ST. LOUIS — For the second straight year, San Diego football has been tapped as the Pioneer Football League's preseason favorite in the league's 2026 Preseason Coaches Poll, released Monday. The PFL will present its 2026 Preseason All-PFL Team on Tuesday.
San Diego picked up five first-place votes to earn the poll's top spot with 90 points. Drake, the back-to-back-to-back PFL Champions, matched San Diego with five first-place votes of its own and finished a close second with 88 points. St. Thomas rounded out an unusually tight top three, drawing a first-place vote, five second-place votes and four third-place votes to finish with 87 points — just three points off the top spot.
Dayton was fourth with 69 points on the strength of one second-place vote, while Butler was fifth with 67 points thanks to one second-place and three third-place votes. The two were separated by just two points but sat 18 back of the top three, which pulled away from the rest of the field.
Marist made the biggest jump in the poll, climbing from ninth a year ago to sixth with 52 points behind a third-place vote. Presbyterian, fresh off being one of the surprises of the 2025 season, was seventh with 47 points.
Morehead State was eighth with 38 points. Davidson, despite drawing a second-place vote, was ninth with 33 points. Stetson was 10th with 22 points, and Valparaiso rounded out the poll in 11th with 12 points.
The upcoming 2026 season marks the 34th year of the Pioneer Football League. 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 NCAA FCS Championship. Conference play begins Saturday, September 26, with San Diego at St. Thomas, Drake at Davidson, Presbyterian at Marist, and Butler at Valparaiso.
2025 PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON COACHES POLL
| Place |
Team |
First Place |
Second Place |
Third Place |
Points |
| 1. |
San Diego |
5 |
2 |
1 |
90 |
| 2. |
Drake |
5 |
1 |
2 |
88 |
| 3. |
St. Thomas |
1 |
5 |
4 |
87 |
| 4. |
Dayton |
|
1 |
|
69 |
| 4. |
Butler |
|
1 |
3 |
67 |
| 6. |
Marist |
|
|
1 |
52 |
| 7. |
Presbyterian |
|
|
|
47 |
| 8. |
Morehead State |
|
|
|
38 |
| 9. |
Davidson |
|
1 |
|
33 |
| 10. |
Stetson |
|
|
|
22 |
| 11. |
Valparaiso |
|
|
|
12 |
About the Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League is the only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The PFL is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation's heartland. Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University, and Valparaiso University were among the league's founding members in 1993, with Davidson College, Marist University, Morehead State University, Presbyterian College, the University of San Diego, the University of St. Thomas, and Stetson University joining to form the current 11-team league.
