was a combination of votes by the league's head coaches and SIDs, and Sam Houston State came out as the favorite to win the Southland championship. The Bearkats captured 10 of 22 possible first-place votes and 187 points. Nicholls – which finished tied for third last season and made the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2005 – was picked to finish second, earning six first-place votes and 173 points.
Defending league champion Central Arkansas – which has a new coach in Nathan Brown after last year's conference Coach of the Year Steve Campbell left UCA to become the head coach at South Alabama – was picked to finish third, capturing five first-place votes and 170 total points.
Traditional power McNeese – which finished 9-2 in 2017 but was left out of the FCS playoff field – earned one first-place votes and 159 points, rounding out the league's top four. Those four teams are well clear of the rest of the league as Southeastern Louisiana (119 points) finished fifth in the poll, followed by Stephen F. Austin (90 points) in sixth, ACU (89 points) in seventh, Northwestern State (86 points) in eighth, Incarnate Word (53 points) in ninth, Lamar (52 points) in 10th, and Houston Baptist (32 points) in 11th.
The league will feature new head coaches in 2018 at UCA, Southeastern Louisiana (Frank Scelfo in place of Ron Roberts, who left to become the defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette), Northwestern State (Brad Laird in place of Jay Thomas), Incarnate Word (former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris in place of the retired Larry Kennan), and possibly at Stephen F. Austin where defensive coordinator Jeff Byrd was named the interim head coach in June after head coach Clint Conque was suspended pending an investigation into alleged violations of university policy.
HOUSTON – The ACU Wildcats have been picked to finish seventh in the 2018 Southland Conference football standings, according to the preseason poll, which was released Thursday at the league's annual Media Day festivities.
ACU was 2-9 overall (2-7 in the league) last year in head coach Adam Dorrel's first season as the Wildcats' head coach. The Wildcats return sophomore quarterback Luke Anthony (11 touchdown passes) and the team's leading rusher in Tracy James (638 yards in 2017), and will also welcome back wide receiver D.J. Fuller, who caught 51 passes in 2016 but missed last season to work out academic issues.
Defensively the Wildcats return tackles Dante Hibbert and Makoni Pole, linebacker Jeremiah Chambers (moving from outside linebacker to middle linebacker to replace Sam Denmark) and perhaps the league's best safety rotation in Bolu Onifade, Brandon Richmond, Erik Huhn and Jamar Mack.
Sam Houston State – which won league titles in four of the previous seven seasons – has been picked by both the coaches' and the sports information directors from the conference to re-claim the league championship in 2018.
This year's single pre-season poll was a combination of votes by the league's head coaches and SIDs, and Sam Houston State came out as the favorite to win the Southland championship. The Bearkats captured 10 of 22 possible first-place votes and 187 points. Nicholls – which finished tied for third last season and made the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2005 – was picked to finish second, earning six first-place votes and 173 points.
Defending league champion Central Arkansas – which has a new coach in Nathan Brown after last year's conference Coach of the Year Steve Campbell left UCA to become the head coach at South Alabama – was picked to finish third, capturing five first-place votes and 170 total points.
Traditional power McNeese – which finished 9-2 in 2017 but was left out of the FCS playoff field – earned one first-place votes and 159 points, rounding out the league's top four. Those four teams are well clear of the rest of the league as Southeastern Louisiana (119 points) finished fifth in the poll, followed by Stephen F. Austin (90 points) in sixth, ACU (89 points) in seventh, Northwestern State (86 points) in eighth, Incarnate Word (53 points) in ninth, Lamar (52 points) in 10th, and Houston Baptist (32 points) in 11th.
The league will feature new head coaches in 2018 at UCA, Southeastern Louisiana (Frank Scelfo in place of Ron Roberts, who left to become the defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette), Northwestern State (Brad Laird in place of Jay Thomas), Incarnate Word (former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris in place of the retired Larry Kennan), and possibly at Stephen F. Austin where defensive coordinator Jeff Byrd was named the interim head coach in June after head coach Clint Conque was suspended pending an investigation into alleged violations of university policy.
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