ST. LOUIS – For the sixth consecutive year, the University of San Diego has been picked to win the Pioneer Football League regular-season race in a preseason vote of the league’s coaches. The PFL will announce its preseason All-PFL teams, Tuesday morning, followed by an afternoon preseason coaches teleconference.

San Diego, which shared the 2015 regular-season title with Dayton, again received the coaches’ nod to win the 2016 PFL title, narrowly edging Dayton in polling that was dominated by the two teams. San Diego and Dayton combined to receive all available first-place votes and also claimed seven of the nine possible second-place votes (coaches could not vote for their own team). The Toreros received five first-place votes and five second-place votes to finish with 95 of the maximum 100 points possible. Dayton earned six first-place votes and two second-place votes, finishing with 94 points.

A group of six teams – separated by only 15 points – were bunched behind the lead duo. Drake was picked third with 68 points, followed closely by Morehead State (64 points) and Campbell (62 points). Marist (56) was picked sixth and was followed by Butler (54) and Jacksonville (53). Stetson (27) was given a ninth-place nod with Valparaiso (21) and Davidson (11) rounding out the preseason poll.

The upcoming 2016 season marks the 24th year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The league will feature 11 teams each playing an eight-game schedule to determine the league champion and recipient of the automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA FCS Championship.

The 2016 schedule gets underway Thursday, Sept. 1 when Campbell hosts Bluefield. Nine of the league’s 10 remaining teams kickoff the season two days later while Jacksonville will wait until Week 2 to begin its slate. The PFL regular-season race gets underway in Week 4 with five games on the Saturday, Sept. 24 slate, including a matchup of the league’s 2015 co-champions when Dayton travels to San Diego.