ST.
LOUIS - Last year's Missouri Valley Football Conference co-champions appear to
be on a collision course again in 2017. A single vote separates top pick North
Dakota State from second-place South Dakota State in the MVFC preseason
poll. It's the tightest vote for a preseason favorite in league history.
North
Dakota State has earned the league title for six straight years, four times
sharing it with another league school. This year, NDSU earned 21 of a possible
40 first-place votes and 380 total points in a poll conducted by league
coaches, media and sports information directors to edge SDSU, which had the
remaining 19 first-place tallies and 379 total points.
Youngstown
State, which reached last year's FCS Championship game in Frisco, Texas, is the
third choice in the poll. The Penguins, which tied NDSU last year with a
league-best 12 victories, earned 290 points.
The
league is coming off a season in which four teams represented the conference in
the playoffs. The MVFC has had four or more playoff teams in three-straight
seasons (earning five each in 2014 and 2015). Illinois State was one of the
four playoff teams from the MVFC last year, and the Redbirds are tabbed fifth
in this year's poll with 246 points, narrowly behind the fourth choice in the
poll -- UNI (255 points).
A
preseason favorite has claimed the league crown 19 times (in 31 previous
polls). North Dakota State was picked to win the league last season, and the
Bison shared last year's title with SDSU.
Valley
Football is celebrating its 33rd season in 2017. In its first 32 seasons the
league owns seven national crowns.
|
2017
Missouri Valley Football Conference Preseason Poll
|
|
|
Team
(First-Place Votes)
|
Points
|
|
1.
North Dakota State (21)
|
380
|
|
2.
South Dakota State (19)
|
379
|
|
3.
Youngstown State
|
290
|
|
4.
Northern Iowa
|
255
|
|
5.
Illinois State
|
246
|
|
6.
Western Illinois
|
188
|
|
7.
South Dakota
|
182
|
|
8.
Southern Illinois
|
132
|
|
9.
Missouri State
|
81
|
|
10.
Indiana State
|
67
|
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